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Game
Game2022
Strategic Command: American Civil War
Developer Fury Software
For the first time in the series’ history, Strategic Command will be taking you to the 19th century battlefields of the American Civil War. You will control the armies, research, production and diplomatic policy of either the Union or the Confederacy during a time of innovation and dramatic battles. From the Steam store page
178 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 29, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
136 positive · 34 negative
95% range 73–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 136 | 34 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
8 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
216 of 256 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 178 · most liked firstAs @cdubbs has already pointed out, the game »abstracts the tactical aspect of the game«. Other than him, I see this as a major flaw in a game representing the American Civil War, mainly because this distorts the war's time structure. But the Positives first: on a strategic level, the game is great, in that the size of the map gives a realistic feeling of space, distance and accordingly movement, and in that the Hex map feels as the right choice of spatial modelling. It feels also a good idea…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was a beta tester for the game. My long review of the game is pinned on the discussion forum to the game here on Steam for you to read and comment. My brief review is this. I went in to the beta test very skeptical of the game's ability to portray the American Civil War. I was wrong. The game does a superb job of portraying the strategic and operational challenges of the conflict for both sides. Due to the standard limitations of the Strategic Command game series, no unit stacking being…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL:DR; This one is tough to review. Short summary: It's a clunky old-school boardgame-style portrayal of ACW that seems to be fun despite lack of accuracy in portraying this conflict properly on any level. In spite of that, large amount of historical facts and lot of work put into the game as well as overall flow of game which is very historical (forced by heavily-scripted events that unfold on turn by turn basis) allow to conditionally recommend it. EDIT: Especially if you are looking for a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Civil War was known for it's battles and leaders. This game is based on a WW2 engine. The "leaders" are headquarters and you don't get any feel for leaders and leadership which was huge in the Civil War. There aren't battles. It becomes one big long battle. This engine does NOT fit into the civil war well at all. Hard pass
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a terrible game and great that it has a close to sandbox feel about it BUT Extremely simplistic The alarms bells should have rung when the download was over in a couple of minutes Everything is claimed to be in abstract so no real battles, no arty( very limited siege or rail guns but too limited to be of any real use) the arty is deemed to be self contained in the units and it feels very lacklustre because of that One turn is a whole season which is crazy so you can end up spending a year…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought the pre-Steam release version of this game directly from Matrix Games and I've been putting a lot of time into it over the past week or so. If you're familiar with the Strategic Command system in games like SC WWII: War in Europe or SC WWII: World at War and you enjoy that like I do, then this game is a must buy. If you're looking for a good War Between the States tactical game where you can play out historical-style battles of two armies maneuvering around and clashing in a town to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a veteran of the older Strategic Command titles, War in Europe, World at War and World War One. These are the games I enjoyed most during the last years. This game is not just more like it, but it really adds new aspects and creats a whole new experience out of the existing game engine. I need to say that I know next to nothing about the American Civil War, and hardly anything about interior US geography. Well, I don´t know nothing about the Civil War, but everything I know I learned…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a great game, but, alas, it is not the US Civil War. This game is effectively the US Civil War if it was fought like WW1. Instead of mobile armies probing for each other with cavalry, and stumbling into large climactic battles, you have massive lines of trenches like the Western Front. So, yes, it is the US Civil War, but no, it's not the US Civil War. Otherwise, the graphics are non-existant, the sound is good, there are few if any bugs. The manual is hundreds of pages long, and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game abstracts the tactical aspect of the war, but it is a very functional system familiar to anyone who has played a previous Strategic Command title. This means at times the unit concentration can look like SC: World War 1, but that is my only real negative so far. Another small negative for some might be the alternate history options, which for the most part seem necessary(?) to win as the CSA, which is probably realistic but it doesn't really leave room for a purist to not just get…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is no atmosphere, no feeling of "being there'' with this game but if you want a prime U.S of A geography lesson and a quite good, huge, functional war game then "Strategic Command: American Civil War " though a tad too dear is still worth considering. So yes recommended....
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It’s too bad that the Chinese and Indian fronts got limited coverage in The World at War. Part of that was they had a hard limit of 26 hours, and my guess is that interviewees and film were limited. The game Strategic Command WWII in the Pacific gives a good feel for the scope of those fronts.
unlabelledView post →This already is a VERY good game and with a couple of small tweaks I think it can become exceptional. There are a lot of potential strategies to use and the map is huge and allows for a lot of stealthy positioning behind the FOW. Scouting with cavalry or balloons, or later infantry upgraded with scouts is essential to avoid blundering into ambushes as infantry line of sight is just a single hex. Leadership and technological advances through research become extremely important as well. The war…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Many hours of alternate history you can create with this gem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've been playing SC since the original SC1 and probably logged 4000 hours playing SC Europe MP but unfortunately can't recommend this one. In my opinion the MP just isn't a viable game giving an overwhelming advantage to the North with many strange game dynamics and given the way it was designed I doubt it can change. Following is my opinion of the game: 1) The game has an enormous map that includes the Caribbean ( the ENTIRE Caribbean) & Mexico so the area of the actual war gets lost. 2)…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'd be hard pressed to find a strategic-level American Civil War game with a less ACW feel than this one. It could be much better were the system better adapted to the period. I like the SC series, but the model needs work if it is going to match the 18th-19th century methods of waging war,
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still no font support for resolutions higher than 1080p. Automatic thumbs down. For people playing on an expensive setup, time to squint your eyes for hours. Or put it in 1080p and enjoy a very pixelated experience. Cheers Now for a full review: The TLDR is that this game is a simple reskin of their previous game Strategic command: World War 1. If this was a DLC sold for 15$ I would recommend it. As a standalone 40$ game this is bad and feels years behind the competition. Detailed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have heaps of hours on this game, having bought it on day one at Matrix plus being in the beta. If you like any of the other Strategic Command games you'll love this one. If you haven't played any of the other Strategic Command games it is a "simple to learn but difficult to master" system. It represents the conflict really well from the point of view of the leader of your "nation" without unnecessary micromanagement. It does not aim to provide battles in great detail though, so you won't…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's cases like this game that make one really feel the straitjacket of Steams binary yay or nay rating system. I'm going to give it a thumbs up, but it's a Yes with a huge BUT attached to it. Gameplay is okay for what it is and it's basically what you'd expect if you are at all familiar with other Strategic Command games. SC:ACW is a bit of a mix between SC:WW1 and SC:WIE mechanics. The game is pretty straight forward to play from both sides, the south is probably a little easier to grasp…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Starting to get bored after about 30 hours. Lost my first two games learning the game mechanics and got it right with the third try. Beat the main force and all which is left is huge mop up operation on which one could spend another day or two. Don't see much replay value either since there are no events or other mechanics which might make another run different or interesting. They did a good job with the AI, the battle mechanics are good but there are no relevant game mechanics beside the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I haven't played a Strategic Command game before, as the one unit per hex rule / no combined stacks steered me away. But for some reason I decided to try the ACW and have had an extremely fun time wargaming. I am just scratching the surface so far, and have to often refer to the rulebook for the intricacies as I play my turns. Now I can say that I DO recommend it. The campaign map is really pleasing to look at, all the colors are vibrant. I do play on NATO counters, but I can tell thought and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is absolutely fabulous once you get into it. Best title in Strategic command franchise and far more interesting than other titles
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game engine is more suited to a WWI trench warfare game. You have divisions spanning entire front lines and no concept of armies and dynamic movement that were the bread and butter of Civil War battles. It is more like playing a hex based 'single battle' game like Gettysburg than playing a Strategic Simulation of the ACW. I was expecting something much more like AGEOD's Civil War II as far as simulating amies/corps. Not that the game engine is bad, it is just that IMO it does not suit…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After 500+ hrs on this title, I really tried to like it. While I did enjoy Strategic Command: World War I & War In Europe, it appears the devs failed to do the required homework & historic research to get this title right. There are numerous glaring historic inaccuracies that just leave players in WTF moments and feels like they are trying to force a round peg (game system) into a square hole (American Civil War). * Armored Trains (come on devs, these played no combat role in ACW) * Bizarre…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just played my first game and had a great time. This is essentially SCWW1 converted to an ACW theme. It's not a battlefield game like Sid Meier's Gettysburg / Antietam or Ultimate General Civil War; instead, it's a bigger picture strategic level thing more like Gary Grigsby's War Between the States. It has a few drawbacks in that the armies are spread out over too large of an area (for instance, all of the divisions and corps of the Army of Northern Virginia spread out from Alexandria all…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →**** WARNING **** WARNING **** If you like turn based strategy war games this is highly addictive. It's also quite tough and a challenge. I have played the main compaign five times as Union... I DONT play confeds ;-).... and lost each time... I WILL win damn you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strategic Command series has always done a good job with historical accuracy, and this game is no different. It's not Hearts of Iron in complexity, but plays good for a casual gamer who doesn't want to get too in-depth. I've played about 50 hours and finished two campaigns with both the North and the South. One of my biggest hangups with this series is the ongoing fact that there is no stacking of units, which is extremely bothersome to me (I also see others complain about this). It is 2024,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have played many many civil war games. And I find this is one of the lesser ones out there. You can find better games on either end of the spectrum. For more interactive you can go Grand Tactictian or Ultimate Generals. For the more broad overview game look at their own older game Civil War 2
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is enjoyable in the same way other Strategic Command game are. It's fun controlling logistics, strategy and tactics to recreate major conflicts. My primary objection with the Civil War game is that it isn't possible to employ Civil War strategies when playing against the AI. It is too easy to for the South to cut off the North's supply lines in the West. An infantry brigade sitting on a river hex shouldn't stop supply. And a major factor in the Civil War was that the South…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Solid hex-and-counter wargame with a better interface than AGEOD's Civil War II, sufficient but not unreasonable complexity, and respectable historicity and historical flavor. Sits firmly alongside Ultimate General: Civil War as the second-best Civil War strategy game available. Grand Tactician: Civil War is more detailed and more complex, but GT:CW also comes with all of the drawbacks of that detail and complexity. I recommend SC:ACW if you don't want to fight tactical battles.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It took me a few hours to realize that despite being intermediate complexity and difficulty, SC:ACW is a game first and foremost, and a military simulation long after than. After I came to terms with my crunchy hex-map based wargame being most akin to a balanced board game, I began to appreciate that the official campaigns are very VERY well written, I cannot recommend this game enough to those interested in 19th century wars.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →40 hours in and I finally finished my first campaign as the Union. Nov 64. I had restarted probably 6 times one time going mid 63. Took awhile to understand the balance. I really like this game. Between production, upgrades, tech and maneuver it has just about everything a guy could want. Cons: WW1 in America. Pros: WW1 in America! :) Probably 95% of my wargaming is Europe. All I can say about fighting in this new theater (my home land)...is wow...the US is huge.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had this game on my wishlist for a long time and finally went ahead and paid full price for it. No regrets whatsoever. This game is fun and engaging. History buffs will especially love it. Playing it, one cannot help but realize why certain things happened, and how things could have gone differently (or why they could not). In between playing sessions, I read Bruce Catton's "Army of the Potomac" series which added even more insights. Re-playability is limited though. Once you've…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Comparing this to Ageod's Civil War 2, first impressions: CONS: Map is significantly smaller, especially in the West. Some key forts missing. Gameplay is corps level which works okay in the east, but fails in the West. Fewer leaders. PROS: SCACW does have interesting events, runs smooth, and has no apparent bugs, crashes, etc. CONCLUSION: The gameplay mechanics of SCACW worked well for WW1 and WW2 but fails for the Civil War period. The big advantage to SCACW is the DLC which has some…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just like the other Strategic Command games, this game requires a lot of thought and planning. I was excited to learn that Strategic Command had made a Civil War version and purchased it at the first opportunity. Their WWI and WWII games are some of the most frequent games that I play.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent game! I played "just" 32h at this point but I can say that this title follows the tradition of the other Strategic Command games. If you like them you will like this one (given your are interested in the Amercian Civil War of course). Since you do not have the option to stack units some might not like the fact that this game does not recreate battles but can lead to forming front lines, if you will. Though the strategic decisions are just like in other games about this topic. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played this long enough. I am irritated by the lack of serious effort on this game. I was playing the 1861 campaign and I am very disappointed as an avid civil war and grand strategy player. First off, the AI generated art is atrocious and lazy. You couldn't have just found a random photo from a google search? It would have looked so much more impressive. Secondly, the game mechanics are also disappointing, why are siege artillery their own unit, but field cannons are not? Why can't I use…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the whole Strategic Command franchise is fantastic. The AI in these games really plays a decent game, I'm not a novice board gamer--I've been playing turn-based military games for the past 52 years--yet, I had one hell of a time beating the lowest-level AI in he 3 different Strategic Command games I have! Beware, though! Each plays so smoothly, that it is easy to look up at your clock, and find you've been playing the game for the last 6 hours! they're THAT good.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Takes forever to figure out how to play...and one then discovers it's clunky and just not fun.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In the tradition of the Strategic Command WWI and WW2 games, most everything is similar. There is no tactics, that has never been a feature of the Strategic Command series of games. I find it to be a very enjoyable game that features land and sea combat as well as politics and international relations abstracted thru events where you get a couple of options to choose from. Also similar to previous games you can spend resources to influence other nations. The map is huge allowing editor types…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Any fan of ACW games should try this. SC abstracts a lot of the tactical level, but for an ACW grand strategy experience this is fantastic.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a lot of jank in a game that costs $40, I'm borderline on it, but just can't recommend it right now. There's a lot of complexities and depth to the game, but you can't just hand wave away everything else because it has executed some pieces well. Edit to add the following: So I wanted to expand on this, because it's not fair for me to leverage criticism without expanding on why it was such a problem for me, personally. So first off, to the jank. When you first launch the game, you get…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not too hard but its time consuming. I like it. Play against the AI to start. Do the tutorial. Read the strategy guide and follow all the recommendations until you get the hang of it. If its too hard, turn off the Foreign Policy part. Play with the Fog of War turned on. Its way more fun that way. Start over if you really screw up or get your ass kicked. If you can, maybe don't try to play it all the way through in one day. I start to forget things after a few hours whether its move some pieces…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Supply plays a big role in the game, but it doesn't seem to follow logical rules. You can cut off units from their source of supply, and they can stay in supply in a small village. But when the same happens to your units, you seem to go out of supply immediately. Simply advancing along roads will quickly put your units out of supply. How can foot soldiers so quickly outpace the supply trains. And even when you have a path of roads leading back to a primary supply source, your units stay at…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This did not meet my expectations of a game made in 2022. It looks and runs like it was built for windows 95. A two dollar game at best. Refunded.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let me start by saying I've played and own every Strategic Command game since the first. Some of my most played games (Even though not through Steam). I have to say this game is really bad! Same concepts as the other games however one thing has proven itself true to me already. The north will ALWAYS win, the south will ALWAYS lose. I know there is some truth to that in real life but this is a strategy game and without balance it isn't much fun to play either side. I am either so overpowered…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game mechanics are just frusterating after a while. The whole thing with the AI just moving units one after another into the same hex during a single turn to attack one unit is just so unrealistic and annoying.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game has potential but only because it has a robust editor. I could not believe a Civil War game that had no artillery on either side. It exists but you have to add it through the editor. Some other changes that I found necessary were to make Forts have a chance against attack, It was unrealistic for them to get killed by a small infantry unit and they had no chance against ships. I also change the deployment options to reflect the reality that local troops were raised all over the North…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I think this is the most complete Civil War game that I have played and I have played several. While it's not easy, it is a very enjoyable challenge. Playing as the Union the constant challenges of partisans and the Confederate Army, along with political challenges and important locations on the map made it a great strategy game. Fair warning the tutorial absolutely leaves many important mechanics. I learned them through trial and error. The importance of supply and leadership in difficult…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Proton is crazy, the only games I can't run are the online games that have intentionally banned linux (fortnite, apex legends) and one obscure strategy game, Strategic Command. I ran that in a VM.
unlabelledView post →I like the vast array of historical "decisions" you need to make, and I enjoy playing "what if" scenarios with them. I also like many of the mechanics. I think the rule book should be built into the game interface rather than redirecting me out of the game to a pdf.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So this positive review is by far less clearly positive than other SC titles. On one hand, the Strategic Comment series very clearly came to be from the idea of depicting the world wars. The game system here is based on this, which means you will be fighting the Civil War basically as a trench war. This is of course very unrealistic considering how the Civil War actually worked. I personally also feel its a lot harder to fight entrenched units in this game, as it is is in other installments,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strategic Command Civil War is, in fact, a highly engaging game. I acknowledge that for many of you outside of America, the topic may not resonate as deeply. However, there are also those who may find it intriguing. Essentially, the game is a land-focused iteration of the standard Strategic Command formula, with a particular emphasis on the American Civil War. The Confederates are notably outmatched by the Union, and I must commend the developers on their realistic portrayal of the conflict.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Strategic Command has a string of truly excellent computer wargames to its credit. SC: ACW is another worthy addition. The game focuses on the War of the Rebellion from a strategic level rather than small tactical level battles found in other worthy titles covering this era. This forces the player to mount or counter the Union Naval blockade of the Southern Ports, the invasion of New Orleans, and controlling the vital Mississippi. Players can focus their resources in Virginia, or prioritize…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have been enjoying the Strategic Command series. It's relatively simple to pick up, but there is alot of depth in the engine. The AI is decent to play against too relative to alot of similar games. Once you get enough understanding, though, it's worth seeking out some people to play with via the PBEM system. I think this title is really fun for PBEM. For newcomers to Strategic Command, this title would be my recommendation for learning the mechanics as it is the least overwhelming in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really enjoyed the WW1 and WW2 games in this series, but this ACW effort doesn't really work for me. I think there needs to be a strategic map component and a separate battle map component. At the moment, particularly on the East Coast between Washington and Richmond, it plays like a WW1 era game rather an ACW one, with extended lines of troops dug in over a broad area. It also lacks the atmosphere of the other games and I just find myself getting bored with it very quickly.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fun Strategic Command entry with an ACW flavor. It isn't really an accurate depiction of the war though. Like other reviews have mentioned, the fighting in the East quickly turns into a WW1 style slog. The SC system simply was not designed to depict the style of warfare in this theater, where there was a lot of maneuvering and relatively brief battles with massed forces. Instead you get a long line of units slugging it out. The fighting in the West is more interesting in terms of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastic game. As good as the WW1 version, which I think is one of the best strategy games of the past 20 years. Get it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's good to finally have a good civil war grand strategy game, even though the mechanics of it make it more about fixed lines than the mobility of the actual war.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is really fun and unlike other games they have made this one really make you think about all your moves (not saying the others dont). The use of diplomacy is nice because if your playing as the Confederates it means everything trying to get one of the major 3 nations to join your cause. All in all this is one of my favorite Strategic Command games and I recommend it to everyone.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An operational level game covering all theatres of the civil war. You get to decide what units to build, from Brigades to Divisions to Corps, so there is a high degree of re-playability. The AI opponent is quite respectable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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