US Civil Wargaming

US civil war is not my favorite, but is an era which holds some interest for me. But to be honest, I am actually quite shocked at the scarcity of unique civil war games--there are a few big series and occasional single on offs. I was surprised to see very little of it with modern production or out in the past few years outside of some series releases trickling out.

So I'd like to ask here: What are your favorite civil war games or series?

In terms of battle level stuff, it seems like you have three series options. You have Berg's great battles of the ACW series, you have the one by MMP whose name escapes me and then you have The Gamer's series.

To me, the Gamer's series looks by *far* the most interesting. As far as I can tell the command system involves writing out orders to the various command subordinates and then waiting a realistic amount of time for them to get and interpret those orders. That sounds really cool. The other series sound way, way too involved for me. Lots of minor counter pushing and status changes and the like. No fog of war or limited intelligence.

Secondly, there is the issue of strategic level games. Specifically, there aren't as many as you'd think and there are very few that are any good. For the People, the CDG, is the obvious one but there is also a Victory Games and one other famous one IIRC. Any favorites there?

Obviously I've read some of the geeklists about this on That Other Game Site but I was looking for a good discussion about them and recommendations from others here. What do you like about various systems or games? Do you have a favorite tactical/operational game? Is there a good newer strategic game besides For the People?

I am very interested to see Richard Berg and Mark Herman are working on a huge new strategic treatment of the war (titled "ACW" which is a bizarre name). That sounds pretty cool but will be completely insane probably. I think this is one area where I am looking for a hex and counter game rather than a point to point CDG for some reason, even though I am a huge CDG fan.

This is a little off your main topic of game suggestions (I have none), but I've always thought that the American Civil War would be difficult to game strategically because of the vast difference in the way the war was conducted east and west of the Appalachians. From a broad strategic point of view, the east was mostly stalemate and rather boring although obviously Lee gets the lion's share of attention for his tactical genius. The west was where the great strategic maneuvering occurred but is more or less ignored for some reason. My guess is there aren't many strategic level games for the same reason, everybody wants to focus on Lee and forget the west.

I'd love to hear from experienced wargamers who can prove me wrong.

BillN

Good point. It's always difficult to consim a game that behaved completely differently in different areas of the same war.

Reminds me that Clash of Monarchs (New GMT game) has this problem as well. Most of the battles in the Seven Year's War were measured battles and not overly intense but when Frederick or one of the big Austrians got involved they were really intense bloodbaths with huge casualties. He simulates it with two different CRTs--when an intense battler is involved you roll on the "Intense Battle" table instead of the "Measured Battle" CRT.

I'm a totally ignorant of ACW gaming. Never really interested me. But I might check this one out:

http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=41

I'm not at all sure how this will be as far as realism vs. balance though.

I still really like A HOUSE DIVIDED...its realism/simulation level is just about right on par with my overall interest in the subject. It's a fun game and it has a battery of optional rules so you can add a little more flava to it if you see fit. It's a little longish for what it is, but it's easy to play.

I did want to try PRICE OF FREEDOM, it looked interesting...I'm actually much more interested in top-down, operational level ACW stuff than in tactical battles.

I totally expect Bowen Simmons' GUNS OF GETTYSBURG to be the definitive game on the subject...one of my most anticipated for 2009.

I'm mostly interested in war which took place in Europe, but the ACW is one exception.

"Across 5 Aprils" is an often overlooked ACW battle game and a very good one at that.

"Mosby's Raiders" is the only ACW solitaire game and is also pretty good.

I want to play "Civil War" by Victory Games sometime in the future, but neither own the copy nor looking to obtain one right now.

I'd like to find one dealing with the Naval aspects of the War. The campaign on the rivers was pretty intense if I remember correctly. The blockade could present an interesting game as you could play the blockade runners or something. Not to mention some of the ironclad battles.

Ironclads (Yaquinto) and the rarer Shot & Shell (3W) are good but out of print games on naval warfare during the ACW.

And that's about it, however, several sets of miniature rules exist, too.

I have heard good things about Three Battles of Manassas. Has anyone tried it?

I'm curious about the Glory system, myself. I've thought off and on about AHD, but I'm starting to wonder if my window is closing, as I haven't seen a copy around in a while and Phalanx is stopping production on some wargames.

--Mike L.

I'm a big fan of Berg's Great Battles of the American Civil War series. It's more leaning towards Monster Game due to the scale of the battles, but I find the system extremely fun and rewarding. I'm currently in the process of buying River of Death from a friend, and one I get that, I'll have the entire series published so far.

If you're interested at all in the system, I suggest picking up Gringo! which has smaller more manageable scenarios that scale from small (El Molino Del Ray and Chapultapec) to large (Buena Vista and Monterey). I know that the Mexican War isn't exactly what you're looking for, but the system is the same, but the technology a bit cruder. It makes for some interesting situations, forcing you to close in with muskets flaring. Can't recommend it enough.

I'm especially looking forward to Battle with Gringos! which should have some nice additional scenarios as well.

Has anyone played Valley Games "The Civil War"? I was hunting it on ebay for a long time, but never picked up a copy.

I'm certainly looking forward to Simmons' G'burg game, but I'm not sure I'm going to be comfortable calling it "definitive." I guess that will depend greatly on the scale at which you like to game. Personally, I'm more looking forward to the upcoming adaptation of the Advanced Tobruk [now "Tactical" I guess] System adaptation of Gettysburg. And, I'm not sure anything quite compares with The Gamers' This Hallowed Ground (aka "This Enormous Box")...

That said, The Gamers haven't really ever produced a game that has pushed my buttons. They trend toward the huge and slow no matter how small they try to make it. The one I'm most interested in trying at this point is the Cold Harbor game recently published in Against the Odds called "Not War but Murder." It uses the same Area-Impulse mechanics as the Storm Over Arnhem/Breakout Normandy family [with some notable changes] and sounds like it could be really quite cool. I'm really curious to see how well it adapts to ACW gaming.

"A house divided", of course.
But don't forget "Blue vs. Gray". Outstanding game, one of the most innovative (light) wargame design ever.

Schweig! wrote:

Ironclads (Yaquinto) and the rarer Shot & Shell (3W) are good but out of print games on naval warfare during the ACW.

And that's about it, however, several sets of miniature rules exist, too.

Ironclads [and its expansion] has been reprinted by Excilbre Games. It doesn't have the 1" ship counters like the Yaquinto version, but you can at least play the damn thing again [and I despise the stock that Excalibre uses for their counters]. That said, while it has a significant following, I personally didn't care for it that much as it felt a bit like Tobruk on the water.

I was raised in Petersburg Virginia. I don't know if there is actually a good game out there that focuses on the Siege of Petersburg. I don't know how interesting a crater battle would be in a game.