Newbie here - Where do I start?

[Soyaman]

Hey guys.

So I stumbled upon this very nice looking series of games and figured I'd give 'em a bash.
I understand they're a long term commitment and requires a lot of learning but with that established.. Where do I begin?
Which game(s) are considered the best/Do you prefer (why?) and what's the first thing I should bear in mind going into it or start doing?

I've already picked up To End All Wars as I do love World War 1, Might try out Napoleon & Thirty Years War too as I like that era too.

Now with that said. I do have a question.
Are there any games built on the engine which makes good use of diplomacy? I play a lot of wargames and I find it hard to find games that can both handle world wide diplomacy and detailed micro-manageable combat. Ageod looks like they're leaning heavily towards the combat aspect but if I missed anything it's always a pleasant surprise


Thank you.

[Leibst]

Welcome Soyaman!

Maybe the last one WoN is the best using Diplomacy, but i haven't experienced it yet.
But as a newbie in Ageod games maybe is easy for you to try with WiA2 or AJE (but they dont have diplomacy system)

[Soyaman]

Thank you, and thaks for the suggestions

What exactly makes AJE easier compared to the newer iterations? I've got some friends who likes wargames too but they don't have the same perseverance as I do so once I learn one of them I can try to help them learn.
How "sandbox" would you consider Wars of Napoleon? I've always been intrigued by fantasy scenarios of nations switching sides and the like.
I've spent a lot of time playing Paradox' Europa Universallis which is not particularly complex but the sandbox fantasy scenarios that you can have happen just gives it so much re-playability.
But hey, if I manage to learn this one the other ones can't be too far off to learn in which case I can just buy the different games and see which one I like the most.

I'm spending a lot of time reading the manual while watching Band of Brothers. Gives quite a bit of nostalgia, haven't read a manual in many years now.

[Leibst]

I'm not quite familiar with WoN but i'm sure it has several posibilities but dont imagine anything like Europa Universalis.

AJE its easier as you dont have armies or corps like in EAW or CW2, the upply System is also easier. There is no Diplomacy, the number of units is not huge so all of this helps to learn the Ageod engine for a newbie.
If you go directly to EAW or WoN you can find it very hard, but they are two wonderful games that deserve the time you expend on them.

[rss334]

Soyaman I'm new too. I started with Civil War 2 and watched the videos from Charles Cummings and then played along with Spink Akron on youtube - most excellent. I feel like I have many of the basics down, switched over to both pride of nations and End All Wars and halfway knew what I was doing, although I can clearly see each game is going to have it's own learning curve. I'd say start with the one for the time period you enjoy most, one things for sure regardless which one it is there going to be plenty of game time for us to discover and learn.

[sionnach]

I too am new and am currently learning Rise of Prussia, as I read somewhere that it is a good one to start with for learning, and I am interested in Prussia in general. Enjoying it so far, and already have my eye on Thirty Years' War as I am also interested in that era.