Looking into John Tiller Series.

[Johnny Reb]

While I wait for SoW, I figured I'd check out the John Tiller Battleground series that's bundled on Matrix. Generally, I don't care much for turn based hex games, but if they're really awesome then I usually like them.

You really can't tell much from screenshots, I can't find any videos, and worst of all this Tiller guy apparently doesn't believe in demos (I rarely ever buy a game that doesn't have a demo out). So I'd like to know if they're actually great games that are fun to play, since they have good rep. And how they compare to TC2M, currently my all time favorite Civil War game. I also thought about Forge of Freedom, but I played Crown of Glory by the same devs and found it a bit sloppy and confusing.

[MrSpkr]

A big bump to this. I am also thinking about the Tiller series, but am not sure how much fun they really are. Anyone play them?

As an aside, I bought Forge of Freedom -- I thought it was an okay strategic game. I never played Crown of Glory, but understand that FoF was an improvement over that game.

Steve

[Shirkon]

Johnny Reb wrote:

While I wait for SoW, I figured I'd check out the John Tiller Battleground series that's bundled on Matrix. Generally, I don't care much for turn based hex games, but if they're really awesome then I usually like them.

You really can't tell much from screenshots, I can't find any videos, and worst of all this Tiller guy apparently doesn't believe in demos (I rarely ever buy a game that doesn't have a demo out). So I'd like to know if they're actually great games that are fun to play, since they have good rep. And how they compare to TC2M, currently my all time favorite Civil War game. I also thought about Forge of Freedom, but I played Crown of Glory by the same devs and found it a bit sloppy and confusing.

Those are just the old Talonsoft Battleground games repackaged. I played them when they first came out because there wasn't anything else. They all date from 95 or there abouts. Unless they have rewriten some of the code I know they won't run on a Vista machine.

[MrSpkr]

The stats indicate it runs on Vista, so they must have recoded part of the games. My question is, are they any fun? Do they leave bodies as in SoW and TC2M so one can see where the heaviest fighting took place? Are the games cumbersome to play, or are they intuitive? What is the scale (hexes, units)?

Steve

[Little Powell]

The John Tiller games are fun. But if you don't care much for turn based hex games, you may not like them. They are slow paced of course, and are very interpretative
(meaning that you have to use your imagination). But they come with dozens of scenario's with each game, and since the design is so light weight, you can have thousands of troops for each scenario on one big map. They do a great job of simulating a Civil War battle right down to the smallest detail (constructing breastworks, repairing bridges, spiking guns).

Again, they are easy to learn and come with great tutorials.

[Shirkon]

One of the best things I liked about the games was the music that played in the background on all of them except for Battleground: Gettysburg. It was full length songs played on period instruments and sung with a period accent. If I can I'll grab one off one of my old disks and submit it for you to listen to.

[Johnny Reb]

Wow, I left this thread for dead a while ago :laugh:

I'm not totally into hexes (though I enjoy steel panthers, as tedious as the big battles are). Sadly, Matrix support told me that the Napoleon and Civil war games are no longer sold together as a bundle. Still, these games did interest me, but Matrix seems to NEVER drop their prices no matter how old their game is.

Maybe some day I'll pick these up, but I think Scourge of War will be a wiser purchase. Especially since it's so much more mod friendly than TC2.

[Johnny Reb]

I was able to try out one of the original Battlefield games, the Gettysburg one, from like 1995. Didn't care for it much.

But I did buy Forge of Freedom a few days ago. It's quite intimidating, not really knowing how to go about this war dropped in your lap, and it's going to take weeks to learn the ins and outs. But FoF is exactly the CW game I wanted. I wanted a game where I could control whole armies and think about the bigger strategies of the Civil War, rather than just individual battles.

[BigBadJohn]

I have all Civil War Battlegrounds from TalonSoft. To play them I use the 64bit Microsoft Virtual Machine with Win 98 SE installed under Windows 7. All is great.

When I wanted to play a very complex Chess I use to play them. For this they are great.
And you have much time to plan your next turn.
And except Gettysburg they have a lot of fine music like Shirkon says.

And when I want to be bathed in sweat I play SoW Gettysburg.

So I have right game for the right time.

[Little Powell]

Johnny Reb wrote:

But I did buy Forge of Freedom a few days ago. It's quite intimidating, not really knowing how to go about this war dropped in your lap, and it's going to take weeks to learn the ins and outs. But FoF is exactly the CW game I wanted. I wanted a game where I could control whole armies and think about the bigger strategies of the Civil War, rather than just individual battles.

I'm in the same boat you are. I really want a grand strategy Civil War game but I just don't have the time and patience to learn them. I've tried them all FOF, AGEOD, but I can't ever get past the first turn.. :laugh:

I keep thinking I'll have more time to learn them when SOWGB testing settles down, but I don't think that'll ever happen. This game is always evolving. And when I'm not testing, I'm creating scenario's, and when I'm not creating scenario's, I'm actually playing the game. :laugh: