Attic of the Underdogs

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Review by Underdogs:

Colossus is an excellent Java clone of Avalon Hill's classic Titan boardgame that has long been out of print. The concept of Titan is similar to the likes of Fantasy General and Archon: it's a turn-based fantasy wargame that combines strategic movement on the masterboard, tactical movement and dice rolling in battles on hex-tiled battleboards, using fantasy and mythical creatures such as the hydra, griffin, cyclops, trolls, and archangel as battle units. You are represented by your Titan, who occupies a place in one of your armies, and participates in battles just like any other creature. If he is eliminated in battle, it's game over for you.

Coded by David Ripton, Colossus is a very faithful, albeit unofficial, computer version of the boardgame. Programmed in Java in order to support multiple operating systems, the game currently supports hotseat play, with a simple AI that actually plays a very mean game, or perhaps I am just not as good at this ;) Network play is in development, so keep watching the official site for new announcements. As with the original boardgame, Colossus is not everyone's cup of tea, even if you enjoy tabletop wargames in general. The games can be quite lengthy, and since dice are rolled to determine moves, there is considerable luck involved. But it's the excellent play balance with all the intricacies of chess and Archon that will keep you hooked, so if you are a die-hard wargamer who enjoys turn-based games, you should definitely check out this largely unknown fanmade effort that deserves much more attention. Two thumbs up, way up!

Note: The manual download here includes the original rules of Titan board game in PDF format, as well as Badlands scenario. Since it's a Java game, you will need Java 2 Runtime Library to run the game.

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