Slitherine

Anyone else praying for a Commander game on the American Civil War? That would be so incredible! Great grand campaign, plenty of opportunity for small mini-campaigns or later starting points, and plenty of unit types. Infantry, sharpshooters, cavalry, horse/foot/siege artillery, ironclad gunboats, raiders, wooden frigates, some great (and poor) generals... And technology changed so much during that period, so the Commander series' technology system could be easily imported. I hope this game is at least on the drawing board over at Slitherine, for I believe it would be truly awesome.

Point taken, though for a Civil War game i think the current game would receive HUGE criticism on the political side but we consider it
A totally different system for politics, national morale and diplomacy would be needed at leist if the game is intender for civil war buffs

I hadn't though of that. Yeah, you would need to overhaul the political side of things. I guess it would be hard to find more than two majory players...but the Native Americans were active on the frontier, and the British were friendly to the Confederate side. One of Lee's major goals of invading the North was to garner foreign support. I don't quite know how you would deal with border states like Missouri, which were up for grabs at the start of the war. Ultimately the North got more troops there first, so they were able to hold it. Still, I definately think it could work, and I'm glad you're at least considering it.

It would be ok, I think, to leave the politics out of the game. Just start with the historical line up. Likewise, leave Britain and France out of it. This was primarily a titanic struggle between North and South (roughly speaking), and while the political aspects are interesting (e.g. the British issue with blockade of southern ports), I think there is more than enough to do in such a game if it confines itself to the war.

National morale can be simulated by the manpower level/troop quality system we have now with the Commander series.

Key things to be included in a Civil War game are:

1. Poor leadership (military, not political) for the Union in the early going (make Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, et al EXPENSIVE so that the North doesn't get them too soon)

2. Correspondingly better leadership on the Confederate side. Let the Confederates start with a couple of great generals like 'Stonewall' and Lee already on the map.

3. Railroads were of huge strategic importance. Should not only provide rapid troop movement, but enhanced supply value when troops operating within fifty miles or so (perhaps two hexes either side of rail line?)

4. Rivers were also of huge value, for movement of troops as well as supply/commerce. River monitors and gunboats would be a "must have" in such a game. Rivers would have to be a full hex wide (more for Mississippi). We're talking a BIG map here.

5. Forts, especially those adjacent to rivers, are important. Nothing sailed past an enemy fort, until that fort was either captured or obliterated.

If you want to make big inroads into the US market (and a lot of us Canadians are Civil War buffs too), then this is the game to consider, for sure.

Oooo...I hadn't though about it that deeply, but everything Happycat said sounded great to me! The map would have to be truly gargantuan, but for me, that would just increase the appeal.

greetings, i did think what great awesome would be a civil/seccesion war game with the commander engine serie, better weapons by the north can be adressed by technology and better southern overall troop quality can be adressed by technology or having different troops for green, veterans, elite, in example, develop the experience system for the game, and each 30 experience points you get an evolved better unit, aside the experience system now given is much well done and works fine, the national morale can have more impact on the northern side being under invasion, maybe a "strategic will" score system and you lose or gain points taking victory points of vital cities, each side start in example at 100 and in example if one side reach zero points of strategic will, it surrenders (south) or makes for peace (north) the given game engine is good and in my humble oppinion it will make perfect to make a civil war game with it,

with best regards,

alarick.

That scoring system sounds pretty cool, though I think you would need to have Washington and Richmond be automatic war-enders. Maybe if one side holds the other side's Capital for a certain amount of turns, the game is over. This gives the other side a chance to recapture it. I don't think the North would have surrendered immediately if Washington had fallen, and the South didn't surrender immediately after Richmond fell. Lee tried to escape to the South to meet up with another Confederate army marching northwards. Glad some other people think so highly of this idea