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Let's Play Ultimate General: Civil War
This game scratches an itch.
There is a paucity of good civil war themed wargames that combine tactical battles with a campaign system, however rudimentary (and this one is pretty rudimentary). It certainly isn't perfect, I would definitely describe it more as episodic than campaign based. There are other weaknesses that I'm sure we'll get into as this goes on, but it manages to remain fun and engaging pretty much throughout.
Technically, it is the successor to Ultimate General: Gettysburg, a game which featured only the titular battle and was a pile of hot shit. Horribly unbalanced gameplay led to battles that were dominated by confederate charges until the only unrouted units were a bunch of artillery missing each other. Somehow it did well enough to spawn this, and it's a good thing because enough of the issues were fixed to create something truly enjoyable.
How this game works
Gameplay is broken into 3 phases.
Camp
This is where you build (or rebuild) your army. Campaign mode in this occassionally will include historical units, mostly in early battles, but the majority of the fighting is done with an army designed and constructed by the player. Each battle earns gold and recruits, which are then used to replace losses and create new brigades, artillery batteries, skirmisher regiments, and cavalry units. You can also hire new officers, buy weapons, and level up your character here. We'll be taking a much more in depth look at these mechanics as we go through the LP.
Battle Selection and Intelligence
This screen is where you select the next battle you are going to fight or take a look at intercepted correspondence between enemy commanders. We'll break down the intel system later (it's not that useful), for now the important things to note are the crossed rifles on the map. The one with the gold lining represents a major battle (in this case Bull Run), the other one is a skirmish that can impact the larger battle. It's a simple but surprisingly effective system, though it does get repetitive after a while.
Tactical Battle
This is where all your hard work building the army in camp mode gets put into practice. Battles are generally fought over a full or partial battlefield and can involve anywhere from one division per side (5-10k soldiers) to 5 corps (up to 150k soldiers per side). Major battles often involve multiple phases and maps that change depending on how successful the prior phase was. For example, if the Union is able to hold the line successfully at Chancellorsville then they are able to counterattack in order to cut off and destroy a significant portion of the Confederate army.
This is a great system in theory, but it suffers a little in practice because of the episodic nature of the campaign system. When I did a practice run of the game I was able to route the Confederates at Fredericksburg (at extremely high cost), only to see the next available battle in the eastern theatre appear as Chancellorsville, which is actually north of Fredericksburg. The Confederate army was also larger and better equiped than it had been.
This is the problem with any kind of carryover campaign system that railroads the progression of the war or battle. If I destroy the other army in one battle, how is the next going to be fun or challenging? How do you make a game that is essentially fought across a series of maps into a cohesive campaign that doesn't punish the player for being too successful (or unsuccessful)? Unfortunately I don't think this game does a great job of answering either question, but at least it tried something new and was somewhat successful.
How this will work
I intend to play through both campaigns as long as there is interest to see them. Between updates, I will also be posting letters, stories, and listening to whatever feedback or criticism is offered. I'll be putting army composition, promotions, and unit naming up for discussion and vote but I will try to take care of most of the tedious aspects of army management.
Unfortunately this game's files are pretty unmodable and I'm barely good enough to mod spreadsheet files, so I won't be able to name commanders (other than the first, who is basically the player character). That said, if certain units perform with remarkable distinction or cowardice I welcome any proposals to name them.
Before we begin I'd like to know which side we'd like to play as well as some information about the player character.
VOTE
Vote for what we studied at West Point
Which branch of the armed forces we served in during the Mexican-American War
What we did after the war
And who we fight for
Please bold your votes.