March of the Eagles is out today: Command the Napoleonic Wars, no experience required

Today marks the launch of Paradox's March of the Eagles, an in-depth Napoleonic wargame that shares some DNA with the grand strategy titles (Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis) that the studio is known for. In the Napoleonic Era, however, there is only war. Which is to say, the political and economic systems have been stripped down to the minimum to allow you to focus on the marchy and shooty parts.

While it lacks some of the breadth that makes Paradox's historical games unique, the Eagles' military systems are as deep as any other game from the studio. You'll compete to establish land and naval dominance by capturing key victory provinces as one of the major powers of the time, including France, England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, and Sweden. The devs told me at PDX Con that the leaner, quicker gameplay is meant partially as a way to introduce new players to some of the concepts of grand strategy, without throwing everything on their plates at once.

It's also worth noting that March of the Eagles makes for a much more manageable multiplayer experience. While it's still real-time, like Europa IV, the tighter focus prevents you from stumbling into the sort of chain of catastrophe that befell me in EU4's multiplayer . Also, I started a campaign-spanning war with France over a misunderstanding of the diplomacy system and basically won. So there was that.

Get it on Steam for $20 .