Battleplan: American Civil War
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Players in Game

143 😀     156 😒
48,22%

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$9.99

Battleplan: American Civil War Reviews

Battleplan: American Civil War introduces you to fastplay wargaming, a new kind of strategy game experience. Take command of either Confederate or Union troops and fight your way through eleven of the American Civil War’s most famous battles.
App ID285130
App TypeGAME
Developers
Publishers KPL, Osprey Publishing
Categories Single-player, Steam Achievements, Steam Trading Cards, Stats
Genres Casual, Strategy, Simulation
Release Date4 Jul, 2014
Platforms Windows
Supported Languages English

Battleplan: American Civil War
299 Total Reviews
143 Positive Reviews
156 Negative Reviews
Mixed Score

Battleplan: American Civil War has garnered a total of 299 reviews, with 143 positive reviews and 156 negative reviews, resulting in a ‘Mixed’ overall score.

Reviews Chart


Chart above illustrates the trend of feedback for Battleplan: American Civil War over time, showcasing the dynamic changes in player opinions as new updates and features have been introduced. This visual representation helps to understand the game's reception and how it has evolved.


Recent Steam Reviews

This section displays the 10 most recent Steam reviews for the game, showcasing a mix of player experiences and sentiments. Each review summary includes the total playtime along with the number of thumbs-up and thumbs-down reactions, clearly indicating the community's feedback

Playtime: 320 minutes
I've played every boardgame and PC game on the ACW that was made aware to me for last 40 years. (Read plenty too). I have to say that for $10 and the information they give you while that battle rages is amazing. Plus nice historical map with a good write-up on the battle. There is so much for your money in the game...really. Leadership, supply, artillery and cavalry for a nice combined arms enounters. And so far, I think they AI is good and does a nice job. I wish tho' that elevation was more readily available for my guns:)
👍 : 4 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 1741 minutes
Hi! This is the best Civil War game I have played so far, it's almost as good as Total War Shogun and Age of Empires 2 were, when they were released. There is a feeling of oryginality, of experiencing something that is coming entirely from the minds of the developers and not at all from the opinions of investors, managers, marketing gurus and rest of the SCUM floating in the game industry. Sure, the game had 1 annoying issue with those damn pontoons - it's fixed now. Rest of the issues is just people complaining because they think that if they read 3 books, 20 articles and 100 posts about Gettysburg it makes them a specialist about the VERY first major battle of the war. Graphics - you either like it or you don't - I love it!!! Clear view of the battlefield, lack of unnecessry detail, simple beauty of a haiku - perfect!!! There is no multiplayer ( yet - 09.09.2014 ) - I hope they get it done for Christmas :-) Love it!!! I really do love it!!! Good job developers!!!
👍 : 9 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 529 minutes
Battleplan: American Civil War could get by with its minimalistic graphics if, upon closer inspection, it had some real depth in the gameplay by the way of ultra historically correct maps and commander and unit details. It doesn't have any of these elements, and so I'll go ahead with the only two positives I can think of: 1) One interesting function that this game has, that I wish others did, is that all commands issued by the General must be received by a messenger. If the messenger dies, the message is not received and the unit you're attempting to move stays where it is. Sometimes unit commanders will refuse a command -- no reason is ever given, but both of these elements add some character and unpredictability. 2) The Steam wallpapers are pretty cool. Yep. The flaws are manifold, but I will go for the chief hang ups that I have with this game: it rarely works, and it has zero support. I have an ASUS G73jh that cannot run this game, and yet a low-end Dell at work, that barely runs Minesweeper, can somehow get the game running. Take a few minutes in the forum and you'll see that it is a crapshoot if this game will run for you -- and the only pseudo-representative of the company can do nothing but forward e-mails after asking [i]you[/i] to jump through diagnostic hoops. As Steam customers, I believe we deserve a little more. Stay away from this title.
👍 : 27 | 😃 : 1
Negative
Playtime: 209 minutes
I'm leaning more towards Battleplan ACW rather than Ultimate General Gettysburg. Battleplan keeps its promise adding depth and realism while keeping a managable fast paced tempo. The formations in Battleplan have their own character, something I see sorely missing in Ultimate General. For example, Leaders are sorted as either agressive, steady, or cautious folk. An agressive subordinate will be instrumental in conducting an assualt where as a cautious one might delay or flat out refuse the order. In addition, it also features a decent take on command and control amongst other features here and there. For example, choosing where you move your HQ isn't only about the bonuses it applies to troops. The effects of longer or shorter distances from HQ to ordered unit affects the uptake of said orders. All in all Battleplan ACW is a meaty pocket sized wargame that trades graphics for depth of gameplay. I think it's a fine game for strategy game fans but may be too easy for hardened wargamers. [url=http://youtu.be/y7Z82TW5ROw] Check out this Let's Play for gameplay and more information. [/url]
👍 : 50 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 401 minutes
What a fun little no-frills real-time Civil War Game... that doesn't work. The graphics are kind of bare bones, which is fine with me, and the interface is very simple and easy to use. But it is damn near impossible to consistantly get units to do what you want them to do. (This is as of 1.3). The major problem with this game is getting units to move is an uncertain affair. There is a kind of cool mechanic where sometimes your orders don't get through, simulating the communication difficulties of the second world war. I can go with that. What I can't go with is when you give an order, it get's accepted, and the unit doesn't move. Even after you repeat the order. Again. And again. And again. And again. Units will just randomly "stick" in spots and will be essentially worthless for the rest of the battle. Worse are river crossings. I played Chancellorsville as the Union. Most of my force started across the river. There are several bridges. I must have re-issued my orders three dozen times before I got them across. Meanwhile, the few who stragged over the bridge got savaged one by one, because no one followed them. Most of the game can be more or less played and even enjoyed if you really try, but on a battle like that where you have to cross a river... forget about it. Don’t bother. Beyond that, the game really doesn’t do a good job at communicating what is going on. The units are represented with boxy little symbols, which is fine with me, but half the time, I can’t even tell who’s firing. Sometimes, my units just suddenly die. No warning, just poof. Sometimes it’s because there is a hidden enemy, but sometimes, they will just randomly panic and flee, even if not under fire. The sad part is there is a really fun game hiding under here. This is one of those games that I want badly to recommend, but cant. I love the design idea, love the genre, love supporting indies, but the game just doesn’t play right. Unless you are willing to put up with some major frustration and love Civil War RTS, I’d pass.
👍 : 38 | 😃 : 5
Negative
Playtime: 522 minutes
A fun little game for the casual armchair general. Playing out the great battles of the civil is kind of fun when you stick to the tactics that were actually used. The AI has a number of battleplans that they use against you in any given battle, and while that is where the depth ends, it is still enough for replayability. It is a very easy game to learn without taking much time to figure out the controls and it has a great tutorial. I really like the messenger system to give out orders, so it make you have to move around your commanding general in order for the messengers to not be intercepted by the enemy's formations. There are some problems: -AI pathing, units walking into the rivers and drowning, or just getting stuck on the riverback, unable to move, when selecting multiple units, they take the route of the unit being dragged around, not taking into account obstacles. -the aforementioned lack of the AI's ability to adjust to your strategy (which as the battle unfoldes, you adjust your men to theirs, but they seem to lack the ability to adjust to yours). this make the computer very easy to beat after only a few playthroughs of each battle. Once you recognize the AI's battleplan you can adjust your men accordingly, because they won't stray from their strategy -Artillery is still a bit clunky and unresponsive and needs a bit of work still -lack of multiplayer. While this game is fun to play, how much more fun would it be to play with a friend? I don't really see how hard it could be to implement something like that. -This game is centered on three capture zones rather than defeated and routing the enemy. So all you really have to do is to hold two zones no matter what and wait for the time to run out. Makes the game kind of dull and fairly easy to beat. Overall, i would recommend this game as it is fun and not too hard to learn. But it does require an update for two to make it a real gem. Right now it's a diamond in the rough, just needs a bit of polishing. ===if you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and I hope this has helped you make your decision===
👍 : 16 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 69 minutes
The game is very similar to a wargame from the mid-late 70s that was for the Napoleonic period. That game was strategic and used rectangular counters, similar to the ones in this game, to depict forces. The game that I played almost 35 or so years ago may have, in fact, been made by Avalon Hill. I purchased the Battleplan ACW game after playing the demo. I was glad that the developer had released a demo as I always like to try before I buy. The demo proved a couple of things to me: first, to see if it ran under Windows 7-64bit, and second, to see if I like the way the game played since I read a lot of goods & bads on the forums. So far, I like the game. I also saw that the developer had released a patch today so players could slow the game down if you wanted to. It is a strategic wargame so you should be commanding large units (battalion/regiment & above) and not a tactical game where you command squads, platoons, and companies. I went through the tutorials and found them to be sufficient to learn the mechanics of the game. Overall, you can't beat the price.
👍 : 34 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 289 minutes
[h1]A simple scratch for that strategy itch // Recommended for the more casual of strategy gamers*[/h1] [h1]*You'd likely prefer it at sale price[/h1] + Includes a multitude of mechanics that showcase the uncertainty of combat; depending on various factors, for example, units can refuse orders, or delay their implementation + Many small, impressive attentions to detail, such as troops' refusal to build pontoons too close to bridges, or that units will not move until messenger horses arrive with your orders (from the 'C-in-C') + One can pause game-time to take stock of a situation and give orders + Effectiveness of artillery takes elevation and wind into the account of its effectiveness + Unit controls are simple, efficient, and smooth in practice + Tutorials are more than sufficient to acclimate the player to the game's mechanics + Pace is somewhat lively; enough so that the player is consistently engaged + UI is practical and easy to navigate + Seems to run smoothly with no obvious bugs, glitches, or crashes - Unit AI often struggles to cross bridges/pontoons - Woefully short campaigns (3-5 hours each) - No multiplayer, variance in objectives, or additional game-modes; this does little to help increase replayability beyond the campaigns - When beginning a match, it is not made apparent from which directions the enemy will be arriving; this makes it difficult to determine the nature of one's initial troop movements and positions (there is also a crippling lack of a reconnaissance element) - Selecting/Deselecting units is often clunky and awkward - Constructing earthworks will typically force involvement of units one does not intend to be involved; this can drastically ruin a well-formed defense at critical moments (earthworks also cannot be destroyed or undone) - Visual and audio are both universally underwhelming [h1]LockeProposal's Big Day Out[/h1] [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bigdayout#]Community Group[/url] [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/7611703/]Curator Page[/url] [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/SeriousSteamReviews/]Serious Steam Reviews subReddit[/url]
👍 : 51 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 399 minutes
Cut the crap, let's get straight to the point: Pros: - easy to learn, not that hard to master to on two first levels of "easiness". (militia and regular) - nice ui - nice movement system. You just draw a line mith a mouse and units follow it - fast battles (win or lose in 5-10 mins for each battle). It can also be a cons. - civil var flavour with historical units - terrain bonuses - some small things like adjutants who carry general's orders (they may become lost/intercepted and the orders get lost with them), hidden personalities of unit commanders - cautious may ignore some of your orders, agressive may charge needlessly into action, etc. - basic logistics (artillery runs of ammo and must be resupplied by a wagon train) - decent AI. Cons: - absolutely no graphics to speak of. Units are represented by rectangles composed of little squares. If such squares are in disarray you unit ir broken/routed/not in good order. See screens above and that's the battle in its entirety. Environment consists of a few copipasted houses/trees - battle can run on one speed only or be paused. Maybe you can change it but I didn't find out how - no tactical formations. Column or two rows. Fullstop - engagements between units are affected by terrain, morale (milita, regular, vets), number of men and flanking mostly. Units have other stats. like fatigue but since battles are so short it's usually on maximum. Weather/wind direction are also there but mostly irrelevant. Night affects visibility for engaging, however, and you can see campfires where units are postioned (including enemy units) - dumb building ui. Bridges/covers are hard to place and cannot be cancelled. I once lost a battle because I misclicked, all nearby units started building something and noone was left in control of my victory points - about 20 battles for each campaign (I found it really short at the pace the game was running) - units have no independent thinking beyond personalities of their cammanders. If a neighbour is attacked a few meters away most prefer to stay where they are and enjoy the show. - some simple but annoying bugs. The ones I encountered during almost 6 hours: units get stuck. Usually in rivers. I had to fight without artillery entirely because my wagon train got stuck units have trouble crossing bridges. Some can cross only after second/third attempt. if you want to get some regular/vet achivements (regular Bull Run, etc.) set to zero your campaign of a previous difficulty level. I.e. I beat the Confederate campaign on regular + vet. for some battles, but because I also had Confederate militia campaign started earlier I got only militia achievements. Verdict: worth playing if costs less than 3 $ and you really like US civil war. Want something more complicated and/or with graphics try Civil war Mod for Medieval TW.
👍 : 17 | 😃 : 0
Positive
Playtime: 32 minutes
Clunky system that in entirely too fast paced to enjoy. The AI is pretty terrible. On the Bull Run scenario the entire Union army tried to cross a single bridge and one regiment killed 20,000 men, I lost 400. The battle ended in a draw because I did not have a unit sititng on the victoy point that was way behind my lines. The over emphasis on victory point over casualties inflicted make it a game of chase the flag rather than fighting the enemy. The artillery mechanics need a lot of work. The game had potential but falls flat on its face. The campaign is less a campaign and more a string of skirmish scenarios that have no correlation to each other. Nothing is carried on as far as I can tell from battle to battle. They simply progress linearly.
👍 : 233 | 😃 : 4
Negative
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