BattleScope: Civil War

Inside the game

One more move.

• Infantry marches in column and fights in line. Cavalry can fight mounted or dismounted; guns move limbered and deploy to fire. Normal assaults give the defender the first volley, so fresh troops in good cover are difficult to dislodge.
• Health, organisation, morale, leaders and supply influence whether troops can fight, hold or retreat. Rallying and demanding charges can spend army morale. Preserve a safe retreat route before committing.
• Use artillery to prepare an attack, and inspect the selected battery's range shading. Coordinated pressure can wear down a defender; a mounted cavalry charge is powerful but exposes its riders to greater danger.
• Rest eligible units to restore condition and replenish supply under the current field's rules. Dig in to improve a position. Winning ground with a badly damaged army can still produce a poor final score.
• Campaign branches use the player's result, whichever army they command. Wins can open different fields; a draw follows the non-victory route. The muster carries the campaign's force condition and rearming choices forward.
• One strategic turn is one day. March along connected ground, move by rail where the route permits, or force a march at a cost to your brigades' health and organisation. Rest a formation before it is needed in battle.
• War-map formations need a traceable supply route to a friendly city. Opposing forces near each other can trigger a tactical battle, with nearby formations joining as reinforcements. The brigades' surviving men and condition return to the war map afterward.
• Both nations begin with 300 will. Battles, cities and declining contact change it. Time alone also wears it down: Union will falls by 0.10 per day and Confederate will by 0.06. The Confederacy can win by exhausting Northern will without conquering the entire North.