This is going to be an AAR of Ultimate General: Civil War by Game-Labs. This is an Early Access title that is still in development, so please bear with any bugs, problems and still missing features.




I'm going to play as Confederate States of America because... I can.

After the 1st two battles that serve as some kind of tutorial I'm thrown into the campaign. The campaign consists of a series of battles, where the "historical" ones need to be played in order to advance through the campaign and the "side missions" are optional.

Currently my army looks like this:



1 corps (with yours truly as commanding general), 1 division with 3 brigades, 2 infantry and 1 artillery. As can be seen all brigades are seriously understrength and need some manpower. You can also see that I currently have 42k $ and 3700 recruits. I also have 28 reputation points, which is the measure of my success as a general. If reputation gets too low the government may sack me. If I feel I have enough reputation I can spend it on better commanders and additional weapons.



The armory screen shows me the available weapons for my army, divided into weapons for infantry, skirmishers, cavalry and artillery.



The barracks screen shows officers currently available to command a unit and wounded officers. Sam Cabell, the commander of my artillery brigade has been wounded, I need to find some replacement for him.

And finally the career screen: here I can use career points (earned in battle) to improve certain things, like Training (cheaper veteran recruits) or Medicine (a percentage of the casualties are healed after a battle). A very important choice here is Army Organization. The more points invested here the more corps/divisions/brigades can be used in battle. Also the number of men in a brigade increases with higher Army Organization. Reconnaissance is another very important point since it allows you to get an estimate of the forces opposing you prior to battle. You get a number of these point at the start of the campaign where you "create" your general depending on a few career choices.




I spend a career point in politics to get more money for recruits. More money is always good. I also spend 5 reputation points to appoint James Archer to lead my 1st Division.

Both infantry brigades are increased to 1000 men with (expensive) veteran recruits. Those brigades I intend to use as my shock/elite forces. They are renamed the 1st Texas and 2nd Alabama brigade. The artillery brigade gets a new commander, the former division commander Colonel Preston. Due to his rank the brigade is now eligible for an upgrade, I choose logisitics (50% more ammo, 5% more efficiency). Last I recruit another infantry brigade, the 3rd Mississippi Reserve formed from rookies. This brigade will from the nucleus of my standard infantry: they will only receive rookie replacements and will have to fight with stuff not needed for the shock brigades. All infantry currently uses the Springfield M1842 smoothbore musket. Finally I increase my artillery brigade to 7 guns. Since I'm running out of money I equip the brigade with (weak) 6 pounder field guns. And finally I buy some supply so I can resupply my troops with ammo from a supplies wagon. I've been told that running out of ammo during a battle is kinda not cool.


So much for the army building part of the game.

Now on to some fighting! Here we can see the campaign map. There is one historical battle (1st Bull Run) and one optional battle available for me at this time. I intend to play the latter one ("Battle for Newport") first.




I am ordered to defend the town of Newport. I have 3 infantry brigades at my disposal, the enemy is supposed to come from the NW, N and NE. A friendly cavalry brigade (Stuart) has just arrived NE of my positions.



I will use it to scout, run down skirmishers and supply wagons and charge undefended artillery if possible. All of my infantry brigades have detached skirmishers with orders to advance to contact while the brigades will withdraw to the Northern part of Newport to form a defensive line there. Reconnaissance indicates I'm outnumbered but reinforcements are on their way.



Contact! I've spotted an infantry brigade, some skirmishers and artillery north of my position. I send Stuart on a quick raid into the enemy's flank, if that artillery isn't defended they're in for a nasty surprise in a few minutes.

Ooops... as Stuart's cavalry comes crashing through the forest they run headlong into some Union skirmishers! The cavalry starts cutting them to pieces when suddenly we spot infantry to the North, LOTS of infantry! Several brigades! Stuart manages to disengage and gallops South to join the main force. To the NE there are at least another 2 Union infantry brigades. This is gonna get tough...

A strong Union cavalry brigade tears into my left skirmishers while 2 infantry brigade push my center skirmishers back. And did I mention that there's A LOT of blue infantry coming down from the North? On a happy note: Stuart gets another brilliant (->suicidal) order to circle around the enemy's flank in order to silence the enemy artillery.



Just in time the Virginia militia arrives! Several brigades of infantry and artillery led by Johnston. I immediately order them to form into a front line South of the river. My skirmishers suffer heavy losses but they have succeeded with their main task: slowing down the enemy attack.



Stuart finally gets lucky and charges an enemy artillery brigade from behind!



On my left flank Ewell's brigade has thrown back a union attack across the river. I now plan to order my leftmost brigades to attack the Union right flank, supported by an artillery brigade. The North and East front are held by 5 brigades in good cover, with artillery on my rightmost flank.



The battle is going well. We managed to roll up the Union right flank with Bartow's and Ewell's brigades while we held the center against all attacks. My cavalry managed to destroy another artillery brigade, but they suffered heavy losses in the process when they got chased down by the numerically superior Union cavalry.

Suddenly it is all over, as night falls the Union army starts to withdraw its forces.

VICTORY!





Not too bad. I need to be more careful with my cavalry but due to artillery fire from across half the map counting as "flanked from behind" which means cavalry ATM breaks just too easily while withdrawing.

Next stop: 1st Bull Run.

nice read, good job. thanks.

Another Para must read.

Was looking at this game myself...heard it has some bugs and "wierdness" still.

Carry on!

Looks very interesting. Is this an round based game (I go, you go), or is it realtime?

Not bad, I was also looking at this ,but will wait for play reports. I have been to some of the CW battle grounds and the lay of the land is an important factor. I wonder how they worked that out in the Game ?

The game's battles are played in realtime with various speeds and pause, much like in the Total War series.

The type of terrain your troops occupy translates into different cover/concealment. So far I have no idea whether being on a hill gives any advantages, besides field of fire for the artillery.

Been sick for the last 2 days, next update will have to wait a bit.

I would absolutely love a Total War: ACW but it won't happen mostly due to the fact that there would only be 2 playable factions.

Nice Para! Going to start my campaign pretty soon.





This^

I still play "The Blue and The Grey" mod for Empire TW...but the last couple of versions have campaign corrupting bugs anywhere from turn 25-45. They can't figure it out and have given up as far as I can tell. I would love to see a proper TW game of the Civil War. They don't have to make a full game either...I would think if they sold an expansion or DLC of the Civil War using the main game engine, that would be doable.

In preparation of the next battle, 1st Bull Run, I reinforce my brigades. The 1st Texas and 2nd Alabama brigades are reinforced with veteran recruits to 1250 men, while the 3rd Mississippi Reserve is strengthened with rookies to 1500 men. Preston's artillery is increased to 20 guns, although I'll have to make do with the rather weak 6-pounder field guns.

July 21st, 1861

The Confederate Army of General Beauregard is deployed along the Bull Run river to protect Manassas railroad junction. We're the western flank of the army and have to hold a stone bridge, a river ford north of the bridge and the ridge line at Matthew's farm. South of that is Henry hill, another good defensive position. My orders are to defend my positions and scout for enemy movements.

At the stone bridge things are heating up quickly: 3 union infantry brigades with artillery are spotted. The 3rd Mississippi Reserve will defend here, supported by the 20 guns of Preston's artillery, the corps commander (=me) and a supply wagon to keep especially the artillery supplied. Further north the 1st Texas will defend the river crossing while the 2nd Alabama is on its way to Matthew's farm hill. All infantry brigades have detached skirmishers.



As the boys from Mississipi keep the enemy occupied at the stone bridge the Texas brigade throws a yankee cavalry unit back across the river. Two infantry brigades (Bee's and Bartow's) with some artillery arrive and are ordered to form up next to the Alabamas at Matthew's farm hill.



As General Beauregard gallops up Matthew's farm hill to command the fighting here my skirmisher screen reports yankee infantry closing in from the North! I now have about 3.000 men up there, supported by 10 guns.




At the stone bridge a enemy brigade charges and gets repulsed by the Mississippi boys! We're inflicting massive casualties here but what's that? A new brigade? Damn... It's Keyes... another 3.000 Yankees. And that's not the worst thing: at least 5 union brigades are advancing from the North. We're talking about at least 12.000 men!



We try to hold the line but have to pull back before we're overrun. I can only hope we can make it to Henry hill in the South!



As my men frantically race to take up new position General Jackson arrives with several brigades as well as Stuart's cavalry! We're still seriously outnumbered but at least we're now reformed into a battle line on good defensive ground. We lost heavily in the withdrawal but we can still fight!
On my right flank three Virginia brigades manage to rout Sherman's men! My right flank seems out of imminent danger for the moment.



But then the enemy attack rolls against my left flank! Fire boys! Stand your ground!




"Johnston's here!" General Johnston arrives with five brigades! I immediately launch a counterattack against the wavering yankee forces. On my right flank we break clean through and charge their artillery batteries!




On the left Johnston personally leads his men, shattering the enemy's right flank! Now we roll up their line!



This is it. With both flanks broken through the Yankees stand no chance. First they waver, then they run. Those who don't, die or get captured.

VICTORY!



We suffered some heavy casualties, but with respect to the enemy's strength I think we did well. We also captured more than 5000 Springfield muskets and 16 6 pounder guns. More than enough to replace our losses.

Excellent AAR's Para!

@Force 10 - Yeah a DLC could work. If Creative Assembly ever makes a Napoleon 2 then a DLC for the ACW would make sense.

Very much enjoying this AAR so far, ParaBellum

How realistic are the battles? Do different terrain types and unit morale play a role? Are weapon ranges and fire rates realistic? Is visibility limited by woods and hills?

Units have a number of stats, among them morale, firearms and melee skills and stamina. These values can change depending on unit experience and losses. There's a wide array of weapons to equip your different units with, each with their distinctive stats like range, reload time, damage and accuracy. All units need to be lead by officers of sufficient rank in order to work with optimal performance. Officers gain rank and experience and can provide various bonuses to the troops they lead. Different terrain types provide bonuses to cover and concealment and may impede movement, and yes, hills and woods limit visibility.
Overall the game feels quite realistic, despite the simple GUI and the lack of detailed formation orders. The AI so far does an excellent job. It rarely does something really stupid, manages to commit (most of) its forces in an organized manner and is quick in exploiting mistakes by the human enemy.

The game encourages historical tactics like the use of skirmishers, flanking attacks and the value of terrain and I'd seriously recommend anyone interested in the ACW and RTS games in general to take a closer look. From what I've seen so far the devs take an active interest in the fans and are committed to deliver a great product.

I've been looking at this since release but haven't pulled the trigger yet..how do you compare it to Ultimate General Gettysburg Parra? I had a few frustrating issues with that game, mainly unit position placement, but overall it was fairly enjoyable.

in US history, the South were the better soldiers overall.. if they only had enough resources and material production!

The Federal troops had the disadvantage of conducting offensive operations. When the Confederates attacked and fought on Union land they did not fare so well.

But in general the opinion is that the Confederates had the edge in Cavalry, a slight edge in Infantry while the Union was superior in Artillery, Navy, and Engineers/Logistics.

And at least earlier on, probably leadership as well. At the upper echelons the Federal army was either plagued by arrogance (Burnside, Pope), or indecisiveness ala Hooker.

I would agree with this and would also add that the South had better leadership among the officers. Of course the ultimate factor was economic. The South could NOT win a protracted war against the North since it stood no chance in matching the manpower and industrial resources of the Union.

Gettysburg really was the "Stalingrad" for the Confederacy.

Although Gettysburg gets more attention, Vicksburg was actually the more damaging defeat. It can be argued that a major Union defeat at Gettysburg would have endangered major Federal cities and Washington it can also be argued that the Confederates even had they won would have been too mauled to do so. The Civil War is a whole gallery of examples of that.

Comparisons of the two sides leadership often gives the Confederates the advantage, but only if you look at the campaigns in the East. Elsewhere the Union seemed to have better leadership. The Army of Tennessee, like the Union Army of the Potomac, suffered from a succession of bad leadership. And the peripheral operations showed poor Confederate leadership.

The very trait that gave the Confederate Infantry much of its success also caused its demise. The Confederate Infantry was very effective at pushing on with an attack despite heavy casualties. Led to some very good battlefield successes, but it was causing casualties that could not be replaced.

The Confederates fought well because they had to. They were fighting on their own soil and had little margin to absorb failure. So it made their Army rise to the occasion on the battlefield. The Union seldom fought with the same fierce focus. But it did reflect when Confederate armies tried to strike North.

A very interesting war to study. Many have advanced the concept that it was the first "modern" style war.

I wholly agree with this. If you look at the Napoleonic era wars, there was no major marshalling of civilian and industrial resources to fuel the war effort. What was usually the case is that there was one major decisive battle and an entire nation or even Coalition would be knocked out of the war. The ACW changed all of that.

Cool AAR and the side discussions are really informative too.


Wheels

Not a bad game Para, i've done both Union and Confederate campaigns up until Vicks. I ended up hardly ever using rookies, only a couple of brigades as front line filler and relied a lot on skirms and cav for capturing enemy supplies and mowing down arty in the back. Made a big difference to my battles when my vets didn't have to face much arty and the enemy broke more than few times from lack of ammo. I never put any points into recon or medicine at all, seemed a waste of resources. I also sold everything i didn't use, long range arty and a lot of guns which went into funding more units. A lot more units.

Much better feel overall than Gettysburg, more polished and more in depth. Looking forward to a complete campaign

I've bought the game yesterday, thanks to this AAR. So far I really like it. It's simple but addictive.

I think it's very realistic.

It seems Para was "neutralized" by a Yankee sniper...or liquor salesman...or...say it isn't so...a "woman of questionable virtue" sent by those heathen Yankees!

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.


The CSA won another 2 smaller battles, which allows me to reorganize my army. 1st Corps now consists of 3 divisions with 13.606 soldiers and 60 guns while 2nd Corps acts as reserve for future army enlargement and right now consists of only a single cavalry brigade.

My infantry brigades are well equipped with Springfield M1842 muskets while the 6th Virginia got equipped with Lorenz rifle-muskets from Austria.

All in all I feel we're in a pretty good shape for the next battle: Shiloh.



General Grant's army is currently encamped near Pittsburg Landing on the west bank of the Tennessee river, waiting for General Buell's Army of the Ohio. Once concentrated it is expected he'll strike towards Corinth, deep into Confederate territory.
Since the Union army is still scattered in various encampments this is our chance to hit them hard in a surpsise attack.
For this attack I have at my disposal my own 1st Corps as well as General Bragg's 2nd Corps and a Reserve Corps of General Breckinridge.



The initial attack against the Yankee encampment at Shiloh church goes well:

My skirmishers scout ahead, then we fix the enemy forces with a holding frontal attack and swing the bulk of 1st corps around their right flank. Looks like we managed to completely surprise them!



Grant counterattacks and runs into a wall of fire!



On the right flank we advance on the Yankee position at Hornet's Nest and begin to form an envelopment. Heavy fighting but the arrival of Breckinridge's reserve Corps should tip the fighting in our favour.



With both attacks at Shiloh Church and Hornet's Nest successful it's now time for the final attack: take the Union position at Pittsburgh Landing! This is gonna be a tough nut to crack. We have sufferend quite a few casualties by now and my troops are getting tired. The Yankee position looks strong and they still have enough troops to man a spirited defense. They also get support from several gunboats on the river which can seriously hurt any units getting too close to them. I plan for a flank attack by my 1st Corps while Bragg and Breckinridge are ordered to conduct another holding frontal attack.



While we push the enemy back in the center and on the right flank three of my brigades, led by the Stonewall brigade on my extreme left, manage to flank the Yankee position! While my infantry brigades move into position my artillery batteries start softening up the Union defenses.




Forward boys! Attack! We overrun the Yankee positions!




What's that? Damn! The Yankees surprise me with an attack on my left flank! I rush all available brigades to stop the attack! Several artillery batteries take up position in support of the Stonewall brigade, the 1st Texas brigade and several reserve brigades.



Under a withering barrage of fire the enemy attack falters, then breaks up. Leaving behind a field full of bodies the Yankees turn and run!




VICTORY!

Our losses were serious (6.232, 26%) but less than half than those suffered by the Union army (13.103, 59%). And while we only lost 2 cannons, the Yankees lost 58! We also managed to capture quite a few supplies and almost 3.000 Palmetto M1842 muskets, enough to outfit 2 infantry brigades! We also captured 16 various artillery pieces, a welcome addition to Confederate firepower.
Officer casualties thankfully are low, with Generals John Jackson and Patton Anderson wounded. And we received a host of promotions for a large number of officers!

/band plays Dixie Land

Wheels

Wow, those lopsided victory stats are right up there with what happened at Chancellorsville!

It's a fun wargame but I have to admit the enemy force scaling is starting to annoy me a bit. The system basically mirrors your army and adds some more troops on top for the enemy AI. I understand that this is a decision to avoid the problem of stomping the AI after the 1st battles, but it also takes out the fun of army building. For example, I earlier started to build up my artillery. As a result I now run into enemy 24-gun batteries every battle. You increase brigade size? So will the enemy.

Yeah, I've seen this done in other games (I'm looking at you Total War!) and I simply think it's due to the limitations of AI programming. We're not quite there yet with making truly intelligent AI so the AI gets cheats/bonuses instead.

Good points PM.

Not an easy job duplicating the decision process involved in a commander's plans on a battlefield. Really not possible without true AI....which I am NOT looking forward to.

Para_bellum, as always, you produce some fantastic AARs of some items I may not have had initial interest in. However, your narratives, explanations and screen shots certainly tell a great story every time. I am now considering buying this just based on your AAR alone.

Looking forward to more of the fight...

Thanks!

Glad you guys enjoy it.

Para_bellum
Thank you for the outstanding AAR's,,bought it this morning..

Para you are now the number #1 retailer this week for the game.

Thanks for the heads up that it's available, on Steam no less.....thought it was a yet to be released title.

Going to buy and download tonight.

Yes I'd rather see something like this well written by a gamer than canned reviews..Saves me from buying another piece of crap I end up forgetting about

Para_Bellum, how easy was the game to figure out? I am not seeing any sort of tutorial scenarios and though not afraid of jumping into the deep end, just wanted to ask your opinion, or others too.

IMO the game is a fine example of "easy to learn, difficult to master". The controls are fairly simple and it doesn't take long to figure out how things work. Stuff like campaign management is a bit more complex and you'll need to understand how it all works and what does exactly what.


Still, it's not a complicated game and it shouldn't take long to grasp the basics.

Ah so it's just like chess!

Thanks Para_Bellum. I started dabbling just a tad earlier and you're right, it's not as bad or intimidating as first thought.

I bought this a few days ago and have put a few hours into it. There are certain aspects I like such as the Corps/campaign management but the actual battles I find a bit....dry. I don't know, I guess what I'm really looking for is Total War: ACW.

I guess the nearest you can currently get would be TW: Empire?

Not at all. Empire has an extensive economic/trade/building aspect while Ultimate General: Civil War does not. It operates at the tactical level for the most part but you can purchase weapons and equipment upgrades for your brigades in between battles.


The graphics are also much less impressive even compared to TW: Empire and Empire came out almost 10 years ago.