Other PC games - Grand Tactician

Check out the video HERE for a first glimpse at Oliver Keppelmuller's foray into Kriegsspiel on the PC - FIRST BULL RUN.

Very impressed by the period map, realistic terrain, shellburst effects, hidden movement and seemingly straightforward user interface here.

Oliver was previously best known for his PC version of the SEVEN YEARS WAR which I played a bit; this was more like a TOTAL WAR lookalike, competently done but with inferior graphics.

Looks very slick with some neat ideas. I didn't watch the whole video so I can't comment on how much FOW there is and therefore how much of a KS game it might provide.

My only disappointment is the choice of historical subject matter. There must have been dozens of games depicting First Bull Run and it would have been nice to see something a little less mainstream - perhaps an ancient battle, or something from the time of Henry V, Cromwell, Marlborough, Charles of Sweden, Napoleon III or even Custer.

I probably will not invest in this game simply because its ACW and ACW tactical combat is really quite tedious and tactically stodgy.

I watched it all the way through and it looks really interesting. I thought the decision to use a historical looking map overview was far better than the Ultimate General system, especially as all the locations were marked and named.

The make or break for me will be whether it has a fully functional campaign feature, rather than just a series of historical battle simulation.  That's been my major beef with SOWL, and with Ultimate General Civil War.  There is simply a limit to how much interest a game can command when all you can do is refight the same pointless battles over and over again.

So it seems that it addresses those issues by having a grand campaign with persistent units and alternative histories based upon your decision making. A total campaign for the Civil War years.
Features:

• Choose your side in the American Civil War: Real-time campaign, spanning from Secession to the end of the war, with historical objectives for both sides.
  
• Change history: What if European superpowers intervened to end the war, or Lincoln lost the presidential election of 1864?
  
• Scott’s Great Snake: Lay siege, raid and blockade your enemy on land and sea or use blockade runners to keep the life-lines to Europe open.
  
• From Fort Sumter to Appomattox: Watch closely the morale of your citizens and troops. As the war drags on, fervor turns to fatigue, the treasury threatens to run dry, and measures like drafting will cause unrest.
  
• Keep the armies marching: Build and manage the flow of supplies to your armies. Utilize and expand railroad lines to supply and move armies for the first time in history!
  
• Pivotal battles: Fight battles lasting multiple days on historical battlefields. Use engineers to build pontoons and dig trenches, see reinforcements change the tide and commit your reserves to defeat the enemy.
  
• Grant vs. Lee: Manage hundreds of historical commanders with personal attributes and specialization. Famous commanders inspire soldiers and citizens alike and loss of reputation can be irreparable.
  
• Command Great Armies: Huge armies of infantry, cavalry and artillery, with realistic command structures and historical Order of Battle.

Tactically, the SYW would be a much more interesting period. It utilized the same tactics with far better officers, troops and cavalry. But I think the ACW would make for a good operational game. With a reliance on rivers, railroads, poor road systems and telegraph, this could produce a game even better than Frank Hunter's Campaigns on the Danube.