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Talking about cheating reminded me that I've playesd this wargame a few times, and I was kind of wondering how much (if any) overlap there was between people who play computer wargames and those that play traditional FtF wargames.

For the People is a GMT Games Mark Herman design that is a pretty decent simulation at the strategic level of the ACW. I've played it a couple times face to face, and a few times using email.

How many other people who play computer wargames play non PC based wargames?

For the People is one of my favorites. I have the GMT release and have played it I think five times face to face, each time it was a great experience. Before this last year's slew of ACW Grand Strategy computer games (FOF, AACW, WBTS) it was my favorite ACW grand strategy game. It's now tied for the top, but my face to face board gaming time has diminished so I haven't had a chance to play it in a while.

One of the reasons I am posting this here is that as a gamer, I like looking at how different games on the same subject portray a given scenario. Obviously, a computer game has a very different set of constraints on how it presents its take on a subject - not necessarily good, btw.

Going beyond the differences that a PC brings like computational capability, I think one of the biggest negative constraints is the need to make the system "codeable". As a software engineer, I know how much work it can be to tightly code a simple rule that could be easily explained to a human in a paragraph of English. I wonder how much the need to convert the game mechanics into rules constrains the design, even while the ability to include massive numbers of variables frees them from the relatively simple demands of rules that humans have to actually implement while playing, which results in the need to limit the variables as much as possible.

In other words, computer games are not really constrained by computational complexity, while they are constrained by the the ability of the coder to encode into rules complex ideas. The traditional wargame however, must minimize compuational complexity, but is free to right the rules in a much more easily communicated language.

Of course, there are a huge number of other differences as well, not all of them even related to the media choice as much as design choices about what is important, and what is not.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

For the People is one of my favorites. I have the GMT release and have played it I think five times face to face, each time it was a great experience. Before this last year's slew of ACW Grand Strategy computer games (FOF, AACW, WBTS) it was my favorite ACW grand strategy game. It's now tied for the top, but my face to face board gaming time has diminished so I haven't had a chance to play it in a while.

yeah, time is the bane of playing wargames ftf. I am lucky enough to live in an area with a pretty active wargaming community, so I play somewhat regularly, but honestly, 90% of my wargaming is done via Cyberboard, ACTS, and PBEM.

Used to play EiA and WiF. I think the PC age has buried wargames...you can find opponents for the hardest games (and these two are very very hard) without raising a sweat and comfortably on your chair...don't need to stay 2 hours in traffic, waste an afternoon because a player doesn't show up (the AI in the pc game can take over) and so on.

It's the technology! [&o]

i own and have played For The People & Victory Games, Civil War, with strenght point system for troops, the range of commander available is great, not as one of the computer games, i like all it, trying different aproaches is not a bad thing, for me, it is as read 3/4, etc, books on the same "main-theme" but by different authors, Columbia games civil/secesion war game, two games, actually is not bad, with his block system, i try it, the confederates have a hard time but it is historical, there are a relatively new board wargame on the civil/secesion war theme, it is "price of freedom" by renaud verlaque (his first game is "Age of napoleon" and have been one of the better board wargames for the past years, i will give some links for you all if you want to know something abut all this games, and other link, the last link is a gaming page that allow to play some card driven games (too FtP) on the computer, the client understand the rules and some people like it, here goes the links...
 
1- Renaud Verlaque's "Price Of Freedom"... http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14701
 
2- Columbia games site (Bobby lee+Sam Grant)... wooden blocks system that gives each unit between 2-4 steps of strenght
 
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/82 (these games can have much addictive component)
 
3- wargame room site... http://wargameroom.com/
 
i hope people find interesting the links, too can name "a house divided" by some different publishers, being at last (deluxe edition) by Phalanx games, more simplified civil/secesion war game, as artillery is absent and there are only 3 leaders on all the game (Lee, Grant & Sherman)
 
best regards,
 
murat30.

As long as we are talking of boardgames and the Civil War, there is none better than Victory Games "The Civil War." 

I probably own over two hundred board games, going back to Tactics II.  When I was in college in the seventies, I could pay for hours with my friends.  Family and earning a living displaced all nighters and weekends.  

Renaud's Price of Freedom of Freedom ACW boardgame is simply superb.  Absolutely brilliant how he crammed the whole war into 8 turns and playable in under 3 hours.  Sort of like WBTS, at first glance it seems like it might be a simple game, but once you dive in you find out it is anything but simple.

Kinda hate to admit this but I started ACW board gaming with Milton Bradley's Battle Cry in 1961 or '62. 

ORIGINAL: oldspec4

Kinda hate to admit this but I started ACW board gaming with Milton Bradley's Battle Cry in 1961 or '62.

I remember picking a copy of that up in a used book store as a kid. [:D] Had the American Heritage booklet that came with it for years. Watch out for that big cannon in the Atlantic.

ORIGINAL: Bo Rearguard

ORIGINAL: oldspec4

Kinda hate to admit this but I started ACW board gaming with Milton Bradley's Battle Cry in 1961 or '62.

I remember picking a copy of that up in a used book store as a kid. [:D] Had the American Heritage booklet that came with it for years. Watch out for that big cannon in the Atlantic.

Yep...that would be the game [;)]

My first ACW game was Avalon Hill's Gettysburg (1977 version)I remember being enthralled by the full color map of the battlefield and being frustrated by the advanced rules, which almost resembled miniatures in their complexity. I mostly stuck to the brigade level intermediate rules.

ORIGINAL: GShock

Used to play EiA and WiF. I think the PC age has buried wargames...you can find opponents for the hardest games (and these two are very very hard) without raising a sweat and comfortably on your chair...don't need to stay 2 hours in traffic, waste an afternoon because a player doesn't show up (the AI in the pc game can take over) and so on.

It's the technology! [&o]

oddly enough, right now is a great time to be a wargamer - lots of new games coming out, and plenty of people to play, if you know where to look. The internet has helped that immensely, IMO, rather than stifling it.

I went to our monthly gaming meeting this Saturday and there were 38 people there playing games. We do this every month, and most of those people get together weekly or bi-weekly as well.

Personally, I play a ftf wargame on average of once a week.

Anyone interested in a PBEM/ACTS game of FtP, drop me a line via PM or email...always ready for some more play!

I also strongly recommend Price of Freedom. Does a nice job of getting the leadership issues across in a simple elegant way.  I think PoF and GGWBTS are kindred spirits in a number of ways.  I've played fair number of computer games but something about the direct social nature of FtF as well as the physicality of the board wargames has brought me back to them after a haitus.
 As a slight tangent a very hot board wargame these days is Combat Commander.
  We now return you to your regularly scheduled computer civil war programming.