US Civil War

Just got my P500 copy of this new GMT joint. The mounted map looks nice as hell, color rules. Counters just blah-ish but fine. I'm excited to play it, strategic level Civil War... the basic rules don't look insane to learn, either, so I might get a chance. It has a VASSAL module as well, if anyone wants to try to do a little PBEM learning game? I haven't been playing games on VASSAL PBEM since being an assistant professor got insanely stressful about 1-2 years ago but I think I'd have time to keep one going.

I think the world needs a great new strategic ACW game. Do you think this new one might be it?

Since I generally don't buy games, I tend not to read marketing materials from publishers, so I only just learned of this game last week at a friend's game night. I see that it was designed by Mark Simonitch, who's done some great work in the past. It seems to cover similar ground to the old Victory Games American Civil War.

My current favorite is Blue vs. Gray, it having eclipsed For the People several years ago.

Don't know if it's good, so I can't say anything about it yet. The basic rules are pretty simple, it seems to have no politics or meta stuff that for the people had. The designer's favorite games are For the People and American Civil War, FWIW.

Don't want to hijack the thread, but what strategic ACW games do you like? In addition to FTP and BvG, I'm fond of A House Divided. Never played The Civil War by Victory Games, which is supposed to be terrific.

As a lark, last year we dusted off the old original Battle Cry, from the American Heritage series. It was a lot of fun, though quite preposterous as a simulation.

I could stand to learn a new game. I'll take a peek through the rules, see if it's full of "Hell no!"

But if you like it and it's strategic level, those are two plusses for me.

(and if someone else jumps the line while I'm reading the rules, I've got no issues with that. snooze and lose, right?)

I've actually only played For the People, once, which I was ok with but not overly enamored of.

I was thinking of The Civil War, not American Civil War, is what the designer said his other favorite was.

I think I've got sort of a grasp on the basic rules, which are pretty straightforward wargamish, but the naval stuff and river control and how it intersects with supply looks much more involved, even in the basic rules.