This campaign oriented Civil War game is just phenomenal and lots of fun to play. Calling it a game doesn't give it justice as it's more like a simulation of the Civil War. The directions are linked online and take about an hour to read which is highly recommended before playing. There is no tutorial to speak of. You can choose to play Union or Confederate forces with 3 levels of difficulty. From the Manassas Campaign you move on to Shiloh and so on with smaller battles in between to help you strengthen your army and learn aspects of the game. In between battles you go to Camp where you can create new units and get replacements for depleted units, etc. This is where you assign unit leaders and the various equipment for different types of units (firearms for infantry and cannon for artillery, etc.). The variety of equipment is astounding and historically accurate for the period. There are even photos of the various leaders for each of your units when available. You can arm your units with all kinds of historically accurate firearms from that era. The firearms are rated by damage, range, accuracy, reload time, and melee with a short description of each. You can keep the equipment of units who surrender to you in battle. You can sell captured equipment or arm your units with them. You even get more recruits through prisoner exchanges if you have captured enemy units. Units and leaders gain experience which can then be used to give the unit enhanced abilities. You can even rename your units as you prefer. Your character also gains experience and reputation as the game progresses. Reputation gives your troops extra morale and can be used for requesting assistance from your government (but it will lower your reputation if you do) The AI seems pretty capable and will try to outflank you along with other battle strategies. This is now my absolute favorite game and I can see where it will keep me entertained for hundreds of hours. I highly recommend it.
