Civil War, games and literature about

[PZ]

When I was in high school eons ago I was in what was called a "study hall" which was a room in which you were supposed to do homework. I was bored out of my mind and noticed a book on the shelf immediately to my right: "A Stillness At Appomattox", which I started reading.  That started a insatiable desire to read everything I could about the Civil War, which I did.  I even purchased a game which has a huge paper map which I intended to laminate on a wooden table top.  Never did do that, but I still have the game, which is now over 35 years old.

I still have a fondness for the history of the Civil War

[fragger]

PZ, my interest in the Civil War was actually sparked by the Talonsoft games I mentioned above. A friend of mine put me on to those games as we'd both been fans of the hex-based military strategy board games of the 60s and 70s, of which the Battleground series is a direct descendant. At first the games didn't interest me a great deal because I knew next to nothing about the Civil War, but they did pique my curiosity. That led to me watching Ken Burns' excellent documentary series about the war, which led to a lot of reading. Out of all the written works I've read, one that really stands out for me is Shelby Foote's monumental 3-volume w@&k on the subject, which I think is still one of the definitive accounts in print.

I was astounded to learn that when Foote wrote those books (1958-1974) he didn't use a computer (no such thing as word processors then), nor did he use a typewriter. He didn't use ball-point pens, nor even fountain pens - he wrote the whole thing by dipping an antiquated nib-pen into a little bottle of ink, writing a few words, dipping, writing, dipping, writing - 1.2 million words. No wonder it took him sixteen years to get it all down ??? He was one of those people who hated modern technology and considered himself born in the wrong era, like Tolkien. He didn't even own a telephone until around 2000, just a few years before his death.

I think the reason I'm drawn to the Civil War is because it was one of the very few times in relatively modern history where one combatant side in a major war took part for any kind of truly noble purpose (even if most of them, on either side, wouldn't admit to that purpose at the time). The only other event I can think of where a noble cause was a basis for involvement was the Allied effort in WW2, even if the Allies didn't fully realise it at first. WW2 is the only other war in history that draws me strongly, probably for the same reason - a noble cause was ultimately involved. I've had a life-long fascination with that event and I've read and watched a boatload of stuff about it.

[PZ]

I remember the Ken Burns series, fragger - most excellent techniques he used in bringing vintage photos to life.

My firest exposure was the Bruce Catton series, which was what led me to the hex based game I mentioned above.  Catton focused more on the trenches with the foot soldiers rather than the political aspects of the era, which did not interest me at the time.

Although I read nearly every book my small junior college possessed about the war between the States, I do not recall if Shelby Foote's works was among them.  I'll need to investigate.

PS: have you played Frank Hunter's American Civil War?  Found it as a free download while doing an Internet search

... and this looks kind of cool http://store.steampowered.com/app/306660/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1

[fragger]

I haven't seen the Frank Hunter one, PZ. I had a look at it online, looks to be another oldie and appears to cover the entire war. It does look interesting! Nothing wrong with the older PC strategy games (if it is an oldie). A lot of them are better than the newer ones.

As it turns out, after my last post I went looking online for CW games and I came across the one you linked to, Ultimate Generals. That does look pretty good, I might seriously consider giving it a go even though it appears to be a real-time strategy game.

Just one more word about Talonsoft's Battleground series. I thought this was kind of cool, it gives an indication of how future-proof those games were. Here's a screenshot of the game as it appeared in its original Win 3.1 res (300x200 px):
[smg id=8297]

And here it is in Vista, which as you can see took wide-screen displays in its stride even though WS wouldn't be around for about 15 years after the games were first created! This image is reduced from a 1920x1080px display:
[smg id=8298 width=600]

No extra patching or modification was required, the games simply adapted to the later systems and ran just fine. Until W7 came along... The games were just basic programming after all with no animation to speak of, so they easily adapted themselves to later OSs and display sizes. But the fact that they still worked fine in WS with no display stretching (just more of the map visible) was actually quite unexpected, and a pleasant surprise :-X

EDIT: Just realised that the first pic is actually a reduced 600x400 shot (hence the blurriness) but I do remember the very first time I played the game it was on a 300x200 Win 3.1 display :)

EDIT EDIT: Foote's books aren't real easy to come by but they do become available on Amazon from time to time. If you ever get the chance (and time) to read them, they're well worth it. Foote was an entertaining author who wrote in a colourful and conversational style, not clinical dissertation or dull rattling off of facts. I highly recommend, read twice so far. The collective w@&k is known as "The Civil War: A Narrative" if you ever want to go hunting :)

[PZ]

That's impressive, fragger!  I would have thought that the image would remain the same but hugely stretched out  :-()

Thanks for the book reference.  I might also look into the Ultimate Generals game - looks like it might entertain for a while.

Well, I actually couldn't resist the temptation, so I Steam-ed it onto my PC - was only a 1gb download.  While in the game I noticed this online guide which gives you a little more information

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/746-on-line-guide/

[fragger]

Thanks for the info PZ :) I looked at the promo vids and screenies on Steam. It looks tremendous, like a more graphically polished and advanced version of Sid Meier's Gettysburg. Control of units looks quite similar, with the same kind of rich sound environment. I'd be interested to know what you think about the game.

I really like the look of this one, the way it's animated and presented. Very nice job :-X

In SM's G you could pause the game at any time, give multiple orders to any number of units, then unpause and watch your forces carry out those orders. It looks like you can do that with this game too, judging by the big pause button at the top of the screen. This would probably be necessary later on in the battle as more and more reinforcements arrive on both sides and you need to stop and plan a bit.

SM's G allowed you give orders to both individual regiments and the entire brigade they belonged to. Here it looks like control is at the brigade level, which appeals to me more. It should make things more manageable in real-time as both armies swell in size over time. Playing the entire battle in SM's G got to be a real handful as more and more units arrived on the field!

I noticed that the game got tons of thumbs-ups from the community. But this astounded me: From what I read from some of the posters, Apple pulled the game because of all the fuss over the Confederate flag in the US a while ago, because - shock, horror - the game shows Reb flags! Ye gods, there goes civilization! If you play Ultimate Generals, overnight you'll become a bigoted, rednecked good ol' boy and join the Klan (pardon my facetiousness, but I mean, really). Attempts like this to retroactively whitewash history, even in a harmless little strategy game, really get up my nose. These effing wowsers aren't familiar with the concept of historical context, it appears ::) So what flags should the Reb army be displaying in the game? Peace signs? At least Steam had the sense to retain the game and not cave in to hand-wringing apologists.

So, anyway (having got that mini-rant out of my system :-()) - After playing a lot of SM's G and Talonsoft's Gettysburg title (and having done a lot of reading over the years) I already feel quite familiar with the lay of the land around Gettysburg, even though I've never been there. Maybe that will help if I get the game.

Heck, why am I saying "if"? :-() $15 USD and 1GB DL size won't break the bank. I think I'll do it when I get back from town later today 8) And I better do it before the do-gooders try to protect me from myself and get the game banned.

[Art Blade]

 :-D

[PZ]

I like it fragger - as you indicated, the graphics are quite good, and the sound effects spectacular.  The maps is said to be quite true to life even to the placement of buildings (they evidently used satellite imagery of the current battlefield).  I also like that you can superimpose a topographical view so you get pseudo-3D effect.  After all, the brigades do have line of sight, and can hide behind obstacles.

I've only barely started the game.

[fragger]

I know we're getting way off topic here, but I'll just put in a mention about Ultimate Generals Gettysburg (maybe we should split this? Just a thought, but any discussion about it probably won't go on much longer so I don't know if it's worth doing. I'd split it by I can't remember the procedure and I don't want to risk mucking things up :-()).

I took a punt with this game too, and I really like it. It's very nicely presented, the graphics are great and the rich sound environment is terrific.

It is a LOT like Sid Meier's Gettysburg, control of your forces is very similar. And like SM's G, you can give orders while the game is paused, then unpause and watch the troops carry them out.

It's a challenging game. I played the first battle, morning of the first day. I held off the Rebs but took an awful lot of casualties in the process, resulting in a minor defeat despite denying the Rebs their objectives.

I think this is one of those games which is fairly easy to learn but pretty difficult to master. I can see myself using the pause button a lot to assess the sitch, think and move accordingly. The player really needs to get very familiar with the controls to play the game effectively, methinks. A number of times I screwed up issuing commands because I hit the wrong mouse button or accidentally moved units when I shouldn't have, costing precious time to rectify my blunder.

The AI seems pretty solid. I like the way difficulty is determined - it's not just a question of "easy, normal or hard", but what style of AI you choose for your opponent. Once again, SM's G was very much like that (in fact I'm sure this game has been greatly inspired by that older one).

I don't think this is a game I could play for hours on end, but is one I could often dip into at intervals for an hour or so. It was the same with SM's G - I played it a lot, just not all at once :-()

[Art Blade]

I know we're getting way off topic here

Not any more, you aren't. :-D

[Art Blade]

wasn't easy to find a new home for it.. I hope moving it here is where you'd expect to find something like this.

[PZ]

Thanks, AB  :-X ^-^

I did a backup at w@&k yesterday and took the flash home to restore it onto my wife's Surface Pro 3 running W10.  Restore is flawless, and the game runs great in W10.  Using the pen is an interesting way to play the game.

I like the way you can play Steam games without having to be in online mode.

I'm with you, fragger - it is a game that I can pick up for a short time to set battle in motion but will likely just have a bit of fun with it (the graphics are really good), then put it away for a while to ponder my next moves.

[fragger]

Thanks for taking care of that, Art :)

wasn't easy to find a new home for it..

That was the other reason I was reluctant to split the topic, I didn't know where it should go. You made a good choice, I think you picked the best place.

I played around a bit more with the game. It's not an easy one to get on top of, i.e. easy to learn but difficult to master. I think the key is to pause often, assess, issue orders, then unpause for a bit and see how things w@&k out (or not).

I really like the game's environment. Artillery shots fly across the screen, land and explode, muskets chatter amid the yelling of men, neighing of horses and sounding of bugles. Bugle calls are only heard from the opposing side, to give you a clue about what the AI player is doing. The trick is learning what the bugle calls actually mean, something that will only come with experience. One is easy - charge! (Da da-da da-da da-da   da-DA da-DA da-DA da-DA...) This is yet another gameplay element copied over from SM's G. In fact the more I play this game, the more convinced I am that it's a reboot of Sid's game, but with some extra options, such as being able to choose on the fly what type of shot a short-range artillery unit will thenceforth fire, e.g. shell or canister. And a shell shot even looks different onscreen to a canister shot, with a canister shot kicking up little puffs of dust where some of the fragments fall short. Nice bit of detailing :-X

On the slightly stark side, little bodies end up on the ground during the course of a fight. Each individual soldier actually represents a number of soldiers (so that the display doesn't get too busy) and when the game determines that that number of casualties within a brigade has been reached, it drops a body (yet ANOTHER SM's G technique - in that game, I think I worked out that each soldier represented forty men, which appears to be about the same here). After my first battle, which I played as the Union, I left a sobering number of little blue-uniformed bodies on the ground when I had to pull a couple of hard-hit brigades back...

PZ, I also like that Steam lets you play their games offline without any fuss. And unlike a certain other vendor, they have the common decency to ask you before they go ahead and try to stick you online anyway, whether you want to be or not (yes, this means YOU, Ubisoft!)

Very cool game, but definitely a dipper-into-er for me. I couldn't commit to it for any great length of time in one sitting. Not like XCOM, where I lose hours seemingly in minutes :-()

[PZ]

Nice report, fragger  :-X

I've installed the game on a Surface so I have something to do when traveling or when stuck in airports.  As long as I have access to my gaming rig, I'm immersed in games such as Fallout4

[Art Blade]

 :)