Recreate the Civil War in an afternoon and change history, if you have the room.
Written: Nov 03 '03 (Updated Dec 07 '05)
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Pros: Gorgeous gameboard graphics, detailed minatures, excellent variety in combat rules,
Cons: Miniatures can fall over easily, no battle-board included, board is massive yet lacks space where-needed.
The Bottom Line: For die-hard Civil-War fans, this game is a virtual sandbox! Casual gamers will have to look past a few glaring shortcomings, but a very fun game is buried inside.
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| openroad's Full Review: Eagle Games Inc. The American Civil War Board Game |
----- Introduction -----
The American Civil War (TACW) was released in 2001, and marked the first game manufactured by Eagle Games. Glen Drover is the designer behind TACW, and other more recent games such as Napoleon in Europe, War! Age of Imperialism, and Age of Mythology. Eagle Games have a reputation for the size of their game boards, which verge on titanic. TACW boasts a board size of 46" by 36", which if you remember your long division is 4 feet by 3 feet. This game needs a big table, and I'm not kidding when I say you need a good 14 inches at both ends for spare pieces. Even with all that room on the board you still don't have space for your soldiers, but I'll get to that later. The board has several detailed windows painted by artist Paul E. Niemeyer, with portraits of American figures such as Lincoln, Lee, and Grant. The actual map is also artfully done in the style of ancient cartographers. Native Indians, soldiers, animals, rivers, sea creatures, and ships are all lovingly illustrated by Niemeyer. The magnificently sculpted miniatures are a joy to play with, whether you are actually using them in the game or not. The calvary are a two piece system, with the horse and rider as separate miniatures. Infantry, leaders, cavalry, artillery, and flag bearers all look very realistic. There are a few problems with the forming of the miniatures that causes them to fall over at times. I'll get to that later in the complaints section.
----- Gameplay Description -----
Eagle Games version of The American Civil War is a game of grand strategy and tactical battles during the hard-fought struggle that divided the United States. Each player takes control of the war effort of the North as they attempt to save the Union, or the South as they attempt to gain independence for the Confederacy. You will lead armies into battle, build a navy, emancipate the slaves, enact conscription, or attempt to influence European involvement in the struggle to tip the balance. Refight the war, and possibly change the course of history.
To set up the game you must choose from two scenarios, either balanced or historical. The balanced scenario actually favors the South quite a bit, as they have same income as the North. Historical presents a much more challenging game for the South, as they start with 35% less income than the North. Income is received based on how many cities you own. In the balanced game, every city is worth 10 production points. This gives each side an even 130 points until cities start to fall. Once you play a historical scenario, the individual cities start to play a more important role. For instance, New York city is worth 25pp, where Norfolk and Pittsburgh are only worth 5pp.
All cities can only provide income to the original owner, and when occupied merely prevent the native side from receiving income. In a unique twist, the game turns are based on months and years, and you must keep track of the date with a movable counter at the top of the board. The South always moves and attacks first, then the North gets to take their turn. Once both sides have finished, the counter is moved to the next month. Both sides receive income on a quarterly basis (every 3 months), which means that forces get pretty thin at the end of the 3rd month.
Movement is accomplished in three different ways. The first options is to use the movement points of your units, 1 space for all units except calvary which may move 2. Second, you may use your railroad system to transport units unlimited distances, but you have a limited amount of rail points per turn, and you cannot rail into battle. Lastly, you can employ your navy to either transport units or engage the enemy in a beach assault.
Rail stock and naval ratings are both handled by charts on the board. The North starts with 7 rail points and a naval rating of 5. The South starts with 4 rail points and a naval rating of 1. Both sides may purchase extra rail stock and naval rating points during their quarterly purchase phase. This simulates construction by both sides.
----- Combat details, on land and sea. -----
Land combat is the best part of this game, and provides a realistic look at period military engagements. The interface for combat is the battle board, which I must add is NOT included in the game. I fabricated my own battle board which works well enough, but Eagle Games should have included one. On to the fighting now, when any number of enemy forces share the same space two types of battles can occur. If either side has less than 6 units, a skirmish is declared. Of both sides have more than 6 units, a full scale battle is fought.
Skirmish details
A skirmish has 7 distinct zones on the battle board. Each side has a main battle line, a reserve area, and a retreat area. In the center is middle ground which must be crossed to attack the enemy. Attackers always move and fire first, and victory is achieved by clearing the enemy's battle line which results in a rout. If you possess cavalry you may pursue the enemy and attempt to thin his numbers as he retreats.
Full-scale battle
A full-scale battle is identical to a skirmish except for two details. A vertical divider must be placed in the middle ground area while attacker and defender place their units. When both sides have finished unit allocation, the divider is removed and the lines are visible to both players. This is the biggest step in battle, and often leads to unique strategies on both offence and defense. The second difference is the main battle line for both players is now divided into three distinct areas: left flank, center, and right flank. Victory is reached when one battle area is cleared. At the end of each combat phase, you have the chance to re-enforce depleted battle zones from the reserve area. Once all of your units in either left, center, or right area have been destroyed or are in retreat, the battle is lost and the winner may pursue if he still has active cavalry.
Unit combat statistics:
Unit Cost North-South MovePts Attack vs:Inf.Cav.Art.
Infantry 9 8 1 8 9 10
Cavalry 15 11 2 9 9 10
Elite Cav. 18 13 2* 9* 9* 10
Artillery 15 16 1 6/8 7/9 7/9
Leader 19 12 2 ** ** **
*Elite Cavalry can avoid infantry charges, and may attack twice in the same battle phase.
**Artillery may fire at a range of 2. The first attack number is for a range of one, second number is for a range of two.
Attack and defense numbers are rolled with two dice, one unit at a time. This is a much slower system than other games such as Axis & Allies or Risk, but leads to a more luck-free game and better overall results. Attackers fire using the fire chart above, with defenders unable to retaliate. If a unit is hit, the defender rolls a dice to see what happens. 1-3 on dice and the unit is destroyed. 4-6 means the unit will retreat. Infantry and cavalry have the option to charge enemy lines. In this case, both units roll two dice. If one unit wins by 3 or less, the losing unit retreats. If one unite wins by 4 or more, the losing unit is destroyed.
For example, 3 cavalry are attacking 3 infantry. They have elected not to charge, since infantry get a bonus of 2 if cavalry charge them. First cavalry rolls an 11, a hit. Defender rolls a 2, one infantry is destroyed. Second cavalry rolls an 6, a miss. Third cavalry rolls a 9, a hit. Defender rolls a 6, his infantry lives and moves to the retreat area. Attacker keeps his 3 cavalry, but the defender is left with one infantry in his battle area. Time to re-enforce!
Naval battles
Navel battles are handled rather abstractly, as there are no naval units. If a naval invasion is staged, the defending player may call a naval battle. Each side rolls two dice and adds their naval rating to the total.
Defender wins: Attacker places units on square he left from.
Attacker wins: Amphibious assault takes place as planned.
Also, for either side the following chart applies.
Lose naval battle by: Loss of naval rating points
1-3 lose 1 naval point
4-6 lose 2 naval points
7 or more lose 3 naval points
Not only can you lose the battle, but your chances of winning future battles slims quite a bit if your naval rating goes down.
----- Political Actions -----
After purchasing units, naval points, and rail stock, both players may do one political action per quarter.
Conscription will give 15-20 production points to either side, but with the possiblity of rioting.
European intervention can give the south either 15 pp, or full intervention. This means France and Britain both intervene on the Southern side. France lands in Mexico, and Britain lands in Canada. This can put the pincers on the North, and is a big boon to the south.
Emancipation is possible for both North and South to declare, but like conscription it has good and bad consequences.
----- Winning the game -----
Victory for the North is only possible by simultaneously occupying every Southern city and border state before the end of December 1865.
A Southern victory is possible by preventing the above condition, or by occupying 6 northern cities at the end of the turn (month). For this purpose, Washington D.C. counts as 2 cities.
----- Problems with the game -----
The omission of the battle board is the biggest complaint I have. A gross error on Eagle Games part was not including a oft used component, it only hurts the customer. I would rather pay an extra $5 and have everything I need to play the game right out of the box.
Now on to the map... the large size of the map is needed because the playing pieces are slightly larger than necessary. The units look great, but are really overkill for the tiny regions and city spaces on the map. Smaller units such as those in Axis & Allies or Battle Cry would work just as well, if not better, than the units included in the game. My biggest problem with the game board is with the cities circles, which are obviously significant playing spaces of the game. The city circles are way too small. There should have been holding boxes made for cities along the edges of the map board, as in Axis & Allies. The board has at least 12" of wasted room on the left side that could have easily held city blow-ups. When three or more units move into a city, it basically necessitates their replacement by a substitute Flag Bearer piece to represent them off the map board. When several cities have such Flag Bearer units in them, game players need to be careful which off-map group of units are located in which city. These flag units are not numbered in any way, and this causes further confusion.
There also are several tables on the map board to keep track of rail stock, naval strength, and the monthly calender. However, Eagle Games included no markers in the game to indicate the levels of these things for the North or South, or to show what turn (month/year) it is. Players are forced to use game pieces to do so. Not that that is all bad, but some simple (and cheap) die cut counters would have worked much better. I use the cavalry horses for markers, and this does work fair enough.
The units that looks so pretty seem to have one minor annoyance, they fall over quite frequently. When you remove the pieces from their racks after purchasing the game, each piece is left with a small tag of plastic on the bottom. The only solution is what I have done, break out the hobby knife and pare off the offending plastic until the units sit flat. This gets very tiring after the 200th piece!
The rules are a bit vague in areas, and while fighting battles we've been forced to make some house rules to resolve disputes not clarified in the manual. I have the feeling this game wasn't playtested quite enough, but I've had my copy for awhile now. The new games may come with an updated rulebook, I can't say for sure.
----- Final comments -----
This is an awesome game for Civil War buffs, as you can re-fight the most influential war in America's history. Try new scenarios, or attempt to change history. The three levels of rules really make the game easy to get into, or you may want to start at the advanced level if you're a wargaming veteran.
For those who really like face-to-face open field combat, I would encourage them to look at Eagle Games version of Napoleon in Europe. It comes with a battle board and has a much wider scope of conflict. Unlike TACW, Napoleon can be played by up to 7 players.
Casual gamers may be turned off by the initial complexity of TACW, especially those folks who consider Risk a "wargame". Sorry guys, it's a border war version of Yahtzee. Fun as heck but not a true wargame. If you stick with American Civil War you'll find a worthy game underneath, in spite of all the annoyances.
This could be a great Christmas present for the right person, be it dad, grandpa, or an uncle with a knack for strategy. Check out the other Eagle Games products and see if any of them might be right for your family!
Cut and paste the link below for a list of Eagle Games products.
http://kumquat.com/cgi-kumquat/funagain/scan/se=Eagle%20Games/sf=manufacturer/fi=stockin.asc/ml=10
---( Other game reviews that might interest you: )---
Axis & Allies Pacific
Axis & Allies Europe
Axis & Allies Classic
Axis & Allies Revised Edition
History of the World
Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan: Cities and Knights Expansion Pack
Thanks for reading and feel free to comment!
Openroad
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40.00
Type of Toy: Board Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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