AGEOD Forums

My main intrest has been WWII. Two great books I have is Ian Grey's Stalin and John Toland's Adolh Hitler. I have read each many times and evertime I start to read them, I always find myself starting a new game of HOI and playing whichever side corresponds with the book Im reading.

PLaying EU and trying to recreate the Russian empire sparked my intrest to read up on Russian history and Peter the Great.

Rome Total War of course the same with the Roman empire.

What's also funny is that while reading AND playing the games, I assume the role of whomever it is Im playing whether it be Stalin or Caesar and even find myself yelling at my "generals" for not slowing the Nazi advance or vowing to crush the Gauls once and for all! I remember some years back when the Soviets sued for peace in late 42 after a very long and tough fight. I was literally "dancing a jig" in my OKW command HQ and congratulating all my "officers" for such a well done job!

I have always been a history buff, but certain games cause a desire to really get into the detail of certain eras in history and sure enough, this game is doing that with the Civil War.

What's funny is, I have not played a Civil War game in 20 or so years and also have not read upon it it about the same time. When I was a teenager I read a lot about it, but that has been some time ago. Now, every time I see places like Manassas or Vicksburg, it's all I can do to keep from stopping the game and getting online to read up on the details of what actually happened at those battles.

Yup, time to make a trip to the used books store and add yet another era to my library.

Hi!
I'm on the same boat as you!
I find that reading history books and playing good historic strategy games is an absolutely great way of getting immersed on the era
It had happened to me with with all the games you said and some more...
And game as deep and detailed as AACW is just perfect for this kind of books/games relations...
As an Spaniard, my knowledge of the ACW was very little (just some films and a couple good old ACW boardgames as backup :siffle
But now i´m on the (very slow) process of becoming an ACW bluff
I first read the excellent McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" just before AACW got out (to get some background...) and i'm now reading and enjoying a lot the long but wonderful Shelby Foote's "Civil War Narrative" trilogy
On the "To do" list i have waiting the first volume of the Battles and Leaders of the Civil War which look awesome!

If you are looking for some ideas to your trip to the library i heartily recommend you the books above!
Regards!

Various memoirs are also a great source of info.

I find the personal nuance between generals fascinating. I am very proud of my home state of NH and appreciate the importance that many generals placed on their roots.

I have found that even in defeat, the Confederate generals seem to always give due credit and admit personal flaw. Which is not to say that the Federal generals never do, just that they more often attribute a setback to nearly anything but themselves.

Longstreet's From Manassas To Appomattox is a particularly wonderful text, imho.

soloswolf wrote:I have found that even in defeat, the Confederate generals seem to always give due credit and admit personal flaw. Which is not to say that the Federal generals never do, just that they more often attribute a setback to nearly anything but themselves.

With the exception of Jubal Early and his "Lost Cause" cronies that is generally true about the Confederate generals. Part of the reason for the differences between the two sides in this matter is that most of the CSA generals where in their position due to merit (well, maybe not Polk ) but the majority of USA generals were politically appointed and/or motivated. Most officers of a USA unit tended to be men who were well-to-do educationally or financially or ones who used political connections to get their appointment. Not to say that didn't happen in the CSA too, but it happened a LOT more in the north. McClellan is a prime example of this.

arsan wrote:But now i´m on the (very slow) process of becoming an ACW bluff

dont poker too much

Jones76 wrote:My main intrest has been WWII. Two great books I have is Ian Grey's Stalin and John Toland's Adolh Hitler. I have read each many times and evertime I start to read them, I always find myself starting a new game of HOI and playing whichever side corresponds with the book Im reading.

PLaying EU and trying to recreate the Russian empire sparked my intrest to read up on Russian history and Peter the Great.

Rome Total War of course the same with the Roman empire.

What's also funny is that while reading AND playing the games, I assume the role of whomever it is Im playing whether it be Stalin or Caesar and even find myself yelling at my "generals" for not slowing the Nazi advance or vowing to crush the Gauls once and for all! I remember some years back when the Soviets sued for peace in late 42 after a very long and tough fight. I was literally "dancing a jig" in my OKW command HQ and congratulating all my "officers" for such a well done job!

I have always been a history buff, but certain games cause a desire to really get into the detail of certain eras in history and sure enough, this game is doing that with the Civil War.

What's funny is, I have not played a Civil War game in 20 or so years and also have not read upon it it about the same time. When I was a teenager I read a lot about it, but that has been some time ago. Now, every time I see places like Manassas or Vicksburg, it's all I can do to keep from stopping the game and getting online to read up on the details of what actually happened at those battles.

Yup, time to make a trip to the used books store and add yet another era to my library.

I totally agree with you. One of the great pleasures of a game like this is to read up on the history. Amazon and second hand/charity bookshops have had far more trade from me since I started playing the AGEOD games. I get as much pleasure from reading books about the period as I do from playing the games.

If it wasn't for the games I would have had very little interest in the periods.
A big thank you to AGEOD for this.

Also movies, documentaries and talking books on my music player, it gives me hundreds of hours of pleasure.
Cheers, Chris

P.S. if anyone here lives near Watford in the UK the Oxfam bookshop there has a great range of history books. You never know what you may find in second hand bookshops, much more fun than looking through the books in a regular shop.

DirkX wrote:dont poker too much

bluff, buff... i have been betrayed by my subconscious
Regards

Another really good set of books on the American Civil War is Time Life's 26 Volumes.Loaded with photo's,maps,paintings and great text.Covers the Civil War from just about every angle.Came out in the 1980's,so I'm not sure if its still available.

I just checked on ebay and they have the whole set going for a high bid of $93.00 US with ten hours left.For any body interested I would say its a steal at that price.Its a great set.

I am still somewhat puzzled why the ACW is such an underrepresented topic (in wargames at least). I guess we will all agree that Ageod has earned the merit to be the first ones to present ACW in a Grand Campaign that rivals or surpasses WWII. In fact I can not think of any game with a deeper GC (though I remember the original Shogun Total War one was at least as engrossing).

My last contact with the topic was in the nineties, when they broadcast the 10h Ken Burns documentary - for some reasons the series was never broadcast again (in Germany). But I am looking forward to get it on DVD.

Gettysburg and Gods and General were also nice movies. Though the latter one had really annoying pathos going about it and when I watch it another time Jackson gets on my nerves. Thank god there is fast forward for this movie.

Still looking for some good books on the topic.

Can anyone comment on "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" (James M. McPherson) ? Seems to be getting good reviews all the way:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Cry-Freedom-Penguin-history/dp/0140125183/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203874622&sr=8-1

Just ordered it second hand (13.50 Euro).

It is considered the essential introductory social & political history of the Civil War and the events leading up to it. I personally prefer Catton to McPherson, but I'm glad I have both. McPherson has some good insights.

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Ian Coote wrote:Another really good set of books on the American Civil War is Time Life's 26 Volumes.Loaded with photo's,maps,paintings and great text.Covers the Civil War from just about every angle.Came out in the 1980's,so I'm not sure if its still available.

Yes, I have that set, having made that collection during the 80's. Magnificent hardcover books, with beautiful maps, paintings and photos. Nevertheless, as each one is dedicated to a segment of the AACW (ex. one book about Gettysburg, another about the coastal war, etc), one kind of fails to get the "big" picture. For that, nothing suprpasses Shelby Foote, IMHO.
But I wholeheartededly agree to recommend Time Life collection to any one who can still get it.

I knew very few things about the USA independence, until "1776" Avalon Hill game came into my hands some (well a lot of) years ago...

But about the French-British conflicts before I knew near to nothing... leure:

yes I m guilty -- --- did knew lots of things about weapons / OOBs / leaders and the such in WWII but not at all about this... The World History is really big big...

Tx Ageod team for making us learn & fun with these....