Game of the Week, May 11-17
From May 11 through May 17, this week’s Game of the Week is Civil War Battles: Campaign Shenandoah, on sale for 25% off. The title takes players into one of the most strategically important landscapes of the American Civil War: the Shenandoah Valley, a corridor of farms, towns, rivers, gaps, ridges, and roads that repeatedly drew armies into motion.
Campaign Shenandoah covers both the famous 1862 Valley Campaign and the hard-fought 1864 operations that ended Confederate hopes of using the region as a shield, supply base, and avenue of invasion. Its battles range from Kernstown, Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic to New Market, Monocacy, Fort Stevens, Fisher’s Hill, Tom’s Brook, and Cedar Creek. Across those campaigns, the game presents a theater shaped by maneuver, timing, command decisions, and the control of key roads as much as by battlefield numbers.
The Valley: Roadway, Breadbasket, and Battlefield
The Shenandoah Valley was never a quiet side theater of the American Civil War. Running northeast to southwest between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny ranges, it formed a natural avenue of movement toward the Potomac, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington. At the same time, its farms, livestock, mills, and roads made it one of the Confederacy’s most valuable supply regions. For the South, the Valley was a shield, a storehouse, and a potential road north. For the Union, it was a persistent danger that could not be ignored.
The geography of the Valley gave operations there a distinctive character. The Blue Ridge screened movement from the east, while the Valley Turnpike allowed armies to move quickly along the corridor. Towns such as Winchester, Strasburg, Front Royal, and Staunton became recurring points of decision. Rivers, gaps, and ridgelines shaped every march and battle. The result was a theater in which speed, intelligence, and control of road junctions could produce effects far beyond the size of the armies involved.
“If this Valley is lost, Virginia is lost.”
– Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, C.S.A.
In 1862, the Valley became the stage for Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s most famous campaign. At the beginning of that year, Union forces were pressing the Confederacy on several fronts, and George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign threatened Richmond from the southeast. Jackson’s task was to protect the Valley, prevent Union forces from concentrating, and draw Federal attention away from the main Confederate capital. He began with limited resources and suffered a tactical defeat at First Kernstown in March, but even that reverse had strategic consequences. Washington concluded that the Valley remained dangerous, and troops that might have supported other Union operations were held back or redirected.
Over the following weeks, Jackson turned a difficult position into one of the war's classic operational campaigns. He used rapid marches, secrecy, interior lines, and the poor coordination among several Union commands to strike his opponents separately. At McDowell, Front Royal, and Winchester, he forced Federal forces onto the defensive and created the impression of a much larger Confederate threat. His northward movement alarmed Washington, while his later withdrawal south drew Union columns after him. At Cross Keys and Port Republic in June, Jackson defeated those converging forces and preserved his army.
By 1864, the Valley again became central, but under changed conditions. The Confederacy was under severe pressure, and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was locked in a brutal struggle against Ulysses S. Grant. Jubal Early’s movement through the Valley and across the Potomac was meant to relieve pressure on Lee, threaten the North, and revive the older Confederate pattern of using the Shenandoah as a strategic lever. Early’s advance produced a real alarm. At Monocacy on July 9, 1864, Union forces delayed him, but could not stop his movement toward Washington. Confederate troops soon appeared near Fort Stevens, bringing the war to the edge of the capital itself.
Yet 1864 was not 1862. The Union now had greater resources, a stronger command structure, and a determination to end the Valley threat rather than merely contain it. That task fell to Philip H. Sheridan and the Army of the Shenandoah. Sheridan brought concentration and aggression to the theater. His victories at Third Winchester and Fisher’s Hill in September broke Early’s ability to hold the lower Valley. Union cavalry then pressed the advantage, while the destruction of crops, barns, mills, and supplies during the “Burning” aimed to deny the Confederacy the Valley’s economic value as well as its military utility.
The final turning point came at Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864. Early launched a surprise dawn attack and initially drove Union forces back in confusion. For a few hours, it seemed possible that Confederate audacity might restore the campaign. Sheridan’s arrival and the Union counterattack reversed the battle. By the end of the day, Early’s army had been shattered as an effective force in the Valley.
“I tender to you and your brave army the thanks of the nation…”
– Abraham Lincoln to Sheridan, 22 October 1864
The two Shenandoah campaigns, therefore, form a striking contrast. In 1862, Jackson used speed, uncertainty, and divided enemies to turn a secondary theater into a strategic weapon. In 1864, Early tried to do the same, but Sheridan answered with concentration, pressure, and destruction of the Valley’s Confederate war-making capacity. Campaign Shenandoah captures a theater where roads, rivers, ridges, and towns mattered deeply, and where a forced march, a missed opportunity, or a stand at a crossroads could echo far beyond the Valley itself.
What's in the game
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Campaign Shenandoah includes 175 Scenarios – covering all sizes and situations, including a solo tutorial scenario plus specialized versions for both head-to-head play and vs. the computer AI.
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The order of battle file covers the Union and Confederate forces that participated in the campaign, with additional formations included for hypothetical scenarios.
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Campaign and Scenario Editors, which allow players to customize the game.
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Design notes, which cover the production of the game, campaign notes, and a bibliography that includes the sources used by the designer team to produce this simulation game.
- Campaign Shenandoah provides multiple play options, including play against the computer AI, Play by E-mail (PBEM), LAN & Internet "live" play, and two-player hot seat.
Books and Videos
Below you find a selection of books to give a wider understanding of the historical background, as well as some videos (Clicking the book cover brings you to Amazon)
Cozzens, Peter. Shenandoah 1862: Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
Tanner, Robert G. Stonewall in the Valley: Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley Campaign, Spring 1862. Rev. ed. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1996.
Gallagher, Gary W., ed. The Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
Patchan, Scott C. Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
Wert, Jeffry D. From Winchester to Cedar Creek: The Shenandoah Campaign of 1864. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010.
Screenshots
Now for some screenshots from the game. As with the entire Civil War Battles series, this title has three 2D views and two 3D views to choose from. Then you have options to select from 2 different 2D icon sets, and finally, you can have either colorized or black & white unit and leader images. There are also some free alternative 3D maps that can be loaded from the Support page if you wish.
We hope you enjoy this week’s Game of the Week: Civil War Battles: Campaign Shenandoah. Whether you’re driving Jackson’s columns through the 1862 Valley Campaign, trying to stop Early’s 1864 advance toward Washington, or bringing Sheridan’s army south to break Confederate control of the Valley, you’ll find countless hours of challenging, historically grounded gameplay at a very attractive price.
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