Choose between AGEOD titles?

[Ridcully70]

I bought American Civil War about ten years ago but my computer a the time couldn't run it, so I sold it on ebay. In the interim I've discovered that AGEOD have made quite a few more games. Having seen some Youtube videos on them however it seems that there doesn't seem to be any huge difference between them. The historical theme is of less interest to me than good gameplay, so can anyone give opinions on one of their games that would be best? It's really more to do with time constrictions than anything else that I'm trying to be selective.

[Alan Sharif]

I would go with Alea Jacta Est. There are some excellent tutorial videos on You Tube, the unit count is reasonable, and it's in the Steam sale at present I believe.

[vonRocko]

Alea Jacta Est is great. I also highly recommend Wars in America. It has the American revolution,French and indian war and plenty of other scenerios.

[JReb]

yes to both. Those are the best two titles. Alea Jacta Est, tt.asp?forumid=1113

Wars in America is also called Birth of America 2. tt.asp?forumid=596

[loki100]

AGEOD basically use 2 design systems and that might influence your choice.

Supply is either 'simple' or dynamic

Stacks/leadership are either 'simple' or use an army-corps style relationship.

Different games are built on different combinations.

Simple supply are games where the supply in a province can only be used there or in neighbouring provinces ... unless you use supply wagons. Its used to model places/times where the infrastructure was weak - so games like Alea Jacta Est or Wars in America.

Dynamic supply are games where the supply moves via larger cities, transport links and your depots. You will still need wagons to actually supply your army.

Simple stacks are games where you have command points (generated by leaders) and command costs generated by the combat units. You build a stack by combining as many units as you can in a given stack (leaders also have traits which adds a lot of fun). Each army moves in an isolated manner (again this is used to reflect either doctrine or the ease of communications). The alternative is a game (like the old ACW you had) with a CinC and corps, these can mutually support leading to escalating battles and so on.

I don't think that either version is better than the other (and simple supply presents some complex problems) but in general the games that have simple supply and the single army stack concept play quicker. So that would tend you to Alea Jacta Est (AJE) or Wars in America (WiA). I still play both and think they are great. The newer Thirty Years War (TYW) uses this system too and is a good game.

If you don't want to invest the time I'd avoid Revolution under Siege and the new ACW game. Both are immersing but both take a lot of time and effort. If you fancy a game with the complex supply/command system but that is still relatively quick I'd strongly recommend Rise of Prussia. Its a real gem of a game that captures mid-18C warfare perfectly but you can still play at some pace.

[Ridcully70]

Thanks! Okay I'll maybe narrow it down to 2 of their games, so that people who gave their opinion won't be too annoyed I didn't heed their advice![:D]