Here's a crack at giving a (hopefully useful, albeit short) review of <PERSON> "The US Civil War".
In one word: Incredible
In one thought: Wow, this game really encompasses most important strategic aspects of the war and gives the player an unprecedented amount of actions and decisions without overly drowning the player in unnecessary layers of shiny.
Quality: The components for this game are incredibly well constructed (love GMT). Counters are sturdy. Map is double-mounted and has a quality finish to it (not to mention its SIZE, beautiful design and tasteful implementation of a gorgeous color palette). Player aids are well-organized and the rules were written with great expertise and care.
Narrative Discussion: I love board games and identify myself as a wargamer since I grew up playing these types of things with my father. This game, to me, is something that I would consider a mini-monster in the sense that there are so many available avenues the player can take throughout the course of the game. (Disclosure: the 'biggest wargame' I have ever played was Fortress Europa with my father when I was much younger. The 'biggest wargame' that I've played in recent memory was Normandy '44. I use the word 'biggest' to describe complexity rather than number of counters or scale). I preordered this game on a whim since I have always been a 'Civil War buff'. The Civil War by Victory Games is one I always read good things about but never played. Given that this game was being herald as TCW's successor, among other things, was enough for me to take the plunge. I sat on the game for months when I found out my modest 24" x 48' gaming table would not support the 30" x 44" game map. I finally decided to purchase another table so I could finally get this thing up and running and boy am I glad I did. Setting up the campaign game for the first time to dive into learning this gem took me for an unexpected pause. I couldn't help but step back and admire what was before me. I felt like the commander in chief of two armies ready to wage war right from my living room. I could finally do whatever I wanted. Attack here. Defend here. Order large sweeping offenses into the Deep South or send raiding parties up into the Northeast. It was all there right before me. The scale of the map really contributes to the overwhelming feeling of finally having the freedom to do whatever you wanted. I could be historic in my approaches or be completely a-historic.
My opening turns were less than bright (playing with the basic rules here). 52
I kept things simple as I tried to learn the rules resulting in stagnant fronts, useless doomstacks and uninspired combat initiations. There is so much I could do but I don't know yet how they all fit together. One word of advice: take a long look at the combat results table (CRT). It is OKAY to engage in combat. Don't be so cautious. You won't necessarily lose an entire stack of SPs because of a combat loss. Whittle away your opponent and don't sit there waiting to be attacked (especially as the Union... you can't do that or you will lose due to falling behind your VP benchmarks). Also, be comfortable with spreading your SPs around. I found with my turtle approach that I have masses of Union generals sitting around with nothing to do because I've concentrated so much of my strength in the two typical regions, DC and Cairo/New Madrid regions. Clearly I've been operating under very inefficient conditions.
A couple turns later I finally branched out into trying to implement the naval/river component by trying out water transport and amphibious invasions on costal forts. Now I've got <PERSON> in North Carolina with a sizeable force ready to unleash havoc in the CSA rear. Finally the game was opening up to me the way I had originally envisioned it upon initial setup... grand maneuvering. The CSA panics and scrambles to react, pulling units off the frontline in Manassas. End of turn allows for the placement of some much needed reinforcements in Raleigh and Fayetteville to meet the backdoor threat. Those resource points are critical to the CSA to keep up with the northern war production. This move breaks the stalemate outside DC. Will the Union launch a frontal assault on the remaining army entrenched at Manassas Junction? Now is the time. Meanwhile, the CSA reaction to the NC threat seems to be overdone. <PERSON>, with 3 SPs (and an additional 2 from the reinforcement and strategic movement segments) may not be enough to continue deep thrusts into the NC heartland. But the invasion did its job by opening up a window to start walking down that road to Richmond from behind the safety of the Potomac. NOW things are finally happening. Perhaps another amphibious assault in the Gulf region will open up Tennessee. 449