This game came out in the late 80’s and give a confrontation between North and South in a simple war strategy format. By capturing states and territories you gain resources for more troops and so on. You can play the game as just a risk style board game or you can integrate missions and the small graphical battles. I recommend you to play the full game, as this game looks very good for the time, in which it was released. Also, playing each battle, allows you greater control over your victories.
Using of mutable units, the battle map and objects around you, adds a more advanced strategy element, popular in all strategy games today. You have cannons and cavalry as well as infantry to do your grunt work. Some maps have rivers and bridges that you can use to trap the enemy and rain down cannon fire. You can combine your armies to make stronger forces for the battle map, but the game limits your army size on any given map.
This is not just North vs South. If you switch on some option, you will also face Native American and Mexican forces that threaten both the North and South. They will randomly destroy your armies in the North or the South and this
often mess up your whole plan.
What sets this game apart from a lot of the counterparts is that it is full of humor. Battle fields have jokes and gags in the animation. I remember that just about every part of the game was some sort of parodies or slapstick gag. Also, common in older strategy games, are side missions that add an action element to the game. Just like stopping to hunt in
Oregon Trail. In this game you take one soldier on small side scrolling missions when you try to capture certain places. Or capture an enemy train. It is a lot fun and adds a bit of action to the game.
Over all, this was a popular early strategy game that, at the time, I found very addicting. Easy to play over and over and see, how fast you can take the map over. Even today, while I spend my time playing Total war and more advanced war games, I still find this a nice simple break.
A great download for everyone, who likes strategy war games, or just a good laugh.
