Steam Slitherine just stealth-dropped a bunch of strategy classics on Steam (Warlords! Close Combat!)

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Oh wow is this news a blast from the past. Slitherine – the developer/publisher of all kinds of niche wargames and strategy titles, has dipped deep into the retro bucket to drop the classic Warlords and Close Combat titles on Steam.

Both games were released on GOG previously, so I suspect most fans already have the games, but Steam is a convenient platform for obvious reasons, so this is actually pretty good news.

For those that aren't familiar with them: Warlords is a series of turn-based fantasy strategy games that started back in 1990. And they're Australian! They were the work of Steve Fawkner, who would later on go on to create the exceptional Puzzle Quest. They might not look like much now, but they were deep and engaging for their time, and the original Warlords, in particular, was considered one of the finest games of the decade. Slitherine has released a pack of Warlords I and II, and Warlords III as a separate title.

Meanwhile, Slitherine has also released the first five titles in the long-running Close Combat series. I must admit that these I haven't played. They are all real-time strategy games that are based around the major conflicts of World War 2. The first one was released back in 1996, and apparently the series is particularly renowned for its commitment to realism. Indeed, one of the 17 titles in the series (Close Combat: Marines) was actually developed for the US Marine Corps as a training tool.

Each of these games can be purchased individually, or there's a collection of the five of them available together.

While I'm not sure I'll pick up the Close Combat titles, the turn-based quality of Warlords means that they'll be excellent options for ROG Ally gaming on the go. Like… really compelling. Getting stuck into those games again would be the quickest way to make train commutes fly by. Back in the day these were some of the rare games that I'd start playing in the evening and quite literally not realize how long I'd been playing until the morning sun was streaming through my window. To my childhood, that was Civilization 2 and Heroes of Might & Magic 3-tier good.