HistWar project

When I began the Histwar project in the early 1990's, I was an amateur strategist and tactician and a history buff who occasionally played chess and wargames, so it was natural that I would want to develop my own computer wargame. I was, after all, a professional software developer specializing in data processing, so I had most of the requisites for embarking on this adventure, which has lasted much longer than I expected.

The Beginning

The primary objective was to define a concept and to put the basics of the game play in place. The concept was simple: the player would find himself at the head of an army, where he would command the army's groups (corps, divisions, and brigades) and units (regiments, battalions and squadrons). To me, it seemed important to limit the number of orders a player would have to issue so that the simulation could be remain manageable even though it involved very complicated tactical combinations.

As I further conceptualized the game, I steadily gravitated to the Napoleonic era, which involved large, well-trained, and highly-structured armies that could conform closely to the plans of a single commander. I then envisioned a gradual and cumulative design process which progressed from the modeling of tactics (for battles) to the modeling of operations (for campaigns) and which allowed for the integration of the tactical game into the operational one. The result would be a complete package that combined tactics, operations, and strategy.

With the game's general outline traced out, my work then proceeded along twin axes. First of all, I had to understand the function of each army level, beginning with soldiers and ascending to the army commander, but without skipping the levels in between. Then, I needed to perfect my grasp of the era's doctrines and techniques as well as the different stages, or "moments," of the typical Napoleonic battle.

The System of Orders

The next step was to define the most essential orders that could travel down the army hierarchy to set the groups (such as corps) and the units (such as regiments) into motion.

For the army's corps, I began with three orders:

• Deploy : The player would determine a line of deployment, and the AI would arrange the troops within the indicated sector.
• Defend : Following a similar mechanism as the Deploy order, a Defend order would place a corps along a defensive line while taking terrain features (topography, buildings, and rivers, etc.) into account.
• Liaison : This order would allow for a cohesive army: one corps would sit at the top of the army hierarchy, and the other corps would be placed in support of that corps; for example, the supporting corps could occupy a position on the army's flanks, or it would stay behind the principle corps to act as a reserve. Thus organized, the group of corps would act in concert, facilitating the synchronized movement of thousands of troops.

Still More Orders

Since the player could also choose to play as a corps rather than an army commander, the system of orders could only be complete if three more were added: Attack, Move, and Liaison. Attack would allow a specific adversary to be targeted; Move would set destinations for an entire corps or for one of its units; and Liaison would place one unit in support of another.

The Software

It also became necessary to formulate the software structure, which could be broken down into two functional elements: the graphics engine that would interface with the user (via orders and messages), and the game engine, or the Artificial Intelligence that would manage the corps and units.

To create workable command structure, the AI would, quite naturally, break down into three parts, one for each hierarchical level (army, corps, regiment).

The Ancestor: La Grande Armée at Austerlitz

After eight years of development carried out while I was still deeply engaged in my professional activities, the first game program grew to maturity. Matrix Games, a publisher specializing in wargames and managed by the SSG veteran David Heath, published this very "hard" wargame, which focused exclusively on the battles of Austerlitz and Haslach. Reviewers were generally receptive to the game, which introduced the concept of the First Person Commander (FPC) to the grognard community. While the reviewers generally embraced the FPC concept, they found the hybrid 2D-3D interface hard to operate, so it became clear that the game had to continue evolving.

At that point, the objective became the integration of the operational component into a better 3D platform with a better interface. In this way, the stage was set for the next phase in the game's evolution.

While I was working to improve the game engine, a graphical artist took over the development of 2D animated sprites (a la Shogun: TW or Take Command: Bull Run).

At that juncture, the possibilities for graphics development diverged along two very different paths: I could continue down the road to animated sprites, or I could change direction and move towards true 3D graphics. You know the result: the birth of Les Grognards.

En Avance, Les Grogs!

Quickly enough, I realized that 3D would involve a substantial time commitment, so I temporarily abandoned my current 2D project, Histwar: 1806, in order to forge a new tactical 3D wargme. This new game, however, would make use of associated tools (the Map and Order of Battle Editors, as well as a Doctrine Editor and a play-by-email mode). After my friend Laurent Abadie joined up, he took on the formidable job of creating the huge ensemble of uniform textures and game objects that you will find in Les Grognards.

Working together, Laurent and I modeled all of the game's 3D objects (soldiers, buildings, etc.) while I continued to design and develop the game. The game also acquired additional functionalities such as new orders for groups and units: for example, a Diversion order for corps, a Bombard order for batteries, and a Scout order for regiments.

The Actors of Histwar

From the beginning, this project has attracted a diverse group of people who have transformed the game's development into an (and we should not fear this adjective) international undertaking. There are several reasons for this phenomenon:

The subject: Napoleon is universally known as a military genius who re-wrote military doctrines along with the very basics of strategy and tactics. This fascination with the man and his times goes well beyond the borders of France, even the shores of Europe.

The game itself : Histwar will create a new type of wargame. The player is truly an army commander who must envision and implement a tactical plan for his entire force; he is not limited to issuing a disconnected sequence of orders to isolated units.

During the past few years, several people with diverse backgrounds have signed on to the project:

• Perrine M, my ever-present Chief of Staff, manages communications and oversees the website and forums.
• Laurent Abadie oversees the creation of graphics.
• Franck Marrot composes the game's music.
• Lars Lindkvist (Link), the Swede who has immersed himself body and soul in both the period and the game, is a play tester and a moderator for the Battlefront.com forums.
• Arnaud Lefebvre (Arnaud) and Arnaud Balivet (FFAK) are the game's "Testers Among Testers."
• Ivan Berton (Cantonese), a table top aficionado, has re-worked all the game's databases, creating in the process a veritable dictionary detailing all of the game's units.
• Christophe Cormary (La Provence) is a reenactor -- and France's wargaming co-champion.
• Sean Butler (EarlofWarwick) handles the English translations.

I can only acknowledge the first team members since I could fill many pages with the names of people who have enthusiastically offered their support. Such a task would wear me out, to be sure.

Of course, a very important development came in 2005, when Battlefront.com, the creator of the highly acclaimed Combat Mission series, offered to publish this game. This new and exciting relationship has ensured that the Grognard community knows about our game.

And now, I hope, a few more weeks will see the debut of Les Grognards. There remain only a few pesky lines of code to iron out....