If you could only choose one Matrix ACW game...

[jalefkowit]

I've been itching to play a good American Civil War grand-strategic game for a while now. But I can't tell from reviews, etc. which of Matrix's array of offerings is the best place to start.

It looks like they have three well-regarded games of this type: Forge of Freedom, AGEOD's American Civil War, and Gary Grigsby's War Between the States.

In a perfect world, I'd just buy all three [:)] But Matrix's prices are on the high end -- I'm a little amazed they're still charging $50 for some stuff that other publishers would have bargain-binned years ago -- and I can't justify dropping nearly $200 for three games that are so similar to each other.

However, it's hard to figure out which one is right for me, because (a) Matrix doesn't offer demos for any of them (grrr) and (b) the gaming media's coverage of wargames is pathetic, so it's hard to find a cross-section of reviews that you can use to suss out how each game plays.

So here's my question: which one do YOU recommend?

[kentcol]

Definitely War Between the States. The other two are awesome also but this one is easy to get into, yet very hard to master. It is one you will play for a loooong time! Good luck:)

[JudgeDredd]

Very, very hard to give a decision here...I love War Between The States and Forge of Freedom. So I guess I'd have to say...

• If you want an ACW game that you can play to completion within a few hours and are not concerned about playing out tactical engagements, then Ware Between The States is your baby
• If, however, you want a game that will keep going and give you control of tactical battles, then Forge of Freedom is the puppy you want.

I really couldn't choose between them...and I do have both. They are both great games and both detailed...FoF moreso and it has tactical battles. But WBTS has some great features and you could easily play out the war in one sitting of 3 hours or so.

[Arsan]

Hi!

Fortunately AGEOD offers demos of all their games
You can download the demo of AACW form here
http://www.ageod.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=115
And the full game manual from here
http://www.ageod.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=105

AACW has an awesome support that adds improvements and new features with each patch (besides fixes of course). So bear in mind that the game has evolved quite a lot since the demo was done a year and a half ago. By now, AACW is at 1.11 version patch.
But the demo should give you a good idea about what the game offers.
IMHO, AACW is an excellent game... but i have not played the other two...
Regards

[Gil R.]

Jalefkowit,
I'm part of the development team behind FOF, so I'm the wrong person to answer. However, here's something that might help. I've been keeping an index to threads in various forums that have substantial discussions comparing two or more of these games, and these might indicate which game would be best for your tastes. Just go here:
tm.asp?m=1503227
You won't go wrong with any of the three titles.

[jalefkowit]

Wow, great responses! Thanks!

If it helps, btw, the last grand-strategic ACW game I played that I really liked was (and here I show my age) Interactive Magic's "American Civil War: From Sumter to Appomattox" -- which was deeply flawed but had so many good ideas in it I kept on coming back... anyone else remember that one?

Oh, and Gil -- Forge of Freedom does look pretty cool, thanks for the links. Do you have any plans for an FoF demo in the future?

[Gil R.]

There's no demo, just the promotional video.

Creating a playable demo for something like FOF would take A LOT of programming time, delaying other projects significantly. And since the game has been out for nearly two years it simply wouldn't make good business sense to produce on at this point. So, the video, reviews, AAR's, and, of course, forum discussions will remain the best way of getting a sense of it.