From: Roberto Chiavini <mumaye@mail.dada.it>
Subject: Three reviews

Gettysburg (Vae Victis 8)

The game in the  eight number of this fantastic French magazine is
dedicated to the American Civil War, more precisely to the turning point
of the entire conflict, the battle of Gettysburg.

The game boasts the usual great graphics (even if a little less
glamorous than usual), with a point to point map of the zone of the
campaign. The units are at division level for both the armies, with the
Confederates using even corp leaders, while the Union has only the army
leader (Hooker at the start, then Meade).

Units have two ratings, a tactical factor and an artillery value (that
could be 0). The leaders have a commanding factor and a tactical bonus
(if any). Both players have to photocopy a roster sheet, as the real
strength of the units is written on these sheets and may be reduced when
units take combat or movement losses (stragglers).

The system is very reminiscent of Avalon Hill’s Great Campaigns of the
Civil War, with a point to point map ( a la House Divided) and roster
sheets instead of strength markers, but there are a few twists.

Each turn starts with weather determination phase (the Confederate
player rolls a dice; if he obtains a six, that turn is a rain turn, with
a few limits to movement); then the same player decides or rolls to
decide who will be the first player in that turn (the Confederate player
moves first, if so decides, 5 out of 6 times).

The first player, then, rolls a die, add to the result the commander
value of his army leader, and has that total as activation points for
that turn (up to 11 for Lee – from 8 to 9 for the Union player). With
each activation point he may explicate several different functions, from
movement, to raids against railway stations, to blew up bridge, to
entrenchment. When two units from both sides share the same square, a
battle results. There are several different factor to take in account:
tactical ratings, the tactic chosen (3 different for both attacker and
defender), terrain and other significant modifiers. The result is often
one or more strength losses for both players (each one rolls the die
separately) or retreat (often decided by the tactic chosen or by a
failed morale check).

There are two different scenarios (one 5 turns, the other 11 turns),
with victory decided especially by territorial objectives (the losses
inflicted on the enemy count normally for less than half of the total). 

For the two players game there are also several rules to add fog of war
to the campaign (dummy units, force marker, etc.), while the solitaire
game is severely impaired and certainly less fun. 

Having played the first scenario, I think that the game is not very
balanced and it’s not easy for the Confederate player to obtain anything
more than a draw (I think that too many times a decent Union player may
easily reproduce the historical outcome, i.e. Confederate defeat, at
least in the judgment of Nicolas Stratigos, the designer of this game).
Anyway, even this game has several of the peculiarities which make the
Vae Victis games so interesting and enjoyable for the players who have
not much time and space to dedicate to a wargame: fast and colorful
play, a decent system (even if very derivative), a good situation. This
Gettysburg falls short, in my opinion, to obtain a clear success, as
it’s certainly inferior to his ancestor and model (GCACW), perhaps on
par with Ben Knight’s Across the Potomac (Command 31).

I rate this game 6 ½  out of 10.