The Ancient Art of War is a computer wargame designed by Dave and Barry Murry of Evryware and published by Broderbund in 1984.

A battlefield simulation, the game's title comes from the classic strategy text The Art of War written by Sun Tzu around 400 B.C.

[2] The objective of the game is to win a series of battles using four types of troops: Knights, Archers, Barbarians, and Spies.

[2] The campaigns include both skirmishes and capture the flags style missions, while the terrain layout and initial starting units provided a variety of strategic options for game play.

The player can also select from among several AI opponents represented by various historical figures such as Geronimo and Sun Tzu himself.

These settings affected both AI behavior, as well as certain properties such as the speed at which enemy units moved through difficult terrain.

Each mission takes place on a map containing forts, towns, terrain features (bridges, mountains, forests, etc.

A number of factors influence the outcome of a battle and elevate the game beyond a simple rock-paper-scissors strategy.

Care has to be taken when marching troops full speed, or across a series of mountains, to prevent them from arriving at a battle too fatigued to fight.

The severity of certain terrain features, such as whether moving through mountains is merely slow or potentially deadly, is controlled at game time with options, not via a property of the map.

The campaign editor controls the positioning and composition of squads on both sides, their initial condition and supply levels,[4] the location of flags, the default opponent, and the mission briefing, including settings such as how treacherous the terrain is.

Macworld praised the game's clear graphics that made complex movements comprehensible, the movie-style combat scenes, the quality packaging, and the editing tools.

The Ancient Art of War is cited as a classic example of a video game that uses a rock-paper-scissors design with its three combat units, archer, knight, and barbarian,[17] as a way to balance gameplay strategies.