Beta Playtester review

[zakblood]

We (Beta Playtesters) have been given permission to upload a few pictures, these are games / battles that are in the test atm and are fully working but may or may not be correct when the game gets released, the pictures have been resized to fit forum upload rules so aren't of the quality of the game being tested / played...

Beta play testers review and tactics in play.

Main briefing before the battle starts, to set the scene and also give you an idea of what's happening so far in the civil war and in the battle you have selected...

Beech Grove Alternate History scenario (Jan._20,_1862)

This scenario is a “What_if?” alternate history scenario, in which the Confederates remained behind their defenses at Beech Grove on Jan 9 instead of marching ten miles north to confront Gen.Thomas’s Union forces, and are then attacked by Thomas on Jan 20.





Your forces (if you have selected to play as USA) are arrayed in front of Moulden's Hill, with your objective in plain view in front of you, how you get there is your choice(one of just many you will have to make over the next few hours), this is your first choice, you have selected the battle, the side you wish to play, how difficult you want the AI or your friends on PBEM to be, now you're left with the only thing left to do, organize your troops, the options are many, this is just 1 of them.... 2 if you want (are are brave enough) to do the frontal assault

your forces have been highlighted in a blue box to make them stand out only in this review, you can alter the counters and also the level of zoom, this is just what i have selected to show the map, not the troops within...

[zakblood]

a frontal assault, will be costly with the blue arrows pointing only one of your your ways of travel,there are others, thats your choice to make, the battle starts off with your units in march orders as it gives you the most movement points, which you can change to advance (to contact, then assault for that extra push at the end.

[zakblood]

showing a large red star, put there by myself tbh, as it's not in the game shows the positions of the enemy, or where i think they are, as you can send out scout to check when your so many hexes away, but one thing is does show you even more, this is going to be a hard nut to crack. a river off to one side, a ravine to the others with a creek running through it, a hill to attack and right on top of that, the enemy, you need to take and hold the VH or victory hex, it won't be a easy battle, but is any?





looking at the map now you wish you had picked the other side, but today is not that day, today you are the USA, and your target (and enemy) awaits...

[zakblood]

You now see the back of the enemies position, something that the real commanders hardly ever did, until they took it that is, what do you think now? as your mind goes around and round, planning your tactics, what plan shall your men fight with today? remember, if it doesn't work, you can at least try another, and then another

[zakblood]

after seeing the map, your mind goes to the plan, your battle strategies, this is one of mine, drawn over the map, shown in yellow.

first the diamond, this is a small hill, and as height is always good isn't it? i'll put my cannons and commanders there and my supply wagons, well my main man (BG commander)anyway, so he can view and command the whole battle, the yellow drawn out circle is where i'll put my Cavalry screen, while i move my main force.

the wonky arrows show where my main force of pure infantry only units are moving, through the woods and down the creek, trying to stay undetected while they do a march round the flanks, good plan, but will it work? many things can happen with plans, as the first shot is fired, not only does the first casualties of the battle fall, but also so does most plans, all battles need planning, but also need to be flexible so you have other options as well, you now wonder while your moving your troops through the woods, if a head on attack / assault would have been better, as time ticks away it sure would have been quicker

[zakblood]

well if you get here and have not been seen, you have done well, but you're not there yet and still have a long way to go, the CSA AI won't let you just walk in the back door and are also scouting the area for you, and not just from the front, side and rear also get a visit, so stay low, out of sight and don't make any noises..

[zakblood]

well we are here, behind enemy positions, now setup your troops, set brigade commanders to advance / assault and lets attack from the rear, speed is now the focus, we need to be quick, attack everything we see and keep running and fighting until we get there main forces engaged, by now they know they aren't getting assaulted from the front, but is there time to react? as we still are punishing them with cannons fire from the front so won't be to happy to turn and face us while there backs are against cannon fire, so just to make it look like we are attacking from both front and read we advance the cannons in line with support, as the cannons get nearer, they do more damage at closer quarters, now we have them trapped on the hill, like fish in a barrel, but do we?

as we haven't started the battle as yet, we are still planning it, only when we start the turn, will troops move, and even then they don't always obey commands, as its the fog of war.






could you have done better?

what would you have done differently?

do you even like to command? as each battle makes you think more, each difficulty setting makes it harder for you, so are you going to be a corporal in the ranks, of the full general in command?

It's just another choice you will have to make in Brother Against Brother.

[Tactics]

Thanks for posting, but it seemed like it was just screen shots of a map with hand drawn arrows.
 
I didn't see much of anything that tells me about the game.

[zakblood]

what would you like to know?

what would you like to see?

ask and we will see what we can or can't show as of yet, first 2 pictures show zoomed out troop shots, others in this section have other troops ones, if its something you haven't seen or want to know, just ask, and we will try and help out as long as we can [;)]

[zakblood]

my hand drawn arrows and boxes etc show my planning or tactics used before the battle, once the battle starts most plans go out the window, but at least i get the opportunity to try out different strategies with this game, some work some don't, so have to go back to the drawing board and re plan.

the game is flexible enough for you to do more than one type of attack or defense for that matter, only the terrain limits what's you can and can't do or try in some battles, what i was trying to show is that you don't have to follow history if you don't want to, the game gives you the options, either follow the direct historical path of the battle or make your own path and try a what if i went around type attack, assaulted from the rear, could it be done? do i have the time? do i have the right force? etc etc, hope that fills in more of the blanks for you? if not ask some more...

ORIGINAL: Tactics

Thanks for posting, but it seemed like it was just screen shots of a map with hand drawn arrows.

I didn't see much of anything that tells me about the game.

[sol_invictus]

Your plan seems sound but will the execution unfold without incident?[&:] Game looks nice and detailed.

[zakblood]

well tbh no it didn't, the first few times i tried it i got spotted and attack as i tried to bypass the defenses undetected, only once did it work, and then only partially, the enemy has cavalry which is great for scouting, you need to avoid being detected by them, so yes it can be done and has been done, but no it's no cakewalk tbh, but a enjoyable map, one of many in the beta test, have enjoyed and still do testing them and can't wait for it to finish so others can enjoy.

the detail is great in the terrain and in the troops / units, some nice programming and loads of time being spent to make this very polished...

[&o][&o][&o]

[sol_invictus]

Thanks for the feedback.

[zakblood]

your welcome, if you have anymore question we will try and answer them best we can[;)]

[Rosseau]

I don't know about this one, Zak. Ultimate General Gettysburg and BattlePlan American Civil War are both excellent and bought on Steam for $10 each.

I assume no scenario editor, so there's no way I'm going to buy installment after installment like Panzer Corps.

[Gil R.]

There may be a scenario-editor added sometime after release, but with the exception of moving units to new start locations the game is pretty easily modded even without that, and we plan to work with the modding community in whatever ways we can.

With that said, at least initially we will not provide a scenario-editor that would let people make their own Shiloh or Gettysburg -- since we plan to produce our own versions of those battles that would be a rather poor business decision, especially with Gettysburg the battle that should be the biggest seller. I think that once we've taken the war up to 1864 we will find a way to make it easier for modders to create their own maps and scenarios for battles that we did not include. It has never been our intention to cover more than 20 or so battles, but we'd love to see others fill in some of the gaps.

[zakblood]

ORIGINAL: rosseau

I don't know about this one, Zak. Ultimate General Gettysburg and BattlePlan American Civil War are both excellent and bought on Steam for $10 each.

I assume no scenario editor, so there's no way I'm going to buy installment after installment like Panzer Corps.

i have Ultimate General Gettysburg, and tbh it's a rapid real time affair, with little to no depth, and doesn't compare to this, don't have the other one mentioned so can't comment on game play, but have seen shots, and again it's not like that either, game will fall into a series, if you like series, then you will like this, if you like one off's, you may also like this, just pick the one battle you like and get that, for me i like the time period now, which a year ago i didn't as i like rome time and ww2 to modern, but this game game got me hooked, and over at least 2/300 hours in, it still does[;)]

[aaatoysandmore]

Too busy and detailed for me. I think I'll stick with Norbsoft's civilwar series. Thanks for posting this though made my decision for me whether to buy it or not. Good ole beta testers come through again. [&o]

[TRAINZ]

Love the look and depth of the game. It makes it very re-playable. I'm glad there is a plan for additional series. I'll be a buyer and looking forward to release. Thanks for the info everyone.

[Gil R.]

aaatoysandmore,
BAB will be a series coming out over several years, so you will have plenty of opportunities to revisit this issue at some point.

CaptainConflict,
Good to hear.

All,
I think I'll have more of a status update next week, but am pleased to report that the manual is now about 90% complete, and will be 100% finished within the next two weeks. Which is a VERY good sign for anyone who has been waiting five years for this series.