Some wargames open source or available for Linux

If you are like most human beings, surely you have sinned brotherhood in social networks or family gatherings. In that case it is likely that in the last days you have hung up the gown of a COVID specialist to put on the cap of a general and analyzed as an expert in military strategy, maps, correlation of forces and other data trying to predict the outcome of the invasion of Ukraine.

In this post we propose put your strategist skills to the test in some open source war games or available for Linux.

A clarification

It is likely that in this time of abundance of hypersensitive souls some will object to the opportunity to publish this post when there are people suffering from a real war in the Ukraine). My answer is that there is always a war in some part of the world and that the reason for the existence of games is precisely to channel impulses inherent to the human being without harming third parties.

On the other hand, years of preaching by experts against toy guns, shooting video games and violent scenes on television seem to be having the opposite effect to what they were intended.

Open source or available wargames for Linux

This is not a complete list, If you know of one that is not listed, but you like it, you can add it in the comments form.

Warzone 2100

En this game, Completely free and completely open source, we are in charge of leading the forces of "The Project". The mission is to win the battle to decide how the world is rebuilt.After almost all of humanity was destroyed by nuclear missiles.

The modalities are a single player, multiplayer on a local network or the Internet. A novelty is that bots programmed with open source Artificial Intelligence technologies can be enemies or companions and are available in both single player and multiplayer modes.

Warzone 1000 is available for the following platforms:

• Windows 7 – 10: 32 bit, 64 bits, Microsoft Store, portable 32 bitportable 64 bit
• macOS 10.10+:  64 bits
• Linux: Snap format, Deb package for Ubuntu 20.04 and higher.

The Battle for Westnoth

En this game open sourceor set in a fantasy world we can live different adventures such as reclaiming the throne, fleeing from the lich lords, creating a jewel of fire deep within the earth, defending the realm against devastating hordes led by a necromancer, or traversing the burning sands in command of a group of survivors to defeat an evil invisible.

The game takes place on a hexagonal grid, although a map editor is available to create other scenarios. Individual units fight each other for control and each type of unit has unique strengths and weaknesses, requiring players to plan their attacks accordingly.

It can be played individually or in multiplayer mode.

is available for

• windows 64 bit
• macOS 10.11 or higher
• Linux (In the repositories or on Flatub

UFO: Alien Invasion

At this point in the game, not even the most skeptical of us would dare to say that there will never be an alien invasion, which is why we include in this list a on the subject to train.

The story takes place in the year 2084 when the earth enjoys relative stability until an alien fleet attacks the planet. The UN revives an old anti-alien agency, entrusting it with the task of fighting the enemy and ensuring the survival of the human race.

We can choose between two game modes geoscape and tactical. In geoscape mode, we see the big picture and have to deal with managing bases, researching new technology, and controlling overall strategy. In tactical mode, you command a squad of soldiers and directly engage alien invaders in a turn-based battle. Both require complex strategies and tactics.

UFO: Alien Invasion can be played solo or with other players.

The game and its map editor is available for Windows and Mac. We can also install it from repositories (without the map editor) from the repositories of Debian derived distributions.