Civil War is an old-school game that simulates the American Civil War from its start in April 1861 until the presidential election on 8th November 1864, when President Lincoln was re-elected. If you have sufficient strategic and organizational skills then you may be able to force the opposition to surrender prior to the latter date.
You can choose to play as the commander of either the Northern Union or the Southern Confederates. Both sides have their own unique abilities, making it challenging whichever side you choose. The opposition can be provided either by the computer's 'artificial intelligence' or by another player if you have a suitable LAN connection set up between two computers.
The game can be played in two modes: You can play the entire campaign as a complex strategy game covering the entire east coast of America, starting with a historically accurate deployment of troops. As well as controlling units on any level from Army Commander down to Brigade Commander, you will have to maintain your cities by fortifying them, recruiting new units, and building facilities such as hospitals and supply depots. You will also have naval forces at your disposal, which can be used to bombard enemy towns or cut off supply lines.
On the other hand, you can choose to play one of a number of historical battles, where you control the action at a regimental level, actually viewing the battlefield in a unique 3D representation. All of the major features of the battlefield are represented, and you will be able to see individual soldiers marching or riding their horses, firing their muskets and engaging the enemy.
The battle feature is also incorporated in the full campaign so that when an important battle occurs you have the option to play out the scenario on the battlefield. You may, however, choose to let the computer calculate the results for you.
Both modes of play have a range of realism settings so that you can tailor the game to your own liking, and allow more complex features as your understanding and prowess increases.
Your goal in the campaign mode is to amass victory points, and when you have enough, you win. You gain victory points by capturing cities, both those of your opponent and those who start out as neutral. How many victory points you need depends on the difficulty setting. As noted above the campaign game is turn-based, you give your orders by night and they are carried out by the day. But even though it's turn-based, you don't have time to sit back and relax, carefully pondering what to do next, since there is a time limit. On the higher difficulty levels, you won't have time to issue all the orders you would like, and you will have to prioritize, while on the lower levels you'll have plenty of time to come up with a good strategy.
