Matrix Games Forums

I don't know what the community knowledge of the Seven Years ' War is, but I wanted to share this little bit of info that I have (newly to me anyway) discovered.

I have never know a whole lot about this era, I had two board war games on the subject, one from SPI called Fredrick the Great and the other by Decision Games in their magazine Strategy & Tactics (S&T) called Seven Years World War (SYWW).

I sadly did not read much of the material at the time, epically the S&T magazine. For those not familiar S&T back in the day (first it was 1972 or so with SPI and then when DG purchased the rights for most of the SPI catalog and S&T mag) each S&T came with a game and the main topic of the magazine was based off that game, so you'd have a little treasure trove of info on that subject plus a game to play it out.

However, just this last December I have been smitten by the John Tiller Series of games, originally purchasing all but three of the Panzer Campaign games and then exploring and now acquiring 10 titles from each of the Napoleonic and American Civil War series.

Oh, I did have 1776 from Avalon Hill as a kid but only barely knew of my own countries history.

For myself the JTS games are a complete joy and remind me a lot of my old board war gaming days in the 70s-90s. JTS re-sparked my interest in both the Napoleonic and ACW battles.

Anyway, JTS has another game series called Musket and Pike and a game called Seven Years War so I started reading up a bit on that game and then I discovered this link and found it absolutely fascinating. If you use the left panel for navigation, you can drill down into various details of the campaigns, battles, armies', personalities, and also glean some information of the uniforms and even tactics of the era.

Seven Years ' War website.
http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page

JTS links.

This links to the product page for Seven Years war.
https://johntillersoftware.com/MusketAn ... rsWar.html

This is a link to the Designer's notes.
https://johntillersoftware.com/MusketAn ... /Notes.pdf

This is a link to the operations and is a great summary of some of the battles.
https://johntillersoftware.com/MusketAn ... ations.pdf

SPI original board war game, page 9 has some interesting game and designers notes.
https://www.spigames.net/PDFv2/FrederickTG.pdf

All in all for myself the link to the Seven Years ' War website it totally awesome. Hope you enjoy if your interested.

In my opinion Seven Years War game is one of JTS finest titles.

You can read my AAR on the Battle of Warburg here (in spanish)

Nafziger store has 8 books on the subject. https://nafzigercollection.com/shop/

To tie in with North American history, it is known as the "French and Indian War" where France lost most of its possessions in North America.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4004 ... _17561763/

also for the ultimate operational experience, AGEOD's venerable Rise of Prussia and the gold edition contains the Wars of Austrian Succession. Their Wars in America has a truely brilliant French and Indian Wars campaign where you really come to appreciate the role of just the right unit and right leader in the right place over numbers any day.

I have pbem almost all of the battles in the Tiller title. It is my favorite Tiller game. One of my favorite military periods as well.

The French and Indeginous Peoples of North America war always brings to mind The Last of the Mohicans.

I prefer the Eight Years War

I've enjoyed these tabletop takes on that period as well:

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-531-wilderne ... ition.aspx

https://www.gmtgames.com/p-888-imperial ... nting.aspx

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/306 ... -1757-1759

First of all thank you all for such warm and informative responses.

lecrop,

Thank you for the link to your website, looking forward to viewing your reviews.


Lobster,

Thank you for the Nafziger link. Some very very interesting books there!


Ranger Joe,

Your correct, the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War and the Seven Years War are all linked in a way together and JTS has them in the Musket and Pike series.


Aurelian,

Thanks for the steam link. Not a bad price for a game and looks very interesting, thank you.


Loki100,

Thanks for the info on the AGEOD Rise of Prussia. I never owned or played any AGEOD games, I'll have to find their web site and/or see if they are on steam.


sol invictus,

Thanks for your endorsement. The JTS series are all so addictive so I get, having them all, lol.


Erik,

Thanks for the links to the GMT games. At one point in my life I had over 500 board war games I collected from 1978 till 2014, but I had to sell them when I got divorced to pay some bills, since then I have switched entirely to digital war gaming.


Again thank you all! Much appreciated.

ORIGINAL: Zovs
Loki100,

Thanks for the info on the AGEOD Rise of Prussia. I never owned or played any AGEOD games, I'll have to find their web site and/or see if they are on steam.

Actually, AGEOD is a part of Matrix/Slitherine and you can find their games here on the Matrix store. Age of Muskets

I have both ROP Gold and BOA2:WIA (which has the FIW campaign) and they're classics well worth picking up on sale. [8D]

BTW, their game Pride of Nations is another unsung classic well worth picking up on sale.

I forgot to add AGEODs Site

ORIGINAL: loki100

also for the ultimate operational experience, AGEOD's venerable Rise of Prussia and the gold edition contains the Wars of Austrian Succession. Their Wars in America has a truely brilliant French and Indian Wars campaign where you really come to appreciate the role of just the right unit and right leader in the right place over numbers any day.

And there are some terrific AARs by Narwhal (weren't you involved in some too Loki?)

----

And is Ultima Thule the last roofrack in Halfords?

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4004 ... _17561763/

That's the first game from the developer making Grand Tactician: The American Civil War. It seemed to be truly a labor of love.
Both the battles and campaign are real time but pause-able and can be slowed down. The economic portion of the campaign can be really brutal, which is realistic for the period. You can automate the economics and just use a military focus.
I played though a lot of the scenarios, which are fun once you get the orders structure down, and went bankrupt fairly quickly in my one campaign attempt. The only real issue I remember is the fonts being very small. It's one of many games in my library I'd like to revisit someday.

If someone has an interest in the time period and isn't utterly turned off by real time, I definitely recommend picking it up. It even has a dlc for the Pomeranian War, there's one you dont see many games about.

Horse and Musket was a very good tactical game covering this period. It was on my list to pick up during the Christmas sale this year. Unfortunately Matrix has discontinued both games from that developer and it's not available elsewhere.

Me and Narwhal did make an AAR about European main front conflict about Ageod's Rise of Prussia -7 Years War- It is fascinating conflict. https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/th ... rs.513080/ Campaign game from elite grenadiers to lower inf type was well depicted. Ageod's game is very well done about winter quarters. I think it is not possible in a tactical game. Loki100 also have great AAR's for both Rise of Prussia and Wars in America.

ORIGINAL: altipueri

ORIGINAL: loki100

also for the ultimate operational experience, AGEOD's venerable Rise of Prussia and the gold edition contains the Wars of Austrian Succession. Their Wars in America has a truely brilliant French and Indian Wars campaign where you really come to appreciate the role of just the right unit and right leader in the right place over numbers any day.

And there are some terrific AARs by Narwhal (weren't you involved in some too Loki?)

----

And is Ultima Thule the last roofrack in Halfords?

yes, I still think our joint French and Indian Wars AAR is one of the funniest things I've ever written, as well as (hopefully) a really good showcase for what is a quite brilliant scenario from either side.

..

well it could be ... but am using it in its classical geographical meaning [8D]

It's too bad old AGeod engine known for mostly about Anglo-Saxon conflicts. Rus and Espana'36 were great and also Thirty Years War, It seems todays wargaming limited to either North America or Far East Asia market.

But also:

Carthaginians, Persians, Romans, PLUS elephants in the Ageod Birth of Rome / Alea Jacta Est games.

Greetings Zovs,
I like the John Tiller Seven Years War and glad the 3D miniatures level was added.
I liked the GMT games Seven years War boardgames too.
However, I love the Clash of Arms game series: Battles in the Age of Reason for Seven Years War and Revolutionary War.
Great tactical system:
https://www.clashofarms.com/seven-years-war.html

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236 ... usitz-1742
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/399 ... ty-triumph
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11093/zorndorf
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/539 ... ne-18-1757
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/110 ... st-victory
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/399 ... 1-may-1745
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175 ... -years-war

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/199 ... e-monmouth
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/111 ... germantown

Boku Strategy Games did a good series of computer games on Seven Years War (Dragoon & Prussia's Glory) later version offered by Matrixgames:
https://www.gamewatcher.com/companies/b ... tegy-games