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Birth of America: Review
Strategy First/ageod

Birth of America is a turn-based strategy game that covers the wars that took place in North America during the late 18th century. You assume the role of Commander-in-Chief on the North American theater and win victory through accumulating victory points. There are fourteen scenarios:

• 1755 – 1763 Campaign
• 1756 Montcalm scenario
• 1759 Annus Mirabilis scenario
• 1775 – 1783 Campaign (alt)
• 1775 – 1783 Campaign
• 1775 Canada Invasion scenario
• 1776 – 1783 Campaign
• 1776 Carolinas scenario
• 1777 Saratoga Campaign scenario
• 1778 Northern Campaign scenario
• 1778 Tory & Indian War scenario
• 1779 Lincoln’s Southern Campaign scenario
• 1780 Greene’s Southern Campaign scenario
• 1781 Cornwallis scenario

The map detail is a brilliant mixture of period charm and functionality with rivers, mountains, forests and lakes looking like an old-style hand drawn map. Your armies look like a standup counter in a board game complete with pictures that represent leaders, artillery, troop types, and ships. The standup can contain many armies and several leaders.

Gameplay

Birth of America is not as deep as many of the games from Paradox Studios such as Europa Universalis, Victoria or Hearts of Iron, but it is not as simple as Axis and Allies type games either. Simple decisions can have profound effects on the outcomes of battles. Some commanders are good at assaults while others are good at defending against a siege. There are cautious commanders who will execute your orders more slowly than others. Terrain and weather play a larger role in the outcome than in many other strategy games. Terrain and Weather affect your movement, attrition, and combat results.

Movement

Moving your troops is just a matter of selecting the stand and dragging it to its destination. The computer will pick the fastest route, but that may not be the best route as moving through certain terrain can cause attrition (the loss of troops without combat). You will see the path drawn out on your map and at each map section will be a small circle with the number of days it will take your troops to move there. Turns are taken one month at a time so some move orders can take place over more than one turn. At the end of each turn you can cancel standing orders. You can also manually map out your movement by clicking and dragging your stand multiple times. This allows you to avoid crossing mountains or rivers that may give your opponent and advantage.

Combat

Your units have ratings for offensive and defensive fire, initiative, range, rate of fire, quality, assault, detection and assault. Your commanders have ratings for strategic, offensive and defensive in addition to special abilities. These ratings are applied together with your stands power and terrain/weather effects to arrive at a total power rating that is compared to your enemies to determine battle results. The results can be viewed by accessing a battle report. Battles will result in victory, stalemate or defeat.

Fun Factor

The fact that the game does not have the depth of Victoria or Europa Universalis could be a drawback for some, but for the rest of us it is either just right or a welcome respite from the rigors of more complex games. The game plays well and yields an enjoyable time due to a very solid AI that will exploit the openings you leave it either on purpose or by mistake.

PROS

Gameplay
A simple clean interface makes combined with an effective tutorial make it easy to jump in and enjoy while the subtle nuances provide hours of fun while you try to master the game.

Price
The game is very inexpensive coming in at just 22.99 at retailers carrying the game and a still respectable 29.99 on Strategy First’s online store.

CONS

Music
The music gets tired quickly.