Dynasty Tactics

You are a warlord in ancient China. You want to conquer China. Enemy warlords stand in your way. What do you do? CRUSH THEM UNDERFOOT LIKE THE DOGS THEY ARE, of course.

You organize armies made up of various generals who command troops. Each general's troops are like their hitpoints: once the troops are all gone, the general is defeated and limps off home, to organize more troops (recover HP) so that you can send them off to battle again.

You then send your armies made up of generals and their troops to various parts of China in order to complete objectives (that the game sets for you, unfortunately). When your armies meet enemy armies, BAM, a battle begins.

Battles consist of your generals (and their troops/hitpoints) facing off against enemy generals (w/ troops/hitpoints). The battlefield is a map divided up into a grid pattern. Depending on the types of units your generals command (which you can change only outside of battle) the units can only move so fast across certain kinds of terrain, certain units are better at attacking other types of units, (cavalry is strong against archers, but weak against pikemen, for example).

The meat of the battles is Tactics, though. No, not tactics, but Tactics. With a capital T. Tactics are special "moves" that each general knows. Rather than simply flat out attacking, Tactics allow you to attack, defend, move about the field, etc. much more powerfully and effectively. Its hard to explain, but....for example: Flank is a tactic that can only be used when your unit faces the side of an enemy unit, it damages the enemy unit, and forces the enemy unit forward one square. THEN, for example, you could have several units surrounding the square where the enemy arrives after being flanked, ready to execute even more tactics, like Pincer, Aid, Charge, Raid, etc. Tactics executed consecutively, which is to say one after another automatically, do more damage to the enemy.

The best way to beat the enemy and win the battle is to take out all their generals with chain-reaction tactics. Do something to one enemy unit that causes them to move where you want, right into an Ambush, a Fire Attack, a Volley attack, whatever, that causes them to move yet again into ANOTHER Ambush, maybe a Raid attack, a Charge attack, whatever. Simply Attacking is no good - it doesnt do enough damage, and leaves you open to enemy Tactics (the computer can do some mean combos).

In order to fully enjoy the game, hell, to even SURVIVE the battles to the end, you really, really, really, REALLY need to think. You need to plan. You need to strategize, conceptualize, prioritize, ponder, put on your thinking cap, deduce your enemy's plan, come up with your own, and TROUNCE the enemy, grind them under your heel with superior force, strategy, and tactics.

If you get stuck in this game, you can't just fight random battles until your characters get enough experience and levels to beat the Boss. This isn't your kiddy RPG. This game is TOUGH, and will eat you alive unless you use your head. But its FUN. I've spent many an hour grappling with the computer-controlled generals, struggling to win the battle. And, because its so difficult, when you DO win, its MUCH more satisfying than a lot of other games I could mention.

Like the title says: Only people who use their heads need apply.