Civil War: 1864

While other games like Tiller’s Overland Campaign are more detailed and accurate, games like Civil War 1864 fill two essential roles for the gaming industry. First, the seemingly simple nature of play serves as an introduction to new gamers by providing them with the feel of an era and giving them insight into the mechanics of a period’s combat. For all of its tap and go feel, this game does a fine representation of what went on during the most bloody summer of the American Civil War. Secondly, this game genre provides relief for veteran gamers from drawn-out and detail-heavy games. We need to get back once in a while to that just one more turn feel. Hexwar’s games does both of these tasks in very accessible fashion. No historical gamer should fall for the trap that, just because the mechanics are the same, every Hexwar game is the same. A look at their Civil War series shows that maps and objectives are sculpted to faithfully represent the situation for each year. Given the limitation of the engine, this approach represents an accomplishment we can all appreciate.

Even with its persisting flaws and somewhat unambitious nature when compared to 1862, Civil War: 1864 is still a nice plateful of comfort food.