AGEODS 30 Years War (http://www.ageod.com/news/1690/Another.Ageod.game.announced.for.2015!) has been announced.
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Fans of Ageod already knew that a Napoleonic title was coming in 2015. What they may not know though, is that another team is also getting ready to release another deep Ageod wargame this year! This secret project is now mature enough to be shared with you today.
If recent Ageod releases were focused on the 19th and 20th centuries, this new game steps further back in time, exploring the pike and shot era. Indeed, Ageod's Thirty Years War will cover the series of conflicts in Europe between 1618 and 1648 when religious disputes and lust for power tore the whole continent apart and where you will fight for local and regional domination.
From the Bohemian rebellion to the Swedish intervention led by Gustavus Adolphus, from Denmark to the Palatinate, you can now recreate the Campaigns of Lützen, Nördlingen and Rocroi. In Ageod's Thirty Years War you will coordinate the movements of several armies, take care of their supplies and fatigue and seek for the best conditions to engage in combat, undertake sieges or retreat to recover if needed; with the ultimate goal of gaining supremacy over Central Europe.
We can already unveil the box of the game and we'll make sure to publish some in-game visuals soon.
Get more information on Ageod's Thirty Years War from its official product page.
I didn't know either this or a new Napoleon game where in the works for this year. With my year and a half long love affair with EUIV, I've really grown interested in the 30 Years war era. Looking forward to this one.
Sweet!
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on May 13, 2015, 11:10:32 AM
Sweet!
+1 That period really appeals to me for gaming.
Thirty years? That should be a LONG game. :P Saw that this am. Might be a better fit for the engine than WWI.
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 11:25:55 AM
Thirty years? That should be a LONG game. :P Saw that this am. Might be a better fit for the engine than WWI.
Just imagine if Grigsby did a Thirty Years War monster game....
Yes!!!!!
Quote from: Bison on May 13, 2015, 11:51:16 AM
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 11:25:55 AM
Thirty years? That should be a LONG game. :P Saw that this am. Might be a better fit for the engine than WWI.
Just imagine if Grigsby did a Thirty Years War monster game....
And you had to specify what everybody had for breakfast for every single regiment every day for 30 years.
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 11:25:55 AM
Thirty years? That should be a LONG game. :P Saw that this am. Might be a better fit for the engine than WWI.
I agree. The AGEOD engine should work better for the 17th century than the 20th. I've played a lot of AGEOD games and the only one I thought actually was fully functional was the Rise of Prussia. Of course to simulate the 30-years war you have to let everything become totally dysfunctional after the war has been going on for about 15 years. And then the French arrive and clean up the mess. And it takes them about 13 years. There's a plot for you: Richelieu is coming and this time he means business. He's going to kick ass like no cardinal you've ever seen.
I think the engine does Birth of America very well. It's my favorite Ageod title.
Cardinal Kickass. Sign me up.
Noooooo! I want them to announce Pride of Nations 2 with a new game engine! :(
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 11:25:55 AM
Thirty years? That should be a LONG game. :P Saw that this am. Might be a better fit for the engine than WWI.
Agreed with this and Meng Jiao. I think the engine works pretty well in the Roman era games, Rise of Prussia, the Napoleon game with some reservations, and I hear that Revolution Under Siege is good, though I haven't yet played it. I don't think the engine works at all well for the WWI game or Civil War II. Assuming they stick with a campaign/phase of the war focus rather than trying to game the entire war, I think this could be good.
I suppose I need to give To End All Wars another shake, but it mangles the East Front campaigns so badly at the start of the war that I just give pissed and quit.
Have to pull out my Guthrie books on the war, but this could be utterly frustrating, crazy, fun.
Cannot recall his name but the Imperialists had a general the troops nicknamed Army Wrecker. He was good as long as things were going well, but once things got sticky he just lost it. A functional alcoholic, he'd just tie on week long benders and let everything fall to pieces. His armies sat in position long enough to eat up all the food in an area and then instead of moving he couldn't make up his mind and sat in place.
Naturally, the troops starting starving, and then deserting. He did this at least twice, losing whole armies when he could have fallen back and kept them fed.
And people complain about command structure in Scourge of War?
More renaissance goodness.
The guys at the Pike and Shot forums are asking if they can have a way to play out the tactical battles in P&S and import results to Ageod.
Quote from: jomni on May 13, 2015, 06:03:32 PM
More renaissance goodness.
The guys at the Pike and Shot forums are asking if they can have a way to play out the tactical battles in P&S and import results to Ageod.
That would be uber cool.
I think the AGEOD engine has trouble with any way requiring traditional "front lines". An army from the confederacy appearing in Indiana is odd...a Dacian army appearing in cisalpine gaul...not so odd
Finally!!
I have been waiting for a 30 Years War game for what seems an eternity. After Birth of America it was clear this engine would be perfect for it in terms of combat and movement. I don't know how it can handle the the political events, combined with the destruction of wealth and millions of civilian which dictated a great deal of the wars flow. Regions which saw campaigning could not be used for years afterwards by armies, I don't know how they are going to sim this, or the greatest challenge; how to simulate the actions of Wallenstein.
Quote from: mikeck on May 13, 2015, 06:59:51 PM
I think the AGEOD engine has trouble with any way requiring traditional "front lines". An army from the confederacy appearing in Indiana is odd...a Dacian army appearing in cisalpine gaul...not so odd
I hadn't thought of it that way, but I think this is exactly the problem. Really good observation.
True. It's about assembling armies into a few stacks, move around the map, then meet in one decisive battle. It is more about eliminating the opponents armies than capturing territory and holding ground.
The demo of Revolution Under Siege was pretty good with the more open and fluid nature of the campaign. But I still struggled to keep up with who and what was where every turn. It was work but it was fun work.
If Pike and Shot is somehow linked to this new title, it will be epic beyond belief.
Quote from: panzerde on May 13, 2015, 05:35:12 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 11:25:55 AM
Thirty years? That should be a LONG game. :P Saw that this am. Might be a better fit for the engine than WWI.
Agreed with this and Meng Jiao. I think the engine works pretty well in the Roman era games, Rise of Prussia, the Napoleon game with some reservations, and I hear that Revolution Under Siege is good, though I haven't yet played it. I don't think the engine works at all well for the WWI game or Civil War II. Assuming they stick with a campaign/phase of the war focus rather than trying to game the entire war, I think this could be good.
I suppose I need to give To End All Wars another shake, but it mangles the East Front campaigns so badly at the start of the war that I just give pissed and quit.
Same here for To End All Wars. Revolution Under Seige did somehow seem to work, but Civil War II -- Nope! Espana 1937 -- Nope!
Birth of American apparently does work and Rise of Prussia and the Roman stuff and the Napoleonic (about as well as RUS?)...So the 17th Century should work okay in the system. The 30yw does break down fairly well into separate periods plus you could branch out into such things as the various French civil wars and the 80-years war (Spain vs the rebellious low Countries and France and England) and maybe the various wars of Louis XIV. By the time you reach the Nine-year's war its not even all that far to the seven-years war.
Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 09:55:04 PM
The demo of Revolution Under Siege was pretty good with the more open and fluid nature of the campaign. But I still struggled to keep up with who and what was where every turn.
Thus being truly accurate to the Russian Civil War. >:D
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 14, 2015, 01:00:34 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 09:55:04 PM
The demo of Revolution Under Siege was pretty good with the more open and fluid nature of the campaign. But I still struggled to keep up with who and what was where every turn.
Thus being truly accurate to the Russian Civil War. >:D
Yep! Personally, I think
Revolution Under Siege was the most successful title using the AGE engine. Or maybe
Rise of Prussia.
This might be interesting ... I haven't really had too much time to mess around with my few AGEOD titles, but what ones I did -I think that it has a lot of potential.
Fwiw, though I think you might be better insight into something this scale from Wedgwood or Wilson as opposed to Guthrie (my comment is about scale mostly).
Guthrie's good -it is just that, his books are more like articles from S&T as opposed to something like a narrative of the war ( for example - he sort of touches on Pappenheim's campaign after he talks about Lutzen (and of course Pappenheim died at Lutzen) ... so it is more about a topical approach than a contextual one.
Looking forward to this one.
Southern Cross, I agree that Guthrie is very tactical in his approach. He was a miniature gamer and found the pike and shot warfare very interesting.
The scale of the AGEOD games does fit better to the level of the treatment of Wedgwood and most others. But being interested in the sweep of the period means so many details are left out.
For example, why salvo firing as developed by Gustavus was an effective tactic. In Wedgwood, all she says is Gustavus developed "new methods" of infantry fire.
This leaves me wondering what did he do? Guthrie goes into it in detail. For me, that is the approach.
Both styles complement each other, but homogenized history leaves me cold.
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on May 14, 2015, 06:44:00 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 14, 2015, 01:00:34 PM
Quote from: Sir Slash on May 13, 2015, 09:55:04 PM
The demo of Revolution Under Siege was pretty good with the more open and fluid nature of the campaign. But I still struggled to keep up with who and what was where every turn.
Thus being truly accurate to the Russian Civil War. >:D
Yep! Personally, I think Revolution Under Siege was the most successful title using the AGE engine. Or maybe Rise of Prussia.
Personally, I thought I was one of the few people who thought RUS worked well. And for me, Rise of Prussia was by far the best AGEOD. After Rise of Prussia, nothing seemed to work as well. I am, however, pretty such the 30-years-war is well within the AGEOD sweet spot.
I've only played some of the smaller RUS scenarios, but they were enjoyable. As usual in wargames, the handling of aircraft units is a bit odd.
I still enjoy the Roman-era AJE/BOR series the most, but that could just be due to period preference. BOA2 is much smaller in scope, but very similar. As previously mentioned, the game system works well with periods involving no long strategic front lines and line battles on the smaller scale.
Quote from: southern_cross_116 on May 15, 2015, 05:34:09 AM
This might be interesting ... I haven't really had too much time to mess around with my few AGEOD titles, but what ones I did -I think that it has a lot of potential.
Fwiw, though I think you might be better insight into something this scale from Wedgwood or Wilson as opposed to Guthrie (my comment is about scale mostly).
Guthrie's good -it is just that, his books are more like articles from S&T as opposed to something like a narrative of the war ( for example - he sort of touches on Pappenheim's campaign after he talks about Lutzen (and of course Pappenheim died at Lutzen) ... so it is more about a topical approach than a contextual one.
Looking forward to this one.
It should be good. I read Wedgewood long ago and Gutherie not so long ago, however I find Wilson's book really made me ponder the events and their logic. The book is not a particularly easy read and I'm on my second attempt to absorb parts of it rather than read it straight through -- but it is rewarding and enlightening:
http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/866
Quote from: besilarius on May 15, 2015, 06:53:37 AM
Southern Cross, I agree that Guthrie is very tactical in his approach. He was a miniature gamer and found the pike and shot warfare very interesting.
The scale of the AGEOD games does fit better to the level of the treatment of Wedgwood and most others. But being interested in the sweep of the period means so many details are left out.
For example, why salvo firing as developed by Gustavus was an effective tactic. In Wedgwood, all she says is Gustavus developed "new methods" of infantry fire.
This leaves me wondering what did he do? Guthrie goes into it in detail. For me, that is the approach.
Both styles complement each other, but homogenized history leaves me cold.
That's true; I found that I was looking through some books on the (others words I think) military revolution in early modern Europe. This is basically a bit broader than the TYW itself but compares weapons and tactics - I have a few on this -but off the top of my head I think Geoffrey Parker was/is a big proponent of this, and I think Hans Delbrueck's books were regarding this. I think too that (and granted this one might be more readily found in a library), the 2 volume sorta bio on Gustavus Adolphus also touches this (although I can't say as I have read it yet).
I think (but could be wrong on this) that the 2 Ospreys on Gustavus Adolphus' Armies provided a nice overview as well (Osprey can be hit or miss, but I think Richard Brezinski ... and I apologise if I spelled his name incorrectly) did a pretty nice job on these -in so far as it touches on a lot of areas not just here's some soldiers ... here's how they dressed ... the end. :).
As far as Wilson goes ... MengJiao ... I am a bad example of some one who has read this through - I have picked it up and put it down several times over the past couple of years. I like the maps (although they are sort of out of context to the book -they imply a greater treatment of the battle situation than in fact I think the book covers), although I got the most use out of comparing them with other period maps.
I'm thinking I may have to fire up Rise of Prussia this weekend...
Quote from: southern_cross_116 on May 15, 2015, 03:56:56 PM
Quote from: besilarius on May 15, 2015, 06:53:37 AM
Southern Cross, I agree that Guthrie is very tactical in his approach. He was a miniature gamer and found the pike and shot warfare very interesting.
The scale of the AGEOD games does fit better to the level of the treatment of Wedgwood and most others. But being interested in the sweep of the period means so many details are left out.
For example, why salvo firing as developed by Gustavus was an effective tactic. In Wedgwood, all she says is Gustavus developed "new methods" of infantry fire.
This leaves me wondering what did he do? Guthrie goes into it in detail. For me, that is the approach.
Both styles complement each other, but homogenized history leaves me cold.
That's true; I found that I was looking through some books on the (others words I think) military revolution in early modern Europe. This is basically a bit broader than the TYW itself but compares weapons and tactics - I have a few on this -but off the top of my head I think Geoffrey Parker was/is a big proponent of this, and I think Hans Delbrueck's books were regarding this. I think too that (and granted this one might be more readily found in a library), the 2 volume sorta bio on Gustavus Adolphus also touches this (although I can't say as I have read it yet).
I think (but could be wrong on this) that the 2 Ospreys on Gustavus Adolphus' Armies provided a nice overview as well (Osprey can be hit or miss, but I think Richard Brezinski ... and I apologise if I spelled his name incorrectly) did a pretty nice job on these -in so far as it touches on a lot of areas not just here's some soldiers ... here's how they dressed ... the end. :).
As far as Wilson goes ... MengJiao ... I am a bad example of some one who has read this through - I have picked it up and put it down several times over the past couple of years. I like the maps (although they are sort of out of context to the book -they imply a greater treatment of the battle situation than in fact I think the book covers), although I got the most use out of comparing them with other period maps.
One of the things Wilson brings out (and something I have some doubt about AGEOD's being interested in) is that not only were a lot of these armies pretty hopeless in terms of training, cohesion, logistics and command control, but things got worse as the war went on and the armies shrank or were absorbed into garrisons or raiding and foraging. And of course relatively cohesive infantry units tended to be wiped out eventually while those that ran away or were on horses lived to sign up in another army and fight another day. So if there was a military revolution, the last half of the Thirty-years-war would be a sort of messy gap in that revolution. I suspect the military revolution was a lot spottier and a lot more linked to the growth of logistics than to any overall forces of change. Sure some things happened pretty steadily (better muskets, fewer pikes), but other things (decent artillery, cavalry that could make a systematic shock attack) seem to have come and gone and then come and gone again over and over.
I had read about Gustavus Adolphus in a great captains type book a number of years ago. After some searching, I found it was by Theodore Dodge (Gustavus Adolphus: A History of the Art of War) and is available for free as a PDF from Google! You can't go wrong with free. A link to Volume 1 is below; it's all images so it's 12.5 meg.
https://books.google.com/books/about/Gustavus_Adolphus.html?id=uIsDAAAAYAAJ&hl=en
OK, I brought up that book because one of things I learned from it was Gus had one of the first professional armies (1/4 regulars, 3/4 militia). So not everyone was running around pillaging and burning. Still, it's a good question how they will implement the savage side of warfare of that period. Will a general (the player) be required to periodically march to a rich region and pillage so the troops won't desert? I read somewhere else that 1/3 of the population of the German states was killed or left during this period.
There are so many factors in this pan-European War, that the danger is it will be a horrible, uncontrollable mess for a gamer.
Which is exactly what it was for the leaders involved.
For example, in the early part of the war, Count Tilly of the Catholic League developed a very veteran army.
One of it's premier units was the Schmidt Regiment, which pulled the army out of bad situations on at least two major field battles. Well, the Schmidt Regiment was Protestant.
When things fell apart at Breitenfield, Tilly was wounded and unable to get himself away. But his old veterans formed a ring around him and beat off all attempts. We can't be sure, but a significant number of the old sweats must have come from Protestant regiments in the service of the Catholic League. Their loyalty to "Papa" Tilly overtook their religion.
Gaming this will be a challenge.
Quote from: bobarossa on May 18, 2015, 04:41:19 PM
Still, it's a good question how they will implement the savage side of warfare of that period. Will a general (the player) be required to periodically march to a rich region and pillage so the troops won't desert? I read somewhere else that 1/3 of the population of the German states was killed or left during this period.
Sustaining an army in food and fodder, back in that period was critical. You will come across a lot of accounts of armies being forced into one place or another as they had eaten themselves out of the area where they had been in. This was also a prime factor in limiting the size of armies in the period.
You can find a lot of figures about losses -it is a little tough to pin down as records were sort of off and on back then, and a lot of people ended up moving around --- in other words, it is how much of the depopulation was caused by leaving as opposed to dying. . . not to mention pestilence was pretty widespread ... armies back then brought diseases into areas.
No worries...AGEOD games have always done a great job with scavenging/foraging, supply and weather conditions. Go at Birth of America 2 and try to keep a large army together. You had better. Have a plan because if you stay in the same area too long, you will starve
Quote from: mikeck on May 19, 2015, 09:42:26 AM
No worries...AGEOD games have always done a great job with scavenging/foraging, supply and weather conditions. Go at Birth of America 2 and try to keep a large army together. You had better. Have a plan because if you stay in the same area too long, you will starve
By the late 18th century, armies had learned a lot about how to live off the local population without wrecking it. The odd thing about the 30-years war is that so many of the armies got worse and worse at living off the local population. One explanation is just that the war went on for so long and that the armies were not paid very often and were often in a state of semi-mutiny and not really under anyone's control. Wallenstein's enterprise was like this only on a much larger scale in that nobody quite was sure who had any control over Wallenstein.
By the later part of the war, all of the armies (except for the Dutch, the French and the Spanish who were somewhat peripheral after say 1637) were pretty much the same: mostly scattered in garrisons that had achieved some kind of sustainable balance with the local population and small, cavalry-heavy, very mobile raiding forces that could strike at great distances mostly for political reasons since militarily there was little to gain from fighting the war at all. I think a fairly normal 18th-century-style approach would work for the first 20 or so years of the war, but the completely degenerate situation from 1637 on might be very hard to simulate since it made very little rational sense.
Quote from: mikeck on May 19, 2015, 09:42:26 AM
No worries...AGEOD games have always done a great job with scavenging/foraging, supply and weather conditions. Go at Birth of America 2 and try to keep a large army together. You had better. Have a plan because if you stay in the same area too long, you will starve
I thought it worked differently in BoA and Alea Jacta Est; each region creates supply every turn, the supply is used up but the region's ability to create supply is only reduced if the area is looted. I think they would need to increase the circumstances of looting, and the duration of affect. to make the game more accurate.
Campaign maneuvers and seasonal theaters were heavily influenced by the availability of food for the former, and the long term famine and depopulation for the latter.
One of the interesting scenarios would be the campaign that resulted in the sack of Magdeburg.
Tilly wanted it as a logisitics base, and as a center position to counter Gustavus moves around Saxony.
Being a free city, magdeburg might have opened it's gates rather than take a chance on a siege, but Gustavus "paladin" Falckenburg played on the council's Protestant affiliation to give Gustavus time.
Since Tilly wanted it as a source of food, it was probably not his desire for the devastation and ruin of the city, certainly it wasn't in his best interests. But he also couldn't let it tie him up while waiting for Gustavus to approach.
No good answers if every storm of a city could end up in the soldiers sacking it into ruin.
I don't know - at the time of Magdeburg's sacking I am not really that certain that Tilly had much respect for any of his opponents -including Gustavus Adolphus, so I am not really sure that would have been a major consideration at the point that it all happened (or to say, prior to the 1st Battle of Breitenfeld). I guess one could make the argument that Pappenheim had even less (what with the ... GET UP HERE I AM COMMITTED AND CANNOT DISENGAGE .... message that turned out to be ... once Tilly got 'up there' to be an '' oh well, um they aren't here just yet- but since you're here can we fight a pitched battle anyway? type of thing.
There was a significant, 'Teach those people a lessen' thing going on in the war and it was increasingly getting worse after Christian IV was eliminated from the war. I am talking about the Edict of Restitution and the mindset that brought those modifications of Imperial policy about. I think that probably had a lot to do with what happened at Magdeburg (although I am getting real close in my book to covering that part in more depth ... I think I had read something about it in one of my more general books this past week but I forgot exactly which one.).
Edited: - the book I was reading the section about Magdeburg- 'Furies: War in Europe 1450 - 1700' by Lauro Martines
Edited Part 2: -re Panzerde's post ... it does have me thinking about finally getting Rise of Prussia ... we'll see, as it is not as if I have time to play it right now, so it might stay on the Xmas list.
New screenshots: http://matrixgames.com/news/1752/New.Screenshots.for.Thirty.Years.War (http://matrixgames.com/news/1752/New.Screenshots.for.Thirty.Years.War)
Liking that map a great deal. I was cautious about this, but I'm getting much more enthused as the screenshots start to show up.
Quote from: panzerde on July 22, 2015, 04:33:25 PM
Liking that map a great deal. I was cautious about this, but I'm getting much more enthused as the screenshots start to show up.
Should be a good game. Rise of Prussia was great and this should be something like that. It doesn't look very picky historically. I'm assuming "Catholic Forces" are either the League or the Imperial Armies. So I guess the political realm is going to be somewhat "abstract" which seems fine since the political world of the HRE was a mess and that's sorta why there was a war in the first place -- but who wants to get into the complexities of the HRE? Not me. Better to have the war.
Man that looks awesome.
I'm looking forward to it. AGEOD have a lot of experience now, and even though this will be one of their longer games in terms of game years for the Grand Campaign, I have no doubt that they'll do a good job with it. They handle logistics, events, etc very well in their other games, so no reason to doubt them now.
As a dramatic change in gaming style, I'm also looking forward (actually I just can't wait! O0) for Pike and Shot Campaigns to come out. Together this is going to be the best of both worlds for renaissance gaming for a long time, and it's been a looooong time coming. :)
What's good is that the AGE engine really seems to shine in wars where there are no true front lines. Wars in America, AJE, Rise of Prussia turned out great. End all War andACW had issues. This will be a winner. I would like to see them take a break and update the engine. It's showing its AGE (pun intended)
A true achievement. Over the years the AGEOD team has delivered so many hours of great gaming. From Europa Universalis (before AGEOD even was launched as a company) to Great Invasions to Pride of Nations. Thanks to the team for 15 years of gaming pleasure.
..and its released. $30 digital download.
http://www.matrixgames.com/news/1785/Thirty.Years.War.Released.and.Streamed!
I wonder if I put this and Pike & Shot together in a dark room with some soft music, a little candle light and some wine if I would end up with the 30 Years War game of my dreams...
This is tempting because I really like ACW2....but to be honest, I know so little about the 30 Years War that I might be lost as to what is going/what to do.
Quote from: Rayfer on September 03, 2015, 04:22:25 PM
This is tempting because I really like ACW2....but to be honest, I know so little about the 30 Years War that I might be lost as to what is going/what to do.
I used this nice 15 minutes video to refresh my knowledge of the basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B18zwAVO4q0 :)
The developer, Miguel, has posted the first draft of his strategy guide, which presently gives you a list of the countries covered in the game, both from a historical point of view as well as their gameplay aspects:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?40258-TYW-Annex-document
Quote from: panzerde on September 03, 2015, 04:09:34 PM
I wonder if I put this and Pike & Shot together in a dark room with some soft music, a little candle light and some wine if I would end up with the 30 Years War game of my dreams...
Only if it includes some ECW.............
Quote from: Tamas on September 03, 2015, 04:28:39 PM
Quote from: Rayfer on September 03, 2015, 04:22:25 PM
This is tempting because I really like ACW2....but to be honest, I know so little about the 30 Years War that I might be lost as to what is going/what to do.
I used this nice 15 minutes video to refresh my knowledge of the basics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B18zwAVO4q0 :)
Yeah, I watched that video quite a while ago to wrap my head around the 30 Years War and it is very good- I highly recommend it as well.
Quote from: bob48 on September 03, 2015, 04:30:35 PM
Quote from: panzerde on September 03, 2015, 04:09:34 PM
I wonder if I put this and Pike & Shot together in a dark room with some soft music, a little candle light and some wine if I would end up with the 30 Years War game of my dreams...
Only if it includes some ECW.............
I got a copy today - just TYW, but like you I'd love ECW as an expansion. I've only played it a little, but so far so good. The interface has improved, and the AGE engine works well for the chaotic logistical nightmare of 17C warfare. So far I've just played about halfway through the Bohemian campaign about 20 turns or so. It's a small scenario with not too many units, but I've found it immersive playing as the Imperials. So far, I'm very pleased with it. :)
Well I think I know what my next purchase is now.
Bought, and played through the first tutorial. This has to be the most gorgeous map AGEOD has ever done. Overall the entire game just looks great. Gone are the odd silver UI elements of ACW2, this looks like a TYW game. I was also very impressed with the performance of the game. Sometimes AGEOD games can be a bit laggy, but this was very snappy in map scrolling and unit movement.
The unit counters are beautiful. The general portraits are nicely done and the units themselves are very evocative of the period. There's a nice variety of them, too. They are also quite large compared to older AGEOD titles, and my aging eyes are very thankful for that.
It seems to be the tried and true AGEOD system, put really nicely refined. I'm very much looking forward to playing this game this weekend.
FYI, there is an AAR of a PBEM game of the Swedish scenario is going on here:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?40260-Conquest-of-Gustavus
Downloading now. The game looks great, and it's good to see AGEOD returning to an era that better fits their system. Looking forward to playing it.
I'm petty stoked to play the game waiting will it's installing right now. Hopefully I'll be able to play through the tutorials later this afternoon or evening.
Quote from: Bison on September 04, 2015, 02:56:56 PM
I'm petty stoked to play the game waiting will it's installing right now. Hopefully I'll be able to play through the tutorials later this afternoon or evening.
LOL...at $29.99 I'm sorely tempted....one of those weird situations where I wish it was more expensive, then I wouldn't have to decide!
With every release of their games, I think it should be a game I enjoy...but after purchasing just about everything they released, never end up playing them much...really not sure what it is, but I wish I did enjoy them more since the subject matter is interesting.
It's funny, but some of them I play a ton of (Alea Jacta Est, Napoleon's Campaigns, Rise of Prussia) and others I either buy and don't play (To End All Wars, ACW) or decide I won't play and so never buy. I'm almost always interested in the subject matter (WWI and the ACW are favorites of mine), so it isn't that.
Quote from: panzerde on September 04, 2015, 03:36:30 PM
It's funny, but some of them I play a ton of (Alea Jacta Est, Napoleon's Campaigns, Rise of Prussia) and others I either buy and don't play (To End All Wars, ACW) or decide I won't play and so never buy. I'm almost always interested in the subject matter (WWI and the ACW are favorites of mine), so it isn't that.
Kind of the same for me....the material is interesting, but just something about the game mechanics don't grab me as much as I would hope...probably just me.
Quote from: panzerde on September 04, 2015, 03:36:30 PM
It's funny, but some of them I play a ton of (Alea Jacta Est, Napoleon's Campaigns, Rise of Prussia) and others I either buy and don't play (To End All Wars, ACW) or decide I won't play and so never buy. I'm almost always interested in the subject matter (WWI and the ACW are favorites of mine), so it isn't that.
Real men play Pride of Nations. ^-^
I'm over 50. I don't have time for the turn processing.
I fired up the tutorial and boy oh boy is it a beauty. I'm going to be devoting some serious time to this one in the near future. But first I need a nap so my brain can process the information better.
Quote from: panzerde on September 04, 2015, 04:14:30 PM
I'm over 50. I don't have time for the turn processing.
ROFL! I feel your pain. However, get the latest patch as it improves turn processing somewhat (IIRC, it's by about 15%, so still time to make a coffee, have a nap, then watch a film... :2funny:). Seriously though, the patch is a real improvement. O0
Not available on Steam?
Been thinking about this game because I really enjoy ACW2....but this thread went quite really fast and there isn't a lot of activity over in the Matrix forums. Does it just not play well or maybe it's just too obscure a war/time period to have large appeal? Ps....been thinking of Birth of America instead. Not sure which way to go.
Quote from: Rayfer on September 07, 2015, 04:23:16 PM
Been thinking about this game because I really enjoy ACW2....but this thread went quite really fast and there isn't a lot of activity over in the Matrix forums. Does it just not play well or maybe it's just too obscure a war/time period to have large appeal? Ps....been thinking of Birth of America instead. Not sure which way to go.
BOA2 is one of my favourite games of all time, you can't go wrong with it. I just picked up TYW and can't wait to get a chance to get into it.
BOA2 is probably my favourite game with the engine, I think it works best with asymmetrical warfare in open theaters, but I liked the Roman, 7 Years War and Civil War games a great deal. One of the biggest challenges you might face is trying to figure out what to do, there are so many options that you can get stuck doing nothing. AARs can be great for getting moving on a new AGEOD game.
From reading the AARs they seem to have gotten the priorities and problems of the war absolutely right; supply and paying for troops. I don't know if they've solved the railroading problem of Napoleon's Campaigns, but I'm very hopeful.
It is considered an obscure war in the English speaking world which is a shame, but thats down to how we teach/learn history.
I think it's more that it's a holiday weekend. Also, the Matrix forums are not the place to discuss AGEOD games. The AGEOD forums are much more active, typically.
The game plays well. It's graphically gorgeous and plays more smoothly than any AGEOD game I've played in the past. There will be no comparison between BOA2 and TYW. BOA2 is a much older game and while they have patched it. it isn't going to have all of the updates to the engine and graphics this one has.
Having said that, the basic engine will be the same and you should really pick the period you're more interested in. BOA2 has some great scenarios in it. It's a good game, and if you're more interested in the American Revolutionary period than the TYW, you're going to enjoy it a lot more.
I would probably be playing TYW a lot more myself this weekend but am really on a board game kick lately. The short scenario I did play I really enjoyed. I'll probably start the Bohemian Rebellion scenario this evening.
Thanks PZ, your feedback is helpful. I'm off the check the Ageod forums!
edit....lots more over on the Ageod forums, even a couple of aar's with screenshots.