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Johnny Reb is a wargame set in the American Civil War. It revolves round a generalised battle of the period concerned with the capture of a river crossing.

The game loads behind a front page showing the flurry of the Confederacy. It begins with a question and answer session to determine who plays and what forces are to be used.

The game provides the option of two players, or one player against the computer with the player choosing to play either the Confederacy or the Union.

The forces chosen can consist of up to 20 infantry, up to 20 cavalry and 20 artillery. In practice there is no point in choosing more than five artillery units because ammunition is rationed.

When the forces have been chosen the game map is drawn. This is always appropriately the same - a river flows centrally down a field with a bridge crossing it and a forest is located on the right bank. The player's forces are set up on the right bank and the computer's forces (or other player's forces) set up on the other bank. The winner is the first to reach the enemy's command post with three of his units. In practice elimination of the enemy is a more common occurrence.

The game plays fairly well, but the computer does not provide a very strong opponent. It tends to gather its forces towards the bridge where artillery can wreak havoc on the massed forces. This highlights another problem in the game: the artillery is incredibly powerful, which is unhistorical; it is also invariably accurate. The way to win the game is to hold off from crossing the river until the opponent has been defeated on your side of the river.

In a two player game this leads to a virtual stalemate with a desultory artillery duel; in a player versus computer game the computer can be defeated using this tactic as it will always attempt to storm across the bridge.