G-2 is going to make your dice, unit rosters, charts, tables, paper and pencil obsolete. This GAP runs on an IBM compatible PC using Microsoft Windows 3.1. This is not a stand alone game but rather a way for you to enjoy your games by using the computer to do your bookkeeping and game CRT resolutions. It tracks and updates rosters, orders' op-sheets and leaders automatically. It also covers combat, straggler loss and recovery, morale, order issue and acceptance. It is ready to play as soon as you install it.

All Gamers series will be available. The CWB Series will be ready by October 1, 1993. The NBS will be next followed by the OCS. The Gamers will release both before the end of 1993. If there is sufficient demand, we will do the TCS and SCS as well. Also, if enough gamers request it, G-2 will be available in a DOS program. When technology allows, we will be releasing a version to run on the AC.

I have wanted to write programs for games ever since I learned to program and have been playing games since Blitzkrieg in the early seventies. A programmer since 1982, 1 have worked mostly on IBM business oriented software. Since I never have time to play my favorite Civil War games, I decided to eliminate as much 'busy work' as I could.

I found a good data base management software and an object-oriented programming language about a year ago. The idea formed. Starting the prototype around December 199Z I initially wanted simply to track my CWB fire combat and unit rosters. After I got it working, I decided to add other features such as straggler loss and recovery and leader loss. The basic goal was to speed up fire combat and keeping track of losses. It soon grew to a fun blown game system. Now, almost every function of the CWB that can be tracked or automated is.

During the Winter and Spring, I worked on the command system and refining all the programs. I found out what the term 'labor of love' really means. There has been much trial and error in learning how to assmilate the flow of a board wargame with the functionality and power of a computer. I would not hesitate to say by the time you read this I will have logged 800 hours of programming, research, rules reading, and playtesting.

Enough about me, it's time to give you a summary of the programs. These games work best with a mouse or trackball, but you can play them without one. All programs have buttons to click as well as pull-down menus that execute the same. functions as the buttons. Each GAP program takes up very little memory. The largest prograrn to date has a memory usage of 26K for a program using 11 screens, and 160 data fields from 9 files. I am playing on a 386 40 with eight MB of memory and have no performance problems. I can even keep several of the most commonly used programs open simultaneously. The number of open files is more critical than lack of memory.

The highlights of the CWB Series GAP follow:

Continue: The options are to continue the current game, start a new game, Help and Exit. Help and Exit are on each program. Help does two things. It tells you what the program is for and how to use it. We will select the option to start a new game.

Series Menu: Select the game you want to play. All available series games are listed. After you select which game to play, you advance to the following:

Scenario: This is where you pick the scenario and any game options. You can also continue a saved game. G-2 only loads the leaders and units in play for the particular scenario. It includes each scenario and every option. If you select any options, it will show the victory point cost total.

Game Menu: This displays options in the order of the turn sequence of play. These include:

Change Turn: This allows you to track the game turn. It is very important to keep it up to date as it will not allow you to roll for order acceptance or delay reduction unless the game time is current. Buttons advance the time Up' or 'Down' and retum to the Game 'Menu'. Yes, night turns are hourly and the date will change at 00.00 hours.

Order Issue: The first field is a selection list showing the army commanders. Select the commander to send the order and the screen displays Ids rating. and command points. Next, enter the arrival time. The available primary leaders will display in a selection list. If you need a divisional goal order, click the button for it. You will then see a list of available secondary leaders and generic artillery batteries, cavalry and infantry brigades. Otherwise, select from the primary commanders. After selecting the receiver, you need to determine the type and cost of each order. The picks are familiar as this GAP attempts to be a reasonable facsimile of the orders game function. Select from: In Person, Aide Delivered, Oral, Written, force level and complex or simple. A running total for each order cost displays on the screen. Type your order and click on the 'Write' button to record the order. If you do not have enough command points the program will inform you. It will subtract the points from your commander's available points and you continue to write orders until you run out of points, or ideas.

Corps Stoppage Table: This is one of the few programs that looks like the paper table. You click on the number of divisions cross indexed with the number of wrecked divisions. Then select the leader rating, and whether or not the commander is lost. If needed, it will pick the modifiers for night and defensive orders. Click on 'Roll Dice' to see the result of the check. It will tell you to carry on or if your check failed.

Initiative Orders: The first screen lets you select the side, Rebels or Yankees and the type, Primary or Secondary. Primary refers to leaders who take their orders directly from the army commander. Secondary leaders get their orders from primary leaders. After making your selections, choose any available commander and as always, roll the dice. The results screen will tell you if the poor soul has no initiative (which you already knew!), gets to write his own order, or is the dreaded Loose Cannon. If your man has no initiative, you go back to the first screen, if there is an order to write, you proceed there and write it before returning to the first screen.

Delay Reduction: This program displays a side's orders that are in delay status. Click the 'Roll Dice' button and the result displaysaccepted or still delayed. If accepted, the status of the order is changed and you may act on the order. It will display the text of the order. so if your memory is short, you can review it. Only orders that have not been checked in this turn are available for reduction. This is one reason it is important to change the game turn.

New Order Acceptance: This allows you to deliver orders to your commands. The acceptance check shows the status of the orderaccepted, distorted, delayed, or Loose Cannon (Thanks for all the exceptions to the rules, guys--You made me scratch my head more than my dandruff!) The text of the order is shown here also. You will only see orders with a delivery time equal to the current turn.

Unit Functions: This is the heart of the system. All the above programs are small change compared to this monster. This GAP tracks both Union and Confederate rosters. It gives up to the second statistics with the click of a button. Many game functions are executed from this GAP. You select which side to display, Rebels or Yankees, and may search for any corps not displayed on the screen. Displayed data include Unit ID, Morale, Fire Level, Beginning Strength, KIA, Stragglers, Current Strength and Wrecked Status. Initiate fire combat by clicking on a Unit ID, or selecting 'f' as an option. Other valid options include '1' and '2' for straggler checks on tables one and two, 'r 'for straggler recovery and 'in' for morale checks. When yous elect fire combat, you advance to a second screen displaying the defender, a field for fire points and boxes to click for fire combat modifiers. Enter the fire points, click the fire button and watch the combat unfold. If casualties; are incurred (1/2 is calculated automatic ally), you will go to the straggler check screen. It also displays the defender's information and number of strength points lost. There are boxes for straggler modifiers. If you have a leader(s) in the defending stack, you may click a button to see if he is still kicking or becomes a statistic.

The Morale Check is next and it also displays defender information as well as boxes to click on to adjust the morale modifiers. The last screen displayed is a conclusion screen showing the results of combat (including die rolls). This takes longer to read am to execute as each combat takes about 30 seconds to execute and record. The conclusion screen has two buttons-'Record' and 'Roster'. 'Record' will adjust a unit's strength, casualties and file level. 'Roster' will position you back on the roster Screen with the previous defender's corps at the top of the data table. You handle straggler checks and recovery the same way: Display appropriate screen, show results and record results. You may click on the 'Totals' button for an update on army casualties. The unit roster screen displays 13 units at a time. Most corps will display in their entirety.

Other programs will allow you to change any order or unit values, as mistakes happen anytime people and computers are together. A Leader Roster program allows you to change leaders of armies, corps, and division. It is for battlefield promotions as well as any 'exception' rule when leader status needs to be changed (acting commanders, Trimble in Thunder). I even included a 'Zero Out stragglers program for those of you who want to recover all stragglers with one click of a button.

The CWB Series will evolve as more playtesting is done, but the basics covered here will not change much. If you have read this far, you already know how to run the programs. I expect to release NBS after all the bugs are worked out of CWB. OCS and SCS will follow quickly as they do not involve tracking unit rosters. The TCS will be last as the Third Edition Rules are still pending.

I will offer customer support for this product as Dean does not need the extra headaches. I am doing these projects after hours and on weekends. Do not expect to catch me between 8:00 and 5:00, Monday through Friday. I welcome phone calls from anyone who would like more information, but I cannot return long distance calls at this time. You can reach me at 817-283-8744 and ask for Steve. By the time G-2 in released, I hope to have BBS on-line help.

Depending upon the acceptance of this product, I am already thinking about version 2. If it proves to be a successful GAP, version 2 may include 'hypertext' help text for the game rules. For those of you who do not know what hypertext is, it allows you to click your mouse on a key word to display detailed information about the subject. 'Commander Profiles' have also been discussed. These would be orders sent automatically by your solitaire opponent emulating a personality. We could use typical computer 'illogic' to reproduce Pope's strange orders at Bull Run. Grant's 'Steamroller' tactics at the wilderness or Lee's crafty 'sixth sense' when you least expect it are also possibilities.

I hope these game series will be accepted enough to warrant fully computerized versions of Garners brand games. I do not know if it can be done in my spare time or not, but rest assured that as long as there is an interest, I will pursue it.

Each G-2 Gamers Series GAP engine will sell for $25.00. Each game within a Series that requires an order of battle roster will sell for $10.00, plus shipping. I will start with Thunder at the Crossroads, move to Embrace an Angry Wind and work my way to In Their Quiet Fields. Austerlitz of the NBS, will be the only game of that series until the backburner games are released.

I hope you will find that G-2 reduces your frustration with the records keeping and enhances your enjoyment with the fast paced combat resolution programs. The GAP has sped up my play greatly. I no longer have to shuffle paper and roll dice. I simply let my computer work for me. I welcome your questions and will appreciate any help or suggestions you can give.