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| The setup for the game. The bottom of the picture is the North. The blue counter near the bottom left is Washington DC. Florida is at the top left. |
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| At the end of 5(!) hours we completed game turn 1 and the first activation of game turn 2. While trying to figure out how naval invasion worked we saw a line covering the bridge to DC... |
I really really wanted to find a good one map game on the Civil War that was hex based. This game might be it but it has issues. First up is the map itself. It looks fine, really nice actually but there are usability problems. First off Kentucky should be outlined more prominently since violating Kentucky neutrality is a big deal and the state border lines really blend in to the background. Second is the Resource spaces, it would be much more useful to have them labelled in some way on the map instead of a handout. The first thing we did was put colored stickers on each reinforcement grouping to show where the different ones were. That alone (and finding the listing) took us an hour. Second up was the very first activation - which was to cross the bridge and attack Washington. Fine, but we did not see any rule saying how to handle it. Since the Bridge blocked ZOC it was possible for the CSA (who won initiative) to gather forces and march right in. So our next rules dive was looking for something to say that was not right. We looked and looked and looked but found nothing so the attack goes in and whammo DC is taken first thing. We played out some more of the game, the reaction and costs for entering/exiting ZOC are kinda interesting and add good flavor. Finally we get to turn two when the US can do a naval invasion (having Naval Transport Builds available). We read the rules for a naval assault and THERE is the rule that states attacking across a bridge is treated as an amphibious assault! Is my opponent and I the only ones who would not even dream of thinking to look at the amphibious assault rules to cover how a bridge is handled? Between that and figuring out the US had two more reinforcement points to bring on the first turn (and that I freely admit was my reading the rules wrong - not any kind of complaint) we called the game a learning game and stopped play.
There really is some interesting bits to this game but the flaws made it a frustrating experience. Things I think would have REALLY helped.
1 - Bridges being an Amphibious assault should be noted on the TEC.
2 - ANY time division is done how to handle fractions should be explicitly stated. As an example, the US losses each turn are replaced at a ratio of 1 replacement per three losses. It is not stated how fractions are handled so I assume they were ignored.
3 - Kentucky needs to be outlines more boldly.
4 - CSA resource groups need to be shown graphically, not just the resource symbol.
5 - EXAMPLES (D*mn it). The combat system could really use a worked example.
