From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: guess what? a review, of course This accursed Civil War (Ben Hull) I bought this DTP game on six battles from the ECW more than a year ago, but I find the will and the opportunity to mount it (litterally, as both the maps and the counters are on simple paper, and you have to cut them and glue them over a thicker cardboard - provided, at least for the counters, by the game itself) and trying to play only in these days, pushed by the necessity to compare it with my current designing project, the battle of Edgehill. Just when the game came from Boulder to my home here in Firenze, I was frankly disappointed with the appearence of the game - that was praised over and over on Consimworld: graphics were really bland, even for DTP standards, and the overall quality of the package left much to be desired (to add to the bad impression, one of the page for the map of Cheriton was missing, while one was doubled; also, but I've discovered it only after reading the rules, the game was missing even one page of markers, to take in account the hits taken by the units - in fact, a minor issue, as I used numbered counters taken by the SPQR series of games, the direct ancestor of Ben Hull game). Anyway, taking simply a glance at the rules, my hopes retook breaths, as they seemed interesting, a good mix of realism with playability, even if a little confused in the explanation. Today, after having re-read the rules and played the battle of Edgehill, may initial impressions are partly confirmed: the game has some interesting potential (and this potential was seen by the people of GMT who optioned the game for a better version, a good move I think), but as it stands it's almost unplayable for the number of mistakes, missing rules, and chaotic organization that seems to rule over the overall project. The game use an interesting system that borrows the command and order rules by Markham's Royalist and Roundheads (probably the most interesting part of that unfortunate and definitely not fun system for 3W), mixing them with the initiative and continuation leader activation from GMT's GboH, adding a Fire/Combat system that borrows from both and adding a few peculiar rules. In the system you definitely find something to suit your tastes, as Ben Hull has certainly researched the period and the war very well, but all is wretched in unclear rules (I have rules version 2.0 and it seems a real mess - for example, in the aid charts there is a cavalry pursuit table - that seems an interesting rule, especially for Edgehill, the battle that I tried - but there is no mention of it on the rules. Also, you need to be an expert wargamer to fully understand the various tables and how to apply them to the written rules. Units come in various types (Heavy infantry, cavalry, light infantry and artillery) and are rated for combat and morale, while leaders are rated for a command modifiers. Each army is normally divided in three or more wings, with a supreme commander and a leader for each wing. At the start of each turn wings are activated based on leader quality and type of order (starting with the more aggressive toward the most conservative - i.e. rally and reform), but you may try to anticipate a turn with a leader (rolling on the appropriate table). The activated wing may move, fire and have close combat, but the opponent has several way to react. All this is regulated by several different tables, a few of them innovative, but is not really well explained in the less than 10 pages of rules. Even if the game is not really complex (probably 6 in a 1-10 scale), the confusion in the rules may deter from playing the casual wargamer (but as the game is DTP, it's unlikely that the casual wargamer will buy this version of the game). So, now that I've tried the game, I'm really looking forward for its re-ediction by GMT, with better graphics and especially a totally rewritten rulebook, adequated to such a potentially interesting and creative game design. As it stands, I have to rate this game 5 1/2 in a 1-10 scale, but it's potential will probably put the definitive version in the 7 or 8 range.