Army of the Potomac

So, anyways, despite the fact that I haven't been on for a while, I have several updates on my Civil War Experience. Those of you whom know what I mean, it is anything that happens that I am involved someway to the Preservation of the legacy of the American Civil War, which has not only defined America, but how the whole world views America in times of crisis.

The Major ones at this time is my doing in the Civil War gaming communities.

On MadMinute Games BB, they have been doing simulations for the game. Interesting though, for it is strictly a one player game. What happens is one person plays the game, and is the Facilitator. The man who has been doing the past two is called Motubu, from Africa. He's been doing one heck of a job I must say.

He only does anything though, depending on the orders he receives. So, the other players involved in this are commanders. We take a historical OOB and from there we take the positions of the historical person who we want to be. But, these aren't historical settings.

The turns go like this: we issue out orders to those below us and the the facilitator, they then carry out the orders. Then, we get written reports on the actions of the different people and the facilitator. Then, we issue out orders based upon the new information received.

There have been three total, but, I've only been able to participate in two.

The first one was a simulation called Longstreet verses Sickles. It was to show what would have happened if the I Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia commanded by James Longstreet, supplied with a division from the III Corps, randomly meet the III Corps of the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Sickles. We played as Longstreet.

My character was Cadmus M. Wilcox, and I original was assigned the first brigade from the III Corps Division. But, my commanding officer, General Anderson, was killed, and so I replaced him most of the battle. My division ended the battle after five turns. with a smashing all-out attack on the units near us. My division received the highest scores of the simulation.

The second one, being played out right now, is called Burnsides' Gambles. It based upon the assumption that Burnside received his pontoon bridges on time and crossed the river on November 19. It also shows how much different it would have been, if two Corps were not present, used to keep the Army of Northern Virginia in place. And what would have happened if most of the Army of Northern Virginia had slipped past them and still arrived at Fredericksburg, but, without having the time to prepare themselves in a strong fortified line.

I am General Ambrose Burnside. It amazing leading the Army of the Potomac into battle. There is a set fixed limit of 10 turns, and we have completed turn 8. Half of the army was on the town side of the Rappahanock. The other half on the other side of the river. We learned only after intense fighting The I Corps was virtually mauled twice when trying to enter Fredericksburg from the south (or north on the map given us), and it has only 6,000 men left out of 13,000. The enemy set up a massed artillery base ontop of a hill, fixing us in place until we had drained enough of thier manpower to launch an attack on the hill.

The enemy crossed the river with a battery and seven brigades, but they were annihilated. Jackson's Corps is nearly wiped out and we are still in fairly good condition. But, the battle isn't over yet. No one knows what will happen next.

Army of the Potomac vs. Army of Northern Virginia (MMG Style)

It was a week after the MMG OOB came out before I finally got the MMG OOB to work. This is what was posted on the MadMinute Games Forum.

The fighting began as Texans arrive on the scene and try to attack my dismounted Cavalry. A fierce firefight ensued as both sides called up reeinforcments.

Flanked, the Texans are routed to a small creek while thier Alabamian comrades are routed to a cornfield. Thier commanding officer, trying to stop the rout, rides forth, right into my boys waiting guns. He is killed before he hits the ground.

At this, the Rebels turn and fight again, catch my men in a deadly crossfire with artillery and two brigades. The fighting seesaws back and forth as we both push each other back. Both sides lose many men in point blank duels.

A battery of cannon blasts away dozens of men with grapshot, and a deadly fight ensues over possession of the cannon. Two Irish regiments capture a gun, then a rebel sharpshooter regiment charges them, throwing them into confusion and shoving them from the guns. One last regiment is thrown in, and all six cannons fire at the exact same time, all throwing canister at the same time, and the regiment is thrown back. Finally, I order a cavalry charge, and finally, the battery is taken.

At the same time, the rebels are broken and fall back upon thier reserves. At the same time as I push my Maine Brigade forward and turn thier flanks by advancing on thier rear. But, they run right into 6 regiments of cavalry, and after some fierce fighting, they break and run like chickens.

The rebels are scattered now all over the field, but, they still carry alot of fight. Six times they rout a regiment, then are forced to fall back. During this time, "Phantom Menace" sends a report, ranting about the day is lost, and his Maine brigade needs reeinforcments. He is killed immediatly after the report is recieved.

After the death of him, seven enemy officers are killed in attempts to rally thier men. The enemy breaks, and nearly four regiments are lost and they will cause my men no trouble. Their last artillery battery keeps up a steady fire, trying to save thie army from total disaster. I send my cavalry in another charge, which picks up all but one cannon. It will keep up a pesky fire that does no damage.

Finally, after thirty minutes of pure agony for the rebels, they mount several cavalry charges once again the brave Maine boys. They break, and Chamberlain is killed during this exchange. The Maine boys head for the woods and refuse to come back out until the cavalry is cleared out of thier front.

I send my zouvees against the cavalry, along with an Iron Brigade regiment. Together, they rout the enemy cavalry. During this time, the rebels make one last charge, with a full sized regiment against a badly mangaled cavalry regiment. A classic duel starts, which ends with the rebels in total rout.

With that, major victory!

Score: 10,624
Losses: 3,034
Enemy losses: 2,938

Empire's The Civil War

Empires' The Civil War was one of the first games brought out. It was really a valient attempt to potray the Civil War accuratly, but, it failed in many aspects. It is in the format of a large map, which you have to scroll over with your mouse. All your units are in units of a division or larger, that are represented as boxes.

One of the things it failed at was movement. Most of the time, you can't get your guys to move, or they will move a little bit, then stop, or go right back to where you started off. It is really frustrating when your enemy is walking all over the place, and you are just hoping you can get even a single unit of yours moving.

Second is how easily you can win the war. All you have to do is walk into the enemy capitol and you win. I did so, and I won within a turn.

Third is your navy. Technically, they won't do anything on thier own. You have to order them to do everything. You tell them to patrol a certain place, they won't return unless you order them to. If you are the South, your cotton runs pretty much end when they land. They won't return with the cotton until you order them to.

Fourth is your population. You cannot make large armies by recruiting. Your states provide little in way of actual population. As such, you have to combine your units you already have, and hopefully you will have a large enough army to win.

It has several things right though. Such as combat. It did a very good job at describing battles involving two opponents based upon the leaders ability to fight, based upon leadership and terrain. In most aspects, few of your northern officers can win unless they have large numbers because they fight softly. There are few officers in the North to compare with the South in this game.

My rateing of this game: 3 out of 10.

History Channel: The Civil War

The History Channel once again brings out a Civil War game. This game follows a first person shooter format, where you run around as a soilder from actual units and kill opponents with anything from knives to Revolver rifles. You can play two sides: Union or Confederate. For Union you play the following levels:

Fredericksburg (Iron Brigade)
Gettysburg (20th Maine)
Chattanoga (Unit unknown)
Selma (Wilson's Infantry)
Fort Fisher (United States Marines)
Petersburg

For Confederate:

Bull Run
Shiloh (Confederate Sabotgers)
Antietam (Mississippi Sharpshooters)
Chancellorsville (Stonewall Brigade)
Chickamauga (Texas Brigade)
Cold Harbor (Confederate Guerrilla)

The upside of the game:

1. Historical Battles
2. A wide variety of weapons (at certain points, you can even use a Gauntling Gun)
3. You don't follow just one persons' storyline, you go through several.

The downside of the game:

1. Do you know the real reason the North won? They were all clones! You are pretty much fighting clones, because the people who made it forgot that they can use more then three models for thier characters.

2. Ease. Even the hardest level is very easy to beat.

3. Play length. You can win the game in a day.

My score for HC: TCW: 6 out of 10.

Civil War Generals 2

Okay, I have never played the preddecessor, Robert E. Lee: Civil War General. But, I'm pretty sure that this is pretty much the same thing, only advanced.

The main thing in this game is your troops and artillery. Your officers can get wounded, but, your troops are the ones that really count. The more troops you have, the more likely you will succedd. The more artillery you have, the more likely you will succeed.

This game really has alot to do with your units. This game stresses unit moral. Your moral can be the deciding factor. If your moral gets too low, your troops will run, and you will have to spend points in sometimes vain attempts to get them rallied. Sometimes, your troops will not rally, and as soon as they reach your supply base, you've lost them.

Artillery is also a huge factor in this game. You can break enemy attacks by just firepower from your artillery. But, if the enemy comes too close, you can limber up and run for a better position.

Terrain has a impact. If you are side by side in the open, you can attack an opponent. If you are in a forest, however, you are most likely unable to, despite the fact that you are almost butting heads.

You can capture the flags on the map, and every flag you capture, more points you gain.

There are three ways to play. Single player, Hotseat mod (you play both sides, or you and one of you siblings) and Online. I perfere single, although hotseat is awesome to. I don't play online, although my brother does.

Overall, this amazing game is a 9 out of 10.

Take Command II: Second Manassas

The sun has risen, and your command looks over the fence they have been guarding all night long. There, not 100 yeards off, is 5,000 Yanks, ready to punch your weary men and rout them from the wall. But, you got one trick up your sleeve as the blue bellies huzzah towards you.

Bullets whiz towards the yanks, knocking down men every step. The blue boys are stubborn. They get right up to you then drop thier muskets, and fire a single volley.

It is too much. Your boys rout, and the Yanks are about to take over the all important position. They move forawrd, unopposed, then, suddenly, a volley from the nearby woods sends them reeling, then, the are in retreat as your fresh reserve regiment pounds towards them from the woods. The Yanks rout, and the rebel yell is once more heard victorious.

That is right. That is what Take Command II is all about. This game puts the War in Civil War.

What happens is each level you are placed in command of a select number of troops. You can command from a single regiment, clear on up to the entire Army.

And each command carries its' own problems. The smaller your commands is, the harder it is to hold. But, the more you have, the more hectic the battle can be, for you are continually having to shift your troops to where they are needed.

This game also allows you to either charge your opponent, or fire. But, this game is all about moral, quality, and fatigue. If any of these are low, you can bet your sweet bippy that your going to be restricted in what you can do, and how easily you will break.

There are two types of play. Battles and Open Play. Battles is split up into two groups, regular battles, and Custom Scenarios. Regular battle were made by the makers of the game, Adam Norb and his friend. Custom scenarios are levels that were made by fans of the game.

This game is editable, but there is no edit button in the menu. You have to download it, then, once you have, you can create your own Order of Battles which can be used during Open Play.

Out of 1-10: I rate this as a 10. This is probably the best game ever invented.

Civil War: The Game "Great Battles"

Well, this game is the first one I ever owned, so, it's the game I am most familiar with.

You start out with getting to choose which side you are, how much money you have, if you have borders or not, and year (if you play a historical setting). If you don't use a historical setting, you pretty much bypass the year.

Then, you come to the main map. There are four forts that you must control in order to win the game. You cannot win if you destroy every force on the field; you must own each fort. Each fort produces troops for the side that owns it. That is why you must have them all, or else, you will be forced to fight armies that come out of nowhere.

You cannot attack another force unless you have a general. Same goes for your opponent. When you do attack, they will give you a trivia question, then go into an actual battle with your armies. You have a limited amount of turns. The larger your army, the longer it will take to lose. The larger your enemies army, the harder it is to win. If you run out of turns, it is a draw.

Borders have a massive effect in your game. If you have borders, you have only two points of access into a state. If you have borders, you want to get to these passes before your enemy can block them. If you have no border (which you can't have in historical mode) you don't have to worry about access points, which means that you can go anywhere.

You buy generals, troops and artillary at forts. Troops are cheap, artillery is pricey, but generals are expensive. You can only buy three generals, and only once every 14 turns.

Sea power. The sea does not come into effect during this game. As a matter of fact, this is a purely land war game. The Sea has nothing to do with it, which helps you by not forcing you to worry about the sea also.

Another major thing is railroads. They cross several states and have two train stations. If you can capture both stations of a railroad, you can transport troops to where they are needed. However, if you only capture one, you cannot transport your troops by rail, but your enemy can't either.

Last but not least, territory. Every piece of territory that you capture places money in your bank. Every turn, you are given money for every territory you have. The more you have, the more money you have. The less you have, the less you get.

My Score: Out of 1-10, I give it an 8. This game has it's drawbacks, such as, you are only limited to three generals, and you cannot name armies and such. But, it is a worthwhile game. It is very easy to play and does not need a genuis to use. I certainly enjoy playing it.

Civil War Games

For the next few posts, I'm going to ver away from Civil War History, and into games created on this war and my thoughts about each game.