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