Matrix Games Forums

Anyone have an opinon on these games? Anglo/German War (AGW), and Russo/German War (RGW) I believe are the two titles currently out. I am curious if anyone is playing them on Vista. Thanks for the help.

Sorry about that I meant to post it in the general discussion area.  Just so there is no hard feelings with SSG, I am now going to purchase a copy of Kharkov.  I knew I just needed a reason to get a new game. 

I bought it and could never figure it out. Partly my fault as I have no experience with these types of games but also because the interface is hard to use.
 
GJK posts here at various forums and wrote a good review over at Armchair General. He also wrote a tutorial.
 
There are some macros at gamesquad to make the UI more normal but I haven't tried them yet.
 
BTW comes with a nice spiral bound manual.

For your Vista questions see the Schwerpunkt forum at wargamer.com

Thanks Junk2drive.  I will keep an eye on it.  It looked interesting, but I have heard so little about it.

I had very high hopes for AGW and still think that the game inside is good, but the UI is just atrocious and frustrating. I recently launched it to play it again and gave up in frustration after 5 minutes; I just didn't have the patience to remember how to use that interface.

However, the designer has been active working on his next release and promises to clean up the interface - though it's been in the works for some time (but granted, he is a one-man team so progress moves slowly).

As I summarized in my review; if you're an old-time (grandpa) board wargamer and enjoy that type of game then AGW would be something that you enjoy, you just have to invest the time to learn how to control the units with that clunky interface (also, there is no map scrolling - you need a macro as J2D mentions above).

P.S. How ya doin' J2D, long time no chat with you!

Ron Dockal is a great guy and a gentleman to deal with. He is a true gamer who believes in the beauty of classic board wargaming and putting all that we love there on the PC. I own his games going right back to "Smolensk".
 
Unfortunately it has taken Ron a while to absorb the feedback of his customers regarding the extreme clunkiness of his UI's. Very difficult map scrolling, lots of clicks etc.
 
He also imo, needs to refine his patching procedure - right now for example RGW needs every single patch, one by one in order to bring up to date. There's about 7 of them.
 
Ron's best achievement? The way he has been able to create great unit counters, chock full of information when other designers struggle just to put a tank icon on theirs. His round air unit counters are a thing of virtual board gaming beauty.

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

Ron's best achievement? The way he has been able to create great unit counters, chock full of information when other designers struggle just to put a tank icon on theirs. His round air unit counters are a thing of virtual board gaming beauty.

You nailed it here - that is what I loved most about his games. I *hate* having to click on every single unit/counter/3d icon/pretty Panzer General looking tank in computer wargames just to see how much strength they have or how far they can move. Ron has that and much more information all presented on the counter - brilliance! Except that board wargames *had* to do that long before - and Ron has nicely retained that attribute.

I like both Russo/German War and Anglo/German War mainly because they are about as close as you can get to a board game on computer. Yes, the UI is a bit clunky but if you stay with it and learn it, it's not so bad. I guess he designed the games the way he did to allow for the "board game" feel. I like the simplicity of the graphics and I also like to figure out all the modifiers and odds when I play a game. Makes me feel like I'm in control of the game instead of having the computer do everything for me. However, if you are not a board gamer I wouldn't recommend them.

I never figured out the interface,though from the look and the counters this is something I would enjoy,if only I could figure out the UI.[:D]

Anyone have a link to the tutorial,thinking about re installing this game.

wargamer forums way down at the bottom is the hangout.

Thanks I just looked and no tutorial there.

I've got AGW and I think it's a great game. Like other posters have said, the UI is non-standard and is quirky but once you learn it, it's easy to find your way around. The unit counters are great and is something that I wish HPS could replicate in their games as I think the PzC and Ancient Warfare series games would benefit greatly.

There are tons of scenarios out of the box and the AI is passable and will give you an OK fight.

My only gripe is no direct download purchase, so snail mail is your only option to get hold of them.

Cheers

Mark

I ahd RGW, and enjoyed it. It does a nostalgic board game feel but I thought it played well. Unfortunately I've lost my cd for RGW - Still have the manual in hope I'll stumble across the cd, but that probably wont happen.

Rick

Unfortunately I've lost my cd for RGW

Contact Ron Dockal at Schwerpunkt and he'll probably send you a replacement disk.

I found issue with AGW in the stacking feature. It reminded me too much of Kampfgruppe from the 80's where you could stack your entire army into one hex and bowl over the ai with ease. In Battlegroup they fixed this exploit with a 2 unit stacking limit and I think a HQ. Plus as others have said the UI is atrocious. I haven't gone back to it since but still have it. Might sell it on ebay soon though as it's getting no playtime.

FYI, the UI in the upcoming Middle East Wars is improved.  Maybe still not what some may want, but hopefully less atrocious?  Anyway, the new and improved game model will become the foundation for a future Schwerpunkt WWII-Europe game to update RGW and AGW.  Most significant is the revised combat model using odds-based modifiers rather than unit-size; more realistic that way and more consistent with other games.
 
FWIW, it's the boardgame feel that keeps me coming back.  TOAW and the upcoming War in the East are fine, but the grognard level of detail accounting for every last squad, tank and gun gets too complicated.  It's nice to have an operational level alternative with simple unit attack/defense/movement factors.  Perhaps not for everyone, but still. [:)] 

ORIGINAL: pzgndr

Unfortunately I've lost my cd for RGW

Contact Ron Dockal at Schwerpunkt and he'll probably send you a replacement disk.

I did consider that, but it was so long ago, > 5yrs, I think, that i didn't figure he had any records left of customers.

Thanks for suggestion though
Rick

ORIGINAL: bairdlander

Thanks I just looked and no tutorial there.

Bairdlander,

The tutorial download for AGW is here:

http://schwerpunkt.wargamer.com/AGWDesc.html