Battle for Wesnoth - 1.7.9

I've been playing Battle for Wesnoth on and off for almost a year now and it is more fun every time I play. Each release significantly improves the game, though updating to the latest version almost always requires a full 200+ MB re-download. With this latest release I've been playing almost everyday, and soon convinced my brother to try multiplayer mode with me and it rocks! The game is a little difficult to get the hang of and it rarely gets easier, continuously upping the challenge. Along with all that other greatness of the main game, there is also a large and active fan base that creates new downloadable content on a regular basis.

Oh, and family friendly-wise, a few campaigns have violent artwork in-between battles, there is an occasional mild cursing (as in about once every five hours or so) and of course since it is BATTLE for Wesnoth, you do kill other people and creatures but it isn't very graphic. If the ESRB were to rate it I would predict an E10+ or T.

Although the developers' will continue to strive for further improvements and new features, version 1.6 is a mature product, significantly better than previous versions graphically and in many other areas.
Improvements have been made to the Artificial Intelligence and the stats of many units have been rebalanced for better gameplay. There is a new mainline campaign and there have been worthwhile changes to the map editor. There are also new,original music tracks, and special clips for significant events in the game.
All in all, an even better product. Probably the best free open-source game yet produced, there are many user-contributed scenarios available to load into the basic game, both single-player and multi-player.

This game is a gift to anyone who likes fantasy battle tactics games. The art is excellent, the music is enjoyable, the built-in campaigns are well-written. Reminds me of the old Heroes of Might and Magic a bit. Some people say the AI is tough and it can take a while to play up to speed. But the few beginner campaigns I've tried are a good introduction, some even introducing play concepts and strategies along the way. Can't say enough good about this. However...this latest version has crashed a few times on me, or vanished my saved games. So it seems a little unstable, maybe. Otherwise, top-drawer. Version 1.4 should rock.

Disk Image (version 1.3.8) won't mount, no matter what server I download it from. Anyone else experiencing this?

--Swordman

For a free game... it's really very good ! Only trouble : the difficulty of the episodes in a scenario are uneven. You can do one episode of a scenario in 15 minutes, then be stuck doing the same one over and over again for days before you win it. A more even gameplay would be a great plus.