North & South on NES is this weirdly charming mix of board game strategy and little action bits—like Risk, but with trains and forts. You start off moving tiny armies across a super simplified US map, trying to take over states by either capturing forts (if they’ve got a railway) or just muscling in with your troops. The railroads are key—they pump out cash, which turns into more soldiers, so you’re constantly eyeing which states to grab next.

Battles kick off when armies clash, and here’s the fun part: you can either jump into a quick, chaotic mission (think shooting or cavalry charges) or let the game auto-resolve it like a dice roll. I usually go manual—watching my little guys storm a fort never gets old, even if half of them trip over their own bayonets. And yeah, North Carolina gets free reinforcements by ship for some reason. No idea why, but I’m not complaining.

It’s janky, unpredictable, and somehow perfect for a lazy afternoon of map painting. Just don’t expect deep realism—this is the Civil War if it were run by cartoon generals with a budget.