I thought I'd share some of my impressions of the Avalanche Press Ltd (APL) 
recent release "Gettysburg 1863" -- a part of their War of the States series. 
  It's a low complexity, mostly divisional-level look at the battle using an 
area movement map at a scale of about 1" = 325 yards and hourly turns.


The nicest components here are the big counters, which come in two basic 
flavors:  "Long" counters about 1" by 1 1/3" which represent infantry 
divisions, and 2/3 " counters for artillery, leaders, cavalry, severely 
depleted divisions, and other markers.   Combat units are rated for strength 
points (SP) and morale.  Army and corps leaders are rated for initiative, 
tactical rating, and command radius.  The counter artwork is very nice, 
especially on the divisional counters - each has a "3D" overhead perspective 
of the troops in line of battle including a flag bearer, with about 2 
infantry figures depicted for each numerical strength point rating.  This 
makes it a snap to see the relative strength SP of a unit - a "7-5" division 
will have about 14 little figures printed on it - and it gives the game a bit 
of a miniatures look.  However, some of the unit identification printing was 
a tad small and hard to read without a close examination.  This can make 
formation ID can be a little painful since units take step losses in 1 SP 
increments by first flipping over, then have a new counter for the next step 
loss, then flip, and so on, such that a 10 SP division will have 5 separate 
counters representing it at different SP levels as it takes losses.  None of 
the counters are color-coded for organizational level so you have to rely on 
that tiny printing to see who is whom.  Of course, getting stuff well 
organized into counter trays will help a lot here. Artillery is pretty 
generic, with 2 cannons on every counter.  The artillery range is depicted on 
the counter by the number of red triangles colored in along the edge of the 
artillery unit (either 3 or 5 in this game) and thus easy to see.   Overall, 
the counter graphics are well done.


I was not as happy with the map appearance.  It simply has a bit of a "blah" 
look to it.  As with all such things of this nature, each will have their own 
opinion of what "looks good" but to me, an opportunity was lost here to do 
some really nice artwork - especially since the map is divided into areas and 
none of it needed to conform to hexes.  You've got clear, rises, hills, 
woods, stream, roads, and one area of rough - Devil's Den - in pale purple.  
Most of the terrain appears to be drawn with a very sharp crayon.   The town 
of Gettysburg looks really bleak, represented with a uniform set of 
rectangles.  Some of the terrain has historical designations, like Herr 
Ridge, the Lutheran Seminary, Big and Little Round Top, but several do not.  
For example, it would have been nice to denote Culp's Hill - it's mentioned 
in the player notes, and I know where it is, but it's not labeled.  It's the 
kind of stuff not really needed for play, but adds a little historical flavor 
to things.
The map is a single unmounted 22" x 34" sheet printed on thick glossy paper, 
which works fine for me.  On the plus side, the map is entirely functional in 
game terms and its subdued look and colors don't clash with the counters on 
it.  In short, it works but lacks flair.   


Most of the other charts are pretty standard stuff - a TEC with a time record 
and cannon ammunition chart, and 2 player-aid foldouts - US and Confed..  The 
player aids includes the special rules for this game in the series and 
scenario info and setup instructions.   Four scenarios are included:  First 
day, Second day, Third day, and The Battle.  Both player aides have the same 
identical introductory comments for the First Day scenario as for The Battle 
scenario, which felt a bit odd.  Given the low density of actual units here, 
it would have been nicer to have one (or two) time record chart(s) that 
depict the reinforcements along with their entry location, rather than the 
listing provided.  


As I was previously warned, the 12 page rulebook is indeed ambiguous in some 
places, while just not a model of clarity in others.  For instance, one 
section says something like "a unit may change facing before OR after moving, 
but not both…" then later "…facing has nothing to do with movement."  After 
a while, I deciphered that facing was only relevant to moving when moving by 
road.  I think.  Although only Army and Corps leaders are represented, there 
were some fuzzy areas regarding the exact circumstances of how/when they can 
add their ratings for combat or morale purposes.   And while The Battle 
scenario rules put Reynolds in command until Meade arrives, and even specify 
that Hancock replaces Reynolds should he fall in combat as he did 
historically, I can't find out who commands the Confed. troops  before Lee 
arrives.   Gen. Hill is there at the start, so maybe him?  Or use Lee's 
rating, even though he has not reached the field?   I have to someone in 
command else none of the rebs can attack before noon (Lee's arrival time on 
the field).  I promoted Gen. Hill to get by this.  You need a clear line of 
sight for artillery to fire, which is measured from the "center of the firing 
area" to the "center of the target area".  Deal is, these areas are of odd 
shape, and there is no clear "center" to them.  Players are encouraged to 
resolve such disputes by rolling a die or a fistfight.  Hmmm. There are other 
examples of the rules that are not tiddy as well, but overall these are not 
quite as bad as some other APL rules I've muddled through.  


The game system itself is fairly straightforward.   Here is a breif outline 
of the turn sequence:


1. Weather determination -- only needed towards the end of The Battle to see 
when rain halts the game.
2. Reinforcement Phase -- I wish the units had their entry areas printed on 
them.
3. Command Phase -- Corps comanders in range of the Army Commander are in 
command, else they
                                  have to roll against their initiative.  
This is a one time check.  Units out of command can
                                  still be activated, but have reduced 
movement had cannot assault.
4. Order of Battle -- Roll a die for each side and add the Army Commander's 
initiative to see who goes first.
5. Activation Phase -- Roll another die and subtract it from the Army 
Commanders initiative.  Lee is rated at
                               four, Meade a five.  The diffference is the 
number of formations (Corps) that can activate.
                               If both side fail to active any formations, 
the turn is over.
6. Action Phase -- Do any cav. charges, then attachments of 
reserves/unatached units noted on scratch paper, 
                            then arty. bombardment (can't shoot & move), 
movement (out of command units are penalized
                            1 MP), then assault with inf. and cav.  
7.  Activation phase -- The other side attempts activation.  If both side 
fail to active any formations, or all
                                  have been activated, the turn is over.  
Markers for this would have been nice.
8.  End of Turn. 



The command system applies some "breaks" on things and generally avoids the 
Igo-Yugo sequence.   In short, players check at the start of each turn to see 
who has initiative to attempt to move first, what leaders are in command, and 
how many formations (generally Corps) they can activate.  It's even possible 
for both sides to fail to activate any units on a turn.  Command control is 
based on leader initiative and command range.  Movement is per area, and 
standardized by unit type and modified by certain terrain.  All infantry and 
artillery have 2 MP, for example.
Stacking is based on both SP's, with 13 SP's being the usual limit, and the 
additional limit that only ONE long counter (Division) is allowed in a hex 
(with rare exception).   Along with other small counters, the counters must 
physically FIT inside the area, or they can't be placed there.   As most 
divisions get down to their last few steps, the counters are no longer "long" 
and don't count as divisions for stacking.
 If you like rolling a lot of dice, the combat system is for you.  Up to 4 SP 
of artillery may bombard from an area.  For assault, you basically add up ALL 
the SP's of attacking infantry, plus any applicable leader/other bonus, 
adjustments for any terrain, or flanking stuff, then you roll all those dice. 
 A six is a hit.  The defender does the same to fire back, along with 
defending artillery, then losses are applied simultaneously.  A lot of dice 
will be rolling around, and losses can pile up.  Once a unit loses a step, it 
is gone for good.   After combat, assaulting units can advance into vacated 
areas. 


The  defender can try to avoid some SP losses by retreating one area if the 
defending units have a high enough morale (influenced by their leader, if 
present).   While this allows units with higher morale to take less losses by 
retreating, its seems a little odd to me that combat units will get "orders 
to retreat", but upon failing their morale check they will instead stay, 
refuse to retreat, hold their ground against a fierce attack and take heavy 
losses.  It was usually harder for commanders to get units to stay and hold 
their ground against a determined attack than "persuade" them to retreat.   I 
suppose the failed morale check represents a loss of unit cohesion causing 
added confusion and loss.   It would have made more sense to me to allow all 
units to retreat, but those that failed their morale check to take the losses 
after retreat.  There's other stuff than that I have not included, like 
cavalry charges, and artillery that dies if it tries to retreat and fails its 
morale, but that pretty much sums up the combat system in short.


I set up The Battle scenario to give things a solo go, and got through most 
of the first day. I could give a breakdown
or an "after action" report, but things played out fairly typical for a 1st 
day G'berg game, though Confed. command
woes let the Union hold onto Seminary Ridge until totally outflanked by the 
Ewell coming in from the north.  I hate to
say this, but I really had trouble getting excited about the whole affair, 
and quit.  I kept having the feeling that die rolls (read: luck) influenced 
things way more than my tactical moves.  And I felt claustrophobic.  The 
entire Union "fishhook" line, from Little Round top all the way up and around 
to Culp's Hill near Rock Creek is only 9 areas long.   I have to
confess that I'm probably a bit too critical of most G'berg games, and that 
my early gaming years on this battle started with the AH '77 version of 
Advanced G'Berg, then quite a bit of Terrible Swift Sword, and finally GMT's 
3 Days of G'Berg.
But I also really liked A5A's (Across Five April's) version of the battle, so 
it can't be just a matter of detail or size. 
Yet, the game does offer some interesting twist, and against a live opponent 
would probably be much more fun.  It
certainly plays quickly, and might be a good choice to introduce some newbies 
into the hobby if you are burned out
on A5A, want something different, or simply must have every G'Berg game 
around.   And there may be some nuances I missed, but overall, the fun factor 
seemed to be missing for me.  A bit more "chrome" or house rules could
spruce it up and make it more enjoyable as well.  If nothing else, the 
counters look pretty cool.  
   


Regards,
Stan