The second in their Battleground series, Talonsoft's new Gettysburg takes gamers back to those three fateful days in July, 1863 to command either the forces of the Confederate South or Union North in their struggle in and around the small Pennsylvania town. This game will let players see if they can meet or beat the historical performance of either side.
The first thing you'll notice about the game is obviously its interface! The 3-D Battleview system looks absolutely beautiful. Talonsoft has improved the appearance of the Battleview mode over that of their previous release, Ardennes. The rendering of hills, ridges, roads, and even individual farms is very nicely done and appears fairly accurate (to the limits of a hex-based map). The map still can't rotate in this view mode (the view is looking from East to West), and it's even more difficult to discern the back sides of hills than it was in Ardennes. Even so, you may find yourself using this mode more than any other. New to Gettysburg is a zoomed out version of this 3-D map, very useful for getting an idea of the big picture. A more traditional boardgame-style map is provided (both normal and zoomed out) for players who prefer this view. It uses either stylized or NATO-style counter icons, but still shows unit facing and formation.
Gameplay falls somewhere above Panzer General and somewhere below Harpoon II in difficulty and detail. Unit facing played a much more important role in 19th Century warfare and is well represented in the game. Units can be either in column (for marching) or line (for fighting), and strengths and weaknesses of both formations are included. If units are flanked the ensuing enfilade fire can be devastating, so maintaining proper facing and protecting flanks is critical. The game even takes into account whether a leader is mounted or not in determining his vulnerability.
Leaders played a vital role in Civil War battles, and Gettysburg is no exception. While leaders can help units participating in melee attack or defense, they are critical in helping to rally disrupted or routed units. Major leaders for both sides are represented; if a higher echelon leader is killed or wounded a lower level leader will take over command of the higher level unit, just as in the actual battle.
The game has twelve scenarios and the full campaign. Some of the shorter scenarios come in two formsûhistorical, where the AI will tend to follow the historical actions, and alternative, where AI actions are more free-form. Unlike Ardennes, Gettysburg does not include a scenario editor. Despite this there aren't more options for randomizing scenariosûalternate reinforcement schedules, ahistorical weather, etc. The game sequence is very boardgame like: move, defensive fire, offensive fire, melee, change sides. While it'll feel just like old times for boardgamers, and is smoothly implemented, it still plays like a boardgame.
Battlefield smoke doesn't play a part in the game, but then the spotting rules are fairly simplified anyway. Single or modem players can have fog-of-war, but for the most part units are either invisible or everything is known everything about them (name, strength, etc.).
The AI isn't anything to write home about. It plays moderately well on the defensive, but isn't too much of a challenge on the offense. Some of this is because of the design of the game (in fact, of any game that has a map edge)ûwith an inviolate map edge players can unhinge their flanks in some of the smaller scenarios without fear of assault.
While modem and null-modem capabilities are included, there is as yet no allowance for play-by-email. However, Talonsoft is working on a PBEM option. In addition, the upgrade will add fog-of-war to hot-seated games and hopefully a battle record/replay function.
Despite these small design quibbles, Gettysburg is an entertaining game that does a surprisingly good job at recreating the feel (if not all the details) of the famous battle.
