After getting some loyal following in the wargaming community, M&B (by then a subsidiary of Hasbro) threatened to sue for copyright infringement unless they took it off the net and stopped selling the game. Dogs of War is based on A&A the board game, but with some minor differences because SEI did not have the official sanction from Milton Bradley. (SEI), is one that is both interesting, and a stark reminder of how possessive companies are of their intellectual property.
AXIS AND ALLIES COMPUTER GAME IRON BLITZ SOFTWARE
The story of how the game came to be abandoned (or 'orphaned' if you prefer) by its creators, Software Engineering Inc. And if you're looking for a really good multiplayer game (like I was once), nothing I've seen so far beats Dogs of War.ĭogs of War is an excellent shareware wargame unofficially based on Axis & Allies, a popular Milton & Bradley boardgame of the same name. The interface can be a little annoying now and then (if you put five tanks and a fighter plane on Midway Island, trying to select your fighter can take a minute or five.) but overall it's satisfactory. When you have some experience with the game, playing against the computer is not really a challenge unless you give yourself a handicap. Allies) or five (creating alliances along the way) players is the most fun.
But Dogs of War is one of the most exciting and addictive ways of kicking your friend's ass.Īs with Axis & Allies, playing with two (Axis vs. With Dogs of War, it's not the graphics (plain and simple), it's not the sound either (boom! parf! peep! scrhgrhg!no, it's definitely not the sound) and it's not the gameplay (you move pawns - what gameplay?). Why some games have atmosphere while others don't is a mystery.
To those who don't know Axis & Allies, the board game, it may seem really really dull. So when you've had enough Heroes of Might and Magic III (which happens sooner or later), you'll find that there just aren't many multiplayer games that are really exciting.Īnd then you see this one, "Dogs of War". Most of the games nowadays being real time, you can play over LAN or the internet, but that's just not as much fun as playing a cool game while sitting in the same room. Hot seat multiplayer games seem to be a relic of the past.