Contents
Contents for Getting Started

The Gettysburg Interactive Battle Simulation brings to your computer the battle that changed the outcome of the Civil War. Gettysburg runs in the Microsoft Windows environment and this section assumes that you have basic familiarity with Windows. For information on working with Windows applications, refer to your Microsoft Windows documentation.

This section will provide you with the basics you need to get started playing Gettysburg. Complete, in-depth information about playing the game, including setting strategies and tactics, is found in Contents... under the Help menu.

Setting up your Video Driver

Understanding the Screen

Understanding the Icons

Let the Computer Demonstrate

For Help on Help, Press F1


Understanding the Screen

When you start up Gettysburg, a narrated prologue explaining the events leading up to the Battle of Gettysburg runs. Click anywhere on the screen to end the prologue and jump directly to the game.

By default, a new game begins. The screen's appearance matches the battlefield as it looked on the morning of July 1, 1863--the first day of battle. There are very few brigade icons visible, as the armies did not actually reach the area until later in the day. The Gettysburg game comes with three game files that simulate the actual positions of the armies at the beginning of all three days of the battle. You can start playing from July 1, or you can start playing on the second or third day of the battle.

To start playing on a different day

1	Choose File from the top level menu and click Open. The Open dialog box will appear.

2	Choose the file name corresponding with the date of play you want to begin with and click OK.

The screen below is what you see when you load the first day of battle, JULY1.GTY. Click on the picture below to see explanations on the different areas on the screen.


Understanding the Icons

Each icon represents a brigade.  In the Gettysburg game, a brigade is the smallest unit you can command.

An icon's appearance is important--it gives you information about the type of brigade it represents.  The blue soldiers represent the Union (North) soldiers and the grey soldiers represent the Confederate (South) soldiers.

Click the icons below for more information.

The icons' appearance also changes to show you the brigade's activity. Brigades can be moving, resting, or fighting.

Brigades that are resting look like this:

Brigades that are marching look like this:

Brigades that are in combat look like this:

Selecting Icons

Moving Icons


Icons with cannons represent artillery brigades.


Icons with little men on them represent infantry brigades.


Icons with horses and riders on them represent cavalry brigades.


Let the Computer Demonstrate

We will let the computer run through a simulation of the battle. This is known as Historical Play. As you become more skillful, you will want to control the game yourself, known as Free Play.

To start the demonstration

1	Choose File from the top level menu and click Open. The Open dialog box will appear.

2	Highlight july1.gty and click OK. The screen will display the Gettysburg battlefield as it looked on the morning of July 1, 1863. To make sure you have the right day, check the timeline at the bottom of the screen. The gold dash should be at the far left, indicating that it is 8:00 a.m. on July 1.

3	Choose Play from the top level menu and select Historical Play-Both Sides. A check mark will appear next to your selection.

4	Under the Overlays menu, make sure the following items are selected (selected items will have a check mark next to them). If they are not selected, click once on the item.

Click on the menu items below for an explanation:

5	Under the Options menu, be sure the following items are selected.

Click on the menu items below for an explanation:

6	From the Speed menu, select Medium. This allows close-to-simultaneous narration of events when Auto History Notes is selected.

7	In the Commands toolbox, click [image]. The battle will begin.

Things to Explore


Historical Play

The computer simulates the actual events of the battle.

If you choose to play one side, the computer becomes your opponent.

If you choose to let the computer play both sides, you will get an accurate simulation of the Battle of Gettysburg.


Free Play

You set the strategies and tactics for the side, or sides, you choose to control. The brigades will respond to orders based on historically accurate parameters such as morale, strength, and level of ammunition.


Troops

Selecting Troops makes the brigade icons visible on the screen.  When it is not selected, the screen simply contains the map without indication of troops or their positions.

You may want to remove troop icons when you need to see underlying information, such as casualties.


Troop Movement

Indicates the path that the icons will follow and displays a square box to indicate their destinations.  When Troop Movement is not selected, the icons move but their paths are not illustrated.


Casualties

Displays a square shaded with red to indicate the number of men fallen at each location.  The larger the number of casualties, the more red the square.


Combat Action

Displays a red circle surrounding icons involved in a battle.  The more intense the battle, the larger the circle.


Combat Zones

The battlefield is divided into 11 sections referred to as "combat zones."  Choosing this overlay reveals the boundaries of each zone.


Type Caption for New Topic Right Here
Displays the Commands box on the screen.


Gives all troops standing orders to automatically begin entrenching any time they are not marching or involved in combat.  When troops entrench, they increase the unit's overall strength.

If entrenched troops are later ordered to move, their entrenchment factor returns to zero.


In the Civil War, artillery seldom joined the infantry and cavalry in charges simply because it was too cumbersome to move easily.

Choose Fixed Artillery so that all artillery brigades from both sides will keep their position when you select a group of icons and move them.

If you want to move artillery brigades while Fixed Artillery is selected, you must select each artillery brigade icon individually and move it.


Activates sound effects and music.

NOTE

A PC speaker driver will not let you hear sounds--you must have a sound board to use this feature.


Brigade icons appear on the screen.


Lines appear on both sides of the icons on the screen.  These lines indicate the direction in which the brigades are firing.


This switches the standard soldier icons to small squares with pictures indicating the branch of army they represent.

These are sometimes easier to select during a heated battle.


Field Notes

The Field Notes provide a running commentary, both written and spoken, on the progress of battle.  The notes provide you with information that commanders need to know to order troops, such as casualty summaries, warnings of flank attacks, friendly artillery fire, and ammunition reports.

In addition, you can learn about actual battle events including strategic movements, heroic struggles, and human interest stories.  When activated, field notes will provide historical markers (blue triangles) that pop up on the screen any time there is a historical note available.


Auto History Notes

When selected along with Field Notes, a running narration by Mr. Shelby Foote, renown Civil War historian, is provided as the battle progresses, providing timely historical information.

Set play speed to Fast or slower for close-to-simultaneous narration of events.

NOTE

To enhance simulation playability, the timing of certain events in battle has been adjusted. These changes were made only to compensate for the limitations inherent in a computer simulation of a real event. However, all information provided in the Field Notes is historically accurate.


Hide Field Notes Window
Field Notes Audio Only

When selected along with Field Notes and Auto History Notes, this option hides the scrolling window but you will hear a narration of historical information as you play the game.

NOTE

Set play speed to Fast or slower for close-to-simultaneous narration of events.


Battle Summary...

Reveals the Battle Summary dialog box, which provides the current standings of each army to date.


Top level menu.


Commands Toolbox

Contains two sets of buttons--the Action set and the Command set.  The Action set contains Go, Stop, and Step and controls the battle simulation.  The Command set contains the rest of the buttons and allows you to issue commands or access information.


Field Notes Window

When Field Notes are activated, information about the battle appears here, including casualty counts, active troops, and historical information.


Timeline

When you maximize the Gettysburg screen, a timeline appears along the bottom.  A red mark moves along the timeline to indicate the date and approximate time that the action on the screen occurred.  Two portions of the timeline are blue--these are night periods in the game.  Since no action takes place during the night, these portions of the timeline are short.

When you click Go in the Commands toolbox, the timeline is activated.  The timeline stops moving when you click Stop.


Legend

Indicates the orientation of the map. Notice that North faces the left of the map.


Brigade icon

Represents a cavalry brigade at rest.


The grid represents the town of Gettysburg.


A mountain.


Things to Explore

Unit Information: Select an icon, then click once on the right mouse button. The Unit Information screen appears. This will give you statistics about the unit (either brigade, division, or corps, depending on your selection options), and, if you have selected by brigade, play a video depicting the unit's current activity. If you have selected icons by division or corps, a video showing the planning of battle tactics will play.

Battle Statistics: Double click on the red binoculars that appear to access the count of wounded, dead, and missing to date. You will also see a video of the battle in progress.


Selecting Icons

To select one icon at a time

Using the mouse, point to the brigade icon you wish to select.  Click the left mouse button.  The icon will be highlighted.

To select a group of icons

You can select more than one icon at a time by "boxing" the icons.  To box icons:

1	Click and hold the left mouse button in one corner close to the group of icons you wish to select.

2	Drag the cursor.  A box will appear.  Use the mouse to adjust the size of the area.

3	Release the mouse button.  The icons you selected will be highlighted.

To select all of one division or corps

You can use different options to select all of the icons in a division or corps during the battle. Under the Select menu, choose either Select by Division or Select by Corps. A check mark will appear next to the selection and, when you click on a brigade icon, all icons of that division or corps will be highlighted.

You can also select brigades, divisions, and corps by name. From the Select menu, choose Select by Name...  A dialog box appears with all available brigades, divisions, and corps listed by name. Highlight the desired name and click OK. All icons in that unit will be selected.


Moving Icons

To move icons

Use the following procedure to move an icon or, in military terms, give a unit marching orders.

1	Point the cursor at the icon.

2	Click and hold the left mouse button.  Drag the cursor to the area to which you want the icon to move.

3	Release the button.  A line terminating in a box appears, showing the path the icon will follow and the point at which it will stop.

4	In the Commands box, click the Go button.

5	The icon will begin moving to the new location, marching at a speed appropriate for the type of unit it represents (for example, cavalry moves faster than infantry).

You move groups of selected icons similarly to moving one icon.  Simply click in the group of highlighted icons, and follow steps 2 through 5 above.

Speed of icon movement

The icons move at different rates of speed depending upon the type of brigade they represent.  Cavalry icons move quicker than infantry icons, which in turn move more quickly than artillery icons.  If you activated Fixed Artillery in the Options menu, your artillery icons will not move at all.

NOTE

You cannot issue orders to troops that are not on your side.  If you are commanding both sides, you cannot give orders to both Union and Confederate brigades simultaneously.


Setting up your Video Driver

If you decide to run Gettysburg in 1024 X 768 resolution and you experience display problems, ensure that your display driver is set to SMALL fonts (not LARGE or AUTOMATIC).