I'm playing Scourge
of War: Chancellorsville, a real-time historical tactical
strategy game by NorbSoftDev, Matrix Games,
and Slitherine.
This is a standalone expansion to
Gettysburg and includes twenty scenarios covering the battles, each
averaging an hour in length. All of the skirmishes have historical
orders of battle and take place on one of three huge (25 square
miles), detailed maps. The new battlefields have been supposedly
optimized to improve performance, although I did not observe any
noticeable improvement. Scourge of War: Chancellorsville also
includes six multiplayer scenarios and a sandbox battle mode for
essentially infinite replay value. The very enjoyable tactical combat
remains, and the intriguing courier message order system and
near-commander camera restriction (both optional) offer a level of
unparalleled realism. Still, Scourge of War: Chancellorsville lacks
some needed improvements: feedback for the courier system remains
murky, and the AI still exhibits questionable and erratic
pathfinding. The admittedly robust new roster of battles definitely
offers significant value, and the package as a whole is recommended
to newcomers to the series, but the $30 price tag may be tough to
stomach as an expansion to previous Scourge of War products.
