The US Civil War turns 1 and 2

Lawrence and I played turns 1 and 2 of the US Civil War today, it took us roughly 4 hours to get through the two turns.  None of the game subsystems are complicated but being a strategic game it has a lot of moving parts to keep track of.

Situation at the start of the game.

End of Turn 1

In the TransMississippi the opponents danced around each other with no combat taking place.  In the West nothing of note happened either.  In the East the Confederates pushed the Federals back to one of the northern VP hexes but could not go further after getting only a tie for a couple of the fights.  McClellan earns himself a reputation in what will become West Virginia.  Meanwhile in Florida a Union invasion takes a northern Florida port space.

End of Turn 2 (despite the marker placement)

Situation in the East.  A confederate army of 7 strength should have been in position to take Harrisburg  but the Confederate commander made a mistake and did not try to retreat from a Federal advance against part of the army (two other SP were a hex away).  The result was a 2 strength point loss keeping any chance of making a 7+ strength army out of reach (at 7 strength a second general can add his values to the combat).  Meanwhile General Peterson heeds the cry of "On to Richmond!" and makes lunge with 3sp.  He beats the 1sp unit in Fredericksburg.  The now undemoralized force under Johnston moves next to Peterson to try and bring him to battle or intercept him if he makes another drive on Richmond.  The Federals win the next initiative roll and Peterson skedaddles back to DC.  Finally, in what will be West Virgina Longstreet holds the final resource space to keep the Feds at bay.

In the West and TransMississippi a battle is fought in the Trans which the Rebs win but are unable to followup.  So the Reb commander moves back to his base.  East of the Mississippi both sides wait for Kentucky to join the war before moving.

Both my opponent and I are pleased with the game so far, we are playing with the basic rules so amphibious assaults can only be done with a special action card hence the limited amount of amphibious combat.  DC is far easier to hold than in For the People and basically it would take a Federal mistake for it to fall *BUT* keeping it so well garrisoned that it is totally safe makes it hard for the US to keep up with the progress of war requirements.  At the end of turn 2 they are supposed to have a 4 VP lead but are only at 1 so far.

Looking forward to continuing the game in a few weeks.