From: "Brandon Einhorn" Subject: Re: Variants - Civil War - Victory Games Modifications and Optional Rules for Civil War 1) Promotions happen MUCH too quickly and with too much certainty. Grant, Sherman, Lyon, and Jackson end up as 3 star leaders in early 1862. After the battle, roll 1 die per leader, if a 7 or greater is rolled, he promotes. The die roll modifiers are: a) +3 for winning the battle. The winner is the side remaining in the hex. b) +# number of ranks that leader can still rise. Thus Sherman starts out as a (*) and gets +3 (* -> ****), after a promotion to (**) he gets +2 (** -> ***), etc. A leader is not eligible for promotion on the turn after a promotion. Thus Sherman would take a minimum of six months to reach four stars. 2) Leader reinforcement placement - Historically leaders performed very differently than was expected, usually being worse than expected. It's too easy to place all entering leaders in a hex with one strength point, and if they are bad, leave them there forever. Thus a "graveyard" of several leaders exists for the whole game. Also there could be severe political consequences for removing leaders, esp. Ben Butler before 1864. Without these rules both sides, esp. the USA remove or exile bad leaders with out much penalty. A) A three star leader must be placed in a hex with at least two SPs for his control. A one or two star leader must be placed in a hex with a depot or with SPs such that there is at least 1 SP per leader. Thus a 3 star and two 2 star generals need 3 or 4 SPs [2+1+ (1 or depot)] in the hex. If this condition is not met at the end of the turn there is a one VP penalty and the generals go back into the pool. Leaders in an army are exempt. B) A leader may not be dropped off by himself in the middle of nowhere, so he won't hurt you and go back into the leader pool. He may only be dropped off with SPs or at a Depot with no other leaders. C) A leader in command of an army who is removed without having fought a battle, and is not reassigned to another army costs three VPs. A non-army leader who is removed without having fought a battle and is not reassigned to a depot or 1+ SP force costs one VP. 3) The victory conditions are MUCH too easy for the USA, and VPs are much too easy to come by. Try the following rules: A) MO, KY, and WVa. contribute no VPs to the USA. To give incentive to fight for these states, the CSA gets 1 VP a turn, per state, that have not joined the USA. KY is subject to this on turn three. B) Election of 1864 (end of turn 17). The USA needs a number of victory points equal to the number of SPs lost throughout the war. (or instead use 60 rather than the 50 specified in the rules). Lincoln won by a large margin, but the 1864 scenario starts on turn 14 with 49 VPs and 4 turns to get 1 (or 11) more. If not for the fall of Atlanta and Sheridan's victory in the Shenandoah valley, Lincoln would have lost. 4) US Railroad supply and movement by armies supplied by sea Forces that have invaded by ocean or river may not use railroads for supply or movement until they have linked up to some line in the north. This is because the USA doest have enough captured engines and rolling stock until it can be moved over rail lines to the captured rail net. Thus depots and river supply become more important for areas in NC, MS, and GA. Once a rail link to the north is established, the captured rail net is functional at 100%. If a section of the rail net is cut after full utilization is established, it is still functional. 5) Naval rules and Naval units vs. Fort(ress)s A) If a fleet containing a transport runs past a fort, the fort adds one to the die roll for each shot. This prevents a monitor from escorting five transports past a fort with minimal losses to the transports. Historically the forts didn't stop the ironclads and gun boats, but Grant didn't want to run past Vicksburg with loaded transports. B) A naval unit in a fort may not be fired on by a fort built next to it. Thus the CSA may not force the USA navy out of Washington. 6) The Confederate navy is much too expensive to enter. They almost never have enough extra CPs to enter more than a few units. The Confederacy does not have to pay anything to enter their naval units. They may be placed at no cost when they become available. OPTIONAL rules) Only use the cavalry recon rule and the army size rule. A) There is no evidence that Lyon and Jackson would make good army leaders. Lyon did a lot with a small body of troops but he wasn't around long enough to prove he could handle large numbers of troops. Jackson operated independently with much less than 30,000 troops. At Chancelorsville, as a corps commander he had roughly 30,000 troops. B) The Random Leader Entry upsets the following relationships: a) The USA gets naval leaders very early. b) The CSA gets cavalry early, the USA later. The US did not organize cavalry into large, centrally controlled, groups until 1863. c) The USA gets bad leaders on turn one, the good ones arrive later. Grant and Sherman have to work their way up. Without this rule the USA won't be forced to use the likes of Burnside, McDowel, McClellen, and Pope. EXPERIMENTAL Rules: 1) Allow the partial expenditure of command points on depots and fort(ress)s. The unit appears when the last CP needed is expended. Thus a unit can be built over the course of the turn by expending 1 CP, in each of 3 impulses. 2) Combat ratios of 3-2 are resolved on the H table. Other wise small forces are hard pressed to attack. (6 SP vs 4 SP = +2 rather than 3-2) Van Dorn should be ** not ***, He never controlled more than 15,000 men. Lee must stay in Va as long as there is an army in that state. McClellen should be 4,0,+1 not 3,-1,0. brandon@global-tech.com