# Looking for a good civil war tactical game for my dad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781 "2006-03-10T02:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DontTreadOnMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@DontTreadOnMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DontTreadOnMe)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/1 "2006-03-10T02:23:57Z")
My dad is a civil war buff who has shown intrest in playing a historicaly accurate tactical PC game. He had played one a few years back, and while he enjoyed the historical aspects he found the gameplay pretty difficult and rarely won a game…Not being from the “gaming generation”. I’d love to suprise him with a good quality game with a pretty accesible easy mode, but seeing as PC or strategy games arn’t really my thing I ask you fine dopers…What game do you reccomend for my father? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/2 "2006-03-10T04:31:18Z")
This is kind of a tough nut to crack, DontTredOnMe, because it’s hard to come up with an historically accurate game with easy rules that can be enjoyed by those who aren’t hard core gamers. [www.gmtgames.com](http://www.gmtgames.com) GMT games makes some pretty good Civil War games but they’re kind of expensive and they can take many hours to play. Their games can cost you between $50-150 and their complexity, hundreds of cardboard chits representing specific units are involved, probably puts them outside the realm of what your father would enjoy. [www.columbiagames.com](http://www.columbiagames.com) Their games are a bit more easy for a new player to get into and their games typically only last about two hours. They have a pretty good balance of historical accuracy and gameplay but again they will cost you between $50-100. If you can find it I would recommend **Battle Cry** by Avalon Hills. It’s not really historically accurate at all but it’s a lot of fun (he could play it with grandkids if he has any) and doesn’t take more than an hour to play. It comes with a wide variety of “campaigns” and I think you can find more scenarios online. It’s out of print but you might be able to find it on eBay or perhaps at the local hobby shop. Marc ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/3 "2006-03-10T06:26:29Z")
Though quite old, “Robert E. Lee : civil war general” is quite good (That’s the name of the first one, the second, slightly more recent version has a rather similar name I can’t remember right now). But I’m not sure it’s as accessible as you would want to. I doubt a neophyte is going to easily win. It’s difficult to assess for someone like me who’s a rather hard-core gamer. ---
**Author:** ![opossum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2bfe46/32.png) [@opossum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/opossum)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/4 "2006-03-10T14:34:34Z")
Sid Meier (the Civilization guy) made a couple of very good ones: Sid Meier’s Gettysburg (1997) and Sid Meier’s Antietam (1999). I think they were sold together as Sid Meier’s Civil War Collection. Those may be the ones he played “a few years back.” I still play them every now and then. More recently, Mad Minute Games has made a real time tactical civil war game (History Channel Battle of Bull Run), and I think they’re coming out with another one this summer. It’s kind of similar to the Sid Meier games in that it’s real time rather than turn based. But it’s in 3-D, and you can move the camera around to watch the battle. (I couldn’t get my computer to run it). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/5 "2006-03-10T15:12:54Z")
I’ll second that. I’m a CW buff and don’t play these games myself, but have friends who’ve long played the Sid Meier games and love’ me. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/6 "2006-03-10T15:15:14Z")
Another recommendation for the Sid Meier civil war games. Their tactical game mechanics are simply second to none. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/7 "2006-03-10T15:42:59Z")
I feel rather silly with my recommendation of board games instead of computer games. Oh, the shame!! Marc ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/8 "2006-03-10T15:46:31Z")
There was a ShareWare game, many years back, the name of which escapes me right now, but which I thought was a great little Civil War simulation. I may still have it somewhere… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/9 "2006-03-10T18:24:49Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > I’ll second that. I’m a CW buff and don’t play these games myself, but have friends who’ve long played the Sid Meier games and love’ me. YMMV. Uh, that should read, “and love 'em.” But you knew that, right? ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/10 "2006-03-10T19:51:29Z")
I loved Sid Meier’s Gettysburg. Fair warning if you buy it though, I recently went back to replay it but could not get it to run under the latest WindowsXP. I don’t know about other people’s success though… ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/11 "2006-03-10T20:29:52Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I loved Sid Meier’s Gettysburg. Fair warning if you buy it though, I recently went back to replay it but could not get it to run under the latest WindowsXP. I don’t know about other people’s success though… Did you try setting the emulation mode in Windows for the .exe? I’ve found that actually works pretty well, even for win95 games. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/12 "2006-03-11T00:28:34Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Though quite old, “Robert E. Lee : civil war general” is quite good (That’s the name of the first one, the second, slightly more recent version has a rather similar name I can’t remember right now). But I’m not sure it’s as accessible as you would want to. I doubt a neophyte is going to easily win. It’s difficult to assess for someone like me who’s a rather hard-core gamer. I believe it was called “Civil War Generals: II” and if it wasn’t, I still recommend that game. Really easy to learn. And it was fun. You don’t have to be a gamer to win. All you have to do is not be an idiot. For example: don’t rush Marye’s heights during the battle of Fredricksburgs. I highly recommend it. I know that this game is what your dad is looking for. If you want more descriptions I’ll be more than happy to go into great detail. ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/13 "2006-03-11T07:32:40Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I loved Sid Meier’s Gettysburg. Fair warning if you buy it though, I recently went back to replay it but could not get it to run under the latest WindowsXP. I don’t know about other people’s success though… If you go to [the official site](http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=8), they have a patch to make the game run under XP. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-good-civil-war-tactical-game-for-my-dad/347781/14 "2006-03-11T18:45:08Z")
> [@cckerberos](#): > > If you go to [the official site](http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=8), they have a patch to make the game run under XP. Very cool, I’m locking myself in the study to replay it! There goes my free time 😃