Action PC Football

DesertFox · January 21, 2025, 05:41:49 PM

I'm intrigued by this... I like sports management simulations but my main experience with pro football is Front Office Football Eight. I bought it and somehow won the Super Bowl in my first season with the Saints without me doing much with their mediocre roster and decided to spend my gaming time on something else after that.

An online league sounds interesting. Wondering how this works... do you just create a gameplan and sim the games, or do you meet up and call plays, etc...? I'm guessing the simulation model works fairly well based on the feedback on the game I'm seeing here.

ETA: Looks like the sale might be over now, and I went as far as having this in my cart and second-guessed myself... I'll still get it though if the league sounds viable.

Bardolph · January 21, 2025, 07:13:57 PM

He still has the same "set" on sale it looks like, but its only $10 off now. I picked it up last night on a nostalgia driven whim after reading this thread. Got my head handed to me in the first scrimmage, gonna have to look deeper.

Not a raving football fan but used to play a little Statis Pro from Avalon Hill, and of course electric football back in the day. And I liked TechNo Bowl Football, the boardgame from Brent Spivey, who has a couple miniatures wargames to his credit.

More my speed than the latest Madden at any rate loL!

DesertFox · January 21, 2025, 09:36:52 PM

Quote from: Bardolph on January 21, 2025, 07:13:57 PMGot my head handed to me in the first scrimmage, gonna have to look deeper.

That's exactly what I'm hoping for. I would much rather get trounced until I learn the game systems/mechanics than breeze my way to the Super Bowl in the very first season with a mediocre (at best) team and be left wondering what's the point of going through the off-season cycle after that. Which is why I bounced off Front Office...

DesertFox · January 21, 2025, 09:55:27 PM

Has anyone who recently picked this up had any time to spend with it and do you have any feedback? My trigger finger is getting itchy...

Bardolph, your list of board/RL games is interesting. Have you ever played Blood Bowl? I think that game captures the essence/strategy of football very good for a turn-based game.

Bardolph · January 22, 2025, 02:15:05 AM

I do have a copy of Bloodbowl. We played a bit at the FLGS, going on 20 years ago now. It was definitely fun with the right opponents but I was mostly playing wargame stuff at the time.
The local groupthink was to form a box of blockers completely surrounding the ball carrier and then creep carefully down the field. Not my idea of fun but then I did lose more often that the others lol.

Spivey's Techno Bowl is fun, the boxed set is probably hard to find now but the pdf print and play version is on Wargame Vault and there were one or two versions made for Tabletop Simulator. Also appears to have a VASSAL mod, and there is fairly recent talk of a reprint of the boxed game, which was great.

This ActionPC Football strikes me more like the old Avalon Hill Statis Pro, though it goes much deeper from what I can see in my brief time with it.

KyzBP · January 22, 2025, 09:25:17 AM

Quote from: DesertFox on January 21, 2025, 05:41:49 PMAn online league sounds interesting. Wondering how this works... do you just create a gameplan and sim the games, or do you meet up and call plays, etc...? I'm guessing the simulation model works fairly well based on the feedback on the game I'm seeing here.

In the league I played in you played a head to head match live every 3 or 4 days. It was up to you and your opponent to coordinate a game time.

DesertFox · January 25, 2025, 11:05:56 AM

I wound up pulling the trigger and buying this even though I missed the big sale. Looking forward to messing around with it this weekend! Definitely mark me down for a potential online league!

DesertFox · January 25, 2025, 09:31:10 PM

A couple of n00b questions for you experienced guys:
1) I missed the good sale so I just bought the base game (https://shop.dksports.com/2024FootballGameBasic.aspx). When I start it up, it looks like it has options for a season of all-time teams and another season from the 60s or 70s available. Is there no "default"/current roster that comes with the game? I'm assuming there are seasons that people have created that can be downloaded... is there a "go-to" place for this kind of thing?

2) Is the best way to learn to read the manual, just dive in and play, watch videos, etc? Are there any "must-know" resources for this game?

Thank you in advance!!

Tripoli · January 25, 2025, 10:33:41 PM

Just an updated for those interested in this competition: I am still getting some idea how the game works, so I can put together a reasonable season. I'll have more details soon. If anyone has any ideas, please post them here.

Phantom · January 27, 2025, 01:59:11 PM

Quote from: DesertFox on January 25, 2025, 09:31:10 PMA couple of n00b questions for you experienced guys:
1) I missed the good sale so I just bought the base game (https://shop.dksports.com/2024FootballGameBasic.aspx). When I start it up, it looks like it has options for a season of all-time teams and another season from the 60s or 70s available. Is there no "default"/current roster that comes with the game? I'm assuming there are seasons that people have created that can be downloaded... is there a "go-to" place for this kind of thing?

2) Is the best way to learn to read the manual, just dive in and play, watch videos, etc? Are there any "must-know" resources for this game?

Thank you in advance!!

IIRC the basic game is just that - maybe with a few older seasons thrown in. I think a lot of people upgrade each year or two, so probably have more recent seasons. However, if you want an up to date season then you'll have to pay for it - I think the most recent one that's cheap is 2022 but that may be wrong. They do the teams post season so think "this" year will be out sometime in the summer, though they do usually do an "anticipated" season, so you will be able to get a 2024 season, usually done shortly after the draft I think, though it won't be as statistically accurate as the one done after season close, as the latter is based on actual statistics. Hope that all makes sense!

I think if you have a knowledge of American football & know the terminology you can probably just jump in & play a game or so, after that look at the rules to get a better grip on how the game mechanics work & fine tune your approach, though a lot of it is fairly intuitive.

Hope that all helps.

Regards
Keith

DesertFox · January 27, 2025, 02:11:23 PM

Thanks for the info, Keith! I've been a football fan my whole life (although my interest has waned in recent years because of NIL and the transfer portal in college) so I feel pretty good about learning my away around by playing. I mostly was trying to figure out the best way to set up a league to play in, and you answered my questions! Thanks again!

Tripoli · January 28, 2025, 05:33:42 PM

For those who are interested, downloadable player images, team logos, and stadiums for Action PC football can be downloaded here: http://www.apcsportscommunity.com/#/football-content-images

For the initial season, for this trial season, I'm thinking it would be best to simply play with the 2024 FBGreats. If people want something different, let me know. The 2024 FBGreats is included in the base game. It allows for 24 of the famous NFL teams in a fantasy season. Teams are:
61 Green Bay
63 San Diego
64 Cleveland
68 New York
70 Baltimore
73 Miami
77 Dallas
79 Pittsburgh
81 San Francisco
83 Los Angeles
87 Washington
88 San Francisco
90 New York
92 Dallas
94 San Francisco
98 Denver
06 Indianapolis
03 New England
07 New England
08 Pittsburgh
12 Baltimore
14 New England
15 Denver
17 Philadelphia

This initial season would be 15 weeks. I envision playing a game/week. If this is popular, we could then do another season, using college or a Pro Season, or the using the "2024 Pro Football History Collection" package, which has +13,500 players from 1940 to present available as free agents. This latter choice would be more of a management game. I'm happy with any of the choices. If everyone who is interested could respond to this email with their thoughts, I'll do a bit more investigation on how best to put together the season.

ArizonaTank · January 29, 2025, 11:57:32 AM

Quote from: Tripoli on January 28, 2025, 05:33:42 PMFor those who are interested, downloadable player images, team logos, and stadiums for Action PC football can be downloaded here: http://www.apcsportscommunity.com/#/football-content-images

For the initial season, for this trial season, I'm thinking it would be best to simply play with the 2024 FBGreats. If people want something different, let me know. The 2024 FBGreats is included in the base game. It allows for 24 of the famous NFL teams in a fantasy season. Teams are:
61 Green Bay
63 San Diego
64 Cleveland
68 New York
70 Baltimore
73 Miami
77 Dallas
79 Pittsburgh
81 San Francisco
83 Los Angeles
87 Washington
88 San Francisco
90 New York
92 Dallas
94 San Francisco
98 Denver
06 Indianapolis
03 New England
07 New England
08 Pittsburgh
12 Baltimore
14 New England
15 Denver
17 Philadelphia

This initial season would be 15 weeks. I envision playing a game/week. If this is popular, we could then do another season, using college or a Pro Season, or the using the "2024 Pro Football History Collection" package, which has +13,500 players from 1940 to present available as free agents. This latter choice would be more of a management game. I'm happy with any of the choices. If everyone who is interested could respond to this email with their thoughts, I'll do a bit more investigation on how best to put together the season.

OK with me

KyzBP · January 29, 2025, 02:53:34 PM

I'm in.

DesertFox · January 29, 2025, 10:13:03 PM

Count me in too. I will have no idea what I'm doing from a game mechanics perspective, but should be fun!! :)