by Peter Robbins, 5 September 2025
The latest in WDS’s new S&S series is Age of Longbow I. An impressive array of scenarios are provided, giving the player a full range of actions during the entire Hundred Years War.
Review Disclaimer
Game Specifications
Name: Age Of Longbow : Volume I
Publisher: Wargame Design Studio
Developer: Wargame Design Studio
Scope & Time Period: A Late Medieval Army echelon tactical battle level computerized wargame with a hex-based board game feel. Covers the first phase of the Hundred Years War.
Hex Size: 100m (Note: Some 40m Variants Included)
Cost: $39.99 US upon release.
This review was written with 10 hours of game time, by a person that has owned and or received press copies of many WDS titles. My only stated bias is that WDS makes very good games, so it’s difficult to find much fault in any of them.This particular wargame I received as a Press Copy, but I have bought WDS wargames on my own dime this year. If a wargame is good, I’ll tell you. If it’s utter crapola, I’ll tell you. My primary goal in writing for Armchair Dragoons is to spell out as clearly as possible what is included with a particular wargame, and generally how its mechanics play out. The decision to purchase any given game is your own to make. With this stated, I do think you’ll like this and other WDS wargames.
What’s In The Box!?
Before you read our First Look below, read over the Longbow I debut article that WDS wrote on their own site. (<<< READ IT!!) It’s extremely well written, and shows you the level of wargaming mastery this wargame represents. Age Of Longbow: Volume I is a master class in computerized wargaming, while still remaining tried and true to their customer base. That customer base is composed of both board game and computer game enthusiasts of all walks of life. They know their audience, and they keep providing wonderful wargames for them all. WDS titles bridge the gap between the two camps of hobbyist wargamers, and offer an experience that either alone could not provide. Their games offer the simple but approachable sensibility of a board game, with the nuance allowed by a computer game engine. Rinse, repeat, kick arse. WDS are just nailing it title after title.
Longbow I includes a ridiculous amount of historical and what-if scenarios. They’ve outdone themselves on this title. The slew of scenarios, and their well thought up what-if variants is immense, as seen in the nearly 100 scenarios shown below! This is a significant feat by a production company that is just hitting out of the ballpark for the last year. Not that WDS were not playing ball prior, they’ve just pulled out the sluggers and are hitting one after another hit after hit. The Musket & Pike series engine really opened up their ability to expand the series line and to go back in time for Sword & Siege Crusades: Volume i and now Age Of Longbow: Volume I.
click images to enlarge
RTFM
Yes, I’m a broken record when I point this out, but WDS offers you a rare treat. You can go to the Longbow I site and read all of the manuals included with the game. This alone should convince you to buy this title. Its vast, its immense, its extremely well researched. Boom, buy it.
What manuals are included?
Read them all. Each of them includes vital information that will help you get the most out of Longbow I. (I’m a Janes Longbow simmer of old, so I am really enjoying being able to say Longbow I all over this article, I digress).
Of note, the Design Notes are over 100 pages! I love reading wargame designer notes, and these are particularly well written.
While I’m showing what’s included it’s worth taking note of the initial Change Log supplied with the wargame. This is the net new logic included overall in the Sword & Siege newer game engine to open up the ability to depict the Hundred Years Wars battles more uniquely/appropriately.
Campaigns? Included?
Yes, there are two branched campaigns included with Age Of Longbow I.
I’ve included a few screenshots below of what to expect in this Choose Your Own Adventure style campaign system. It is actually quite effective. Gives you a few decisions to make strategically, and then otherwise it pieces together scenarios using the given maps and orders of battle. Rinse, repeat, mucho fun. Oh, and it includes the same campaign editor the developers used to make both campaigns. What more can you ask for? Well, a true map editor that can generate full new maps from scratch, but I understand why they don’t outright provide that, as they need to continue the series now don’t they. Each new title includes impeccably researched scenarios, well made custom generated maps, the whole nine yards, so they deserve your $$$ for each volume. The decision not to outright provide a map editor is understandable. You do have the ability to split up or use sections of existing maps for new scenarios. That is very nice to have in hand as the user.
We click on [NEW CAMPAIGN] and then select the Crecy Campaign of 1346 option.
As you can see above, you have the ability as the player to START the campaign with any scenario there-of. So, if for example you’d previously attempted this whole campaign and gotten to Pont Remy Bridge but failed miserably a few times over; months later, you could try again, and START from that battle forwards. You will still then have a couple branching decisions to make, depending upon success or failure of a given branch level of the campaign. It’s a solid little campaign system. Just the right amount of decision-making honestly (at least for my non-strategy wargame playing self)
At this point, a scenario is provided for the first skirmishes of the linked chain of campaign scenarios. As stated, a nice little campaign system, worth trying out. It’s not particularly apparent on how to start the campaign in the UI as given upon starting it up. You have to use the separate executable program called cp_start.exe to start a campaign game. That app is in the game’s main installed folder. It’s easy to find. You should then immediately SAVE the game so that you can use the [Continue Old] option upon running cp_start menu.
For ease of finding I’ve shown below where it is by default on my computer system.
Similarly, to get at the Campaign Editor, you double-click on sscamp.exe to get to the editor shown below.
You can also get at a Campaign Editor guide by way of the [?] question mark menu item within the Campaign Editor. Some great info is found in that guide. It will give you an idea of how the decision tree is made up, so that may give you an edge in making decisions while playing the game, even if you don’t plan on making your own campaigns.
Mechanics & Gameplay
We’ll now move over to how a typical single Scenario plays out from a mechanics and gameplay perspective. I’ll lightly touch upon the basic decisions you need to make as a commander for a given turn, but we will not traipse too much into “How To Win”, as I’ve been trying for a decade plus to determine that, much to my dismay. I’ll leave the tactics to the community guides that hopefully will sprout up over time amongst the players of Longbow I.
The beauty of these WDS series of games is, even within a given series, for example this new Sword & Siege series (which is composed of both Crusades I and Age Of The Longbow I) there are distinct differences in the overall Parameter Data, available within the Help / Parameter Data menu item. In each WDS “Series” there is a shared wargame “Engine”. This benefits everyone considerably, as what WDS is well known for is when any one game pushes the envelope further in that “Engine” they tend to upgrade ALL of the titles in that series to that upgraded engine.
Bravo to WDS on that.
It’s one of the only wargaming companies on the planet that does this rather consistently. What is also quite nice is they expose the dynamics of their game engines to the consumer by way of the rather large set of available Parameter Data. To really dig in and get to know the differences between two or more games in a WDS series, stare and compare their Parameter Data files.
TL;DR, what I was trying to get at above is that, if you learn one game in the series, you can then learn how to “adapt” your tactics to the changes in parameter data involved in later offerings of the same series.
The differences in tactics are made evident even further by way of the very well researched units involved for each battle, and voila, you have a distinct “feel” for each Scenario in a given WDS game. It’s a wargamers dream. WDS consistently provides you with a micro-cosm of military history development over centuries of warfare. You have to keep in mind that for many of these game series offerings, they can span many years. For example, Thirty Years War, or in this case Hundred Years War (in this Longbow I case we are sticking primarily to the first Phase of this long series of related succession wars).
Side-bar: WDS are, I would say, the “Admiralty Trilogy Group” of computer driven land warfare gaming. ATG are the folks that produce the Harpoon series of naval miniatures wargames. They similarly provide a very well connected series of wargames that use a similar heavily data-driven system, adapted very well to a given time period. Voila, a great analogy. Please take this as a significant complement to WDS!
Mechanics
I will not assume you’ve all played WDS games. I’ll start here with a high level review of what you have available via the Toolbar. For more details read the Getting Started and User Manual guides.
Game Level Controls
Here you switch between target and move modes. You also go to the next or previous available units to give commands to.The eyeball icon is to toggle Roaming Mode (I honestly rarely use that), and the folded map one is to get a nice high level Jump Map which helps you move around larger battle fields with ease. The last two are for activating AI processing to complete the rest of the turn for you (not used often), and the hard drive image one (love the image used) is for saving the game.
Unit Controls
The first two buttons re-orgs the selected counter in the stack (towards top or bottom);. which in some cases changes how fighting plays out. More on that in the User Manual. Third button and fourth are changes of formation related. The left face, about face and right face buttons follow that. Then there is a form square option, followed by extended line changes. The bugle icon is a Charge mechanism. The wrenches icon is to denote bridge repair as the order for the unit. The “x” button is to remove units. Which, I’m assuming, sets them aside as a separate stack. I’ve not used that button honestly. The big NO symbol one is to Undo Move, but if you have Fog of War on (usually the case) you can not undo moves. So be careful when making moves. The three last beige colored buttons are Reachable, Visible and Command range in hexes. For each of those, the majority of hexes go grey, and related hexes are readily seen as included in that view filter, for lack of a better term.
Combat Controls
Under combat related controls you get the Artillery Dialog (very useful!) followed by set defensive fire, which by default optional rules are not needed to be tinkered with. The rest of the buttons are Melee related. The first is to Begin the melee committed on the selected Target Hex; a target unit or stack of units that will be assaulted. The next is Add to Melee. Then show the combat ratio, then Resolve the Melee, then finally is for Clear of Melee. That last one is useful when you think you’ve messed up everything, which I do often.
It may help here to see the User Manual’s section on Melee buttons, as this is a common area of friction for the new player. At least it was for me. It was not entirely intuitive the order of operations when first playing a WDS game. It does make sense after you get to use it (and after you read the manual entry on each of these buttons). I honestly don’t know how they could make it better here. I think they’ve given you all you need, it just needs more explanation that other button sets.
I’m not going to repeat the whole user manual here. I did feel like the above is needed for an understanding in general for Melee.
Report Controls
These consist of primarily dialog based reporting, such as Reinforcements, Releases, Leader Casualties, and the like. I’m not going to go through each of these. During my video walk thru I’ll hover over them so you can see the particulars.
Map Buttons
This set of buttons can be very important, in particular during the military decision-making process you choose to utilize ahead of scenario start, and at intervals of choice there-after. You are turning ON and OFF map display overlays with this set of buttons. A few important examples are Elevation, Objectives, and Combat Modifiers to name a few. One other button of note is Division Colors. In the more zoomed out levels, this helps identify commands more readily. It’s not quite as aesthetically pleasing to have the Division Colors on if you tend to play zoomed in to the 3d view levels. For more details, again, dig into the Getting Started and the User Manual.
Highlight Buttons
The Highlight buttons are some of the more readily used of the bunch, for play thru purposes. They highlight units that have Fired, units that have Moved, units that have a Fixed State, Units that are Detached (and hence not getting Command bonuses*, a very important highlight filter to learn to use), and another important one: Units that are Disordered. I won’t regurgitate every button here. Learn them all. This is an important set of controls for the game to get the most out of it. Once you learn them by way of the toolbar, then memorize their hotkey button combos, as it will save a lot of time to perform the equivalent with key strokes, as then you can flip filtering on and off, and highlighting on and off as needed on the fly.
Gameplay
A Typical Turn
During a “typical turn” I find myself first and foremost using the Artillery Dialog to determine what if any cannon or equivalent have line of sight and are in range and an appropriate unlimbered state to fire. I just find it best to go ahead and take care of this, as you can accrue fatigue on the enemy by doing this, and in some cases cause disorder or deaths, depending upon the resulting effect. You might as well get those benefits right away in a given turn.
After artillery fire, I tend to stay in Firing mode in my brain, and will take the time to fire any intended missile fire for that turn, as the English, this takes the form primarily of the English Longbow, the name sake of the volume. There may be situations where you need to move and then fire, some units can do this, many can not. So play this by ear based upon the units involved. I always suggest you play a scenario a few turns in, learn what’s not going to work, then restart it with your immediate learnings. Use the {F} toolbar button to see easily which units have Fired and which have not.
Next, I would check that my divisions and brigades are intact, un-disordered, and within command range of their Brigade commander, as well as their Division commanders. Each commander should be (if possible) within the range of their higher up commander in charge.
At this point.I’d normally first use my Movement points of units to bring them better under command radius of their immediate and higher up commanders (if possible). One thing to learn pretty early on is, mounted units don’t like going over obstacles, and that normally puts them into a disordered state. Avoid this if you can. It’s ok to get disordered if you know you can recover from it in time to be fired upon or assaulted by the enemy (or vice versa, as you plan to do likewise to the enemy).
Rules Of Thumb To Live By
- Avoid becoming Disordered
- Avoid being out of Command
- Avoid being Detached
- Avoid being Isolated
- If you intend to move, move first. Most units in most of the WDS lines of games cannot fire and then move. Just something to keep in mind. There are exceptions.
- Make sure your artillery gets in range, is clear in Line Of Sight to the enemy, is properly unlimbered,, and has available ammo.
- Also protect both your artillery and wagon supply units. They are both valuable, and fragile / easy to spook.
Unique Units to Longbow Vol. I
Below you’ll see some English Ribaulds (aka Ribauldequin), and there are many examples in this Battle Of Crecy snapshot of Longbowmen. Many many longbowmen. Almost every unit will carry the infamous English Longbow, as it truly is a powerful and easy to produce and maintain weapon of the day and age. Within 200 yds it typically can pierce most enemy armor. With flight arrows it can extend that effective range to 300 yds+ max.
Not too many other unique war machines, mounted, or land elements to this particular Volume, but the units are extremely well researched throughout.
Side-Bar : An Optional Rule I Tend To Turn On
I tend in WDS titles to turn on this Optional Rule. It greatly improves the realism of the level of rout daisy-chaining that can occur in some of these scenarios.
It was just not that realistic for the time for the game’s default level of rout chaining to occur. The focus of the hand to hand fighting generally kept your eyes, ears, blood, bruises and muddy mouth close at hand. You didn’t have time to be fearful of what was going on even 10 ft away from your melee action. You shat yourself right there and then.
Take note above, that every Optional Rule has a full detail mouse-over. This is a really nice touch. You don’t have to ferret through the manual <chompy chomp chomp> to find the needful.
Evaluation & First Impressions
The Pros
- One thing I want to call out immediately is Sound. Bravo on the sound engineering for this title. As with the Musket & Pike series of late, this particular volume has incredible music, and the sounds of the firing of Longbow volleys in particular, are just music to my ears.
- As usual, an enormous amount of provided scenarios, many what-ifs mixed in. Not just thrown together what-ifs, but actually plausible what-ifs.
- Why fuddle with what isn’t broken? The engine is tried and true and WDS continue to amaze me that they are able to continually improve it across all fronts.
- Historical accuracy throughout is spectacular. Very well researched throughout.
The Cons
- You’ve taken away hours of my life and are likely to take away more as I continue to play this? This game is eminently playable and re-playable. This one and Crusades I will likely be taking up a bulk of my wargaming time through years end and beyond.
- I will admit that WDS could continue to improve the close up 3D graphics on this one. For some reason, the more compactly formed and close order look to the 3d sprites in this particular title are a SLIGHT (only a very slight*) step back from Crusades I. I don’t know what it is about it, but it seems a tiny bit rushed. That said, the 2D unit counters are hands down the best of any of the WDS series. That took yet another step forward. Being honest here. Take another good look at these 3D sprites vs what was provided in Crusades I, IF you get a chance. It’s low on my overall life’s complaint list, as this wargame is otherwise out of this world outstanding. I hate to be critical in any way towards it.
This leads me to whole-heartedly recommend you purchase WDS’ Age Of Longbow: Volume I. You will have literally months of fun and excitement at your fingertips.
English Longbow Effectiveness
(source: Google Gemini)
The effectiveness of an English longbow ranged from a direct, lethal range of about 200 yards to a maximum range of up to 400 yards or more for flight arrows. Effective range depended on factors like the archer’s skill, bow strength, arrow weight, and the specific mission, whether a direct hit for armor penetration or a wide volley for disruption.
Factors Influencing Longbow Effectiveness:
- Distance: The farther the shot, the less likely it is to penetrate armor.
- Arrow Type: Heavy “war” arrows were used for impact and penetration at closer ranges, while lighter “flight” arrows achieved greater distances.
- Draw Weight: A stronger bow, requiring a higher draw weight (150-180 pounds for English longbows), would achieve greater range and penetration.
- Archer Skill: A trained archer could reliably hit targets at significant distances.
Effective vs. Maximum Range:
- Effective Range (Military Use): Around 200 yards, where arrows could reliably pierce armor with a direct hit.
- Maximum Range: With light flight arrows, the maximum distance could be 300-450 yards.
In Summary:
While some claims suggest much longer distances, a reliable military effective range for the English longbow was around 200 yards. A heavy war arrow was needed to penetrate armor at this range. For a wider psychological and disruptive effect, archers would fire in volleys at ranges up to 300-400 yards or more, though without the same accuracy or armor-piercing capability.
Books Of Note
(which I used directly while writing this article)
 |
The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337-1453 |
 |
Crécy: Battle of Five Kings |
 |
Crécy 1346: Triumph of the longbow (Campaign, 71) |
Thank you for visiting the Regiment of Strategy Gaming and riding with The Armchair Dragoons.
Rather than list a bunch of social media links, the easiest thing to do is to check out our LinkTree, which connects you to all of our various locales around the web.
You can also support The Armchair Dragoons through our Patreon, and find us at a variety of conventions and other events.
Feel free to talk back to us either in our discussion forum, or in the comments below.
I’m a WDS fan but don’t have any of their non WW2 titles, I may need to check this one out