Based on the American Civil War, Johnny Reb II is a one or two player strategy game. After the title screen a menu appears allowing you limited tinkering of the game's parameters. You can also choose which side you want to play as. Once you are happy with your choices the game begins. The game is viewed overhead of the terrain with your and the enemies' forces shown as icons. Moving the cursor with your joystick, you can highlight an icon and get details about that unit. On the right of the screen different icons appear showing the type of orders that are available. Some icons can make other icons appear allowing you to elaborate each order.