I'm looking for an old PC Civil War game. It is clearly based on Victory Games
"The Civil War 1861-1865" board game.

On Wed, 9 Feb 2022 14:19:11 -0800 (PST), Louie Landale
<llandale1@gmail.com> wrote:

>I'm looking for an old PC Civil War game. It is clearly based on Victory Games
>"The Civil War 1861-1865" board game.

There have been a lot of Civil War games made for the PC; you may wish
to be a bit more specific (at least give a range of years; late 80s?
Early 90s? Late 90s? Later?)

Here are some DOS-era Civil War games. The first three are the more
likely matches, being 'grand strategy games' that try to capture the
whole of the conflict; the seven other games focus more on individual
battles.

American Civil War: From Sumter to Appomattox (1996)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/american-civil-war-from-sumter-to-appomattox
The Blue & The Gray (1993)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/edward-grabowskis-the-blue-the-gray
North and South (1990)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/north-south

Battleground 2: Gettysburg (1995)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/battleground-2-gettysburg
Battleground 4: Shiloh (1996)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/battleground-4-shiloh
Battleground 5: Antietam (1996)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/battleground-5-antietam
Battleground 7: Bull Run (1997)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/battleground-7-bull-run
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Vol 1 (1988)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/decisive-battles-of-the-american-civil-war-volume-one
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Vol 2 (1988)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/decisive-battles-of-the-american-civil-war-vol-2
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War, Vol 3 (1988)
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/decisive-battles-of-the-american-civil-war-vol-3

You can also check out
https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/historical-conflict-american-civil-war
which lists all the games based on the American Civil War

Louie Landale ><llandale1@gmail.com> wrote:
>I'm looking for an old PC Civil War game. It is clearly based on
>Victory Games "The Civil War 1861-1865" board game.

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:
>There have been a lot of Civil War games made for the PC; you may wish
>to be a bit more specific (at least give a range of years; late 80s?
>Early 90s? Late 90s? Later?)

My guess is that it's this game:

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-civil-war-5k

From the description there though, this is a game probbly best left as
a memory:

"Based on the Victory Games boardgame of the same title, this
product covered the American Civil War (1861-1865). It showed
how one can take a highly playable boardgame and turn it into
an unplayable computer "product".

Marred by incomplete rules, incomplete graphics and incomplete
programming, Civil War stands out clearly in any "Crowd of
Losers". Caveat emptor. Besides disappearing corps, the program
had an annoying tendency to overwrite hard drives. My personal
choice for "WORST COMPUTER GAME OF ALL TIME". " [excerpt from
M. Evan Brooks' Homepage]

Review By HOTUD
>https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/historical-conflict-american-civil-war

Doesn't look like it's listed there. It wouldn't surprise me if it was
never actually released.

It also wouldn't surprise me if the original poster never sees this.
I only responded because now I can be sure there's at least one person
who would read this and might care what game it was.

Oh, if you're wondering how I figured out what game it was, I was lazy
and just put the original poster's question into Google.

--
l/ // Ross Ridge -- The Great HTMU
[oo][oo] rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
-()-/()/ http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca:11068/
db //

On Fri, 11 Feb 2022 18:42:16 -0000 (UTC), rridge@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
(Ross Ridge) wrote:
>Louie Landale ><llandale1@gmail.com> wrote:
>Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

>>I'm looking for an old PC Civil War game. It is clearly based on
>>Victory Games "The Civil War 1861-1865" board game.

>>There have been a lot of Civil War games made for the PC; you may wish
>>to be a bit more specific (at least give a range of years; late 80s?
>>Early 90s? Late 90s? Later?)

>My guess is that it's this game:
> https://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-civil-war-5k

Good detective work; my hat's off to you.

But, urgh, those colors. It's no surprise this one escaped my notice;
my DOS game collection contains relatively few games that utilize CGA
graphics. It's really hard for me to pay good money to buy a game that
ugly.

Although... if it really is an Avalon Hill game... no! No, I won't get
it! No visiting EBay today! Stop it! Bad fingers! Stop typing!

>It also wouldn't surprise me if the original poster never sees this.
>I only responded because now I can be sure there's at least one person
>who would read this and might care what game it was.

Heheh. I wonder who you are talking about. ;-)

If the original poster /IS/ hanging around, next time try asking on
comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action. Yes, it is nominally the 'action games'
newsgroup, but nowadays discussion there is about all genres, and it
is by far the most active group in the c.s.i.p.games.* hierarchy.

>Oh, if you're wondering how I figured out what game it was, I was lazy
>and just put the original poster's question into Google.

I did a brief Google search myself with just the important keywords
and didn't see a result, but then I wasn't looking too hard; I was
more interested in perusing my own library. I'm actually surprised at
how many Civil War era games I have, considering I have no interest in
that subject...

On Wednesday, February 9, 2022 at 2:19:13 PM UTC-8, Louie Landale wrote:
> I'm looking for an old PC Civil War game. It is clearly based on Victory Games
> "The Civil War 1861-1865" board game.

The board game came out in 1983, and is described well here:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2081/civil-war-1861-1865

Don't recall when the computer game came out.

5 turns a year. There are Theatres East, West, and Transmississippi. Each Theatre gets so many "Command Points" per turn or pulse, more the the Union and more for the East. There are a variable number of pulses and the turn might end abruptly or let the turn's campaign go on and on. After winning at Chancellorsville, the turn in the East might end or Lee might get another pulse to attack up to Gettysburg.
Command points are needed for most troop functions, like deploying reinforcements, moving armies, or building depots.
There are troop "Strength Points" but nothing like named veteran divisions nor experience for troops.

The heart of the game is in the Leader system. They are rated with Initiative, Tactical Combat, and Army Command and have 1-4stars.
Typical weak leaders have an initiative of 3, meaning they use 3 command points to move. Good leaders have a value of 2.
I think you'd add all the Tactical combat ratings of all your leaders in a battle, which influences the outcome.
I think a "combat" is when you compare your die roll with the opponent's die roll, and the differential is looked up in tables, where SP and TC points are represented.
A stack of SPs can have a single leader unless organized into an "Army", which can have one 3-4star Army Commander, more SPs, and multiple subordinate commanders.
Army command is pure genius. IIRC, Army Command is how many combat die rolls you are "allowed". With an AC of 2 and an initial die roll of "2", you probably want to spend your second AC point and re-roll. Bad Army Commanders are "1", the good ones are 2, and Lee the only one that's a 3.

If Chancellorsville occurred in the game: Hooker had Lee outnumbered 2:1 and attacked and rolled a 3 while Lee rolled a 3; a clear loss for his outnumbered Army in spite of his better subordinates. Lee re-rolled and got a 2. But WAIT! he gets a 3rd roll, sends Jackson out and about and pulled up with a 6 and a clear win, Hooker decided to take his 2nd roll and came up with a 2, and Lee had a huge victory!
You don't have much say when leaders are Promoted; I don't recall exactly but it is mostly the result of combat. Victorious leaders are more likely to get promoted but I think there is some political factor as well. Promotion results in a modified set of ratings, usually a bit better but for a lot of generals their rating gets worse; Butler and Hood being good examples of that.

A "Cavalry" force is some SPs commanded by a Cavalry Leader; there are no cavalry SPs. They move fast and do other stuff.

In the computer version, the standard game you know the rating of your leaders and what they will be when promoted. Another scenario you know how they are now but don't know how they will be when promoted (Jackson might very well suck at Army command). In the advanced version, you don't even know the ratings of your current leaders. All you have is some sort of "prestige", which of course goes up when involved in a winning battle and down when lost. This is the most realistic, Lincoln and Davis where fumbling in the dark when it came to appointing leaders to Armies. The games projects the 4star rating of a few 3stars and 2stars that died; notably Jackson and Lyon.

The computer game had of course more features, of which I recall "Army Fatigue" was one.

I specifically recall this face off in the East, the computer Grant would send Sheridan with I think 5SP attacking Lee with like 20. The results were both sides losing 2-3 points, but Lee's whole Army would get fatigued whereas the surviving SP of Sheridan would get diffused into Grant's Army. This happened multiple pulses in a row. The Fatigued Army fights much worse of course. Another game Lee managed to get a large TransMississippi Army and proceeded East above the Ohio River winning battle after battle gaining reinforcements.