So currently I know of 4 ways to play AGOT online, and I've used 3 of them. Though I will mostly focus on thronemaster and AGOT Online, as this is where I've had the most experience. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts as well!
1. Thronemaster.
Obviously the favorite for everyone in here, and this includes me. Though I played almost exclusively on AGOT Online until recently.
Pros:
- Amazing community. The website is well made and so is the game itself.
- Tons of customization options.
- Proper rules for the community. You can kick, ban and report players. This is huge, as on any other place it is every man for himself, it has very little consequence if you quit games/are nasty to others etc.
- Lifetime stats.
- PBEM play.
Cons:
- The wildling cards are missing!! They are huge in 2nd Edition of AGOT (they provide so much to the game!), so these missing is easily the biggest hit to thronemaster, and also the reason why I started on AGOT Online.
- Eh, that board, and those units. Man it is really not looking good. When you compare the board and units from AGOT Online. Yeah.
- I wish we could see the actual westeros cards, not just the text.
tldr: The best, though not as good visually and lacking 2nd. Edition wildling cards.
2. AGOT Online.
Released in 2014 as a separate program you need to install. The biggest upsides for using this is the first three points.
Example image: https://i.imgur.com/bAtPBZh.jpg
Pros:
- Beautiful interface. Far better than thronemaster. You even see the actual westeros/wildling cards, the battle window is impressive and well done as well.
- The board is just as you'd see it in real life, with the supply, influence etc. on the right side. This also goes for the units. They look great.
- All 2nd. Ed. features are included, such as wildling cards and ToB.
- Even has the DwD expansion! Fun to play around with when you want to mix things up.
- Everything that can be automated is automated. Fast is fast.
Cons:
- For some reason stats are reset every 3 months. So after 3 months, you can't tell if the guy next to you has played 500 hours or 5. Which would be nice to know..
- 70% of the players are Russian, speak Russian only, and want very little to do with others.
- Kingmaking is common. Again, Russians and their Russian pals..
- Quitting is a bigger problem here than on thronemaster. You can decide the "honor" rating you'd like to host your game with (players will get lower honor if they quit games), which will help a little bit.
- Other than the DwD expansion, you have no other customization options to the game. It is either 6p RAW or 6p DwD.
- The developer doesn't care. He complains that he didn't get enough donations ("just" 30% of the current players donated), and so has moved on. At least he says so. So don't expect any new features or something.
- The "everything is automated" is nice, but sometimes it can fuck everything up, since you have no control of what happens.
A) You can't vote to abort a game, you have to wait 30 min after the last player left. If a replacement joins, and then leaves almost immediately. Guess what, another 30 minutes.
B) The game will auto-kick you if you are too late to do the action when it is your turn. No mercy vs the automated timer. I could probably list more, but you get the idea.
tldr: Lots of good sides, which are superior to thronemaster. Great right?
Nah.. The negative side COMPLETELY overshadows its advantages. Do not play this, either use Vassal if you want to play with your friends, or use thronemaster. If you do want to try it, be prepared to slam your head against the wall at multiple occasions as you lost the game in the 9th round because the developer and his Russian server crashed. GG.
3. Vassal.
Ah yes, the good old Vassal. I sometimes run around on Vassal for the sake of nostalgia.
Example image: https://i.imgur.com/iKENAGZ.jpg
Pros:
You can do whatever you want. There are several modules, including DwD and the 4p FFC. Very little is automated. It has its charm, though of course it is mostly useless to play here, unless you are bringing the friends you want to play with yourself. There are very few online in the lobby anymore.
Cons:
Hasn't been updated for years, and due to the above options the community has pretty much died out. Also pretty much nothing is automated, so you have to pay attention to what you do.
tldr: You can do whatever you want here, which is nice. I'd only play on Vassal if it was with a pre-made group of friends looking to have some fun.
4. Tabletop Simulator (Steam).
There are several AGOT modules for Tabletop Simulator on Steam. I've barely tested this, it was slightly confusing if you ask me. Anyone that have played games with it? Good? Bad?
End questions:
- Can the board be replaced? Is is difficult to achieve? Using a proper 2nd Edition game board would be very refreshing.
- And also, can the unit models be more similar to how they look in real life? For example the models used on Vassal look much nicer. You can find these online with a quick search.
1. Thronemaster.
Obviously the favorite for everyone in here, and this includes me. Though I played almost exclusively on AGOT Online until recently.
Pros:
- Amazing community. The website is well made and so is the game itself.
- Tons of customization options.
- Proper rules for the community. You can kick, ban and report players. This is huge, as on any other place it is every man for himself, it has very little consequence if you quit games/are nasty to others etc.
- Lifetime stats.
- PBEM play.
Cons:
- The wildling cards are missing!! They are huge in 2nd Edition of AGOT (they provide so much to the game!), so these missing is easily the biggest hit to thronemaster, and also the reason why I started on AGOT Online.
- Eh, that board, and those units. Man it is really not looking good. When you compare the board and units from AGOT Online. Yeah.
- I wish we could see the actual westeros cards, not just the text.
tldr: The best, though not as good visually and lacking 2nd. Edition wildling cards.
2. AGOT Online.
Released in 2014 as a separate program you need to install. The biggest upsides for using this is the first three points.
Example image: https://i.imgur.com/bAtPBZh.jpg
Pros:
- Beautiful interface. Far better than thronemaster. You even see the actual westeros/wildling cards, the battle window is impressive and well done as well.
- The board is just as you'd see it in real life, with the supply, influence etc. on the right side. This also goes for the units. They look great.
- All 2nd. Ed. features are included, such as wildling cards and ToB.
- Even has the DwD expansion! Fun to play around with when you want to mix things up.
- Everything that can be automated is automated. Fast is fast.
Cons:
- For some reason stats are reset every 3 months. So after 3 months, you can't tell if the guy next to you has played 500 hours or 5. Which would be nice to know..
- 70% of the players are Russian, speak Russian only, and want very little to do with others.
- Kingmaking is common. Again, Russians and their Russian pals..
- Quitting is a bigger problem here than on thronemaster. You can decide the "honor" rating you'd like to host your game with (players will get lower honor if they quit games), which will help a little bit.
- Other than the DwD expansion, you have no other customization options to the game. It is either 6p RAW or 6p DwD.
- The developer doesn't care. He complains that he didn't get enough donations ("just" 30% of the current players donated), and so has moved on. At least he says so. So don't expect any new features or something.
- The "everything is automated" is nice, but sometimes it can fuck everything up, since you have no control of what happens.
A) You can't vote to abort a game, you have to wait 30 min after the last player left. If a replacement joins, and then leaves almost immediately. Guess what, another 30 minutes.
B) The game will auto-kick you if you are too late to do the action when it is your turn. No mercy vs the automated timer. I could probably list more, but you get the idea.
tldr: Lots of good sides, which are superior to thronemaster. Great right?
Nah.. The negative side COMPLETELY overshadows its advantages. Do not play this, either use Vassal if you want to play with your friends, or use thronemaster. If you do want to try it, be prepared to slam your head against the wall at multiple occasions as you lost the game in the 9th round because the developer and his Russian server crashed. GG.
3. Vassal.
Ah yes, the good old Vassal. I sometimes run around on Vassal for the sake of nostalgia.
Example image: https://i.imgur.com/iKENAGZ.jpg
Pros:
You can do whatever you want. There are several modules, including DwD and the 4p FFC. Very little is automated. It has its charm, though of course it is mostly useless to play here, unless you are bringing the friends you want to play with yourself. There are very few online in the lobby anymore.
Cons:
Hasn't been updated for years, and due to the above options the community has pretty much died out. Also pretty much nothing is automated, so you have to pay attention to what you do.
tldr: You can do whatever you want here, which is nice. I'd only play on Vassal if it was with a pre-made group of friends looking to have some fun.
4. Tabletop Simulator (Steam).
There are several AGOT modules for Tabletop Simulator on Steam. I've barely tested this, it was slightly confusing if you ask me. Anyone that have played games with it? Good? Bad?
End questions:
- Can the board be replaced? Is is difficult to achieve? Using a proper 2nd Edition game board would be very refreshing.
- And also, can the unit models be more similar to how they look in real life? For example the models used on Vassal look much nicer. You can find these online with a quick search.
