How does ACM compare to Forge of Freedom

[Ralthan]

Hi all,

Stumbled upon this game from a link on Wargamer.com, so I have not had much time to look at it. I just purchased Forge of Freedom yesterday, but am having a devil of a time with the interface, so I was curious if anyone had experience with both games and could give an objective comparison.

Also can I buy this from the US?

Thanks,

Tony

[Ian Coote]

I own and have played both and I am very interested in the American Civil war.On a scale from 1-10 I'de give forge 6 ageod 9.A good place to buy in US would be Nws online combat gaming store{great service}

[Mike]

Hi all,

Stumbled upon this game from a link on Wargamer.com, so I have not had much time to look at it. I just purchased Forge of Freedom yesterday, but am having a devil of a time with the interface, so I was curious if anyone had experience with both games and could give an objective comparison.

,

Tony

Like you I bought Forge first. The two games are as different as could be. The beauty of Forge is the tactical battles IMO. I'm not interested in that aspect of the game (I'd rather play HPS's tactical ACW games for that level of play). I much prefer the operational level of this game. I think this game is a better simulation of operational ACW than Forge is. For me Forge is Sim City with battles.

I have an email game of Forge going that I will finish, but after that it will sit on the shelf. I see myself playing this game for years to come.

[Jayavarman]

Also can I buy this from the US?

Thanks,

Tony

NWS does not offer yet in its stores. It is waiting for a shipment in the coming weeks.
AGEOD offers direct sales to the US in either download or physical box form: http://www.ageod.com/game-AGEOD%2527s%2BAmerican%2BCivil%2BWar_ACW-ENG100.html

[Vorticon]

Will it be available at EB, Best Buy, Gamestop, etc.? Will it have a printed manual?

[tc237]

Starting countdown until Matrix's minions descend upon us.....

[Stonewall]

Like you I bought Forge first. The two games are as different as could be. The beauty of Forge is the tactical battles IMO. I'm not interested in that aspect of the game (I'd rather play HPS's tactical ACW games for that level of play). I much prefer the operational level of this game. I think this game is a better simulation of operational ACW than Forge is. For me Forge is Sim City with battles.

I have an email game of Forge going that I will finish, but after that it will sit on the shelf. I see myself playing this game for years to come.

I feel the same way. Bought both. Have played both extensively. I prefer AACW. In the same breath, however, I love the idea that two developers released very good civil war games. The more quality developers we have in the strategy genre, the better we are. I've never understood the petty bickering that takes place between fans of different developers. The fact that I love PAradox games should not mean that I can't appreciate the wonderful work AGEOD has done on BoA and AACW. Or what Matrix did on FoF. I wish all the companies many profits so they can keep turning out game sI like to play.

[Mike]

Starting countdown until Matrix's minions descend upon us.....

I've got my Greek fire ready. Ooops, wrong war, double loaded cannister.

[Jaypea]

I have been buying Matrix games for many years and also own FOF. As said previously, I prefer AGEOD's game over FOF. The only change I would like to see is to move to single week turns --> BTW I am a WITP player (which is single day turns).

Love the game! FOF will sit on my shelf and this game will get all my attention (in addition to WITP).

Thanks
JP

[Spruce]

FOF has more focus on the management of resources and decisions you make to arm your forces. F.e. does one pursue the diplomatical route and buys nice British rifles - or does one purchase the local weapons ? Does one chose to buy more (cheaper) but less effective weapons - or just the opposite ?

Does one invest in camps (reinforcments) or does one build more infantry (more brigades, but less reinforcments).

I think FOF is much better in this aspect - it has a nice scope on resource management and it's pretty well balanced.

AGEOD's ACW is less solid in this field. I like the concepts, but they are not well tuned - or just poorly worked out. F.e. the ammo, general supply and war supply thing is just something I fail to grasp logic on. I don't really feel I can make decisions for either the best or the worst.

FOF also has the tactical battles which are a nice addition for roleplaying the ACW.

However, in any other field, AGEOD's ACW is better.

And basicly the balance in FOF is a bit off - I mean you can enjoy so much the strategical level (and abandon tactical battles cause tactical battles cost a lot of time and effort) that you are merely looking at containers moving from left to right - up and down ... it's more feeling like a chess game.

Summarised - I think that AGEOD's ACW is a better game cause you are more immersed in the ACW - the roleplaying aspect.

ps = FOF is still a great ACW game - it's not bad !

[jimwinsor]

Like I said before, here and elsewhere, the two games are so dislike conceptually, direct comparisions are futile.

AACW is a strategic American Civil War game. Period. And a great one at that.

FoF, IMO, is best thought of as a tactical Civil War game at heart, with a strategic game added on, so as to give the tactical battles some context.

Two different games, two different focuses. Apples and oranges.

[ERutins]

Starting countdown until Matrix's minions descend upon us.....

Very nice...

[Sol Invictus]

Matrix Minion here, and I gave FoF a pass because I was waiting on ACW. Since AGEOD's AWI game was so sweet and CoG was a bit too much in the weeds for my taste, the choice was easy. I have already mentally commited to buying whatever these guys serve up to us. Sadly, the only people who make game I really want to play are Matrix and our French friends here. If only SSI and Atomic were still going concerns, I would be in Nirvana.

[Korrigan]

Hi guys,

For everybody's information, AGEod & Matrix are two companies which are on friendly terms and are working in partnership.

From time to time, we also discuss with the guys of Western Civilisation. They are decent chaps with a solid sense of humor and a crush on good food and wine. Several members of the AGEod team own and play CoG/FoF.

So, while it can interesting to look at the different features offered by FoF and AACW to see which one would suit one's taste better, it would be pointless to try to actually oppose them. I love Goulash and Lasagna and you won't get me to choose between these two meals.

Those who remember the flame wars that used to oppose boardgames companies fans some years ago, such confrontation are of a limited interest especially when zealots end up alone in the battlefield with their respective beloved companies as dead as dodos...

So I don't know if there are such things as self-proclaimed Matrix or AGEod "minions", but one thing I'm sure is that they won't survive long here...

Best regards,

Korrigan

[ERutins]

Korrigan,

I couldn't agree more with everything you said. Nicely put, I've been trying to explain that to folks for a while.

Regards,

- Erik