A no bullshit assessment of "should i buy this game"

[Clinchrifles]

Lucky for me I didnt know about BAB until the week it was coming out. I use to play CWG2 and a couple garbage games in between. Got hooked on NTW3 (mod for ntw) bc it was the closest I could come to civil war battles (and honestly found it was a great mod for real time battles). So lets get to BAB. Im not a fanboy, I dont know the devs. I was hooked when I heard that one of the scenarios in their game was 1st manassas (which I think was one of the most important battles of acw). SO hell, I started looking into this game and right away realized that THIS WASNT ANOTHER GENERIC ACW GAME. The depth of research in the battle of 1st bull run map and oob was incredible. To be honest with you, that was all I needed. So I downloaded the manual and read it and played my first game and immediately was frustrated. I thought "well the manual was ok but there is still more to the game that is unexplained". AND THAT IS MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT!!!! I have purchased many games with a great manual and the game is just shit. BAB is the opposite. Im willing to not care about the fact that the manual doesnt quite cover everything you need to know. In my opinion, a steep learning curve makes for a fantastic game. There are a few small things Im hoping the devs can change to make the game a little easier BUT THEIR IDEA AND VISION OF THIS GAME IS LIKE NOTHING I HAVE EVER SEEN. This is a winner and if you are on the fence I would say BUY IT! To be honest the ai is not that great (in my opinion ai could never be), but I am excited for every turn that pbem brings. The devs are good guys and listen to their customers and in my honest opinion....this will be THE most tactical civil war game to date! Sincerely, not a fan boy, just a satisfied customer....Clinch

[zakblood]

i've never played a civil war game before this, only loaded a demo or 2 and tbh not liked it either, seen Ultimate General Gettysburg and thought it was for kids, very arcade and not a true war game.

AI is good if you play it correctly and historically, alter and do stuff that may or totally wouldn't have happened and yes then it's only as good as the wildness of your play style, if you leave flanks open, supply road not protected and have no interest in keeping the other side from your rear, then you may find it only a slight challenge and may have to make the difficulty harder.

play as history played out but alter it slightly, then your in for some fun.

head to head or pbem is where it comes into it's own, and tbh i play neither, so 200+ battles played and still either against the AI or myself for a real challenge, as you can have fun with history and unit, places and terrain, bring on the editor and unlock more of the maps, which imo are one of the best in any civil war game to date.

the detail of units with the information gathered in the OOB is again second to none, so history buffs and general players like myself who have no idea at least can try and alter history, or make there own.

choices and depth is great, learning curve is no greater or less than any modern war game, manual and books add depth and teach you the basics, but it's time spent playing which will make you a general, not reading, you need to lose more than a few battles and play both sides before you may fully understand the game, give it the time it needs and this game / sim will reward you, don't spent the time and it will frustrate the hell out of you and beat you senseless.

are you a good general? or to do you pay a high butchers bill for your mistakes? either way, buy it, play it, enjoy it.

or come here and moan about it, then some thing can be changed or altered or explanined.

no game is bug free, or patch less and no matter how long in development, it still needed playing by a larger number of players before little issues pop up, look at GTA V, cost how much to develop? how many active testers? how many post release patches have there been and counting?

i'm too old to be a fan boy, but i love war games, i love windows, i like Intel, max ram, fast to good cards, normally AMD ones and latest intel cpu's.

so yes i'm another more than satisfied customer, and have no splinter in my bottom (fence sitters)

[&o][&o][&o]

[Yogi the Great]

ORIGINAL: Clinchrifles

There are a few small things Im hoping the devs can change to make the game a little easier BUT THEIR IDEA AND VISION OF THIS GAME IS LIKE NOTHING I HAVE EVER SEEN. This is a winner and if you are on the fence I would say BUY IT! To be honest the ai is not that great (in my opinion ai could never be), but I am excited for every turn that pbem brings. The devs are good guys and listen to their customers and in my honest opinion....this will be THE most tactical civil war game to date! Sincerely, not a fan boy, just a satisfied customer....Clinch

Well said Clinchrifles this truly is a special game full of innovation and an important advance and contribution to the civil war battle genre. I hope for many more in the series an who knows maybe some Napoleon gems as well.

Added Edit: Most games get complaints about the quality of the AI but I would say this game does better than many of the other games and in particular civil war battle games I have played. There are certainly things that could be improved (and have been recently in some cases) but it also can give some challenge. If not careful you just may get a draw or maybe even a few losses against the AI. Sure most players will be able to usually prevail against it and a human opponent can be a bigger challenge capable of changed tactics and surprises. But again as a regular on the forums and looking at remarks about probably the majority of games out there the performance of the AI is often a topic of discussion. Programmed AI can vary but responding instantly to each move or being able to totally and effectively change tactics and response as needed are beyond the ability of computer programmed AI. Maybe some day an AI will actually be able to "think" and we will get a game with the perfect AI. Of course then we will never be able to win either. [:)]

[FroBodine]

I actually really enjoy Ultimate General: Gettysburg. It is different, because it is a real time strategy wargame, but it is definitely a wargame nonetheless. It's definitely not as fast paced as Starcraft, for example.

With Brother Against Brother and Ultimate General: Gettysburg, I have the two best Civil War games now. BaB for turn-based boardgame goodness, and Ultimate General: Gettysburg for authentic and exciting real time battles, which is a blast to play against a human opponent, as I'm sure BaB will be.

Onwards!

[Gil R.]

Thank you for your comments, which are great to see.

I might just have to bump this thread on a daily basis.

[BloodyBill76]

I know a lot of guys that have been looking into this game. I am one of them. With a $50.00 price I do not want to throw my money away on a game I may not like. Clinchrifles tells me it is worth the money so I will be getting it. I just wish a Demo could be available for this and a lot of Matrix games. The ACW is such a wonderful time and I do have a lot of games on this subject. With SOW CWG2 and the Battle Ground series. This game looks very interesting and I am looking forward to getting it.

[zakblood]

well hope you enjoy your purchase then BloodyBill76, plays as good as it looks and won't let you down, full price for a A class game tbh

[e_barkmann]

well said testers!

[RobearGWJ]

Not a fanboi - I found the economic stuff in the earlier WCS Nappy and CivWar games to be offputting, although I liked the tactical fights immensely. BaB is one of the best American Civil War games I've played in over 40 years of wargaming. It portrays the problems and decisions the brigade commanders have to make in a way that is entertaining even as it requires thought and attention. It allows you play whatever style you wish; crafty and careful, or break-the-china aggressive, and the AI is quite competent. Things go wrong at times, unpredictably, and you have to deal with incompetence and poor equipment and bad weather as well. There's a ton of detail in the system itself - even the weapons carried by a unit are differentiated and make a large difference in how you can employ that unit. Morale is likewise detailed, as is the command structure, along with comms delays and fog of war. All on a set of wonderfully detailed maps.

I recommend this game very highly. I'm enjoying it greatly. I really want to see more scenarios (which are supposed to be coming at no cost if sales are good), so buy up kiddies!

[Talon_XBMCX]

Erik's twitch of BaB is on YouTube. I felt it gave me a great look at the game before purchase. Really enjoying the title and looking forward to more!

Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJI9L2y ... e=youtu.be

[BloodyBill76]

I purchased BaB and am very glad that I did. I was unsure of the $50 price tag. The game throws me back to some old Talon Soft games I use to play with some obvious improvements. I am completely happy with the game and am finding myself playing it non stop throughout the day. I do a turn and take out the garbage, do a turn vacuum the floor, do a turn and some dishes and so on. There are some issues with the game witch is expected and ill post these in the appropriate thread. As for Clinches no BS assessment the game is a GEM and my hats off to the designers.

Bill (Semper Fi)

[ericbabe]

Thanks for the kind assessment! I'm glad you like it.