Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume 1: Bull Run to Chancellorsville is a computer wargame developed by Roger Keating and Ian Trout. It was published by Strategic Studies Group in 1988 for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, then in 1990 for MS-DOS. Two further games in the series were released: Volume 2: Gaines Mill to Chattanooga and Volume 3: Wilderness to Nashville.
Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume 1: Bull Run to Chancellorsville | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Strategic Studies Group |
Designer(s) | Ian Trout |
Programmer(s) | Roger Keating |
Platform(s) | Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS |
Release | 1988: Apple II, C64 1990: MS-DOS |
Genre(s) | Wargame |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Plot
editBull Run to Chancellorsville is a tactical wargame in which the player takes command in the first American Civil War battles. Volume I includes six battles from the Civil War, in which two players may manage the Confederate and Union armies, or a single player can play against the computer managing the other army with the option of selecting from three handicap levels to add to each side.[1]
Gameplay
editBull Run to Chancellorsville is fully menu-driven, with its game mechanics broken down into command subsets. The game includes two Game and Design Menus as well as full-color battlefield maps. It also comes with the Warpaint and Warplan programs which the player can use to design tactical wargames.[1]
Development
editRoger Keating and Ian Trout of Strategic Studies Group developed Bull Run to Chancellorsville as the first game released for their Decisive Battles series.[1]
Reception
editThe game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #135 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.[1] Regan Carey and Mike Salata reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "Decisive Battles of the Civil War is a step up the ladder in the evolution of SSG game systems. Features like Warplan and Warpaint set it apart from most competitors."[2]
In 1990 Computer Gaming World gave the game three-plus out of five stars,[3] and in 1993 three stars.[4]
Reviews
edit- Commodore Computing International - Feb, 1989[5]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Lesser, Hartley; Lesser, Patricia; Lesser, Kirk (July 1988). "The Role of Computers". Dragon (135): 82–89.
- ^ Carey, Regan; Salata, Mike (July 1988). "Decisive Battles of the American Civil War. Volume 1.: Bull Run to Chancellorsville". Computer Gaming World. Vol. 1, no. 49. pp. 32–33.
- ^ Brooks, M. Evan (October 1990). "Computer Strategy and Wargames: Pre-20th Century". Computer Gaming World. p. 11. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ Brooks, M. Evan (June 1993). "An Annotated Listing of Pre-20th Century Wargames". Computer Gaming World. p. 136. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ "Decisive Battles of the American Civil War Volume 1 review from Commodore Computing International Vol 7 No 6 (Feb 1989) - Amiga Magazine Rack".