Birth Of America

by Strategy First

Product Features

• 700+ provinces; 100+ historical leaders; wide diversity of troop types
• Modern-warfare game with simultaneous turn-based battle system
• Refight the French and Indian War or the American Revolution
• Build forts and depots to store captured arms and regroup soldiers
• Units have special abilities indicated by a symbol on the unit counters

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000FOZD3U
• Item Weight: 5 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 21, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,518 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The year 2005 marks the 250th anniversary of the start of the French and Indian Wars. Twenty years later, the War of the American Independence began. These two events marked the real start of a new era, the end of an empire, the birth of a nation.

In Birth of America, the player controls one of the major contenders of these two conflicts, trying to achieve military and political victory. It is a rather complete and detailed simulation of the two most important wars in Colonial America--from 1755 to 1783--but with a simple and elegant new simultaneous turn-based engine.

Features:

• Scope of the game covers all of North America, from Florida to Quebec and New England to Mississippi, from 1755 to 1783.
• Game map is divided into more than 700 provinces, with a great diversity of terrain, climates, and civilization levels. There are two camps fighting each other in all of the game's 10 scenarios.
• Game turns correspond to one month of historical time. Scenarios vary from a few months to almost nine years.
• Players control mostly the military action of their nation. This includes such activities as drafting forces, building forts and depots, sieges and blockades, raiding enemy settlements, and battles, both on land and at sea.
• Troops are controlled at the regiment level and can be arranged into various needed detachments. Naval units come in the form of warship squadrons and flotillas. You can also manage supply wagons, water transport, forts, and depots.
• Wide diversity of troop types is implemented including light infantry, dragoons, siege artillery, rangers, Indian warriors, marines, militias, ships of the line, frigates, and lake flotillas.
• There are more than 90 different models of units in all. All are rated for various aspects such as offensive and defensive strength, morale, experience, troop quality, geographical origin, and movement type.
• Large array of historical leaders (over 100) are included, some with their unique abilities such as capacity to setup ambushes or use speedy movement in the wilderness.
• Political aspects of the conflict (especially during the War of Independence) are taken into account, impacting militia levies, rebels and Tories shifting loyalties, and the global path to victory.
• A unique hand-made graphical design, and work that reminds players of the boardgame spirit and quality handicraft of the 18th Century.

Product Description

Birth Of America takes you three centuries into the past when America was first coming into its own as a country. Multiple nations fought long and bloody battles for the control of this untamed territory and their victories and defeats created the nation now known as the United States of America.Product Features:Covers two exciting conflicts that shaped history - The French And Indian War (1757-1763) and the American Revolution (1775-1783)Simultaneous turn based battle system as you face the most challenging battles in old American historyRe-fight the entire French and Indian War or the the entire American Revolution from Bunker Hill to YorktownBuild forts and depots to store captured arms and regroup your soldiers -- supplies are all-important on the frontierUnits have special abilities indicated by a symbol on the unit counters plus new formations and weapons unlockedFormat: WIN 2000XP Genre: ENTERTAINMENT UPC: 627006903465 Manufacturer No: 627006903465

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good concept, horrible execution., July 25, 2007

By 

Kristan O. Overstreet (Livingston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birth Of America (CD-ROM)

This game has beautiful music, workable graphics, delightful detail, and what on the surface appears to be a simple and elegant game engine. The AI is intelligent and challenging. This ought to be a great strategy game.

And I loathe it.

The single biggest problem with the game is the user interface. The only way you can locate your units is to scroll around the very, VERY large map- and scrolling is ungodly slow- to find one garrison after another, checking each to see if they're unlocked. There's no unified listing of commandable units to check, no way to cycle through the units to ensure commands have been given to all units. Checking over all the units is NOT fun- in fact it quickly becomes an agonizing chore that bleeds every last bit of fun out of the game, turning it into an exercise in frustration.

Another minor note: although no historical strategy gamer should ever rely on history repeating itself, because history is generally made by idiots, still the units in the game should be able to repeat the same feats the same units performed in actual history. Benedict Arnold's march to Quebec took two months in our history; it takes double that in this game's Canada 1775 scenario. Similar sloth infects Washington's march to Yorktown in that campaign scenario. With units moving too slowly to accomplish the same missions which were completed in the actual Revolution, it's absurd to expect players to even match the performance of the Founding Fathers- much less exceed them.

I'm sadly, woefully disappointed in this title. Turn-based strategy games are growing rare enough as it is- bad examples such as this one don't help those of us who can't stand so-called "real-time" games. A better user interface would MUCH improve this game and probably make it a great game; as it is, it only rates average due to the detail work put into the package, the music, graphics, historical detail, etc. As a game, in and of itself, it stinks.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice "Period"Game of a Forgotten War, March 5, 2007

By 

Stephen (Harvard, Morocco) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Birth Of America (CD-ROM)

Hats off to the creators "Birth of America" for producing a game covering the long forgotten French and Indian War, and the more memorable American Revolution. Other than residents of upstate New York (not me), and a few history fanatics (like me), the French and Indian War is rarely acknowledged in the popular media. The recent 250th anniversary of the war has resulted in a few books, and the interesting PBS series, but not general interest.

The game is intended for grognards(board game players) who are aquainted with the history of the war. It plays very much like a computerized board game, with a "Risk" or "Axis and Allies" feel about it. Area movement of static figures is not cutting edge computer game play, but matches the subject matter well.

The stress is on strategy, and battles are decided without any graphical detail, in an abstract manner. Don't expect any explosions, dramatic cavalry charges, or even booming cannons. The game is short on video and sound effects.

Individual leaders and units are well detailed. And it's the only game I know where Worcester, Massachusetts and Pittsfield, Massachusetts are important towns on the map.

The instruction/rules book leaves alot to be desired. I had to play several trial and error games to figure out basic rules (like bateux movement). You'll have to work at playing this game. But it is relatively simple once you become knowledgeable of the basic concepts.

If your used to board games like the previously mentioned "Risk" or "Axis and Allies", "Birth of America" is worth a look. If you want great, or even good battlefield graphical animation and sound, look elsewhere. I found it was definitely worth the money, and a great learning experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Beer and Pretzels fun game, August 21, 2007

By 

Charles Casterline - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Birth Of America (CD-ROM)

Though somewhat abstract in appearance the graphics are useful and match the flavor of the game. It can be a tuff road to hoe for the Americans and one can find themselves up the creek without a paddle easily. Not a serious game for the truly historical minded wargamer and more of a fun experience. If you are a RTS first person shooter gamer this is not for you. But if you like a fun strategy game that has more going for it than Risk you will like it.