Glest, is one of the better free strategy games available at the moment. It has been updated sometime inbetween posting it eight months ago and now. You can find download links via the original link above. :) It's a good game, especially if you have no strategy games of this type. If you are interested ingatting some decent deals on commercial strategy games, direct2Drive has still got some of last weeks $5 deals,the best of wich include The latest civilization (Civ IV) and Sid Meiers Railroads. There's another thread devoted to the filefront bargains. (They have a five week promotion going at the moment to celebrate their fifth anniversary. Each week they are selling some amazing titles for only $5 each. Last week was strategy games, then Action games , and now it's just switched over to RPG and MMO games. Next week is Indie games and the final week will be EA Games. Anyway, I digress.

HERE and HERE are video's of Glest game play, (When I started this project, I never intended to add loads of information, just a brief description and a download link, but as the project has developed and especially when Wizzard and reverseOrder joined me (as well as The Webmaster for a short time), so to did the daily games posts. Anyway, I've got a lot of work ahead of me posting imags for all theses games, lol. I can't imagine uploading 4500 images to upload sites like filefront (based on an average of 3 images per game), but I'll do my best over the coming months. Thanks to G@rgoyle for consolidating the games we've found, it's become an excellent resource that's growing daily. Here's a few images to whet your appetite for the game (if you've not already downloaded it):

Thanks Whiterabbit. I am really enjoying the 1848 game. I used to play the Avalon Hill box war games all the time. This reminds me of the massive board maps and the many units to keep track of, but this is much easier. Definitely a keeper.

I really appreciate the time and effort you put in locating all these great games, plus the great write ups you do. My horizons have greatly expanded with the many different types of games you have recommended. Thanks again.

Thanks, Whabbit, for the games! I'm just downloading 1848, as this game was new, I wanted to buy it, but didn't because my puter was not strong enough for it.
Now it will be the first such game I'll try. Hopefully I'm able to play for longer stretches, my attention span is rather short :)

Thank you very much for stepping in for me today Rabbit, I appreciate the fact that you've done it even though you were going to retire early. I will check out 1848 tomorrow. Glest is a great RTS. In my opinion, it is one of the best freeware options for RTS's. Thanks again for your efforts.

Regards,
AH

1848 (70.3Mb)

Unfortunately Wizzard is unable to post a game for Thursday due to a problem with his PC. Thankfully it’s being sorted, but not in time to get a game posted, so he asked me to fill in for him. The only one I had ready for posting was one I’d prepared for posting on Tuesday or Wednesday, and is a a strategy game called 1848. You can thank pavid for this. He Emailed me details of the game a few days ago. If you liked Rise and Fall Civilizations at War that I posted several weeks ago you’ll like this one. It’s a fraction of the size, so those who were unable to download it due to it’s massive size (~2.4Gb) compared to 1848’s meagre 70Mb. I hope you like the game. Please leave feedback as to what you think of the game. Thank you.

"1848" is set during the violent era of the Hungarian Independence War of 1848-49. 1848 was a year of revolutions. Most of the uprisings were crushed quickly, but Hungary was an exception. In the spring of 1849 the Hungarian army seized victory from the Austrians and liberated the entire nation but victory was short and sweet - in the summer the Tsar of Russia intervened with 200,000 troops. In history, this force could not be stopped. The player of 1848 has a chance to change history and take an active part...

The game was sponsored by the Hungarian Ministry of Education and the Hungarian version was released for the anniversary of 1848 in March 2005. It was a huge success in Hungary: in a country of 10 million people, the game had more then 100,000 downloads. The free fully localized English version, published by Battlefront.com, includes a number of changes and refinements (e.g. an overhauled graphical interface) and bug fixes (e.g. an important fix to TCP/IP play).

There is a sequel to 1848 called "For Liberty!" featuring the American Revolutionary War, it was released as far as I know in 2006.

Here are some key features of "1848":

• Full Game is FREE TO THE PUBLIC
• Turn based strategy 1 turn = 1 week
• The game takes place in Central Europe in the Carpathian basin, within the borders
• of the Austrian Empire
• Large resolution (4000x2600 pixel) map, based on contemporary maps of the region
• 14 different unit types including infantry, militia, cuirassier, hussar, Cossacks, siege artillery and more
• 3 nations: Hungary, Austria and Russia
• 100 generals, many with authentic historical portraits
• Authentic period music
• Dynamic weather system
• Easy-to-use intuitive interface
• Multiplayer support via Play By Email, LAN (TCP/IP), and Hotseat

The game includes a detailed tutorial scenario which should teach players the basics of this operational-level war-game very quickly. Kudos to the developers for producing the excellent in-game tutorial that does not require players to refer to the manual while playing each turn. In my opinion, 1848 serves as a good introduction to players new to war games - the graphics are appealing and there’s no need to (overly) worry about supply and logistics or orders of battles.

Images: (limited to game play map)

http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=en&q=1848+strategy+game&btnG=Search+Images

Download Links:

http://www.gamershell.com/download_13853.shtml (the first of the two mirrors seem to take ages to open.)

or

http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/1848-Free-Full-Game.shtml

or

http://www.download.com/1848/3000-7489_4-10539276.html

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If 70Mb is still too large for those on dial up here’s a smaller but nonetheless as good strategy game called Glest that is just over 50Mb in size:

Glest (51.2Mb)

Glest is a 3D real-time strategy game with a fantasy theme. It contains two playable and customizable factions, Magic and Tech, each with their own tech trees, units and buildings. Game play involves constructing buildings, training and upgrading units and battling against the opposition. The 3D graphics are detailed and the sound of high quality.

Reference: http://www.glest.org/en/index.php accessed 14th Jan 09

You can download additional files that include a mod editor, which makes this game customizable and you may find mod’s posted on the appropriate forums or even over at Fileplanet or Filefront. (I don’t have the time to search these out though as I wasn’t expecting to be posting tonight – I’m trying to catch up on my sleep) You’ll find links to some fan made maps etc via the same download link as the main client file.

Current version includes single player game against AI controlled players, providing two factions for the player to control: Magic and Tech, each with their corresponding tech trees, units and buildings. The entire game is very customizable.

key features of "Glest":

Customize every aspect of the game

• Custom units can be defined using XML files. It's possible to define its basic parameters (hp, mp, armor, sight, requirements and much more), its skills and commands and the 3d models associated with them.
• Custom upgrades can be defined. It's possible to define how and what units they affect, its requirements and more.
• Custom factions can be defined by grouping a set of units and upgrades.
• Custom resources can be defined.
• Custom tech-trees can be defined by grouping a set of factions and resources.
• Custom tile sets can be defined. It's possible to define the surface textures, object 3d models (such as trees or rocks), ambient sounds and more.
• Maps can be edited with the Glest map editor.
Graphics: OpenGL 1.3 graphics
• Height map terrain.
• Free camera movement (translation, rotation and zoom).
• Own 3d format that can be exported from 3dsmax using the g3d export plugin.
• Real-time shadows, projected or shadow mapped.
• Key frame animated 3d models.
• Particle systems for rain, snow, fire and spells.
• Classical 3d effects: transparency, lighting, fog etc...
Sound: DX9 sound
• Static and streaming sound (using wav or ogg files)
A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCY
• AI based path finding algorithm.
• Basic AI for computer controlled players.

Reference: http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Glest.shtml accessed 14th Jan 09

Glest Forums:

http://www.glest.org/glest_board/

Images:

http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Glest&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Video:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9YilxYf8DbM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GGbG9lKn5Zg

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9YilxYf8DbM

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AuQiH1xqB4c

Download Link:

http://www.glest.org/en/downloads.php (Home site)

or

http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Glest.shtml (Client only)

or

http://www.download.com/Glest/3000-7483_4-10421123.html (Client only)

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