American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

How many of you purchased the original BG2 Gettysburg (1995). And if any here did, what was the strangest thing about it you can recall?

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

I bought it. I was disappointed with it as it was too easy to win [I didn't have the internet then and was unaware of Clubs like the ACWGC]. I also purchased Borodino after it to see if it was any better. It wasn't, but I did like how you detach skirmishers and deploy them as 'separate' units. I did like the system the game followed for phased play and used that methodology for rules I wrote for Napoleonic miniatures.

I don't recall anything strange about Gettysburg. It led to on to many other computer wargames which opened up a whole new world of wargaming for me.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

That's interesting that the game was available to you in the big Talonsoft box with the CD inside way down under. I'll mention what I am referring to when others have had a chance to comment.

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

I definitely had it (possibly still do somewhere) and Borodino. No box though and I can't recall what it looked like. I know what you are talking about though as not ago Blake was discussing his Talonsoft collection (https://wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=23844&hilit).

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

The realistic violence must be a reference that with each shot a short video appeared of reenactors firing.

But I still have something in mind that no one has mentioned yet.

I have all 9 boxes-but opened

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

Mark Nelms and I played every scenario on the BG Gettysburg game. It was a lot of fun. I played every scenario on every one of those games (that are pictured on Blake's shelf) and had to change sides in the club in order to play them again from the Union side. At the time, the club recognized a Reb playing as the Union commander as a maneuver and not a battle regardless of who the opponent was. A lot of good people and memories associated with those games, including the very first club 'conference' held in Petersburg VA. I struggled adjusting from BG play to HPS play but suddenly the light came on enough that I could at least be challenging to an opponent. I probably still have the disks but not the boxes.

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Gen Ned Simms
2/XVI Corps/AotT
Blood 'n Guts hisself, a land lovin' pirate. Show me some arty tubes and we'll charge 'em.
VMI Class of '00

So, in playing BG2, what was so strange about it that it would be completely alien today? Original V.1
Not graphical related

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

Got it and played it with Bill Smith back in 95. Nothing strange that I recall but casualties were in multiples of 25.

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

You're getting warm

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

Fatigue was done 0 - 9 as well if that's what you are hinting at. It made things a heck of a lot more interesting sometimes. I'd love knowing if anyone ever did a full analysis of one system of fatigue vs. the other to see which caused the faster accumulation on average of fatigue. In my mind it felt like the 0 - 9 system caused units to fall out of the battle sooner.

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

The answer, IMHO, is the 1=100 men strength points. The 25-man increments did not start until Shiloh for the ACW games. So, with a loss of 1, that meant 100 men were eliminated for that shot. Of course, successful shots were harder to come by. Talonsoft upgraded BG2 Gettysburg to the 25-man increments after the release of BG4 Shiloh.

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

I had completely forget about that! Not that I didn't believe you, but I just dug out my original paper manual, and sure enough, there is a picture of an infantry unit with 6 Strength Points. Not only did they use 100 men increments, but they didn't even refer to a unit's size by number of men, but by SP.

My memory might be a little bad, but it seems to me that my copy of Gettysburg was in a black box and was some sort of special edition. I don't think I have the box anymore. 20 years of moving in the military made me reduce some clutter. But I definitely kept all of the paper manuals from all of those BG games. Does anyone remember if there was a special edition to the Gettysburg game?

Ironically, I just posted in another thread about how 'In the beginning' all increments were 25 men. I should have read to the bottom of this post before I posted that.

Lt Col Matt Clausen
1st Brigade
3d Division
V Corps
Army of the Potomac

You have to remember BGG was the second game in the BG series and the first ACW game and came out in 1995.
I would guess several of the designers had played the Richard Berg ACW boardgames.
One of the reasons I bought BGG was it appeared to be similar to Berg's TSS, Bloody Shiloh and Gleam of Bayonets boardgames.
My guess is the BG SP was reduced to 25 when Antietam went into development probably because of the small size of many CSA regiments.
For Gleam of Bayonets the SP was reduced from 100 to 50 for the same reason.

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Gen. Ken Miller



The McKeesport Union Guard

1/1/I
AotP

Talonsoft had a public MB, and many people commented on the need for the SP change to something more realistic. During those days, I was very active on the MB and was eventually asked to help with BG9, and then when John moved to HPS, to take over Campaign Franklin. Just a little history here.

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)