Ultimate General: Civil War

Having played Ultimate General: Gettysburg, it was an easy decision to play Ultimate General: Civil War.

Instead of controlling the Union or the Confederacy in one battle, you can control them through the entire war, but you can also just pick a historical battle or make a custom one.

I chose the Confederates as it makes it a tougher game, first up, you got to capture Fort Sumner and then you got to hold on to it, the key is to try and engage forces before they get to the facility but there are units awaiting you after you cross a river before you can engage the main forces.

A tip, bring your forces right up to the fort like the above picture but closer and then make sure that each unit has plenty of condition left and then one by one quickly have them charge to overwhelm the defenders and then take out the cannons at the back.

After taking and holding the fort, it is on to the next battle, it is important that you build up your divisions, based on your success or failure, you are allocated recruits and money, you’ll need to replenish your forces after every battle and this costs both recruits and money so use them wisely.

You can buy experienced commanders and weapons in Barracks and Armory respectively.

Time to time in ‘Career’ you will get points to improve as a leader, benefits of this can mean better recruits, more men returning to their units after injury, more money and other important resources.

Depending on how you go, you will have a choice of battles from ambushing convoys to full on battles, as you can above the are three symbols on the map indicating three choices, it is best you do the small battles first before doing battles like the Battle of Bull Run etc.

For the ‘Battle of Bull Run’ I put my corps in the position and away I went into action with the first order of business being the defence of a bridge.

After getting instructions, you can set up your forces how you want them to be arranged, calvary can be really handy for the battles where you need to snatch supplies.

There are places where you could fortify your men, you also have cannons if you take some with you, all forces have a range of fire and an arc so be watchful of it.

Overall, this is a great, time-consuming game, I lasted fifteen hours before being defeated, the Union crushed my forces, pretty historically accurate just three years early.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.