Civil War Generals 2: Grant, Lee, Sherman

One of the greatest Civil War games I have found, Civil War Generals 2 was ahead of its time back in 1997. For those who still own the original CD, the game is indeed compatible with Windows XP. For newcomers the game can be found on Amazon and Ebay or downloaded online if you know where to look. And for those of you coming here for the patch, look below.

Here is how I got the game to work (CD Required) on my Windows XP Desktop. I make no guarantees or promises it will work for you and am merely offering my experience.

• Insert the CD and install the game
• Download and install the patch (Link available below)
  
• Go to the file folder you saved the game too and look for the CWG2 icon (.exe file)
  
• Right Click, select properties, compatibility tab, checkmark the box "Run this program in Compatibility mode for:" Windows 95.
  
• Start the game and enjoy.
• If you get error message about missing file Wing32.dll, go to the CWG2 Journal site, download the Wing32 zip file, and follow the instructions on site for installation.
• The game should now work. Good luck!
  

Civil War Generals 2 offers multilevel difficulty and has a huge battle selection ranging from individual battles to full campaign. You can play as the Confederacy or as the Union. Almost every major battle of the Civil War is listed including Bull Run, Shiloh and Gettysburg.  If you are up for a bigger challenge then try following one of the campaigns as the Confederacy or the Union. There are a great variety of campaigns to choose from including but not limited to the Eastern Theatre, Western Theatre and if up for a real challenge, the entire Civil War. Whatever you choose, at the start of an individual battle or any campaign battle a historical overview of the battle and its winner along with advice for the Union and Confederacy will be given.

Choosing an individual battle in Civil Wars General 2 is pretty straightforward with you choosing the Confederacy or the Union and playing until no enemies remain on the map or until the total turns allowed is up, whichever comes first.

Choosing a campaign is a bit harder as results from one battle carry on to the next. When a battle ends you are taken to a casualty screen where you learn whether you suffered a major defeat, a minor defeat, a draw, a minor victory or a major victory. Also will be listed both sides killed and wounded, troops captured, surrendered or fled and how much supply, weapons points and victory points you acquired. Victory points, overall casualty figures and a combination of the stats on this screen are used to determine what type of victory or defeat there was. If both sides had about equal results across the board then it would be considered a draw. Some minor weight is also given to the historical winner. The next screen is the hospital screen where you can see how your injured officers are doing, if they are recovering, deteriorating or have died. The replacement officer is also listed underneath. The next screen is the weapons purchase screen. This is where your supply and weapons points come in handy. As your troops generally carry over, their experience as well as weapons will carry over with them so this is your chance to upgrade. Depending on what troops you had in the battle will determine whether you can buy better rifles, sabers, cannons or howitzers and marksman weapons for each unit. Prices to equip a better weapon for each unit along with the weapons power and hand to hand power (used when charging the enemy) are displayed. You can upgrade units for as long as you have weapon and supply money left. The next historical overview is on the following screen.

Should you do exceptionally well or exceptionally bad in a campaign setting can result in an alternate battle being set up. For example, Bull Run is the second battle in the Full Civil War campaign and has Alts 1 – 5. The alts have different amount of turns and men, one alt with units made up of units with a few hundred men to another alt with units made up of thousands of men. If you do exceptionally well you can sometimes cut short the campaign and advance faster in purely fictional battles. Sometimes after a battle (campaign mode) you will be given a choice of two different battles as they represent different paths. It is generally a good idea to save at the last turn of your battle so if you are presented with two choices you can always go back and choose the other battle pathway.

There is also a custom battle editor and online play so you can make your own mock battles and play people in your creations or preset battles online. The official Sierra supported online play is gone but doing an internet search will bring up several websites with Civil War General 2 clans and people who have set up ways to play against each other online.

Each unit on a hex square can have anywhere from a couple hundred to thousands of men depending on which Civil War battle you are playing. Weapon power (normal attack) and Hand to hand (charge attack) are displayed should you click on one of your units. Also will be listed little icons and number values for morale, fatigue and organization as attacking and moving reduce them and resting raises the values. You can also see what type of weapon they have equipped and other stats as well. You can also click on the opposing sides troops’ to get their stats. Determining who to attack, launching consecutive attacks and using strategy to surround your enemy so they surrender is all tactics and strategy if you play on the harder difficulties.

There is some difference in AI difficulty under options but enabling options like line of sight, line of fire and fatigue can make a complete game play difference. Line of fire means cannons can only fire if they have direct line of sight, making cannon positions (ie. hills) more important. The same with your troops, you have to find the enemy through scouting and you and the enemy don’t know where each other are. It adds a challenge. The fatigue/morale option in Civil Wars General 2 makes it so that your morale, health and organization (all part of a unit’s effectiveness) are affected by what your troops do whether attacking, resting or moving. Having it off means you could move your troops everywhere and it would have no effect on you. Playing with the options in Civil War Generals 2 can be quite a fun and make the battles more realistic.

1. Save right before the end of a battle

2. Choose what weapons you buy wisely

3. Surround the enemy to force them to surrender

4. Make sure your troops are rested. Don’t move them too much

5. Retreating in a campaign may be the best strategy if you face certain defeat

Made by Sierra in 1997, Civil War Generals 2 has been the best Civil War game I could fine as most focus on WWII or other wars. It has decent game play, good music and offers many strategic challenges especially if you try to do the full Civil War campaign.

The game is no longer sold and online play no longer supported, but the game can be found in online searches and occasionally on the auction sites EBay and Amazon. Originally designed for Windows 95, the game can run on Windows XP if installed and patched. However, the game lacks official support and the patches are almost impossible to find.The game is runnable without patches but after the first scenario, I always crashed and the game wouldn't continue on so the patches in my experience are a must.

After much searching I managed to find the 1.04 version patch for the game, the final patch, but I believe the 1.02 patch may be gone for good. See the link below for a website that offers the 1.04 patch. On the website, it's the last link at the bottom of the page . Your standard zip file, I downloaded it myself and came up virus free but remember to always scan anything downloaded from the internet. Enjoy the game.