Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Volume One

Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Vol. 1 lets you take the place
of commanding generals in six battles of the American Civil War: first Bull
Run, Shiloh, second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.
In that role, players not only issue orders but take actions such as sleeping
and determining their level of personal participation in the battle. Players
also experience the inverse relationship of responsibility to control. Orders
can only be issued to brigades near the mobile command center, and
objectives set only at the division level, with some variation per historic
orders of battle. Subordinates, who are rated by leadership and experience,
will then adapt these orders to their view of the battle, to the point of
taking actions quite different from their orders. Once they’re out of
communications range, players can only hope for sound judgement or miraculous
foresight.

The result is a fast-paced simulation (one hour per turn) of important moments
in Civil War history. In some battles, the player has just one or two
opportunities to issue orders to a significant portion of the army. At a
distance, the enemy is invisible, and intelligence on enemy units prior to
engagement is limited to formations. Upon engagement, casualty counts and
morale are the player’s main focus. Players may override subordinate orders to
pull nearby brigades into reserve, although one turn’s hesitation can
demonstrate how quickly a cohesive resource of men and artillery can become
useless on the battlefield.

Two-thirds of the play screen are devoted to a scrollable map, supplemented by
a printed map sheet showing all of the battlefields. The other third of the
screen gives terrain and unit descriptions, battle reports, and terse command
menus. Victory is determined by a tally of casualties and controlled
objectives. Difficulty can be varied in a number of ways, most notably by
toggling full communication and invisible movement. Two players may face-off
in hot-seat mode, or a single player may face the computer or just observe the
computer controlling both sides. The game manual describes in detail how
combat effectiveness and other key calculations are made. Two design utilities
allow what-if modifications of the included scenarios as well as creation of
entirely new ones on custom maps and terrain.