Civil War II

Description

Civil War 2 is the definitive grand strategy game of the period. It is a turn based regional game with an emphasis on playability and historical accuracy. It is built on the renowned AGE game engine, with a modern and intuitive interface that makes it easy to learn yet hard to master. This historical operational strategy game with a simultaneous turn-based engine (WEGO system) that places players at the head of the USA or CSA during the American Civil War (1861-1865). You take the part of the military and political leadership, trying to lead your nation to victory, in the midst of some of the toughest operations of the Civil War. You will build, organize and command your armies over one of the largest maps of the USA ever made for a Civil War game. There are a host of real military leaders to appoint with their own strengths and weaknesses and choosing the right man for the job is crucial. However you are not just a military leader and must make vital economics and political decisions. These can have far reaching effects and you can even influence foreign intervention from the French & British who were constantly intervening in America for power and prestige. Each turn lasts 2 weeks and you must issue your orders in advance, planning on where the enemy will be, not where they are now – which is called a WEGO system (We Go at the same time). Orders are executed simultaneously in 14 phases – 1 per day. Battles are resolved on the day they occur so scheduling the arrival of your forces and planning the logistics or your army are key to success. You can send a massive force to assault an enemy position but if you do not carefully plan the attack you can have you troops arriving piecemeal and being easily dispatched. The WEGO system adds excitement and suspense and is far more realistic than traditional turn based games. This is must have game for anyone interested in the period or grand strategy games in general. Review: Pretty Good Game with Amazing Historical Accuracy - Having owned and played the original Ageod Civil War I had high expectations for this game. The graphics got a significant upgrade and the historical detail has been raised which for me as a Civil War reenactor and enthusiast is excellent. The game is quite confusing at first having played the previous version I had some clue as to a general strategy but it was difficult to execute with the card system that is in place. I'm not a huge fan of the card system I like what some of the options do, but I feel like it may have been integrated better into the game in some other manner. I have read everything I can find and still haven't found anything that would allow you to enter talks with other native tribes. The tribes follow the allegiances formed during the real Civil War and generate in 1862 with Stand Watie and joining the Southern cause as the only Indian Brigadier. The confusing nature of how the game works is the only reason it is a 4/5 otherwise the historical detail alone merits a 6/5. Secondary Addition: Having owned the game for some time now I want to revise my prior rating from 4 to 5 stars. I’ve played other games that call themselves similar even ones developed for other time periods and wars by AGEOD and they just aren’t the same (minus the original Civil War: 1861-1865). As you’ve provably read this game is difficult especially if you did not play the original. But if you read the manual it will give you many clues that’s will help. This game requires a lot of strategy and in an effort to make it more historically accurate you have mass dies organization in that Divisions and Corps cannot be created until essentially 1862, but the game warns you of this as you start and will list the exact months when you will gain access to these options. Until then you have to fight and manage your movements by essentially being at a command disadvantage. Once Divisions are available then you have 18 command points per general and then you can have an Army for every 3 Star (limits apply) a division will take up 4 command points so 2 stars can work independently or depending on your style be part of the armies. Corps can be lead by 2 or 3 Star generals and depending on leadership generally can hold from 2-5 divisions armies usually hold 3-5 on rare occasions 6. The single issue (besides the cards I just don’t agree with as listed before) is that the game can only be run through compatibility mode if you are on Windows 10 once set it can work but you may have to run comparability mode every time you try to play which can be frustrating at times. My recommendation is to use the Vista and XP Version 2 for best results but it will run on windows 7 and 8 (my laptop just likes the older ones more often than not). Review: Big disappointment for me - The game is overly complex and not natural to learn. I am a old Avalon Hill game buff and this game is harder to play than a complicated board game. I still do not understand their system of organizing groups of units under commanders - it is completely non-intuitive and a real pain. The game doesn't allow you much on the way of customization - another thing I hate in a game. I want to turn on/off features as desired and build my own campaigns and just play. This game is structured JUST SO and you have to live with it. You have to manage money and politics, which just takes time away from organizing a battle. Battles happen "under the covers" so you have no real way to impact the outcome other than picking units that march into the black box of battle. BLEH. Game locks up a lot. I am running it on a fast gaming PC running Windows 10. It get a game lockup about once per hour. If you forgot to save, you lose all your progress. What I really want is something like the old Avalon Hill game Gettysburg on a computer where I can set up my own scenarios.