COMMAND 39: Hoorah - A Review

I must be lucky as I've had both these new Command Games from issue 39 for awhile now...Hoorah is an ACW alt.hist game that follows up XTR's Wahoo! game...1 34x22 inch map, 260 nice big counters. Map portrays area around Pittsburgh, PA @ 400 yds to a hex and 45 minutes to a turn. Units (bdes) are relatively simple: inf, field arty, & cav with Union or Confed figures, color-coded by corps and contain combat & move factors. Confeds are double-sided. There are also battery, gunboat & fort counters with separate bombard. & defense factors. Other chits rep disruption, city fires, "corp command chits," gunboat flotillas, confed control of bridges, etc.

The Union gets 6 corps from the Army of the Potomac and 3 from the Army of the Tenessee (66 units). The Confed. (at arguably their zenith in this world) have the 4 corps of ANV (59 units) and the BEF (17 units -- which include many nice Canadian units).

Basically, the Confed. has to neutralize Pittsburgh by wresting "control" of river bridges by the end of turn 12. Turns go 1) check for various reinforcement possibilities; 2) activated corps can bombard with arty, move, be hit by defensive arty, then fight; or 2) gunboats bombard & move...#2 is repeated up to 16 times as "corp. comand chits" are pulled from a cup) or until the "end turn" chit is pulled. Then 3) admin phase when arty is readjusted, checks for disruption are made, fires in the city resolved and chits dumped back in the cup.

The Army of Tenessee, BEF, gunboats, and ANV's Cav Corp arrive via die roll at variable entry areas. ZOCs are semi-locking, non-cav must stop, but then can move 1 hex next phase...No stacking (save during retreats after combat). Arty, forts, gunboats can bombard via simple LOS and range adjustment. If a unit is "hit," it's disrupted. All units in your ZOC must be attacked...odds ratios can be shifted by terrain, forts, etc. CRT results are pretty traditional: AE, DE, EX, AR, DR, retreat & lose a step...disruption rates a shift and can be rallied away...

This is a nice ACW game playable in an evening in some new terrain that reminds me of Chancellorville for some reason...As I get a laugh from alt-hist, I'm looking forward to playing this game.

Doug Murphy