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- ‘The most obvious comparison is with the Total War series, and in my view Gettysburg is greatly superior.’ - Martin James (kriegsspiel review) ‘“Napoleon: Total War” is a game designed to be consumed, while “Scourge of War: Gettysburg” is a game designed to be played.’.
- Scourge of War: Waterloo has 2D sprites drawn on a 3D terrain and in doing so, is capable of showing far larger armies than most games out there. Players can zoom out to great heights to get the best overview of the battle, or zoom in and get right into the action.
Scourge of War - Gettysburg. Scourge of War: Gettysburg, a real-time 3D Civil War computer game developed by NorbSoftDev, the company headed by renowned game designer Norb Timpko, designer of Mad Minute Games' acclaimed Take Command series. Scourge of War: Gettysburg is the next generation of Civil War combat command simulations.
Published by Matrix/Slitherine Games
29.99 US Dollars (Download)
39.99 US Dollars (Download and CD)
Introduction
The Battle of Chancellorsville (May 1–5, 1863) was a Union's Army of the Potomac attack on the Confederate's Army of Northern Virginia. Unusual for an Army commanded by the offensive-driven character of Confederate General Lee, the opening moves of the battle find the rebels in the defensive along the Rappahannock River. The supply situation was not good for either side. The Union Army of the Potomac was now under the orders of the no less aggressive General Hooker, who devised a plan for a single envelopment aimed at cutting off the supply and retreat routes of the Confederates. General Hooker's relative success during the opening moves was wasted when he retreated towards the village of Chancellorsville and assumed a defensive posture. It was all for grabs from there for the Confederates. Not unlike a mini/tactical version of the operations of Frederick the Great or Napoleon during his last campaign, General Lee managed to split his army and fight simultaneously the Union fixing forces at the Rappahannock and the Union main maneuver force on his left flank. Furthermore, if one looks closely the march of Confederate General Jackson's Corps against the Union flank has nothing to envy at Frederick's march at Leuthen. A battle of maneuvers and counter-maneuvers is always a great war gaming topic.
Scourge of War Chancellorsville is both an expansion (if you already own Scourge of War Gettysburg) and a standalone 3D (grand) tactical war game where the player assumes the role of a brigade, division or corps commander. The scope is entirely at the level of the tactical/grand-tactical decision making of both sides during the Battle of Chancellorsville. The virtual battlefield is entirely 3D and seemingly a good representation of the real one. Units are regiments (infantry and cavalry), batteries (artillery) and supply trains. The representation of time is continuous and although the game engine can be paused, it is not possible to issue orders while the virtual clock is not ticking. There is also the possibility to accelerate the pace of the game engine, very useful for some extended movement-to-contact periods. Regiments and batteries are grouped in historical orders of battle not only in name but also within a hierarchical artificial intelligence system that assists the player in commanding the many subordinate units at his disposal. The designer's aim for the Scourge of War series is the comprehensive and realistic representation of American Civil War battlefields at the (grand) tactical level. The Chancellorsville
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Scourge Of War Gettysburg Manual
The Scourge of War Engine
Scourge of War Chancellorsville goes to great pains to simulate terrain, movement, troops morale, ordnance exchange and its effects. Keeping in mind the limitations of today computers and the axiom that there is no substitute for the real thing, there are barely any obtrusive abstractions where I can point my finger at the designer. One of these abstractions is infantry regiments deploying in line formation and clipping into each other, making too frequent and too fast facing changes when brigades engage in narrow spaces. It looks like the position of a regiment is computed as a single point (instead of a line) for some artificial intelligence routines. The same applies to regiments in line formation not 'snapping' completely into a linear cover like a fence or stonewall. But that's pretty much it. It barely suspends disbelief when the player has bigger fish to fry (like the frequent happening of an entire enemy Corps looming in the player's flank).
As if the treat of an immersive 3D battlefield with the full spectacle of war right before the player's eyes was not enough, the Scourge of War engine also includes a command and control simulation in which you can literally compose your orders and get them delivered by couriers to the subordinate unit. This results in orders delays that depend on the distance from your tactical command post and your subordinate and also in careful thinking about how your orders will be executed by the subordinate commander. These subordinate commanders, mostly controlled by the computer (unless you choose differently in the difficulty settings), have different command styles that will affect how fast and how well they will accomplish their mission. Fear not, the depth of this hardcore command feature is fully scalable and you can play at any level of complexity, from 'select any unit, click on destination' to the more complex command mode explained above. Furthermore, the game engine is so well designed that at any level of complexity the gaming experience is both fulfilling and engrossing.
A reservation that frequently arises from war gaming enthusiasts that feel more at ease with turn based games is that computer gaming engines with continuous time lead to a so-called 'clickfests'. In the case of the Scourge of War series, the amount of clicks needed to win an scenario is low if you are a good tactician. Off course, if you are compelled to micromanage every regiment in your corps, your mouse hand will suffer. But I would say that even with a moderately high degree of micromanagement, the only 'strain' I had was in my head .. Figuring out a good tactical plan, executing it, adapting it and maintaining it. This is a war game about tactics and command, and if you go into it with a 'RTS' mentality, your forces and your mouse hand will be crushed.
Chancellorsville can be played solo against a the computer or multiplayer against a human opponent. The computer opponent in the game is very capable and fond of ruining your most clever plans. It maneuvers towards your flanks with intimidating tenacity, it uses combined arms whenever the resources are available and most importantly, it appears to have a hierarchical tactical plan against you. Some moves of the computer opponent are scripted in the single player scenarios and these are intended to preserve the historical feeling of the scenario. But after those moves are executed, the computer opponent is fully unleashed to dynamically react against the player's actions. It is in those conditions where the player can see, for example, an enemy division suddenly forced into an area defense allocating different sectors to each brigade. The multiplayer sessions can be either through a lobby system or by direct IP connection with the opponent's computer. Unfortunately, due to time constrains, I could not explore the multiplayer aspects of the game.
The Scourge of War series it's a bold, off-the-beaten-path design with ambitious goals, all of them achieved. The fact that the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) had chosen Scourge of War for teaching command and control in the Missions Command class speaks volumes of the quality of this game.
Gameplay
Chancellorsville includes 4 tutorial scenarios (infantry, artillery, brigade and division command) and 20 scenarios starting at different places and times during the battle. The majority of these scenarios are playable from one side only. Most of them are at the division level (11 total), followed by the ones at the corps level (5 total) and a few more at the brigade level (3 total). There is one scenario where the player commands the whole Army of Northern Virginia. I wished for more scenarios at the army level, but alas the real battle sprawled over so much terrain that porting the entire battlefield into the computer would have been likely too demanding on hardware.
The pace of the gameplay, even when there are no turns and time is continuous, allows the player ample time to make decisions. What type of decisions (i.e. at which level of command) are the player's choice. I usually actively command all my subordinate formations (if I am a Corps commander I give orders to all my divisions) and around 1/3 of subordinate units two levels below (brigades). The latter are orders for formations located where something decisive is happening (point of main effort, commitment of reserves).
Chancellorsville scenarios play like an interactive lesson in history. At the start of the scenario, the player experiences exactly the type of decision-making process the real commanders had. Should I commit this Corps at that hill? Will that extensive flanking march I am planning take way too long to actually have an effect? How much of my cavalry should I detach for security? As the scenario progresses, the player gets the full blown reality of (grand) tactical combat during the American Civil War: its indecisiveness. A byproduct of what and to which extent each is an academic issue. But let’s say that less than optimal command and control, poor use of combined arms and not enough reserves to exploit success , do not help for a decisive victory. The Scourge of War series offers you a chance to both experience the shortcomings mentioned above and to try to make a difference.
Another interesting aspect of the Scourge of War series is that single player scenarios include neighboring friendly units not under the player's command. For the player, this means he has to keep a good eye for supporting and providing support to whoever friendly formation is in his flanks. Many times I had to postpone taking my objective, just waiting for that General to bring his troops up to the line of battle.
Overall Evaluation
I have been always mesmerized by movie scenes or literature paragraphs depicting generals looking at the distance with their binoculars, just to all of the sudden come out with something like 'the enemy's main attack is not in front of us'. How much tactical acumen does it take to grasp a battlefield from the tactical command post? I don't know the answer to that, but I can assure you that your appreciation for battlefield leadership will change after doing so, tethered to your virtual horse mount in Chancellorsville at the hardest difficulty levels.
Score: A. One of the finest computer war games ever published. Looks great, plays great and one of the few war games that succeeded to tackle command and control in a playable and scalable manner. Makes you wish the design talent used for this war game could be extended to other wars and warfare periods.
Additional Screenshots
Publisher: Matrix Games / Slitherine
Developer: NorbSoftDev
Introduction
While fairly familiar with theAmerican Civil War, Scourge of War:Chancellorsville is the first game from the Take Command ? Scourge of War family that I am playing. My firstreal-time experience was Field of Glory in1993 and Task Force 1942 from 1992,both from Microprose. I?ve then been playing Civil War: Robert E. Lee and CivilWar 2: Generals by Impressions/Sierra since 1997.
While the Battle ofChancellorsville was one of the most brilliant victories by Robert E. Lee,there are only a few games where this battle is represented and only three ofthem are detailed: Civil War: Robert E.Lee (the battle is less detailed in CivilWar 2), HPS Chancellorsville(very detailed) and now Scourge of War:Chancellorsville. American Conquest:Divided Nations Battle of Chancellorsville focuses only on the assault by?Stonewall? Jackson. Strangely, some other famous games completely neglectedthis battle: North vs South by InteractiveMagic, the first John Tiller?s games and Sid Meier?s takes on the American CivilWar.
Scourge of War: Chancellorsville is a stand-alone game that alsoworks as an add-on to Scourge of War:Gettysburg.
Historical Background
In May 1963, after the battle of Antietam inSeptember 1862, the Army of the Potomac, reorganised under the command ofGeneral Joseph Hooker, started their offensive and crossed the Rappahannockfords in order to fight the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee?scommand. Instead of retreating with an army half the size of the one of theenemy, Robert E. Lee decided to go into the attack and conceived anunbelievable bold plan. His best General, Thomas ?Stonewall? Jackson, wouldtake 30,000 men, lead them on a long road around the enemy and attack its rightflank. The rest of the army would hold the positions in order to give a falseimpression to the Union?s generals. The surprise attack on the Union?s XI corpswas a disaster for General Hooker and brought a brilliant victory to theConfederate?s forces. Chancellorsvillewas at the same time one of the greatest victories for Robert E. Lee as well asone of its most bitter ones. His best general, ?Stonewall? Jackson was shot byhis own men after returning from a night survey mission. He died a few dayslater.
Installation and Technical Issues
The installation of Scourge of War:Chancellorsville went without problems. As with the all the games fromMatrix Games, the game runs without the DVD in the drive. If you have already Gettysburg installed, you access theChancellorsville scenarios through the Gettysburg menus and, unlike me, notthrough the separate Chancellorsville menus you get if you only install theadd-on only.
At one point, one of my save games didn?t work,but this was due to a very obscure bug. We notified NorbSoft about this and wereinformed that it will be addressed in an upcoming patch. Overall however, thegame is fairly stable and I didn?t experience any crashes on my gaming laptopwhich is at low-end of the requirements.
Interface / Music/ Graphics
The animations in battles are done with lots ofcare. When you zoom in very closely you get to see the 2d sprites of thesoldiers which are fairly basic. However, when zoomed out, watching armiesfacing each other is very impressive as there are so many units and thebattlefield around Chancellorsville has been created with a lot of attention. Thenature is well done but it?s not really an extreme ?living? environment. Itdoes the job very nicely.
I would have like to hear some traditionalmusic during the battles but there?s only some pieces playing while you?re inthe menus. It seems that have decided for more realism as the only in gamemusic comes from the regiments musicians.
Generally, you have access to all theinformation you need to play and, while not perfect, the interface is logicaland easy to use.
Gameplay
Four long tutorials help you learn how to play the game. As it?s my firstgame in the series, this was very important to me and I?ve learnt a lot throughthem. The battle map is huge and depicts correctly the terrain aroundChancellorsville.
All the game happens in real-time and when I say real-time, I meanreal-time. One hour game play equals one hour of real-life. It?s possible tospeed up things though but when you?re fighting, it?s not something you reallywant to do. You command regiments, brigades, divisions and even corps. Everyunit has its very specific characteristics and the different leaders reactaccording to their historical counterparts. Some regiments have a lot ofexperience while others are greener, less experienced. This has a big impact onhow they will react on the battlefield so it?s important to check theirstatistics beforehand. I would have enjoyed having more historical informationon the units but it?s not there. Still, there are unique enough and this makesyou care for them on the battlefield.
The weather and the time of the battle will affect the morale and thefatigue of the soldiers. When the night is falling, the view gets shorter andshorter and it gets really hard to spot enemy units.
To command your units, you can just select them and double click whereyou want them to go and tell them what formation you want them to take oncethey reach their goal. Generals will order their units to use roads whenpossible, which makes them move faster but this is obviously not a good idea ifthe enemy is close. It?s a feature very handy when there?s a big distance to marchand you can order regiments to use roads as well. During the battle, every officerwill give orders to his units so there?s no need for micromanagement in most ofthe cases. Losing a general can lead to a defeat so you have to pay attentionto them and be careful not to let them too close to the front.
I would have liked to be able to give orders on the mini-map, but it?sunfortunately not possible. As it is, for larger battles, if you want to moveyour units over large distances, you have to select your units, open themini-map, click on where you want to go and then double-click on thebattlefield to move your regiment, division, brigade or corps. Having asmaller mini-map which could remain open as you play would be convenient, butas is you have to open the mini-map very often to check the overall situation. Inchecking with Norbsoft, this was intentional as to not have the game be a?click fest?, but there is a chance that in the future giving orders via themini-map will be included.
In the most difficult levels, you have to give orders through couriers.This makes the entire battle experience very realistic and challenging. Formyself, I do not feel enough at ease to trust my AI officers to let them handleall the action by themselves. I still feel more comfortable when I can correcta unit?s position or movement. Commanding an entire Corp is very challengingand requires lots of practice. Initially I was hoping to be able to control theentire battle but this would be too big an undertaking in this game.
At the end of the battle, you are shown your results and how many troopsyou have lost. On the campaign map, you see your best results and thismotivates to improve your scores.
AI
The enemy AI is very good and this makes thegame very challenging. It maintains formations and will try to flank you ifpossible. There are some path finding problems however and units will havesometimes an erratic behaviour but it?s more a visual thing which happens fromtime to time. Overall, units will do what they are asked to. I?ve been playingtactical wargames for the past 20 years and this one is a real challenge. I?vewon only a few scenarios so far and I will have to replay many as my resultswere miserable.
Historical Accuracy
The Battle ofChancellorsville is one of the most difficult to represent as there wereelements of surprise and chance coming into play. While the assault by?Stonewall? Jackson is really nicely done, you don?t get the impression thatthe Union?s troops have been taken by surprise as you find them already information when you encounter them. However, the units are faithfully placed andit?s the best depiction of this battle I?ve ever seen on a computer game. Theamount of units is tremendous and this is a huge battle, which can take up to twohours to finish. I have studied this particular battle more precisely before andevery scenario is well-researched and detailed.
Overall, along with HPSChancellorsville,Scourge of War: Chancellorsville is themost detailed representation of this battle I know of. The realism of thebattle is breath-taking for any wargamer fond of the American Civil War.
Replay Value
There are 20scenarios representing the key moments of the battle with lots of details, thecorrect regiments and commanders. The battles last from 30 minutes to 2 hours,so you get a lot of gameplay for the price. Scourge of War: Chancellorsville provides a very long and enjoyablegaming experience. I would have liked to see some longer scenarios as you feelthe pressure even during the smaller battles but on the other hand, thatpressure makes the whole thing interesting.
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Documentation
The documentation that comes with Scourge ofWar: Chancellorsville is brand new, spanning 136 pages and is alsoavailable in PDF form. The manualmentions 6 tutorials but the game has only 4. It is however a very goodand detailed manual. The support in the Matrix forums is extremely helpful andgood.
Multiplayer
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Scourge of War: Chancellorsville?smultiplayer modeallows you to fight head-to-head with your friend (or several others) on theInternet. Generals interested in MP games will probably have to make anappointment with someone they know or on the forums to set up larger battles.
Modding
The game can be modded and new scenarios can becreated so there?s a lot do if you like to further work on it once you finished(and won) the 20 scenarios.
Conclusion
The game depicts the Battle of Chancellorsvillein an unbelievable realistic and historically correct way. Despite its few shortcomingsand steep learning curve for new players, the game is very solid and detailedwith a very competent AI. The suspense on the battlefield really lasts untilthe last moment. It?s a mandatory game for Civil War armchair generals and Iwill definitively be taking a look at the main game Scourge War: Gettysburg as soon as I am done playing this one. Ihope they continue to improve the game?s engine and, maybe once in the future,fulfill the promise of a strategy layer described in the final notes of the Take Command: Second Manassas manual.
Review written by: Pascal Giovannini
System Requirements
Minimum Specs | Reviewer's Specs |
OS: Windows XP (SP2+), Vista or 7 CPU: Dual Core 1.5 GHz CPU or higher Fios speed optimizer for mac. Memory: 2 GB RAM Video: 256 MB Dedicated Video Card with DirectX 9.0c or higher. Video card should NOT be integrated on motherboard, but should be separate, no shared memory Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card Hard Disk Space: 2 GB Free DirectX Version: 9.0c (Included) Resolution: Variable, 1024x768 minimum | ? 2.13 GHz Intel Pentium P6200 ? 4 GB ? Intel HD Graphics up to 1755 MB ? Windows 7 SP 1 |
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