Slitherine/Matrix Grigsby Games sale

[devoncop]

Slitherine/ Matrix have a Gary Grigsby sale on this week with big discounts on his games and if you buy one you get his War Between the States game for free.

I cant see anything I want though I wondered if anyone would recommend War Between the States itself  as I now am really into the ACW and have heard a couple of positive things about it. If it is good I will pick it up as it is only about £8 and it apparently plays fine on Wndows 10/11.

Cheers

Ian

By the way I am enjoying Strategic Command ACW but it needs balancing as the rebels are getting overrun by 1863 in most games. Amphibious landings by marines are lethal to the southern ports which strangles the income for the south..

[Tripoli]

Ian-I liked "War Between the States" and thought it had a really good random leader system.  If you get it, I'd be happy to do a PBEM game with you.

[JasonPratt]

By the way I am enjoying Strategic Command ACW but it needs balancing as the rebels are getting overrun by 1863 in most games. Amphibious landings by marines are lethal to the southern ports which strangles the income for the south..

This was sort of a weakness in Forge of Freedom, too. I never saw the AI go for a real Anaconda strategy, so as the CSA I took advantage of this to pump up my forward forces with garrison forces -- admittedly crappy, but I focused on arming them up properly, too. But I did that mainly because I could see there was no way for me to defend against the coils of the 'Conda, so I might as well push hard and force the US AI to keep troops dedicated up north to defend -- and to keep them similarly from building up a good blockade navy.

I doubt that would work as well vs a human player.

[The_Admiral]

Jesus
WitP AE for -70%

People, if you don't have it already and call yourself a PTO afficionado, NO MORE EXCUSES!

[devoncop]

Thanks for the replies guys. Looks quite an involved game (especially if the optional "Corps Commanders" mechanic is used so I will definitely need to do a SP playthrough first before tackling General Tripoli in a MP  :)

Thanks for the offer though !

I will see if I can find any tutorial/ lets plays on You Tube tonight to see if I like the mechanics.

[devoncop]

Jesus
WitP AE for -70%

People, if you don't have it already and call yourself a PTO afficionado, NO MORE EXCUSES!

Does it work with Windows 11 ?

[The_Admiral]

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=10684

I don't see debilitating issues... Bear in mind though that the forum can be visited by people who got a cracked version of the game and are still trying to figure out how to make it work without telling others ^^
Hopefully that friendly price will lower the chances of that happening too often, as long as you grasp that one opportunity in time, hehe

[Jarhead0331]

Jesus
WitP AE for -70%

People, if you don't have it already and call yourself a PTO afficionado, NO MORE EXCUSES!

Does it work with Windows 11 ?

it does, but you may have to tweak your settings and monitor in order to get a good resolution and display.

[devoncop]

Cheers JH.

Not sure in that case.

Thanks anyway.

[The_Admiral]

Well can't be helped - but you weren't a PTO guy to begin with then ^^

As an operational-scale wargame for the South Pacific (the only theater I play on it, and the only theater playable in a PBEM with a chance to finish it within a few weeks each time) it remains, 12 years later, absolutely unparalleled & without serious competition when it comes to gameplay options & historicity. I say that after having made a thorough research on this very topic, believe me  ^-^

Its WEGO system has never been imitated - yet it is certainly the most satisfying thing there is for this scale, for this theater. A work of genius. If we were to make a campaign system for our game on the Solomons, I certainly contemplate the possibility of imitating it with 3 turns a day or something (just the gist of it, along with a number of QoL improvements of course). That's how good it is.

Can't even say Uncommon Valor is better anymore - the new scale in Admiral's Edition made that moot.
But you do you ;)

[Sigwolf]

It's a shame that I already bought 75% of the Grigsby games, most through them directly, including the physical editions with manuals for WITPAE, WitW and WitE1&2, but don't qualify for the War Between the States giveaway... I guess I should have held out a little longer...   :DD

[Father Ted]

Jesus
WitP AE for -70%

People, if you don't have it already and call yourself a PTO afficionado, NO MORE EXCUSES!

So if I have a reasonable handle on WitE\WitW\WitE2 will WitP make sense to me?

[The_Admiral]

I'd say probably not, they are very different designs. WitP is much closer IMHO from what Gary Grisby did in the 1990s than WitE is.
But when it comes to the quartermaster part of the game it is more familiar ground to me. You don't do unit attachment or the likes. You basically make sure that the spice flows, and ends up in the right place to support your next effort.

But all of this is optional. I only play SOPAC myself (I have little love for the long campaign, even with a human opponent, I just simply don't have that sort of free time available to me) and when focusing on a smaller self-contained area, not unlike WitE introductory or single operation scenarios, the most cumbersome stuff tend to disappear. In the case of a good SOPAC scenario, just make sure that you make the best of what you have. Nobody expects you to manage refits and Japanese engine production :)

Just beware though, WitP is first & foremost an air-naval experience. Ground war is very limited (as it should be) in the Pacific, but in Asia it can get very frustrating considering the engine only handles that with limited grace, efficiency & fireworks. It's not up to the standards of what you have in WitE - but the same can be said about WitE & WitW naval component naturally.

[Darrell999]

What is this South Pacific scenario you speak of?  I don't see it in my War in the Pacific AE.  Are you referring to the Guadalcanal scenario, or is there a longer Southpac scenario to download from somewhere?

[ArizonaTank]

The sale doesn't really do anything for me since I have all the titles already.

Absolutely agree that WitPAE is the best Pacific War strategic game ever... I don't know of any other game (with the possible strange exception of Buka's Pacific Storm) that depicts the importance of the humble transport ship in the Pacific so well. Cargo ships are critical to any operation that involves taking and holding land. The game makes it very clear that the Japanese could never have come close to landing a significant number of troops in California, let alone Hawaii.

Another great GG game that has no peer IMHO is "Eagle Day / Bombing the Reich." Like WitPAE the UI is very 20th century. The game depicts every plane, every squadron, and every target for the Battle of Britain as well as the Allied bombing campaign. The game has some monster scenarios as well as very playable shorter ones.

Here is an old review of EDBtR I did when I was a reviewing type of guy:  http://armchairgeneral.com/eagle-day-to-bombing-the-reich-pc-game-review.htm