14 DAY TRIAL // 
I thought I had the perfect defensive setup, with Tigers, 88s, infantry in buildings and some scouts lining the exterior of the town and a few Stug IIIs in the center, ready to deal with any sort of emergency, and it was so until the sixth turn of my battle.
Then, the United States enemy force sprung a surprise and deployed a horde of infantry on the east side, where I had only one pluton of foot troops and a lot of tanks.
They advanced steadily and just as I reacted with tanks from another side of town, the enemy launched a three pronged armor assault that managed to overcome my defenses.
Battle Academy managed to deliver another defeat and I was determined to try again.
The title takes gamers to that all too familiar setting of World War II and allows them to experience some of the most important engagements of the conflict using a wide variety of the units that the opposing sides themselves have committed to the fight.
The scenarios are mostly well created and introduce solid tactical challenges for gamers to experience and solve, although they might lack the complexity of other strategy titles built around the same scenarios, like the Battle of the Bulge or the landings in Normandy.
Battle Academy offers a number of core campaigns to the player as part of the game, with a wide number of extra scenarios created by the community of fans and others available for gamers who like the experience and are willing to spend on DLC.
Battle Academy might look like a simple game, but it is anything but and the gamer that ignores the basic rules of war and simply rushes in to kill his enemies will quickly find his force in tatters and will be forced to restart the scenario.
The core mechanics are built around a turn-based system, which allows the player to control a variety of units and move them, position them and give them special orders designed to stop enemy advances, kill their units and ultimately secure crucial victory points.
Positioning and scouting are both very important and gamers will quickly learn that moving even good units too fast and too far will result in their fast loss.
A successful battle requires plenty of though and good coordination between the infantry, the faster vehicles, the firepower of armor and the various off-the-map assets, like artillery and aircraft.
The game has a good rhythm and almost all the scenarios offer a good level of challenge, especially for those players who want to achieve all the bonus objectives.
Battle Academy is not at the apex of the graphics competition that modern video games engage in and it’s easy to see that the core idea is a few years old, but the quality is never getting in the way of the actual gameplay of the title.
The stylized visuals might be a little weird for long-term military strategy fans, but I became accustomed to them after a few battles and came to enjoy them and the way they kind of mask the cruel realities of conflict.
The sound design is pretty mediocre and doesn’t add anything to the Battle Academy experience, while the music is appropriate to the period, but never manages to surprise.
One cool decision on the part of the development team is to allow players to engage in multiplayer combat with others who do not own a copy of the title.
Battle Academy is not the best turn-based strategy title available on Steam at the moment and plenty of gamers might find it ponderous, too cartoony and lacking innovation.
But the title does deliver a simple and solid set of gameplay mechanics that can be an excellent entry point for those who have not played any other titles in the genre so far, so it makes a good gift idea for gamer friends that have not yet witnessed the joy of playing turn-based military strategy.
