AGEOD's American Civil War 1861-1865
Review
A gem for the lovers of strategy
by Marcus Mulkins
reviewed on PC
The Good... (cont.)
The absolutely best feature that this game offers is that it is NOT a Side A moves/then Side B moves turn-based game. Like BoaN, the game employs a simultaneous move execution using what is called a WEGO system. Each side inputs all of its unit orders for the next half-month turn. After which the program blends both of those moves to decipher what interactions will occur. This is a tremendous innovation over traditional turn-based games. It has always bothered me that one side would simply stay rooted in one place while the other side launches an offensive. Just think of the effect of scheduling an assault into an area that your opponent is evacuating while your forces are busy deploying. Or having an assault on a position run headlong into a full-fledged invasion. Add the usual fog of war rules and you have the most realistic strategic-level simulation I’ve ever encountered.
Many ACW games focus almost exclusively on three main unit types – Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery – and two types of secondary units – river gunboats and ironclads, with maybe naval blockade vessels versus blockade runners lightly examined. AACW, on the other hand, goes into great detail to allow players to concern themselves with about 40 different kinds of land units and about 10 kinds of naval units. Furthermore, there is a unique unit counter for nearly every notable officer during the war (which numbers into the hundreds), and nearly all of those have portraits of the actual military commanders. (With future updates from the AGEOD website, that “most” will be changed to “all”.) Add in individual/unit distinct characteristics (like McClellan’s tendency to hesitate and overestimate his opposition, or the élan of the Iron Brigade) and the variety between that horde of units becomes enormous. If variety is the spice of life, this aspect makes AACW one spicy meatball!
For being a French company, the designers are very well versed in their American Civil War history, including quite a few obscure, but significant events. These are explained in “newspaper articles” that periodically appear in the Current Events section of the interface. This element makes the game quite educational as well as being entertaining.
One of the areas that I enjoyed was the National Advisor administrative screens. In a very logical manner, you can direct your economic growth, create your preferred blend of units, expand your transportation capabilities, and note how the States you control fluctuate, as well as ascertaining your political support in those States.
...the Bad...
Unfortunately, as much I liked and enjoyed the game, there was also quite a bit about it that I disliked. The main thing I disliked was the exposition of combat. There are soooo many factors involved in how a battle turns out, it is hard to quantify their influences. Like, you may have a huge force attacking a tiny unit, but that small force often can turn the tables. That may be because they have ammunition while you do not. Maybe they have tremendous morale while your troops do not have their heads in the game. AGEOD points out that combat results will be affected by Unit Discipline Rating, Unit’s Experience Level, Leader Offensive Fire/Defensive Fire Rating (as appropriate), cover of target unit provided by terrain or fortification, weather, Leader Special Abilities, Command penalties (out of Command radius and/or lack of CP’s), lack of ammunition and/or general supply, friendly supply wagon present (+10%), river crossing/amphibious landing, Forced March, Failed withdrawal/Passive Posture and Trench Level above 5 (for Artillery only).
Successful combat in this game is most involved with the concept of Combined Arms and Command Control, both of which are influenced by that long logistical list. It requires a computer to work out all those interactions. Unfortunately, there is nothing to explain the applicable combat formula or the value that your unit(s) will be attacking at. And the fog of war option is serious about limiting info about opposing units. Most of the time you have little or no info about enemy units in adjacent regions. This will cause you to frequently throw units that really should not be committed to battle because they are seriously straggled and need time to pull themselves together. (A major element deals with unit Cohesiveness; on a prolonged march the troops tend to scatter, reducing their "punch" if they have to abruptly enter combat.) The result will be that in your first few games, you’ll be freaked by having “sure thing” battles turn into your units getting shredded.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
