This is a shameless self-advertisement, but it might interest the TBS crowd.

I am doing an AAR (After Action Report - Let's Play for you non-wargame players) of the little known Rise of Prussia game. I am playing against a human opponent and the Let's Play is meant for beginners. Read it on the Paradox forum]Read it on the Paradox forum.

As the AAR advances, I take the habits of putting more arrows on the screenshoot, making them more and more understandable.


I started it on the GoG forum, but it had little success as a. you cannot embed image on GoG forum and b. I had the wrong idea of strating it the 24th of december. So I started one again.

If you like Turn-Based Strategy and believe no good TBS has been made recently, you might want to have a look.

Comment as much as you want on either forum :)

I am getting pounced, but Rise of Prussia (and other AGEOD games) are great because you can slowly recover from a poor battle or a poor situation. It is not like too many games where a defeat in battle means anniliation of an army, which cannot be recovered of. In this game, I had some decisive defeats against Sweden in which I lost about 300 men only out of 15 000, but said defeat allowed my opponent to secure a vital supply line for instance.

This is extremely cool. Very, very fun to read, even for someone who never invests the time to learn these types of games and be able to play them properly.

If you are doing a shameless self-advertisement for your AAR, allow me to do the same for the company that made RoP and other magnificent games. AgeOD is in my opinion THE historical turn strategy game maker and with their big project Vainglory of Nations (Paradox made them rename it Pride of Nations, blah!) coming up in a couple of months, they will surely be heard even more than before.

I recommend their games to anyone and the friendly community on the AgeOD forums helps out all the time. Most importantly, they keep patching up their games, taking input from players and releasing hotfixes while still working on the next patch. In one word, perfection, or extremely close to what one may expect from a game developer and ex-publisher. And before anyone who knows their games mention WW1, let me tell you that it's not their (does not use the AGE engine) and the developer has been burning the midnight oil since the release to make the game the best WW1 simulation ever.

So go out and buy AgeOD products! You won't be sorry and you'll be doing gaming a favour, as you do by supporting GOG!

Warning: This is a statement from a big fan and is in no way connected to AgeOD or Paradox. Just so that we're clear on the subject.

P.S.: You are the Narwal of the RoP intro-AAR fame?! Glory be to thy name!

This is not really "of fame". They are not so many people reading that AAR. I just was the first one to do an AAR on AGEod, so I won the AARland without competition in the "non-Paradox" category :)

This is a great AAR. I only dabble in wargames occasionally (HoI), but you make me want to try out Rise of Prussia. I also really like the beginners corner parts you do, as you describe aspects of the game really well. Is RoP a good entry in AgeOD stuff? or is there another game you would recommend for someone who hasn't tried any of their products?

For the campaign itself, it's neat watching two human players go against each other, because you can attempt interesting tricks like you're doing right now with pulling Frederick to the West. The defense against the Russians in Königsberg, was pretty awesome as well (although I'm the sort of player who would probably have not tried to hold Königsberg).

I would really recommend starting with Birth of America, because it includes some limited scenarios (limited operation of the Independance War, including some completely forgotten operations like the Don Galvez Florida Campaign). Rise of Prussia only has an handful of massive scenarii : the Grand Campaign with different starting dates.

Moreover, BoA is less complex : no (real) troop production, simplified supply system, simplified command system, ... This does not make the game any easier, though.

Finally, as a Canadian, you cannot miss the opportunity to play the French and Indian War or the War of 1812 :)

Interesting. Paradox games often catch my eye, but when I find they aren't turn-based I start to lose interest. I'll have to look into this more.

That alone should be all the reason I need. We need some more strategy games about Canada's conflicts (or at least to teach them in the schools)

Well it's not a Paradox game. It's an AgeOD game and it is only recently that they have been bought and turned into Paradox France, while, according to the owner, retaining considerable independence. It was more of a marketing thing. The funny thing is, Philippe Thibaut is the designer of EU I. The games that Paradox is most known by were created by the man who is now semi-owned by them.

If you need an opponent for a PBEM, just send me a message - through the AAR forum it should be easy.

I would be very happy to play with you, even the unbalanced scenarios "for training" ("To Quebec ! Huzzah !" is especially unbalanced against the Americans, as it is in a large part a scenario to show how difficult / suicidal this American operation was).

I actually saw a bundled set of AGEOD games containing Birth of America II, Civil War and Napoleon's Campaigns. Is it worth getting that whole set? Are they similar in everything but setting?

Depends on the price, as always.

Birth of America is an outstanding game you should really get. It covers a LOTS of conflict, from mid 17th (the Pequot War) to early 19th (War of 1812). The map of BoA is always the same, but each scenario is played very differently, due to the change of the main area of action and forces in presence

- you don't fight in the Great Lakes (watch for winter, always make sure you have supplies, and remember you have only a window of 6-7 months before everyone has to winter, - plan accordingly or lose everyone) the same way you fight in Georgia (watch for the occasional disease, and remember the most powerful army will most certainly win), or in the West (watch your supplies... watch for ambush... plan your moves several months in advance and allow for 2 or more months of delay).

- You don't fight the same way as the French (elite and mobile troops, but not enough of them), the English Colonials (not so elite troops, but a progressive increase in power), the English (powerful but slow troops, and poorly led) or the Indians (no punch, forced wintering, but outstanding mobility and ambush capacities).

So overall, it is a great game. It is my favorite, I just happened to make an AAR about RoP because I played RoP significantly less, and never in PBEM.

- Ageod American Civil War (AACW) is widely considered (not only in AGEod circles - read the critics) as the most realistic simulation of the AACW. Not necessarily the "funniest", but the most realistic.. It is really an outstanding game, but of course it only focuses on that war.

- Napoleon's Campaign is considered as the weakest of all the AGEod games. I don't have it myself, but the general mood (even among AGEoders) toward the game is "so-so" - due to the lack of Grand Campaign especially.


The 3 games are similar in engine, but as I said, plays very differently due to the particular circonstances of each war.
The engine got some modifications from one war to another - for instance in BoA you are not in charge of actually building troops, while you are in charge of building troops in RoP and you are in charge of everything from diplomacy to laws in AACW.

This looks really enticing! Yet, I have a more practical question: are Ageod games light on DRM, as the other Paradox productions are?

Very light on DRM. The game will ask you for a code after installation - but you are not limited in the number of times you use the code. You don't need to be online to launch or play the game, either.

Edit : Also, thank you for the bump ;)

I am very sorry to do this, but as the AAR reaches its conclusion, people who don't want to wait for the AAR to develop might interested.

Also, it is a bump. I am sorry. Once every two months should be OK :)