I’m on an American Civil War trip, gaming wise.

I spent some time fiddling around – and largely enjoying – Gettysburg: The First Day, designed by Steve Carey and published by Revolution Games. That game uses the Blind Swords system, meaning formations are activated by chit draws and some of these trigger random events that the players can use to interfere with each side’s plans.

There’s a lot to like: the rules are refreshingly short, the physical production is outstanding, and the game plays quickly enough. The two areas that give me cause for concern are (a) how the players are able to game the random events by sometimes deciding when and where fate strikes the enemy; and (b) how each brigade is automatically able to choose its orders every turn. I don’t know an easy way to fix these, so I need to have a think.

While pondering, I moved on to Last Chance for Victory, the massive game designed by the late Dean Essig and published by MMP about the complete battle of Gettysburg. There’s also a lot to like here: the system – called Line of Battle, now at version 2.0 – has a ton of detail, but once learned goes quite quickly. There are 20+ scenarios in the box ranging from small introductory encounters to teach you the basics of fire and movement, to multi-map campaign scenarios of the whole battle. What’s especially nice is that there are separate 1st day and 2nd/3rd day maps that mean if you are short of space you can still have a go at the bigger scenarios.

The physical production standards here are also good, albeit with one annoying defect: the maps faithfully (I assume) portray the slopes and elevation changes of the battlefield, with each height level represented by a different color. There is a color key, but it does not quite match the on-map colors. Sometimes, it’s hard to work out what level units are on, and what level intervening terrain is. The Blind Swords game by Revolution mentioned above does this much better with the simple addition of a number matching the height on parts of the slope line. It also doesn’t help that the line of sight rules are less than crystal clear. I think I am doing line of sight correctly, but I’m not sure…

Previously I have played the training scenario – Dogs of War – to start me off and then got stuck into the first day of the battle as it begins small and grows and the situation remains – despite me having gamed this situation hundreds of times in different systems – one of my favorites. I have read and reread Pfanz (Gettysburg: The First Day), Martin (Gettysburg July 1) and Gottfried (The Maps of Gettysburg) and am probably nowhere near a complete understanding of what happened all those years ago.

Fighting the first day of the battle has its advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, you get to see the command system work because things will never go according to plan. However, to maintain a historical encounter, there are quite a few special rules to add to your load. It’s bearable, but if you prefer to avoid these, tackle the second or third day scenarios.

This time around, I redid the Dogs of War scenario to make sure I had the basics well assimilated, then decided to try the Flying Dutchmen scenario which deals with the CSA attack on 11th Corps north of Gettysburg town. The victory conditions demand that within the seven turns the CSA break through the Union defenses and exit 45 strength points of units from the brigades of Hays and Gordon. Breaking through is straightforward enough – the CSA have superior numbers and quality – but doing so fast enough and with low casualties is very challenging. It’s fun for the CSA player whose entertainment includes getting to use some cool sharpshooter units and beating up many low-morale Union units. The Union player has to skilfully defend, knowing that it’s unlikely the line will hold.

I have played it through to a completion twice, but have yet to get a CSA win. The last occasion, I was a single strength point short of victory. Damn! I may try again.

One of the reasons I have this on the table is that there’s a version 3.0 of the Line of Battle system on the way and I wanted to remind myself of the strengths and weaknesses of the system. I am intrigued to see what will change. Meantime, if serious ACW tactical-level gaming is your thing, I recommend the system wholeheartedly.