Take Command 2nd Manassas Download WORK
Vaun Stokes
Scourge of War: Gettysburg is the next generation of Civil War combat command simulations, headed by renowed game designer Norb Timpko, designer of the acclaimed Take Command series. Re-create the full battle of Gettysburg in 3D, as well as other battles by purchasing the expansion packs.
Visit scourgeofwar.com to download the demo
All 18 formal scenarios, plus those whipped up with the open battles sandbox mode (there is no multiplayer), focus on recreating how Confederate general Robert E. Lee and his Northern Virginia Army broke out of Richmond in August of 1862 and pushed the Union to the brink of defeat at Second Manassas (also called the Second Battle of Bull Run). Even though these engagements play out during a single month, sides are regularly swapped and battle scenarios from offensive to defensive to a blend of the two are depicted, so you get a broad view of the character of the entire Civil War. One moment you're brigadier general Jubal A. Early propping up Confederate artillery in "Holding the Center," and the next you're seizing Groveton as federal brigadier General John P. Hatch in "Push Him Like the Devil." Historical accuracy appears to be dead on, at least if we can recall what we read in those Shelby Foote books many years ago. There are a handful of speculative scenarios, but they don't take the "what if?" formula beyond the boundaries of the credible.
Combat feels authentic beyond the basics of ensuring that regiments and commanders remain true to the textbooks. Positioning is crucial. You need to get your artillery into the right position and place your infantry in the ideal spot to both gain a good firing height and an ideal location for an enemy-breaking bayonet charge. This isn't particularly easy. Maps are sprawling affairs (which get the job done nicely despite being pretty dated, with blurry troops and choppy animations) filled with battle-affecting physical features such as forests, roads, walls, and farmhouses.
Keeping tight rein on your men is also difficult. While the interface and graphical engine give you excellent command of camera views and units, there are a lot of troops to manage. Scale is stepped down from reality, with columns of a couple of dozen soldiers representing brigades, so you don't have to deal with battles on par with the confusing majesty of something such as Rome: Total War. But since there are still swarms of little red and blue guys out there to manage when the guns go off, the proceedings can get fairly hectic fairly fast. The bigger battles during the final two days of the Manassas campaign are absolutely huge, albeit still manageable.
Battles are much more orderly than you would think, though, largely thanks to immaculate artificial intelligence. Brigade commanders do a solid job of issuing orders in your stead when the shooting starts, so you don't need to concern yourself with micromanagement. Forget to put a brigade into a proper firing line when moving into firing position--which is almost inevitable in larger battles, as you tend to be dealing out orders to at least a half-dozen brigades at any given time--and the commander takes over and does it for you. He also shifts the line into ideal firing position, swings in around to target a new enemy column if the first is dispersed or destroyed, and is quick to order his men to respond if ambushed. Essentially, the urge for self-preservation kicks in smartly whenever you drop the ball. Control freaks might not appreciate this, as it can fairly be said that aspects of the game run on autopilot. But this does add to the authenticity of being involved in a real battle, with real human commanders taking and interpreting your orders.
Pace is also an acquired taste, with slow battles that play out akin to the methodical, steady grind of a tabletop wargame. The smaller opening skirmishes take between 30 and 45 minutes to finish, while larger climactic battles that in real life sent the Union army fleeing across the Potomac can take a good three hours. Major engagements usually begin with you settling in to listen to a good five minutes of boom-boom-boom artillery barrages (battle sound effects are well done, at least, if a bit repetitive and almost totally devoid of human cries and screams that would have added emotion to victories and defeats) while brigades lumber into harm's way. And then you need to wait a considerable while longer for infantry columns to get into firing range, as the developers seem to have a fetish for starting troops as far from the shooting as is possible.
Do you want to know what it was really like to be a Civil War general? Take Command - 2nd Manassas brings you the true feeling of the decision-making and intensity involved in commanding troops in Civil War era combat. Built on the award winning game engine that has been hailed by many critics as the greatest tactical Civil War PC engine of all time, Take Command will capture your imagination like no war game has before!
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Awash, as we are, with these bland, obvious AIs, Take Command: 2nd Manassas really stands-out. A real-time wargame based around three American Civil War battles that took place in the late summer of 1862 in North Virginia, it comes with some of the smartest and most believable computer-controlled adversaries ever to grace a digital battlefield. Not only are the included commanders well-versed in historical tactics like flanking and skirmishing, they also come with the temperaments and skill-sets of their real-life inspirations. On an average TC2M battlefield you'll encounter hotheads that will hurl their troops at you at the slightest provocation, cautious souls that will sit tight or withdraw if they don't like the odds, beloved figureheads that inspire improbable courage amongst their men, West Point drop-outs that might as well have stayed at home... basically every type of leader you could imagine.
This mix of command styles makes for unpredictable foes. Interestingly, it also makes for unpredictable friends. The units you control in a TC2M battle are unusual in that they have minds and agendas of their own. Let's say you are playing as a Major General with half a dozen infantry brigades at your beck-and-call. You might send one of these brigades onto a nearby hilltop to rout an enemy cannon battery, and turn round later to find it hopelessly cut-off miles behind enemy lines, the reckless Colonel in command having taken-it upon himself to push-on in spite of orders. At first, disobedience like this can be very annoying and it's tempting to micromanage everything with the help of the 'Take Command' button (a feature that ensures units don't freelance) Eventually - if you are anything like this reviewer - you learn to accept the character-linked wilfulness of subordinates, realising that period figures like Lee and Sherman had to cope with exactly these kind of issues.
TC2M is so eager to put you in the boots of the great Civil War commanders that it's prepared to make things hard for the player in other ways too. Select one of your subordinate officers and give them an order, and that officer wont just drop everything and start implementing his new instructions. No, the order must first travel from you (your avatar) to him via a galloping courier. Usually the message arrives within a few minutes, but a lot can happen in those minutes. The courier might get ambushed en-route forcing you to send another rider, the combat situation that prompted the order might alter. Again Mad Minute Games' fresh approach to battle simulation forces you to confront issues that real war leaders routinely faced.
Those oblivious to the parallel universe that is computer wargaming might also be taken aback by TC2M's relatively primitive visuals. MMG's artists have done wonders with the simple tools available to them, but arriving direct from games like Rome: Total War and AoE3, you do notice the absence of polygons, fancy lighting and particle effects. The only truly 3D objects on these battlefields are houses and bridges, the only shadows crude non-dynamic ones.
Pope was a well-trained and capable officer. Like many other Civil War generals, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point and served in the Mexican-American War. Before the Civil War he had a job surveying potential southern routes for the First Transcontinental Railroad. In 1861, he was appointed as a brigadier general in the Union army and had several successes early in the war, leading Lincoln to select him to command the Army of Virginia in 1862.
By July 1861, two months after Confederate troops opened fire on Fort Sumter to begin the Civil War, the northern press and public were eager for the Union Army to make an advance on Richmond ahead of the planned meeting of the Confederate Congress there on July 20. Encouraged by early victories by Union troops in western Virginia and by the war fever spreading through the North, President Abraham Lincoln ordered Brigadier General Irvin McDowell to mount an offensive that would hit quickly and decisively at the enemy and open the way to Richmond, thus bringing the war to a mercifully quick end. The offensive would begin with an attack on more than 20,000 Confederate troops under the command of General P.G.T. Beauregard camped near Manassas Junction, Virginia (25 miles from Washington, D.C.) along a little river known as Bull Run.
Despite their victory, Confederate troops were far too disorganized to press their advantage and pursue the retreating Yankees, who reached Washington by July 22. The First Battle of Bull Run (called First Manassas in the South) cost some 3,000 Union casualties, compared with 1,750 for the Confederates. Its outcome sent northerners who had expected a quick, decisive victory reeling, and gave rejoicing southerners a false hope that they themselves could pull off a swift victory. In fact, both sides would soon have to face the reality of a long, grueling conflict that would take an unimaginable toll on the country and its people.
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