Game of the Month #78 (July 2021) - Wargroove

Take to the battlefield with Wargroove, a strategy game for up to 4 players! Choose your Commander and wage turn-based war on battling factions. Design and share maps, cut-scenes and campaigns with easy-to-use editors and in-depth customization tools!

I just went through the first 2 missions in the coop campaign. I'm playing it before the main campaign because I had a friend whose availability was "right now", but the campaign features a small tutorial that should explain everything to beginners. So if someone finds themselves in the same position as me, don't worry, you are not expected to be an advanced player that has already completed the campaign to play this one.

Wargroove is awesome and I’m always really glad to see it get more attention. My only gripe is just that the battles can take too long if you’re not really good at quick and sound decision making, but it’s so worth that little dip in pacing for the beautiful pixel art and great tactics gameplay. The free Double Trouble DLC is also great, and you do not need to play it co-op for it to be fun. Oh, and the puzzle mode is so good too! There’s too much great stuff!

As someone who campaigned a little too hard for the Bayonetta games for the book club back in the day, I'm super happy for... whoever it is who kept hope alive on this, I haven't been here, I forget, who are you people.

If I were to make an assessment based on that cover alone, I'd think it's some crappy mobile game. I hope it's far from being one though, for those partaking in this GotM event :P

I’ve had my eye on this game since it’s released as it looks right up my alley (as I love turn based strategy games) and if I owned it I’d definitely play it this month. However I don’t plan on buying it anytime soon unless it’s on sale for super cheap since I’m trying not to spend too much money at the moment.

As someone who campaigned a little too hard for the Bayonetta games for the book club back in the day, I'm super happy for... whoever it is who kept hope alive on this, I haven't been here, I forget, who are you people.

Hey! I haven't campaigned for half a year with all my blood and tears to have my achievements erased.
I won't stand for this!
;)

I’ve had my eye on this game since it’s released as it looks right up my alley (as I love turn based strategy games) and if I owned it I’d definitely play it this month. However I don’t plan on buying it anytime soon unless it’s on sale for super cheap since I’m trying not to spend too much money at the moment.

It is super cheap on G2A

I’ve had my eye on this game since it’s released as it looks right up my alley (as I love turn based strategy games) and if I owned it I’d definitely play it this month. However I don’t plan on buying it anytime soon unless it’s on sale for super cheap since I’m trying not to spend too much money at the moment.

According to "IsThereAnyDeal", the cheapest it ever was was a 60% discount on Steam. It never went below that. At the moment it's 50% off on Steam at 10$ USD.

Edit: Also, I think I saw it in a Humble Bundle at one point earlier this year.

Just finished playing the first act of the game. Seems interesting so far, but I haven't had the chance to get into the really strategic battles so far. Mostly tutorials and the like.

But, from what I've seen, I'm definitely going to have fun and struggle with this one. I'm very bad at tactics games because I'm way too reckless and just press forward whenever I have the hope it can work. Hoping to get a good session going over the weekend!

Yay Wargroove finally wins. Almost a celebration for the recently announced Advance Wars Remake.

And it's 50% on Steam now, sweet.

So far I've played up to Act 3 and am really enjoying the combat. There are enough units and scenarios to keep things interesting, but I found the difficulty to be a little imbalanced at times, as it's either pretty straight forward to beat each level, or feels completely impossible. As a result, I've already turned it down a notch to help avoid any frustration - very thankful that there isn't a minimum rating you need in order to progress - that would be a real ruiner for me. I suppose it might be fun for some to repeat levels over and over until they get just the right loadout and moves, but that's just not me. Thankfully though, I think I now have it at a level that feels comfortable for me, and means that I don't have to retry most levels more than once.

The only thing I don't actually care all that much for is the story, which hasn't done anything to grab my interest so far, so I'll be surprised if that changes anytime soon. Then again, I don't really think it's such a bother, as the tactical layer is enjoyable enough. I'm looking forward to completing the campaign and seeing what other variants and units are yet to come.

I have just finished act 2 and I have a question. Is anyone else irritaded by how the HP mechanics works in this game? For example - sometimes if a unit is shown to have 20% of health left, and I want to make a strike for 20+%, the unit still won't die. It's frustrating at times, that you can't chceck everybodys exact HP at all times.
BTW when it comes to difficulty, and partialy to the story, I feel you abatage.

I have just finished act 2 and I have a question. Is anyone else irritaded by how the HP mechanics works in this game? For example - sometimes if a unit is shown to have 20% of health left, and I want to make a strike for 20+%, the unit still won't die. It's frustrating at times, that you can't chceck everybodys exact HP at all times.
BTW when it comes to difficulty, and partialy to the story, I feel you abatage.

If you hover the mouse over the unit it should show you the exact HP on the lower left corner of the screen. I agree that it can be very weird at times if you just follow the one digit numbers...

Just finished Act 4 myself. Only skipped one side mission so far because it seemed impossible (Act 3 Side 1). If anyone here could clear it on default difficutly, I'm in awe. I cannot even start to imagine how to clear that one.

Regarding the game as a whole so far, I'm still having a ton of far. New unit types appear with good enough pace to keep it engaging, and the different maps are varied enough so you need to think up your strategy for the different missions. The same formation of units will definitely not work on every map. However, even with all these things to spice things up....It is kinda getting monotonous. I'm not sure how many acts there are in the game, but I'm guessing I'm close to the midway point just judging by the overworld size. Also, there was a very noticeable dip in difficulty (at least to me) on the last couple of missions. Just felt odd, but not bad per see.

Will probably see it to the end, though. I'm having a good enough time so far. And

Game difficulty ramps up quite quickly, especially the side missions. It's definitely harder than advance wars.

In saying this, I'm still loving it. I can't play it for extended sessions as all the thinking and planning really drains me mentally.

Game difficulty ramps up quite quickly, especially the side missions. It's definitely harder than advance wars.

In saying this, I'm still loving it. I can't play it for extended sessions as all the thinking and planning really drains me mentally.

The difficulty is indeed leagues higher than in Advance Wars. I've had no shame turning it down when needed. But it is very nice that you can change it at any point in the world map. So you are not stuck at a single difficulty level for the whole campaign.

Still playing the game, still enjoying it. I've decided to skip side missions for the time being, though. I don't know how much I have left in me before getting burnt out in the game, and I'd prefer finishing the main story than just leaving it there to maybe possibly come back to in the future.

I just played Act 6 Mission 2, and that was by far the one that asked the most out of me in remembering what units do what and how to properly create my own and personal strategy. First time that I felt like the game told me "You got this. Just do what you know. Approach however you see fit." instead of "Hey, the enemy is strong so...Here are the new units and what to watch out for. Use those as 80% of the strategy"

Looking forward to the ending!

Finished this the other day and overall I liked it! The best part for me was having fun with all the different units and the mission variety, which keeps on changing things up right to the credits. Although, the difficulty curve put me off in the beginning to I cranked that difficulty down and was thankful that it didn't lock me out of any content... at least until the epilogue, which can't be accessed without a certain amount of stars earned and I was like.. .half-way there. That was kind of annoying tbh. I don't mind difficult games either, but the last thing I ever want to do is repeat missions over and over because I made a mistake somewhere along the way... it left me a little salty that I got shut out of the epilogue for what seemed like bad balancing in the first place. However, I still enjoyed the game overall and I wouldn't have bothered if it didn't get GotM so that's always worth it iMO =)

Finished this the other day and overall I liked it! The best part for me was having fun with all the different units and the mission variety, which keeps on changing things up right to the credits. Although, the difficulty curve put me off in the beginning to I cranked that difficulty down and was thankful that it didn't lock me out of any content... at least until the epilogue, which can't be accessed without a certain amount of stars earned and I was like.. .half-way there. That was kind of annoying tbh. I don't mind difficult games either, but the last thing I ever want to do is repeat missions over and over because I made a mistake somewhere along the way... it left me a little salty that I got shut out of the epilogue for what seemed like bad balancing in the first place. However, I still enjoyed the game overall and I wouldn't have bothered if it didn't get GotM so that's always worth it iMO =)

That level was for sure the standout in the whole campaign. The opportunities for the use of combined arms mixed with the game finally giving you the full roster of tools to use was a great combination. Plus after all the missions teaching you to use all the mechanics and units it was nice to finally be able to put all that to the test.

I didn't want to play this game at first because strategy/tactical games are not my thing (I think), but then I remembered I joined this Video Game book club to try new things, so here I go!

I also can't get that image of the cute dog out of my mind, which definitely plays a role 😂

Well I've beat the game, and I must say, that I didn't like it as much, as I thought i would. Tbh it bored me quite a lot at times.

Pros:
- Beautifull animations and pixelart.
- Colorfull cast of characters.
- Can be funny at times.
- Caesar.
- Dog units don't die - they just run away.

Cons:
- Repetetive.
- Unegaging story.
- Sometimes during cutscenes, charcters become absolute idiots and don't listen to anything the other side has to say. This gimmick is sooo overused, it literally happens like 4 or 5 times during the entire game.
- Cavalry and dragon units are OP.
- Weird difficulty spikes.
- The "skip" button is bugging.
- The codex spoils all of the characters.

Just finished with the main campaign, and have to say I enjoyed it quite a bit, although I didn't bother with the side missions after Act 4. It was about the perfect length to my liking for this genre. It was long enough to understand the different units and strategies, but it didn't run 10 missions too long.

I agree with the sentiment that Act 6 Mission 1 is the best in the game from what I played. But I think it only works because it's so late in the campaign. Also, about the end of the game: the final mission was an interesting concept, but something didn't hit quite right with me. It seemed way more of a gimmick scenario instead of a true test of what I had learned throughout the game. Minor nitpick, though. And also I'd have liked to be able to see the true ending and the final mission, but there is no way I'm grinding for stars. I did default difficulty and it was fine as long as I took my time. I won't be rushing through the all the maps just to get that.

Good game. I don't regret voting for it for GotM. And it was kinda cool getting into some strategy again...Now give me a couple of years before I feel ready to jump into another tactics game (Three Houses I'm looking at you)

I created a custom scenario, in case anyone wants to check it out. It's based on the real life Battle of Alesia.

The code is SH2XA5E9

It should appear under the "Multiplayer" menu, though it's a 1 player scenario.

As with the real siege of Alesia, Caesar (the player) finds himself in a double siege situation. You must fend off the reinforcements coming from outside while the sieged units in the centre try to break free. If you manage to repel the reinforcements you'll have a chance to finally turn all your forces towards the middle and end the siege once and for all.

Here's the rough outline of the map (the light green troops are hard to see):


And a sneak peek at the proper map:

I created a custom scenario, in case anyone wants to check it out. It's based on the real life Battle of Alesia.

The code is SH2XA5E9

It should appear under the "Multiplayer" menu, though it's a 1 player scenario.

As with the real siege of Alesia, Caesar (the player) finds himself in a double siege situation. You must fend off the reinforcements coming from outside while the sieged units in the centre try to break free. If you manage to repel the reinforcements you'll have a chance to finally turn all your forces towards the middle and end the siege once and for all.

Here's the rough outline of the map (the light green troops are hard to see):


And a sneak peek at the proper map:

Interestingly, when I played it for myself, I focused on the central units before worrying about the outer reinforcements and it worked like a charm. Then again, I didn't know which way was the historical way hehe =)

Interestingly, when I played it for myself, I focused on the central units before worrying about the outer reinforcements and it worked like a charm. Then again, I didn't know which way was the historical way hehe =)

That's another way of doing it. I guess if you are fast enough to rush the center you might be able to at least neutralize them before the outside reinforcements get in. Depending on your setup you might be able to hold the outside walls with very few units.