The Wargamer

Introduction

Choosing a RTS game is becoming a little like selecting an outfit from a crowded closet. Formal or casual? Blue or black? Long sleeve or short? Dig deep enough and there is something appropriate for every mood or occasion.

No Man's Land is a conventional RTS that uses the American frontier as its outfit. Ostensibly covering several centuries' worth of chronological time, that frontier therefore is a moving target. No Man's Land's timeline begins with the arrival of Spanish conquistadors and the establishment of fortified settlements in the south. Next to arrive are the English colonials, struggling against indigenous natives as well as those recalcitrant Spanish adventurers. Colonialists evolve into American Patriots, warring against Mother England as well as colonial Spaniards. The American Settlers head westward, spreading the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, laying railroads, and squeezing the Indians (two varieties, Woodlands and Prairie) into increasingly unbearable situations. All permutations are possible, allowing for also common Indian vs. Indian action.

Cowboys and Conquistadors

The subject matter of No Man's Land is not entirely unique. For developer Related Design, this is their second foray into the subject matter, their previous effort was America, published in 2001 by Data Becker. Ukrainian developer GSC Gameworld used a modified engine from their hit game Cossacks for their game, American Conquest. While covering much of the same ground, it focuses on larger-scale battles than the small skirmishes of No Man's Land.

When comparing No Man's Land to other RTS games, however, the best comparison is probably Ensemble Studio's Age of Empires. One of my criticisms of the Microsoft-published title has always been the mismatch between name and game scope - players really weren't managing empires, but rather small, tribal city-states. The scale in the game never really was quite right with regard to the subject matter. Throw out the pretension and a fine game is left, that is certain; but as a student of the eras covered, I found taking the game seriously to be difficult amidst such silliness. No Man's Land, however, has chosen the perfect subject matter, perhaps uniquely so, that allows the Age of Empires paradigm to be applied in a most believable manner.

The American frontier was dotted with small villagers that cropped up from migrant settlers. Many RTS games begin in this manner, except this time, we are dealing with a historically-valid scope and scale. There really were settlements containing as few as a couple of dozen citizens, and some really did have to take up arms and defend their homestead against incursion. Failure often meant the capture or enslavement of survivors and destruction of the village. Often, fortified settlements were created to house a local militia and provide strong points to keep enemies at bay. Nomadic Indians traveled where the food was, with entire villages being transient in nature. No Man's Land indulges all of these scenarios with great consistency.