Hello Grand Tacticians!

The first Grand Tactician -title will be called The Civil War (1861-1865). The American Civil War a was pivotal war in history in many ways: It has also been called the last war fought with Napoleonic tactics, or the first industrial war. It saw new technology being used for war, such as railroads or the telegraph. It saw the first duel between iron clad warships. It is the first war which was so well documented with photographs, that were made available to the public using latest printing technology. It saw trench warfare, well before the first world war. And it saw fortunes changing multiple times, which created a sort of drama that makes studying the war even more interesting.

Why the Civil War?

Oliver:
I was excited about this war already when I was 13 and always planned to make a Civil War game at some point, while doing my first tries here as teenager. First, I got to know the Civil War as I watched Ken Burns’ legendary documentary. The first war to be documented by photography made you feel related to the simple soldiers on the battlefield. Combined with the music, the document created a unique atmosphere which inspired us in our project.

It was also the war of new tactics and new technology, this makes all the opportunities for the game quite huge. Although knowing that a lot of great Civil War strategy games already have been made, I feel we will create something unique here with a lot of love and passion.

Ilja:
From the point of view of a designer, The Civil War is very interesting conflict to turn into a strategy game. The long and bloody war could have ended in many different ways, either side winning. The situation for Union and Confederacy is very different, so victory would also be achieved by using different, non-symmetrical means. This makes researching and designing the campaign game-play very interesting, as depending on player’s actions these “what-if” scenarios can change the course of war dramatically. On the other hand, the way battles were fought also saw evolution from 1st battle of Bull Run (Manassas) towards the end of the war. This creates great opportunity for a story to develop within the game.

Peter:
Unlike other games of this era, The Civil War (1861-1865) will show detailed battlefields with massive armies and a fully playable campaign, both in real time. The rising industrialization will change this war into something never seen before in history. Trains and telegraphs allowed mobilizing hundreds of thousands of men and new technologies turn the Napoleonic tactics into a new era of warfare. For me as a player it´s very exciting to have the freedom to take the control and choose my very own strategy, and this not only on the battlefield. Particularly the campaign game-play is what I´m mostly excited about, too see the full conflict and how it turns depending on my decisions.

Full Steam Ahead.

We are a small group of history and wargame enthusiasts, and do not have the resources or budget of the large game industry behind us. But we want to tell the story in a way, that hopefully immerses the player into the war and makes him feel involved. To achieve this, we are dedicating our time for historical accuracy in the game’s details, from historical commanders and army compositions to battlefields, tactics, and campaign objectives.

To support this, we are paying special attention to period specific details, such as the music or the visuals in the game. We are working together with talented people like Wasel Arar, now also a Brigadier General in the Grand Tactician Corps of Engineers, who produces the original soundtrack of the game with professional old time musicians playing classic songs from the period, along with details such period specific typography and map drawings. He also is the man behind the beautiful colored photographs you can see on our new website, which is also his work!

So, the work on the game continues full steam ahead, and we will keep you up to date with what’s going on behind the scenes, with regular updates of this developer’s blog. At this point we cannot set a specific release date, but we are working furiously to have the game ready during 2019!

We welcome you to follow us on our social media channels and on our website! Please feel free to drop comments on these Log Book entries with the tools below. If you have any questions you can always contact us via our e-mail, or by dropping a line on Facebook or Twitter.

Most Respy,

Gen’l. Oliver Keppelmüller,
Chief of Engineers.

Gen’l. Ilja Varha,
Chief Designer.

Gen’l. Peter Lebek,
Chief War Artist.