Wargame Construction Set

Moby ID: 397
Atari 8-bit Specs
Buy on Commodore 64
$23.48 used on eBay
Buy on Windows
$4.49 new on Steam
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/22 9:50 PM )

Description official description

WCS lets you design and play turn-based strategic battles. You can create scenarios in many different time periods including modern day, ancient times, 1800's, and in the future. You have complete control over all the units, and can customize their firepower, movement points, strength, aggressiveness, etc.

Supports 1 or 2 players. Comes with 8 pre-made scenarios.

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Commodore 64 version)

15 People

Game Design
Game Development
Scenario Designs
Tutorial
Rulebook Editing
Customized Disk Operating System (Apple Version)
Art & Graphic Design
Box cover by
Typesetting
Printing
  • A&a Printers and Lithographers

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 62% (based on 9 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.4 out of 5 (based on 28 ratings with 1 reviews)

Such an open ended Computer Wargame Kit still doesn't exist.

The Good
Easily the most enjoyable and addictive part of WCS was the ability to (in theory) create any military situation from the first time man engaged in warfare to as far in the future as one could imagine. Through the tweaking of the many, many stats one could create engagements between the ancient armies of the Mediterranean, a battle featuring the Mongols vs. the Japanese, one of Napolean's encounters, a WW2 invasion, or a battle between the Martian Commonwealth and the Imperial Terran Army. Your imagination, time, and patience were all that was required. Many people even created what might have been the start of the tactical-encounter RPG genre, by creating units that represented single beings (warriors, mages, skeletons, etc) and having a major battle between those beings.

While there were many statistics one used to control the abilities of a unit, the game was easily picked up by someone with little wargaming background (I came to the Commodore version having never played a war game before and picked it all up quickly).

During its time, there was a relatively large number of scenarios available on BBS's (this was before the Internet we know today), so the game had a large replay value.

The Bad
While it would like to believe it could do everything, the game engine wasn't so open as to support every available idea you could come up with. Often if you wanted to do something the engine didn't support, you played around with the stats until you got some close approximation to what you wanted. Other times, you'd simple have to abandon your one design idea.

The graphics were fairly poor, even for the day. Granted, it was a role-playing game, but more often than not the icons you wound up choosing for your units looked very different from how you pictured your final unit. A hardcopy explaination that unit #23 was an ashigaru spearman and #13 was a mounted samurai were often necessary accompaniments to home-brewed scenarios.

The Bottom Line
An attempt to bring custom war game building to the home computer industry. While it did many of the things the designers hoped for, the poor graphics and sometimes limited engine made it fail to live up to expectations. Still, it was another fine attempt by the software companies of the day to provide some fan-based interaction and creations (Adventure Construction Kit from Electronic Arts was another good example).

It's a shame SSI wouldn't consider making a sequel to this using a version of the Panzer General engine.

DOS · by Ray Soderlund (3501) · 2000

Trivia

This game has won the "Antic Magazine Outstanding Product 1987" Award.

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Wargame Construction Set Pack
Released 2023 on Windows
Wargame Construction Set II: Tanks!
Released 1994 on DOS, 2023 on Windows
Wargame
Released 1983 on TRS-80 CoCo
Planetary Construction Set
Released 1985 on Apple II
Pinball Construction Set
Released 1982 on Apple II, 1983 on Commodore 64, 1985 on PC Booter...
Golf Construction Set
Released 1985 on Commodore 64

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 397
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Raphael.

Commodore 64 added by Quapil. Windows added by Plok. Atari 8-bit added by JRK. Atari ST, Amiga added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Rebound Boy.

Game added November 8, 1999. Last modified January 21, 2024.