Victory and Glory: The American Civil War

I like the overall game design and find it generally enjoyable. There are a couple thing that seem to be in need of modification. 1. The attrition of Union forces in the South seems way to high and really limits campaigns early. Losing 30% of your force in a month after the winter months is a huge penalty and not sure is realistic. Got be a simple fix for this. 2. The loss of overall army commanders seems unrealistic. I have seen Grant killed in 1862 twice and Lee once. I can see corp commanders going down but even they seem to be lost to frequently. 3. I get the Winter attrition. Just not sure that rail travel should suffer at the same rate. Still a good game concept that I enjoy. Thanks

Potentially fun game ruined by horridly random combat. All the careful planning and maneuvering seem inconsequential next to the random number generator. Ultimately, the outcome feels like a crap shoot.

I recommend this game with a few caveats. Although the interface is a bit clunky and the controls sometimes wonky, the game plays well and the AI seems to give a decent challenge (at least on the highest level). The map, although pretty is too garish for its purpose as the graphics of the map interfere a little with the planning sometimes from the overview. Too much "froufrou" there. For some sort of comparison, (although a board hex wargame) check out GMT games American Civil War and check out the map. Simple, functional but also quite well done. Font of the army size is too small on armies in the same space (especially cities) and sometimes its hard to select between 2 armies that are present (this usually happens after splitting an army). The split army function is very clunky, requiring a separate screen to process. The naval selection (blockade runners/ etc) screen also very clunky. But despite the quibbles it does work and is a decent game and fun in its own right. Worth playing.

The is a Great Game if you like to play board games this system works the same way and is really and good board game simulator type of game.

If your look for a good Civil War experience do your sanity a favor and skip this game, everything you do is predicated on RNG and there is no skill or strategy involved at all. You can't develop your chosen side beyond railway's and card draws attacking cities is basically worthless as you can't hold enemy territory you move even temporarily, no no you want to hold any enemy at all your garrisoning it. artillery is basically useless and a waste of space, cavalry isn't much better and infantry is extremely inconsistent. If there was a modicum of skill or strategy involved it might be a fun game but putting your hands in faith in lady luck is no fun at all.

Just a quick review. Plus sides: Nice art work fun mechanics Short to play through the entire war (2-4) hours Down Sides Poor history: The destructive power of the armies totally over rated to absurdly decisive battles are common Loses replay value once you get good at the game, it seems to boil down to whether you get good leader draws from the deck. If you do, you steam role the computer quickly. If you get poor ones, you eek out a win pretty quickly. If the computer gets good leader draws and you poor ones, you lose and there is nothing to do for it. It is a fun game, but will lose its replay value fairly quickly.