Short: turn-based military strategy game (1987) Author: David Townsend Uploader: aminet aminet net Type: game/strat Version: 1.3 Architecture: m68k-amigaos An old PD game that simulates the first battle of the American civil war. Successfuly tested on both AmigaOS 1.3 and 3.1. The original disk contained a lot of copyrighted AmigaOS files, these were removed before uploading it. The game does not seem to require any system files. Original readme below: --------------------------- BULLRUN: Civil War Game --------------------------- BULL RUN is a wargame that recreates the battle of First Bull Run, the first major battle of the American Civil War. You can take the side of either the Confederacy or the Union, and the computer will direct the opposing forces. STARTING THE GAME Double click the Bull Run icon. The program will start and you will see the game's title screen. CHOOSING A SIDE Decide which side you want to play, and then click on the appropriately-labeled flag. UNDERSTANDING THE DISPLAY The screen shows a map of the battlefield divided into squares. The green patches represent woods, blue lines are rivers, and black dots are towns. Bull Run is the large river that divides the map in half. It is only crossable at fords, denoted by black lines crossing the river. Your playing pieces are the red (Confederate) or blue (Union) squares, each marked with a two-letter identity code. Enemy units are the unmarked flags. The current game time is displayed at the top of the screen. Each turn represents half an hour of real time. HOW TO WIN The object of the game is to capture an enemy town. The town must be occupied throughout a turn to win. The Union player has only one town to defend -- Centreville, in the northeast corner of the map. The Confederates have two towns -- Manassas to the south and New Market to the west. If neither player wins by the 7:00 PM turn, the game ends and the computer decides who wins, based on relative casualties and how close each side came to their objective. PLAYING THE GAME To get more information on your units, move the pointer over a unit and click the left mouse button. The title bar will show the full name of the unit's commander, the unit's "mode" and the current/original number of men in the unit. If you hold the button down, you will notice that the pointer changes to a "target." To give a unit orders to move, you -- move the pointer to the unit -- hold down the left mouse button (the pointer will change to a target) -- move the target to the square that you want to set as the destination for the unit -- release the left mouse button. You can give movement orders to each of your units every turn. Orders stay in effect until the unit reaches its destination or it is given other orders. You can always cancel a unit's orders by clicking on the unit and then choosing "Cancel Move" from the ORDERS menu (or, equivalently, pressing function key F6). In addition to movement orders, you can also set the "mode" of the unit by clicking on the unit and then using the MODES menu. There are five different modes: Charge, Attack, Skirmish, Defend, and Withdraw, with Charge being the most aggressive and Withdraw being the least. The mode of a unit affects how it will perform in combat: units with more aggressive modes will have a better chance of forcing the enemy to retreat, but will take more casualties than units with less aggressive modes. When you are finished giving orders to your units, choose Execute Turn from the ORDERS menu. The computer will then begin moving the armies based on your orders. Notice that enemy units may move also; the computer is directing the enemy forces and is giving orders to the enemy at the same time as you. ZONES OF CONTROL No unit may move from one square adjacent to an enemy unit directly to another square adjacent to the SAME enemy unit. For experienced wargamers, note that this is a variation on the usual ZOC rule. SIGHTING Not all of enemy units will be visible at all times -- they must be "sighted" by friendly forces. Units on ford squares, or units on the enemy side of the river, are ALWAYS sighted. Otherwise, to sight the enemy you must have a unit on the same side of the river (or on a ford) and within three squares of the enemy. Unsighted units do not appear on the map, but sighting is checked whenever a unit moves, not just at the end of a turn. COMBAT Combat is caused by a unit trying to move into an enemy-occupied square. A window will appear, telling you which units are involved and what casualties are sustained. A blinking arrow on the map will appear, showing exactly which unit is attacking and the direction of the attack. The size of the arrow shows the aggressiveness of the attack. When you are done seeing the combat results, hit any key or click the left mouse button to continue. SHATTERED UNITS Units which take too many casualties can become "shattered." A shattered unit is marked with an asterisk in the title bar when you click on it. Shattered units cannot be in any mode other than Defend or Withdraw. ROUTED UNITS If a unit takes excessive casualties, it may be "routed." Routed units are removed from the map and take no further part in the game. REINFORCEMENTS At the beginning of the 11:00 AM turn, the Confederate player receives the "Smith" unit at the town of Manassas, unless the town is enemy occupied. Once the Smith unit appears on the map, it is treated as any other unit and may immediately be put to use by the Confederate player. -----