The Ancient Art of War

The Ancient Art of War is a strategy game set in fictional ancient battles in which the player commands armies made up of infantry, archers, and cavalry. On a tactical map, the player deploys units, plans movement and attacks, and must take terrain, troop morale, and supply into account—classic elements that helped lay the foundation for an entire generation of later turn-based war games. The player can also modify the battlefield terrain itself and build simple scenarios, giving the game a certain constructive dimension beyond just commanding pre-made battles. It also includes an editor in which the player can assemble their own army and unit deployment before engaging in an actual clash with the opponent.

On the Commodore 64, the game offers a clear, easily readable interface with unit icons and a map across which armies move in real time, interrupted by pauses for issuing orders. The campaigns are designed as a series of separate scenarios, which makes the game accessible even to players who don't want to invest dozens of hours into one long continuous campaign. Short, clearly readable unit animations give the player quick feedback on how their army is faring in combat, without having to decipher tables of numbers. The musical accompaniment is minimalist; the game relies more on sound effects of marching and combat, which underscore the clarity of the action on screen.

The game was developed by Evryware and published by Broderbund, and it was precisely its accessibility and elegant design that earned it a good reception even beyond the narrow circle of wargame fans. The Ancient Art of War is often mentioned as one of the games that managed to make tactical command accessible to a wider audience, and on the Commodore 64 it still offers a pleasantly legible and quickly understood entry point into the genre of historical strategy games, without burdening it with an excess of rules, which is why it's still recommended today as a suitable first step for players who want to get into the turn-based strategy genre.

Why play it: For players who want to get into the turn-based strategy genre for the first time, it offers a legible, quickly understood entry point without an unnecessary excess of rules.