@StrategyTavern

Bringing real lived experiences and memories of in game moments of vintage and retro strategy games daily!

Joined August 2026
  • Tweets40
  • Following6
  • Followers6
Command & Conquer: Red Alert, 1996. Money sat around the map in ore patches, and an unarmed truck drove out on its own to fetch it. When the ore near my base ran thin, mine went looking further out, picked the first patch it found, and that patch was inside the Soviet base. It died right there! and the replacement I built drove straight back to the same spot 🤣🤣
A snow battlefield in the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996): an orange explosion blooms among evergreens while red-uniformed Soviet infantry are scattered along a road below, sandbag emplacements and supply crates nearby. The game's metal sidebar sits down the right with a minimap above a radar grid, and the credit counter reads zero.

ALT A snow battlefield in the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert (1996): an orange explosion blooms among evergreens while red-uniformed Soviet infantry are scattered along a road below, sandbag emplacements and supply crates nearby. The game's metal sidebar sits down the right with a minimap above a radar grid, and the credit counter reads zero.

2
Alpha Centauri, 1999. The game dropped you on an alien planet, and the planet had mind worms on it. A mind worm went for your soldier's mind instead of his body, and in that kind of a fight the game basically ignored weapon and armour ratings completely. My expensive late game armour and a dude with a rifle stood about the same odds against them 🤪🤪
The 1999 retail box art of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: the chrome title over a starfield with the seven faction leaders' faces ghosted in a row behind it, above a planet horizon where a white sun rises over green land blotched with red. The tagline reads "The future of mankind".

ALT The 1999 retail box art of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: the chrome title over a starfield with the seven faction leaders' faces ghosted in a row behind it, above a planet horizon where a white sun rises over green land blotched with red. The tagline reads "The future of mankind".

Dungeon Keeper, 1997. The Horned Reaper — big red bloke off the box art — was the strongest creature in my dungeon and he was furious about literally everything. Sleeping in his own bed made him angrier. Picking him up made him angrier. One slap and he was most of the way to losing it, and if he ever fully lost it there was no coming back — he'd just start killing my own creatures. 😤 So I gave him a flat. Own room, own food, door on it, absolutely no colleagues. 😂😂
The 1997 retail box art of Bullfrog's Dungeon Keeper: a red horned demon face with yellow eyes, a gold ring through its nose and long pale tusks, mounted on a dark stone wall above a pile of skulls. The title is spelled out in red bone lettering above the tagline "Evil is Good".

ALT The 1997 retail box art of Bullfrog's Dungeon Keeper: a red horned demon face with yellow eyes, a gold ring through its nose and long pale tusks, mounted on a dark stone wall above a pile of skulls. The title is spelled out in red bone lettering above the tagline "Evil is Good".

6
Crusader Kings 3 had me playing one person rather than a whole country, so when my ruler died I carried on as his heir. I'd invested so much time in making an empire, and then the old man kicked the bucket, and I woke up as his eldest son with the place carved up between me and my two brothers like a Sunday roast! 🤣
An in-game screenshot of Crusader Kings 3 showing the parchment world map laid out like a scroll, with realms such as France, Poland, Hungary, the Byzantine Empire, Cumania and the Seljuks picked out in different colours.

ALT An in-game screenshot of Crusader Kings 3 showing the parchment world map laid out like a scroll, with realms such as France, Poland, Hungary, the Byzantine Empire, Cumania and the Seljuks picked out in different colours.

8
My newbie self had a general in Medieval II that went down five minutes into a battle I should have won easily. He was one man in an army of hundreds, and I had him charging about in the thick of it, because it looked magnificent. Then suddenly he stopped existing. The units next to him had been eating arrows on the way in and were shaky already, so they broke first, and the panic spread out from where he fell. Once men were running I couldn't give them an order. I clicked at them like a maniac anyway 🤣
The 2006 retail box art of Medieval II: Total War, showing a crowned, armoured king gripping a sword in front of a world map, with the Creative Assembly and SEGA logos.

ALT The 2006 retail box art of Medieval II: Total War, showing a crowned, armoured king gripping a sword in front of a world map, with the Creative Assembly and SEGA logos.

8
Dune II, 1992: "Warning: Wormsign!" That meant my one harvester was about to become lunch, and the aircraft that was supposed to save it, of which I had zero control over, was going to show up just in time to watch. 😬
An in-game screenshot of Dune II (1992): a sandworm surfacing on the orange spice sand near an Atreides vehicle, with the game's sidebar showing the sandworm's unit panel.

ALT An in-game screenshot of Dune II (1992): a sandworm surfacing on the orange spice sand near an Atreides vehicle, with the game's sidebar showing the sandworm's unit panel.

5
Civilization II, 1996. Somewhere on my border sat a town I had genuinely forgotten existed, defended by one man with a sharpened stick. An enemy tank rolled up expecting a formality. What it found was a hill, a set of city walls, and a veteran who had spent two millennia doing absolutely nothing but getting good at standing there. 😂 He won. I've never been prouder of a Phalanx.🤣🤣🤣
The 1996 retail box art of Sid Meier's Civilization II, showing the Statue of Liberty, war elephants, a sailing ship and a pagoda under the MicroProse logo.

ALT The 1996 retail box art of Sid Meier's Civilization II, showing the Statue of Liberty, war elephants, a sailing ship and a pagoda under the MicroProse logo.

2
My first dragon ruler in Age of Wonders 4 bankrupted me in peacetime, which is genuinely impressive, I hadn't even fought a proper war! Turns out a magnificent flying lizard has magnificent flying upkeep 😁, and I'd spent every coin I had on spearmen instead. He had one job and that was to sit on a pile of treasure and generate gold for me, and I spent his gold so nothing was generated... 🫠ugh.
The digital cover of Age of Wonders 4: an armoured ruler in a horned helm standing before a glowing portal, flanked by soldiers, above the game's logo.

ALT The digital cover of Age of Wonders 4: an armoured ruler in a horned helm standing before a glowing portal, flanked by soldiers, above the game's logo.

10
I once pushed a Baldur's Gate companion too far against what they believed, and they simply left. Viconia, I saved your ass from a burning stake in Baldur's Gate 2, and you walked out because I kept helping people. Drow gratitude for you.
An in-game scene from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000): the party stands in a town street during a dialogue, with the drow cleric Viconia's white-haired portrait in the party panel on the right.

ALT An in-game scene from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000): the party stands in a town street during a dialogue, with the drow cleric Viconia's white-haired portrait in the party panel on the right.

12
Heroes of Might and Magic III, 1999, rookie mistake: New troops only turned up in your towns on day one of a new week. Yours, and your enemy's, same morning. So I hit a castle two days early, not quite having appreciated the nuance of the aforementioned unit production, I tore through most of his garrison, got thrown off the walls, and thought fine, he's crippled, I'll be back Monday. Monday came. His reinforcements walked straight into the castle. Mine were sitting in a town half a map away. 😅
The loading screen of Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (1999): an angel and a demon face each other beneath the game's gold logo.

ALT The loading screen of Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia (1999): an angel and a demon face each other beneath the game's gold logo.

17
X-COM's time units (TU) ruled every turn: every step and every shot cost you. I once marched a rookie six tiles into the open and learned about reaction fire the hard way. Xenonauts 2 kept that wager alive. Bless it.
A tactical battle inside a UFO in X-COM: UFO Defense (1994): a soldier faces green-skinned aliens across a glowing room, with the time-unit and action interface along the bottom of the screen.

ALT A tactical battle inside a UFO in X-COM: UFO Defense (1994): a soldier faces green-skinned aliens across a glowing room, with the time-unit and action interface along the bottom of the screen.

9
Transport Tycoon Deluxe, 1995. Big planes kept dying at one small airport and I couldn't work out why. Landing a large aircraft on that short runway was a 1 in 20 shot at a fireball, every single landing. Any other plane, any other airport, about 1 in 1500. The manual gave it one line in the hints, "the risk of a crash is much higher", and never mentioned the number. I lost three before I built the Large Airport 😤
The 1995 retail box art of Transport Tycoon Deluxe: an art deco illustration of the bow of a red and white ocean liner, a pink aeroplane above it, a bullet train at the lower left and a suspension bridge at the right, with a row of cars, buses and lorries curving along a road in the foreground. A purple banner reading DELUXE runs down the left edge and the MicroProse Strategy logo sits at the bottom right.

ALT The 1995 retail box art of Transport Tycoon Deluxe: an art deco illustration of the bow of a red and white ocean liner, a pink aeroplane above it, a bullet train at the lower left and a suspension bridge at the right, with a row of cars, buses and lorries curving along a road in the foreground. A purple banner reading DELUXE runs down the left edge and the MicroProse Strategy logo sits at the bottom right.

26
Dwarf Fortress, 2015. Cats kept dying in my tavern and I could not work out why. Dwarves spilled their drinks. The game had code that allowed creatures to pickup liquids on their feet as they walked through them, used for laying footprints, so the booze stuck to cats paws, then cats then did what cats do and licked themselves clean drunk dead. 😹
A Dwarf Fortress fortress seen from above in the 2022 pixel-art graphics: a symmetrical grey stone complex of small furnished rooms around an octagonal plaza, opening onto a wide blue river with fishing piers to the right. A status bar across the top reads Food 4608, Drink 4863, and the date 16th Slate, Mid-Spring, Year 211.

ALT A Dwarf Fortress fortress seen from above in the 2022 pixel-art graphics: a symmetrical grey stone complex of small furnished rooms around an octagonal plaza, opening onto a wide blue river with fishing piers to the right. A status bar across the top reads Food 4608, Drink 4863, and the date 16th Slate, Mid-Spring, Year 211.

23
Sid Meier's Pirates!, the 2004 one. You start at 18 and the game ages you. Your sword arm starts slowing and you're past your peak almost immediately and by your thirties men you used to beat are filleting you. However, if you never split your gold in the hold you can continue playing past 100! Splitting the gold triggers retirement. Game basically stops the aging process around 42 so even if your 100 you fight like a 42 year old, 🤣.
A naval battle in the 2004 Sid Meier's Pirates! seen from above on bright turquoise water. A three-masted ship flying two skull-and-crossbones flags sails at the left, labelled Pirate Ship of the Line Invincible, 48 guns, 413 crew, 7 knots. To the right a second ship labelled Spanish War Galleon, 0 guns, 107 crew, 0 knots is engulfed in orange fire and smoke, with tiny figures and barrels scattered in the water around it.

ALT A naval battle in the 2004 Sid Meier's Pirates! seen from above on bright turquoise water. A three-masted ship flying two skull-and-crossbones flags sails at the left, labelled Pirate Ship of the Line Invincible, 48 guns, 413 crew, 7 knots. To the right a second ship labelled Spanish War Galleon, 0 guns, 107 crew, 0 knots is engulfed in orange fire and smoke, with tiny figures and barrels scattered in the water around it.

15
Diablo II, 2000. I died somewhere in the second act and woke up back in town in my pants. Every bit of gear I had been wearing was still on my corpse where I fell, and the things that killed me were standing round it, not one of them having wandered off. So off I went, naked, to loot my own body. I died again on the way! That left two of me lying out there. Apparently sixteen was the limit 🥲
A night-time fight in the original Diablo II (2000): a character sprays a jet of fire across the flagstones of a ruined stone platform while walls of flame burn along its edges and dark armoured enemies close in. The game's red health globe and blue mana globe sit in the bottom corners with potion slots between them.

ALT A night-time fight in the original Diablo II (2000): a character sprays a jet of fire across the flagstones of a ruined stone platform while walls of flame burn along its edges and dark armoured enemies close in. The game's red health globe and blue mana globe sit in the bottom corners with potion slots between them.

16
FTL, 2012. Fire on board, so I did the correct thing and opened the airlocks. No air, no fire, problem solved. Then I got busy shooting at the other ship and I stupidly asphyxiate one of my own crew men! 😭🤣
The FTL combat screen, showing a spaceship in cutaway from above as a set of connected white rooms. Six crew are listed down the left with green health bars. Two rooms at the left of the ship are shaded pink, with figures fighting inside them. Red text in the middle of the screen reads WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED. Readouts at the top left show hull, shields, 25 percent evade and 74 percent oxygen. A green enemy ship is shown in a red-tinted panel at the right, labelled Class: Energy Bomber, Relationship: Hostile.

ALT The FTL combat screen, showing a spaceship in cutaway from above as a set of connected white rooms. Six crew are listed down the left with green health bars. Two rooms at the left of the ship are shaded pink, with figures fighting inside them. Red text in the middle of the screen reads WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED. Readouts at the top left show hull, shields, 25 percent evade and 74 percent oxygen. A green enemy ship is shown in a red-tinted panel at the right, labelled Class: Energy Bomber, Relationship: Hostile.

20
StarCraft 1998 who else remembers "You must construct additional pylons." If you know, you know. 😂 grrr not again!
An in-game screenshot of the original 1998 StarCraft showing a Protoss base with glowing blue pylons, a Robotics Facility warping in, and the supply counter reading 38 of 57.

ALT An in-game screenshot of the original 1998 StarCraft showing a Protoss base with glowing blue pylons, a Robotics Facility warping in, and the supply counter reading 38 of 57.

13
Deus Ex, 2000. There was a wall in my way with no way up it, so I climbed my own landmines. You could stick the proximity mines to a vertical wall and they'd sit there, live, holding your weight. You'd stand on one, crouch, stick the next one slightly higher, hop up, then reach back down and pocket the one underneath. Two mines and a lot of patience got you over almost anything 😬
Cover art for Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition, in tall portrait format and lit almost entirely in cold blue. A man's head and shoulders fill the lower half, shot from below, wearing narrow wraparound black sunglasses and a high-collared coat, his face impassive. A silhouetted city skyline stands behind him. The Deus Ex logo sits above his head with a stylised angular emblem over it and a bar reading GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION beneath.

ALT Cover art for Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition, in tall portrait format and lit almost entirely in cold blue. A man's head and shoulders fill the lower half, shot from below, wearing narrow wraparound black sunglasses and a high-collared coat, his face impassive. A silhouetted city skyline stands behind him. The Deus Ex logo sits above his head with a stylised angular emblem over it and a bar reading GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION beneath.

12
For me, fog of war, that black shroud hiding the map until you walk into it, is still one of the best tools a strategy game ever shipped, even though it's just a bit of black on the screen. Age of Empires taught me that back in 1997. Twenty peaceful minutes building my little town, feeling very pleased with myself, then one of my villagers wandered two screens west and found an enemy city twice the size of mine, already drilling soldiers. Oh shit! A couple of games like that was all it took 😅 I then started sending villagers (frequently to their deaths) to scan the land early 😅
The 1997 retail box art of Microsoft's Age of Empires: illustrated ancient warriors and a war elephant, with the tagline 'An Epic Game of Empire-Building and Conquest'.

ALT The 1997 retail box art of Microsoft's Age of Empires: illustrated ancient warriors and a war elephant, with the tagline 'An Epic Game of Empire-Building and Conquest'.

26
Load more