This thread is intended as a collection of helpful tools in regard to the Civil War series(but I guess also all other HPS/JTS games).
AutoHotkey
http://ahkscript.org/This tool helps to cover the ground where the games do not provide any hotkeys, personally I haven used it till now but I see on a different forum that it seems to be very helpful althought some time has to be invested to maximize its potential.
Gimp
http://www.gimp.org/This is a free but still highly capable graphic art software for making signatures & avatars in but could be also used for editing screenshots for AARs(After-Action-Reports).
Hardcopy
http://www.hardcopy.de/Currently my choice for taking screenshots as it allows some nice things like taking just sections of the screen instead of full screen screenshots. It is free but comes with a pop-up message from time to time.
Paint.net
http://www.getpaint.net/This is another free graphic program, with it the famous Old Banshee graphic mods were done.
Screenpresso
http://www.screenpresso.com/This is a helpful tool that lets you easily take screenshots and edit them with various useful additions like arrows, circles, lines, text, speech bubbles, etc. what makes it highly valuable for AARs. Check out their feature video to see what it can do.
So that's it for now, if anyone else has something helpful please post it and I will add it to this post.
PS Could a moderator make this sticky please?
_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac
"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."