Numantia is the type of game that, on the face of it, is right within my wheelhouse. In short, it is a turn-based strategy game where you take command of the Legions of Rome, or the Celtiberian forces opposing Rome. Facing each other on the battlefield you take turns moving through the hex grid system in order to do battle.

The game itself is a historic strategy game based on the twenty year war waged in what is a modern day Spain. Much like the Total War series you are tasked with meeting the enemy on historical battlefields as you command hundreds of troops in a struggle for domination. Just like the Total War series you are in command of all aspects of your faction. In your settlement you will recruit new units, or disband them, purchase upgrades, and items at the market place, and all other manner of minutia. This is also where you will manage and gain resources to recruit new units, and replace lost members of units. Resources are affected by decisions you make here such as how you react to diplomatic overtures and disputes or whether you get involved in conflicts both near and far. Careful consideration of the impact of your decisions is necessary to succeed.



When you are done there you can choose to enter the field of battle. Before you start you choose the units you want to take with you, including the hero unit who has various stat bonuses and abilities to assist you in the battle. Choosing the mix of units carefully is a must as you need to spread your allocation across ranged, infantry and cavalry units. Favour one over the other and you will be in for a tough time as you struggle to achieve and maintain tactical supremacy.

Numantia plays out on a hex based grid, and is turn based. In this regards you and the computer will take turns moving your units around the board to gain the most advantageous position in order to win. Understanding the queue is of great importance as you don’t want to set up your order of battle and have the units you thought would activate and attack first, actually activate second and fail to do the damage you envisaged in your head.



So far so good. The battles are relatively easy to manage as you move your units around. The implementation of the controller options is relatively intuitive and easy to use. Understanding tactical advantages is key during battle, while flanking is important as the amount of damage you deal from the unguarded flanks or from the rear is much higher than rushing head on into the fray.

Numantia fools you into thinking that you control hundreds of onscreen units, but in fact you actually just control groups of units. Archers are grouped together as are infantry units. Each group has a morale score that is used up by movement and in battle, and if it falls too far your unit's damage will drop making them less effective in battle. You have to keep careful watch on this to succeed and make sure that groups are supported by other troops to help bolster them and make them more effective in battle. Knowing which units to use when and have them attack weak points is an exceptionally tactical and enjoyable experience. Add in the morale management and you have a tense affair requiring your constant attention.



However, the game does start to show cracks when you have to get into the menus. There are numerous nested menus making navigating and completing tasks a chore. Learning how to navigate the menus and complete commands is a bit hit and miss as the tutorial can be frustratingly vague at times. A number of times I was given a command to do something, but the onscreen prompts were too vague and I had to spend a couple of minutes through trial and error figuring out what to do.

The artstyle is reminiscent, and probably took inspiration from, The Banner Saga. Cutscenes are painted, static images giving the game a pleasant change of style from the now obligatory CGI filled attempts at photo-realism. They effectively convey the story as you watch the Celtiberians revolt against the Roman yoke.

Load times in the game can be frustratingly long. Oft times I would watch as the spinning logo in the bottom right corner of the screen would slow and even stop as the game loaded. Other performance issues were "freezes" when browsing the menus forcing a quit and restart. Coupled with long load times this became a nightmare.

Overall, Numantia is a welcome return of the turn-based strategy genre to console. Unfortunately the long load times, bugs and poor UI make the game a chore that will put off many players before they learn the game’s quirks and mechanics and get into the meat of the combat.