Old Gamers Never Die: It's North vs. South in 'Ultimate General: Civil War'

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© 2017 Game-Labs



Hi, there! I know I haven't posted much here, but between writing posts for A Certain Point of View, Too, working on a screenplay, and gaming every so often, I find it difficult to carve time to post here regularly. If it weren't that I've had this blog for so many years already, I'd probably call it a day and just focus on my WordPress blog. But, since I have already invested a lot of time and work into A Certain Point of View, I will just submit posts here when I can. 

© 2017 Game-Labs

Speaking of gaming, I have been playing two Civil War-based computer games published by a Romanian company called Game-Labs. One is Ultimate General: Gettysburg (2014), and the other is its more ambitious sequel, Ultimate General: Civil War (2014). 

I am not a die-hard Civil War buff, but I know enough about the bloodiest war in American history to at least try out a few wargames set in that conflict. I currently own four such games; in addition to the Ultimate General titles, I also own Grand Tactician: Civil War (1861-1865), which was published this year by Grand Tactician Games, and Civil War II (2013) by Ageod and Slitherine Games. 

I became interested in Ultimate General after I watched a couple of playthrough videos by YouTube wargamer The Historical Gamer. Many of the games he plays (such as Unity of Command II and War on the Sea) I like but can't play well due to dexterity issues that limit my use of a mouse. But Ultimate General: Gettysburg (which I bought after I bought its sequel) looked like it might be a bit easier to play, so....

I woke up much too early this morning, so I'm not going to write a long spiel about how great Ultimate General Civil War is. If you want to read about some of my early experiences with the game, you can read Old Gamers Never Die: Getting Acquainted with ‘Ultimate General: Civil War’ in our sister blog A Certain Point of View, Too. 

I will tell you this, though. Yesterday afternoon I downloaded Ultimate General: Civil War and played it on my Lenovo ThinkPad. I played the Battle of Philippi scenario and, for the first time since I bought the game earlier this month, I repelled the Confederates' armored train! 

I have learned over time how to capture the town of Philippi, but until yesterday, I would always win as the Union - but the armored train would not be compelled to withdraw. It would suffer some casualties and not prove decisive in the end game, but it always remained in the battle and inflicted many casualties on my corps as it defended the town from Confederate counterattacks.

I should have taken some screenshots!

Speaking of screenshots, here are some nice ones from other sessions of Ultimate General: Civil War:

© 2017 Game-Labs

© 2017 Game-Labs

© 2017 Game-Labs

© 2017 Game-Labs
© 2017 Game-Labs




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