Stripped Down for Parts: Glory III

  

 

I understand the collector's motivation – I’m a completist myself; if I like a game and there are others in the series, I want own them all – but I’ve been trying to curb that side of my personality (at least so far as gaming goes) and play, or at least get to know, the games I own. That extends to the games I buy these days. Of course, I haven’t played all the games I own, but it’s like Umberto Eco’s reply (to those he liked) when questioned if he’d read all of the books in his 30,000 volume library; “Why would I want a library full of books I’d already read?”

Still. I’m always a little surprised when I stumble across a second-hand game for sale that’s still in its shrink-wrap (I cite Fallen Eagles II: Waterloo 1815 (Hexasim, 2022); you can read my unboxing post here). Glory III: Battles of Antietam and Cedar Creek (GMT Games, 2007), wasn’t shrouded in shrink, and the rules had at least been read, but whoever the previous owner was, they’d obviously taken care of their their games, but had never got around to punching this one's counters and pushing them around. I find it a little sad, but maybe they found some joy in other games they owned, and never quite got around to this one.

As I understand it, Richard Berg’s Glory system was designed as a lighter and faster-playing alternative to the Great Battles of the American Civil War series. This piqued my interest, as did it’s use of a chit-pull activation system for ordering formations, making it a good candidate for two-handed solo play. Here at A Fast Game, we’re all about games that don’t outstay their welcome, and if a system is easier to convey to new folks, all the better.

The over is a classic Rodger B. McGowan design and sets the tone for the game. the illustration taken from an etching – no doubt prepared after the fact – baring the caption “North of the Dunker Church, a Union charge through the cornfield,” referring to the infamous cornfield at the battle of Antietam. The original illustration is from a volume called, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume 1: Being for the Most Part Contributions by Union and Confederate Officers, drawn from the pages, and prepared by the editorial staff of the Century Magazine, New York, 1884 – in living memory of the events of the time. Alas, the illustration is uncredited.

The box-back description of Glory III reintroduces the (assumed) already familiar Glory rules-set, and briefly outlines the two battles covered in the game. As the third volume of the Glory series, the game needed less of an introduction. The description on the back does stress that this volume further “clarifies the revised system of the Glory rules introduced with Glory II: Across the Rappahannock (GMT Games, 2002).

The box back also advises that the game is suitable for 1-2 players (no age suitability suggested here), and that the game scale is brigade-sized units, 15 game minutes to a turn, and an oddly specific 21.5 yards to a hex. The complexity is rated four out of nine, with a solitaire suitability of seven out of nine, which feels about right, given what I’ve read of the rules thus far.

The Rulebook. Why is it in wargames, Rulebook is always one word,
but Play Book is always two?

 The rulebook is typical of GMT’s production values of the time for straight hex-and-counter wargames. It’s printed on good matte paper stock that hasn’t shown any signs of discolouration with age (I know it’s less than twenty years old, but I’ve seen five-year-old rulebooks starting to discolour, so this is a testament to GMT’s consistency in using good-quality materials in their production all the way through).

The Rulebook itself is just sixteen pages, of which only twelve are actually devoted to the rules of the game. The cover features a brief Table of Contents, pages 2 through 13 make up the general rules for the game (exclusive scenario rules feature in the Play Book), while two pages are given over to “Refitting Glory I,” clarifying some rules, offering about a page and a half of errata for the original game. Owners of Glory: The Battles of First & Second Manassas and Chickamauga, 1861-63 (GMT Games, 1995) are advised to use the Artillery chart from Glory II: Across the Rappahannock, with replacement counters included with the current game. I’ll come back to this in a minute. The back page includes a detailed Sequence of Play, Line of sight rules, and notes on Disordered Units and Rallying Units, all handily in one place.

Battle Book.

The Battle Book weighs in at 24 pages. Again, the title page features a Table of Contents. A page and a half offer an introductory note and some advice on counter and terrain. The roughly ten pages dealing with Antietam include two scenarios – a shorter Final Attack as well as the Full Battle – as well as rules covering both scenarios and some special rules for the Full Battle scenario. The Cedar Creek gets the same treatment over eight pages – only the Historical Battle scenario is included here – but also gets some Advanced Rules covering Fog, Looting and the lull in the fighting due to Sheridan’s hesitation upon his return.

I wanted to note the inclusion of a paragraph or two on both games regarding balance in the games. Regular readers will be aware of my thoughts on balance in historical simulation games, but I just wanted to share my appreciation for Mr Berg’s acknowledgement and acceptance that sometimes the odds were just against one side. I don’t have all that many Richard Berg games – the Men of Iron Tri-Pack (GMT, 2020) springs to mind – but I’m always appreciative of these notes.

Two pages are devoted to a reduced image of the two counter sheets, front and back. I’ve found these invaluable in the past for checking inventory of counters in punched second-hand games. Like the Rulebook, the back cover of the Ply Book is given over to useful charts, specifically pertaining to the Cedar Creek game, as well as some notes toward an Alternative History scenario for the Cedar Creek game involving the removal of Custer’s and Merril’s cavalry forces for a more evenly matched game.

PACs, front and back.

Glory III comes with two Player Aid Cards. It's a small thing, but I'm always grateful when two PACs are included in a game. It's not that big a deal to run off an extra copy, and it wouldn't be an issue at all for folks who regularly or solely play their games double-handed, but a second PAC says to me that the publisher understands table requirements and is willing to go to a little more effort to make a more perfect gaming experience. 

The PAC is all about contact with the enemy. The front offers the tables needed for  Artillery Fire Resolution and range effects on arty, an Odds Ratio DRM chart, and Charge Resolution and Defensive Fire Resolution tables. The verso presents a Terrain Effects Chart with two set of columns, covering movement on the left (although it hasn't been marked as such), and Combat effects of various terrain types on Arty fire, Defensive fire and Charge attacks. All useful stuff.

Two counter sheets, slightly curled with age and a little damp, but still serviceable.

The game comes with two sheets of counters; a forgiving 5/8” (15mm in new money) for most of the foot units, and 1/2” (12.5mm) for the cavalry and artillery units, and leaders. All the unit counters are identified with an A or CC (right-hand side, middle counter) to mark their provenance, and each is roughly a regiment in strength. One to two infantry regiments make a brigade (the top-most name is the Brigade Commander, a number of brigades, usually around three, will make up a division. Divisions are identified by the Divisional Commander (the name below the Brigade Commander’s name, and several divisions will make up a Corps. Each corps is colour-coded with a stripe highlighting the brigade and divisional commanders’ names. As Glory uses a chit-pull activation system, units are ordered at the corps level. This should keep things simple and ticking along nicely.

Counter sample. The -a and -b after the Brigade commanders name indicates the
assigned regiment identifier. The numbers on the left are Combat Strength (top)
and Cohesion (red box) and on the right, Movement Points.

As mentioned previously, about a quarter of the second counter sheet is devoted to replacement artillery counters for the first Glory set. It seems the artillery was rated understrength for both sides, and the replacement counters address this. Which brings me to a bit of an impasse. Do I keep these in anticipation of one day finding a copy of Glory to acquire, or do solicit interest from the readership? I’m inclined to hang on to them for now, at lease until I’ve played Glory III and got a feel for the game, but feel free to contact me if you have a copy sans replacement counters and desperately wish to play it as the designer (eventually) intended.

Antietam map.

The two maps are printed on a single, low-gloss sheet of paper. The map sheet is a nice weight, I’d guess about 200gsm, and both look very attractive and eminently playable on the table, though I think I’ll be laying them under plexi, just to lose the puckering at the fold nexuses.

The maps are clear, well-drawn and easily navigable, and bear some resemblance to the GBACW series maps of the same era. The Antietam map features the town of Sharpsburg nearly in its centre, with a meandering Potomac River and the accompanying Chesapeake and  Ohio Railway (C&O) navigation (transport) canal making appearances to the left side of the display, and the Antietam Creek making its way through the full length of the play area.

Cedar Creek map.

The Cedar Creek map is bisected top to bottom by Medow Brook, a shallow waterway that runs past Middletown and into Cedar Creek in the bottom half of the map. To be honest, I know next to nothing about the battle of Cedar Creek, so this is one I’m particularly looking forward to. In both instances, the undulating terrain is clearly defined with the use of progressively darker-hued beige colourings, which promise to make for an interesting fighting situation.

Each map contains its own terrain key, as well as holding boxes for each side for Withdrawn and Reserve units, and a turn track is printed on both maps (this is always a delight, to not have to find room for a separate Turn Track PAC).

Dice, baggies and a packing slip, harking back to a simpler time.

The game comes with two ten-sided dice, fittingly one in blue and one in grey, and a roll of Ziploc baggies. Amazingly, the baggies that came with this game haven’t been repurposed (I don’t know if I would have been so diligent). Also included is one of those notes of thanks the GMT warehouse folks used to always put in a box to say it had been prepared by another human, in this case, half-way around the world. A small point of connection, and a little marker of satisfaction in bringing a little joy into another person’s life.

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Which brings us to the end of our look at Glory III. Thanks for staying to the end. 

Now, the game will return to its shelf, in all probability to sit for another couple of months or a year, until I get around to punching and clipping it, laying out a map and pushing some counters around myself. But what would be the point of a library full of games that I’ve already played?