Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: Terl

Curious as to why Gamersgate has it for $29.99... See http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=29&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14  Could this be due to faulty exchange rates, maybe?

Hi Teri

Yes I noticed that to and when I talked with AGEOD they said it was a mistake and he has told them to change it.

David

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

tc237,

That's incorrect, but I'll be darned if I can figure out the actual price. I just went to their store and I got the following prices:

29,90 Euros on the Main Page, which as of today's exchange rage is $39.31, whereas we are selling for $34.99

After clicking on Add to Cart, I was given a price of 25 Euros, which is $32.87. However, the same cart then told me that 25 Euros converted to $29.69. At this point, I'm fairly confused and we will bring this up with them to be sure what the price is. Our price was originally set to be the same as theirs, so hopefully we'll get it in sync.

Where does this 29,90 come from? At AGEOD I see US$27.39 (as tc237 said), GB£18.07 and 27 Euros. Remember the European prices factor in the 17 1/2% VAT as well, which is why the last two aren't as close to the Matrix prices as they look at first. The 'net' price, the one which should be equated to the US one, is around 23 Euros. Gamersgate are charging more than AGEOD at 29.99 in both USD and Euros (remember that VAT again on the Euro price). Steam has it at $39.95.

ORIGINAL: Feltan

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

...BoA is a breath of fresh air. It's like a classic board game in look and feel brought to the PC. The features of the "classic" genre being; slim rules, approx 200 units per side and as Gibbon said, forming the challenge of being "easy to learn and hard to master". Avalon Hill's 1960's classics DDay, Stalingrad, Afrika Korps, Bulge, Waterloo, Chancellorsville, come to mind....

How about Avalon Hill's 1776?

I have had this game since it was released. A fine product.

However, this game (in concept and play) is simply AH's 1776 that was coded up for a PC with a few additions. I am really not sure how they got away with it without infringing copyright, but hats off to them for fun game.

Regards,
Feltan

Are you sure you mean 1776? I used to have that; it was a hex based wargame, flat chits for units (1sp = 500 men), no cards or random events, no leaders.

I'm looking at the screen shots...and this game seems to resemble another later AH game "We The People." Could that be what you are referring to? That game had area movement map, counters that stood upright, leaders, cards for events...all just like this game... [&:]

Hertston,

ORIGINAL: Hertston
Where does this 29,90 come from?

From the main page at AGEOD.com. I don't see the US $27.39 anywhere, where are you seeing that? Here's a screenshot of what I see:

Ah, nevermind, I must be going blind. I just realized I was looking at the pre-shipping CD-ROM price rather than the digital download price. <smacks head>

Dudes: February 24th 2006 i paid 39.89 Euros for download/Fancy Full color case/ Full color glossy paper manual/shipping. My credit card, i'm in California, was charged $44 US.

[:D]I believe Philipe himself made out the address label for my box[;)].

ORIGINAL: jimwinsor

I'm looking at the screen shots...and this game seems to resemble another later AH game "We The People." Could that be what you are referring to? That game had area movement map, counters that stood upright, leaders, cards for events...all just like this game... [&:]

Oh without doubt! "We the People" is one of the best board wargames I own. I'm so glad I have it and I wish I'd been able to get hold of the later game in the series "Hannibal".

If you can get hold of it, in Vol 29-2 of the General Mark Herman discusses what makes a good War of Independence game design. He makes a poignant observation. His original design for the WtP game focused heavily on battle but then he realised:

Mark Herman: In General 29-2 page 26

...although it reflected the early part of the war (1775-1777) reasonably well, it totally missed the options and strategies pursued in the later part of the conflict (1778-1781). Whereas the early part of the war saw the majority of the large, conventional style battles, after the Battle of Monmouth the battles were small affairs... A more bedeviling fact was that General Greene, considered by some the best American General of the war, lost every battle he fought, yet conquered the South! It was this conundrum that made me re-examine what makes a game work.

This led Mark to realise that a game focusing on nothing but battle missed the political fight for the people's hearts crucial to the outcome of the war. Hence he re-designed his game in the form that Avalon Hill published.

I'm really looking forward to finding this balance in BoA and I think Ageod has in the form of provincial loyalty ratings, looting stategies etc. How much more is this necessity balanced in the American Civil War?

Dredd - this is a great game. Very much a board game style, with a nice map and graphics. Highly recommended.

ORIGINAL: David Heath

ORIGINAL: Terl

Curious as to why Gamersgate has it for $29.99... See http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=29&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=14  Could this be due to faulty exchange rates, maybe?

Hi Teri

Yes I noticed that to and when I talked with AGEOD they said it was a mistake and he has told them to change it.

David

No problem. I am buying it from Matrix anyway, whether Gamersgate changed it or not. I was just curious.

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker
Oh without doubt! "We the People" is one of the best board wargames I own. I'm so glad I have it and I wish I'd been able to get hold of the later game in the series "Hannibal".

Agreed, "We the People" is a great game and surprisingly easy to play. I've played it with folks who were non-wargamers but interested in the period. It was the start of the "card-driven" games, IIRC and I highly recommend some of the later classics in that sub-genre - Ted Raicer's "Paths of Glory", Mark Herman's "For the People" and Mark McLaughlin's "Napoleonic Wars". Each have a lot of great wargaming and strategy while being easier to learn and play than many more involved wargame systems.

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Feltan

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

...BoA is a breath of fresh air. It's like a classic board game in look and feel brought to the PC. The features of the "classic" genre being; slim rules, approx 200 units per side and as Gibbon said, forming the challenge of being "easy to learn and hard to master". Avalon Hill's 1960's classics DDay, Stalingrad, Afrika Korps, Bulge, Waterloo, Chancellorsville, come to mind....

How about Avalon Hill's 1776?

I have had this game since it was released. A fine product.

However, this game (in concept and play) is simply AH's 1776 that was coded up for a PC with a few additions. I am really not sure how they got away with it without infringing copyright, but hats off to them for fun game.

Regards,
Feltan

Philippe Thibaut owned 1776, but I never did (and never played it). And some years ago, the engine was created for a Victorian themed game, where I started with regions, a 3-levels hierarchy (group-unit-element), simultaneous play (as in stars! and dominions, two games I love). After our failure to convince a publisher with this Victorian prototype, Philippe and I defined what would be the big points in BOA: he would throw a big idea, backed by his impressive historical knowledge, and we would refine, alter and expand it until it could be coded easily while providing fun gameplay. Perhaps he has been inspired by 1776, but I do think that your statement is rather unfair. Yes you can expect to levy militia in an American War of Independence and fight the British. Aside that I don't think there is much in common.

I've had this game since near release and it's an excellent game. Definitely encourage people to try it out.

I did play a lot to 1776 and thoroughly enjoyed the game, and it gave me a lot of inspiration. Now if you check the various elements in our game, most of them are rather different, and as Pocus explained, an adaptation of a previously existing work on another era.

I also have plenty of other boardgames on the subject (For Liberty, We the People, 1760, Mohawk, End of Empire, etc...), and they too have their own nice ideas (and you could decide as well that they "inspired" us).

Now the AWI thema leads to a lot of similarities in various gaming aspects (OOBs, names, regions) in the different board or computer games that exist on the matter. Some elements cannot be twisted just because you don't want to "look" similar to another existing game.

After all, most cars have four wheels and nobody would feel like blaming a manufacturer for making a car with 4 wheels on the pretense that previous ones had them too...[:D]

ORIGINAL: Philthib
After all, most cars have four wheels and nobody would feel like blaming a manufacturer for making a car with 4 wheels on the pretense that previous ones had them too...[:D]

Especially when the manufacturer has previously designed wonderfull games such as Europa Universalis... [8D]

I want to take the oppunity to thank you for all the fun you provided with your games.
Thank you Monsieur Thibault! It's very nice to see you here!
[&o][&o][&o]

(Matrix games, the place to be!)

ORIGINAL: Pocus

Philippe Thibaut owned 1776, but I never did (and never played it). And some years ago, the engine was created for a Victorian themed game, where I started with regions, a 3-levels hierarchy (group-unit-element), simultaneous play (as in stars! and dominions, two games I love). After our failure to convince a publisher with this Victorian prototype, Philippe and I defined what would be the big points in BOA: he would throw a big idea, backed by his impressive historical knowledge, and we would refine, alter and expand it until it could be coded easily while providing fun gameplay. Perhaps he has been inspired by 1776, but I do think that your statement is rather unfair. Yes you can expect to levy militia in an American War of Independence and fight the British. Aside that I don't think there is much in common.

I agree, his statement is unfair. That aside, you guys have done an OUTSTANDING job with BoA and have shown a level of Support even Matrix has trouble keeping up with[:'(]. In my book AGEOD/BOA is Developer/Game of the year by a longshot[:D]. I am shocked, after all the talk on these boards that "BoA" is still unknown. That shows, on the other hand, that Matrixs' fan base is growing(as well as their coming soon list) so may you bask in your well deserved glory once again.
Note: I have my 1776 Boardgame just like new, with all the chits in those special plastic holders...[:)]...ahhhh....memories[:D].

Especially when the manufacturer has previously designed wonderfull games such as Europa Universalis... [8D]

I want to take the oppunity to thank you for all the fun you provided with your games.
Thank you Monsieur Thibault! It's very nice to see you here!
[&o][&o][&o]

(Matrix games, the place to be!)

And when I did EU, I was inspired by quite a few boardgames too [:'(] ... and this was fun.
Thanks for the praise...

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker
Oh without doubt! "We the People" is one of the best board wargames I own. I'm so glad I have it and I wish I'd been able to get hold of the later game in the series "Hannibal".

Agreed, "We the People" is a great game and surprisingly easy to play. I've played it with folks who were non-wargamers but interested in the period. It was the start of the "card-driven" games, IIRC and I highly recommend some of the later classics in that sub-genre - Ted Raicer's "Paths of Glory", Mark Herman's "For the People" and Mark McLaughlin's "Napoleonic Wars". Each have a lot of great wargaming and strategy while being easier to learn and play than many more involved wargame systems.

Regards,

- Erik

GMT Games have an English Civil War game "Unhappy King Charles" coming out soon-ish that uses the same card driven board game style as "We the People". (its a P500 game in final development for those who understand what I mean)

its time there was more ECW games...

btw, welcome to Pocus & Philthib and the rest of the AGEOD crew

ORIGINAL: Philthib

Especially when the manufacturer has previously designed wonderfull games such as Europa Universalis... [8D]

I want to take the oppunity to thank you for all the fun you provided with your games.
Thank you Monsieur Thibault! It's very nice to see you here!
[&o][&o][&o]

(Matrix games, the place to be!)

And when I did EU, I was inspired by quite a few boardgames too [:'(] ... and this was fun.
Thanks for the praise...

Oh my goodness. I did not realize you did EU too. Very cool. I have EU and EU2 also.... this is cool [:)]

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

I know nothing about this game...never heard of it.

Is this a new aquisition for Matrix? Has the game been in development under the Matrix umbrella? If so, why no forum until now.

I don't understand where this game came from or why it "suddenly" turned up...and the lack of forum and posts makes me very wary of it simply because without forum posts and discussions you don't know what people think of it.

So come on....any chance you could give us an insight into where this came from?

I will be downloading the demo and reading the website (I see box and manual are available...NICE!)...

Edited to say I'd just noticed this has been about since Februrary...so I'll go and find an active forum on it for news on how it plays...

[;)]

Brilliant game! Best wargame of the year in my opinion. And well worth it whatever the price.

There are many great things about BOA but perhaps the best, for me, is that the map really "works." So many games are driven solely by VPs - control Location X and get 100 points, even if the flow of a particular game has made Location X largely irrelevant. In BOA, I more often find myself thinking about what locations I need to take and hold to protect my supply lines or flanks or as a stepping stone for a larger campaign. Or simply to get my guys a roof over their heads before winter turns my wilderness hike into a death trap. The objectives more often have weight based on the game at hand, rather than preprogrammed VPs. The map, in addition to being great to look at, has a dynamic "life" to it that I've rarely seen in a wargame.

Great stuff!