Robert E. Lee: Civil War General
Robert E. Lee: Civil War General is a 1996 computer wargame developed by Impressions Games and published by Sierra On-Line. Set during the American Civil War, it tasks the player with leading the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to victory against the Union Army of the Potomac. Impressions sought to make Civil War General accessible to wargame newcomers by streamlining its gameplay, and the Panzer General series was a reference point for its design and title.
Civil War General was a commercial success and the best-selling wargame of 1996. Critics noted its accessibility compared to other games in its genre; several praised it for combining simplified mechanics and depth, while Computer Games Strategy Plus found it overly shallow. In 1997, Civil War General was followed by a sequel, Grant, Lee, Sherman: Civil War Generals 2. A third game was planned, but was cancelled due to low sales projections.
Gameplay
Robert E. Lee: Civil War General is a computer wargame with turn-based gameplay, which unfolds on a hex map playing field. Set during the American Civil War, the game casts players in the role of General Robert E. Lee, and tasks them with leading the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia to victory over the Union Army of the Potomac. It portrays eight Civil War conflicts, including the Battle of Gettysburg, the Battle of the Wilderness and a speculative scenario in which Lee lays siege to Washington, D.C.Each battle lacks a firm victory condition. Instead of winning by holding victory points or destroying all enemy forces, the player's goal is to outperform the opponent overall and to lower enemy morale, in line with the Confederacy's own strategy during the Civil War. As in the historical conflict, battles are asymmetrical, as the player's Confederate troops are limited and undersupplied compared to the Union army.
The game is turn-based and covers seven battles of the Eastern Theater in the Civil War as well as a bonus fictional attack by the Army of Northern Virginia on Washington D.C. Each battle may be played individually or serially in campaign mode. The multi-day battles may be played from start to finish or the player may start on the second or third day of the battle. Normally, the player may only control the Confederate side however a hidden multiplayer feature is accessible for campaign mode by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on the "Start New Campaign" button. During campaign mode, the player in between battles may dismiss leaders and upgrade or downgrade a unit's weapons. Leaders' ratings may improve after a battle.
Units lose a certain number of men to straggling after engaging in combat, changing formation, or moving around the map. By having a unit rest or dig in, stragglers return to the ranks and the unit's stats will increase. The multi-day battles have a day/night cycle; during nighttime the player may not initiate attacks and moving units will have a high cost in health/organization. Units regain more health and organization while resting at night than during daytime. In addition, there is a dawn and dusk turn in which attacks may be performed, but at a higher cost in health and organization than daytime. In addition, units receive a morale penalty from being moved too much at night. Resting units during dawn/dusk will be more effective than daytime, but less than nighttime. Units which rest on a city tile will regain more health and organization than on other terrain types.
Unit leaders may be killed or wounded in combat, in which case the next highest ranking leader underneath them assumes command. In campaign mode, a wounded leader may recover for the next battle, be forced to retire, or die from the wound depending on the severity of his injury. Lightly-wounded leaders will remain in command of their units and lose some of their stats. If a leader was more severely wounded, the game will ask the player if he wants the leader to remain in command. If so, the unit will not be able to move for the rest of the game. Leaders who are killed or sustain major wounds will be automatically replaced by their subordinate. Units in the same command structure as the leader who was killed or wounded will suffer loss of morale. Conversely, a unit that kills or wounds an enemy leader will get a morale boost along with all units in its command structure. Each leader has four rating stats; the higher these are, the more effectively a unit will perform. Each unit furthermore has several stats which also influence its combat strength and effectiveness; the Experience rating goes up between battles if the unit was engaged in the previous battle of a campaign, while the Quality stat drops as the war progresses.
The number of casualties a unit inflicts in battle is calculated based on the unit's firepower, weapon type, the unit leader's Influence rating, the unit's Experience and Quality ratings, and the terrain cover the defending unit has.
If a unit is attacked by infantry or cavalry, the defending unit will fire a volley first followed by the attacking unit. The game also allows the player to order a "charge" attack, in which case the attacking unit will attempt to fire two volleys, including a close-range one. Charges can be extremely costly thus should only be used if the enemy unit is significantly weaker, and a unit may refuse to perform a charge if its health, morale, and organization are too low. Army morale points may be expended to "pep talk" a unit into charging.
A unit will retreat from combat if its morale becomes too low and drop some ammunition, and if it gets low enough the unit will rout, in which case it drops all of its ammunition and runs uncontrollably to the rear. Units that retreat from combat suffer an additional morale penalty while a unit that forces an enemy to retreat gets a morale boost. If the unit reaches the edge of the map, it will flee from the field and not be accessible again for the rest of the battle. Similar to charging, the player can expend army morale points to convince a routed unit to reform. Units may be captured whole by the enemy army if surrounded completely and unable to flee anywhere. Ammunition dropped by a fleeing enemy is recovered automatically by the player and added to his total supply points. A unit may also be wiped out of existence if the last man in it is killed or wounded, or it may desert the field if morale drops too low. The game gives your entire army a morale penalty if enough unsuccessful engagements are fought while giving the enemy army a morale bonus.
Armies include several corps commanders which are delineated on the map by a gold star; they can be reassigned to any unit under their command and are treated as the commander of whatever unit they're assigned to. Enemy corps commanders are invisible unless the player engages the unit they're assigned to, in which case the corps commander will be visible until reassigned to another unit.
Most units have a marching and a combat formation. Units in marching formation have less terrain cover and if infantry units are attacked in marching formation, the attacker will fire a volley first, potentially inflicting heavy losses. Artillery units cannot fire back at all if attacked while limbered. Cavalry units have a mounted and dismounted formation and may attack in either one; mounted cavalry have more firepower but less cover which results in higher casualties while attacking or defending. Infantry attacked twice in the same turn from opposite sides will be caught from behind by the second attack and treated as if it were in marching formation.
Artillery units have a certain range of tiles they can hit; this depends on the type of gun the artillery unit is equipped with as well as terrain obstructions. The game takes into account the capabilities of various Civil War artillery types; some artillery is more effective on long-range targets and some types more effective at close range. Artillery may share a tile with other unit types, in which case both units will fire a volley if attacked by infantry or cavalry. When attacking stacked units, the player may target both or just the artillery. The defender can fire back if his artillery has enough range for counter-fire or he can have his artillery limber and retreat, in which case some of its ammunition will be lost.
Sharpshooter units have a ranged attack similar to artillery, but must move right next to an enemy unit to attack. If attacking a stacked artillery and combat unit, the player must select which one to attack and cannot target both units.
The game includes several terrain types which have varying movement, health, and organization costs for a unit as well as different amounts of cover or lack thereof. Certain terrain types may increase or decrease a unit's morale, and units cannot switch from marching to combat formation on some terrain. Units may also dig in, which increases their cover. Tiles may contain various structures ranging from farmhouses to churches; these can also affect the cover or morale bonus/minus of the tile. Rivers are completely impassable unless a bridge or ford is present.
A number of different weapons are available to units; the game includes most of the more commonly used infantry, artillery, and cavalry weapons from the Civil War. The armies of both sides have certain weapons available exclusively to them, and the Confederate side does not have access to certain more powerful weapons. A unit will have higher morale the better weapons they're carrying, but stronger weapons also use more expensive ammunition than weaker ones.
At the end of a battle, the game displays a stat screen showing the number of casualties on both sides, leaders killed/wounded, men captured/deserted, supply points and weapons cost captured, and total score. At any time during a battle, the player can also access the stat screen through the "Casualty Report" option in the "Reports" menu.