Game of the Week, Sept 8-14

Hi everyone,

Another Monday, and a new Game of the Week!

This week’s Game of the Week is Civil War Battles: Petersburg — a detailed simulation of one of the most grueling and decisive campaigns of the American Civil War. This title will be on sale for 25% off normal pricing now through Sunday, September 14th.

By mid-1864, after three years of hard-fought battles and mounting casualties, the war had reached a grinding deadlock. General Ulysses S. Grant, newly appointed commander of all Union armies, launched his Overland Campaign—hammering at Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia through the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. But despite bloody engagements, Lee remained unbroken. The strategic key to breaking Confederate resistance now lay just south of the Confederate capital: Petersburg, Virginia—a crucial supply and rail hub.

In June 1864, the Union launched a surprise assault on Petersburg. When that attack failed, the campaign shifted into a brutal siege that would last over nine months, evolving into one of the first examples of modern trench warfare. Daily skirmishes, night raids, large-scale assaults, and elaborate engineering efforts unfolded as both sides dug in across a 30-mile front. Conditions were appalling: heat, cold, disease, hunger, and relentless artillery fire took their toll on soldiers who no longer dreamed of victory—only survival.

Civil War Battles: Petersburg puts you in command of Union and Confederate forces during this climactic campaign. Will you, as Grant, apply relentless pressure to stretch Lee’s defenses to the breaking point? Or will you, as Lee, hold the lines long enough to force the Union into political collapse before the 1864 elections?

You can read more about this title and the overall design process in the Design Notes.

Scenarios range from massive multi-day offensives like the Battle of the Crater, Fort Stedman, and Five Forks, to smaller actions and tactical probes along the entrenchments. The game covers both historical and hypothetical battles, allowing players to explore what might have been. A sampling of the battles are:

• Jerusalem Plank
• Siege of Petersburg
• Peebles Farm
• Vaughan Road
• Burgess Mill
• Hatcher's Run
• Fort Stedman
• Dinwiddie Court House
• White Oak
• Five Forks
• Sailors Creek
• Appomattox Court House

Additionally the game features 3 campaigns (June and July, Late 1864 and the Appomattox Campaign) with more additional scenarios. 

**Note: The version in the store is the newest build, 4.05.5. To see what's new check out the Changelog.

FEATURES

• 192 scenarios covering the full scope of the Petersburg Campaign (including a solo tutorial, H2H versions, and AI-optimized scenarios).
• Master Map of 399,300 hexes, including all major battlefields: Petersburg and outlying defenses, Fort Harrison, Globe Tavern, Hatcher’s Run, Five Forks, and more.

• Detailed Orders of Battle for Union and Confederate forces, including room for what-if expansions and reinforcements.

• Campaign and Scenario Editors for full customization.

• Extensive Designer Notes and Bibliography, offering insight into the historical research and choices behind the game design.

• Multiple play modes: vs AI, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN, and Internet play.

Whether you’re reliving the final chapter of the Eastern Theater or exploring alternate outcomes, Civil War Battles: Petersburg is a must-play for fans of tactical-level Civil War wargaming.

If you are looking for some book recommendations for the Petersburg campaign, these might interest you (clicking the book covers brings you to Amazon):

A classic single-volume overview of the entire Petersburg Campaign by Noah Trudeau. Clear narrative, blending operational detail with the human experience of the long siege.

These two volumes collect the late Edwin Bearss’s detailed battle studies on both the early and late phases of the campaign. They provide an unparalleled level of tactical and operational detail across the siege’s many engagements.

The next one, by Earl Hess, focuses on the engineering, fortifications, and daily life in the trenches that defined the Petersburg experience.

And finally, Richard Slotkin's focused study of one of the campaign’s most infamous battles.

Here's a brief overview of this campaign:

On YouTube, you find this video about the Battle of the Crater

Last, but not least, below you find some screenshots of 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.