Stripped Down for Parts: Fire on the Mountain (Legion Wargames catch-up order, Part 2)

 

I recently blew a windfall of PayPal credit on some games I’ve wanted to try for varying lengths of time. One is still on its way from another publisher, but the other three I was able to order directly from Legion Wargames. I’m looking at these in order of release; the first one I looked at was The Battle of Blenheim, 1704 (Legion Wargames, 2018). You can check out that unboxing here. The second game in the order is John Poniske’s Fire on the Mountain: The Battle of South Mountain September 14, 1862 (Legion Wargames, 2022). I’ve had a lot of fun with Mr Poniske’s Ball’s Bluff (Legion Wargames, 2015), and I’ve heard that this, Fire on the Mountain, and Belmont: Grant's Baptism of Command, November 7th, 1861 (Compass Games, 2017) are variations on a theme, essentially the same system, but with something extra to fit the individual battle situations.

The Battle of South Mountain is an interesting battle to game, and is or has been available in several American Civil War game systems. It is also significant in one respect of ACW lore. As mentioned in an anniversary post by the Wisconsin Veterans’ Museum;

This battle also is the most-commonly accepted origin for the famous name “Iron Brigade.” Late in the day an infantry brigade consisting of the 2d, 6th, and 7th Wisconsin and 19th Indiana attacked in the Union center along the National Road. “What troops are those fighting along the Pike?” asked General McClellan as he looked on. “They must be made of iron.”

Fire on the Mountain’s box cover features and extract from a painting by H. Charles McBarron Jr (1902-1992), a noted illustrator for US military publications and a founding member of the Company of Military Historians, as well as a consultant to the Smithsonian. This painting, known alternatively as “The American Soldier, 1862”, “The Citizens Corps of Wisconsin at South Mountain, Maryland,” and “6th Wisconsin at Turner’s Gap, South Mountain,” was originally prepared as part of a series of fifty illustrations released in five sets of ten by the US Government Printing Office, called The American Soldier: 1775 to the Present (released around 1974).

Lookout Mountain. This photo was taken quite soon after the Union attack 
on the Confederate forces. One of the rigid ladders used in the assault
is just visible (here's a better view (Courtesy of WIkipedia)).

McBarron worked very quickly, was an early adopter of photographic media, often working off existing photographs of his own polaroids to more accurately portray the landscape’s details in his subjects. In this case, McBarron worked from a photograph taken after the battle, but misattributed. Paul McKee, a friend of a friend on Facebook, has conclusively established the photograph from which Barron worked was actually of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee (site of the Battle Above the Clouds), rather than South Mountain, Maryland.* Nonetheless, the painting is beautifully executed and quite compelling. And popular; it graces at least one other wargame box cover – Grant Wylie’s South Mountain 1862 (Worthington Publishing, 2025), from Worthington’s Brigade Battle series.

Box back. I forgot to mention in the post, Fire on the Mountain is recommended
for grognards fourteen years and older.

As I’ve probably mentioned before, Legion box-backs are, in my opinion, a benchmark for how game information should be presented, The box-back of Fire on the Mountain offers a two-paragraph historical precis of the battle for context, and a much shorter statement of he parameters of the game at hand. This would be my only point of criticism in the presentation of the game; The black print on the muddy brown background made me work a little harder at reading than I’d otherwise like. It’s a small thing, but a slightly lighter shade for the background (or white print, as used in the game details inset near the bottom) would be appreciated.

The box-back also features a representation of the map (which looks great, even in miniature, but we’ll get to that), a sample of the game’s unit counters and markers at their actual size, and the relevant game details. These tell us the game’s scale – 300 yards to a hex, brigade-sized units, and one-hour to a turn – a truncated component list, and the game credits, which we’ll return to soon. The Fire on the Mountain has a complexity rating of Medium-Low and, while designed as a two-player game, is rated Medium-High for solitaire suitability.

The Rules of Play.

The rulebook for Fire on the Mountain is printed on a matte-finish paper-stock of roughly 100gsm, lending the booklet a satisfying heft for its size. The booklet runs to sixteen pages, but the first two pages are occupied with an introductory note *as seen in the above photograph) and thorough Table of Contents, and the back cover features the Confederate and Union Orders of Battle, so the rules take up a mere thirteen pages. There is an addendum to this count, which we will come back to in due course.

Sample pages.

I keep harping on this, but I can’t say often enough how much I appreciate the rules layout in Legion games; Fire on the Mountain is no exception. The rules here are set in a nice, easily readable sans-serif font and presented in two columns with coloured bars marking the beginning of each new section (these follow the numbering convention familiar to anyone who grew up on SPI games. Examples are set in text boxes, and the whole thing has colour illustrations when necessary (pictures appear sparingly, but not frugally).

Rules Revision sheet and Errata note. Seriously, if the errata fit on just a half-sheet
of paper, somebody deserves a commendation..

Fire on the Mountain, as it is presented, is not a wholly historical representation of the battle; the Confederate Order of Battle includes R.H. Anderson’s Division, which did not participate in the historical battle. The designer has included a rules revision to accommodate this shortening of the Confederate forces to equate any loss of balance caused by playing the historical Order of Battle (making Confederate defences a little more resilient in the face of Union assaults), and a second to use Anderson’s Division, but with an uncertain arrival time across four game turns.

Two small items in the rulebook remained uncorrected at the time of printing, and these are addressed by a half-page Errata note, also included in the game, one involving Movement Costs and the other a reference mis-naming a brigade’s commander. In the latter case the counters and Orders of Battle contain the correct information. No harm, no foul.

The map-sheet. Even with some encouragement, the folds didn't want
to give up completely.

The game map was prepared by Edmund Hudson. If that name sounds familiar, I’ve noted Mr Hudson’s excellent work previously on the map for All Are Brothers, Solferino, 1859 (Legion Wargames, 2025). He is also responsible for the game-maps for several of Revolution Games’ Blind Swords series games, including the recent Gettysburg: the First Day (Revolution Games, 2025). This map is simply stunning.

A map extract highlighting Frosttown and its environs. The terrain details
are clear, but subtle and unobtrusive.

The game focusses on the action in the vicinity of Fox’s Gap and Turner’ Gap, and is topographically challenging, both in play and in its representation. Changes in elevation are noted by a shift from darker hues of green though near-grey to yellows and browns (the Altitude key runs in 100’ increments from 400’ to a dizzying 1,600’). Features on the map – farmsteads, roads, trails, woods, and escarpments – are clearly defined without being jarring, and the hexes are large enough to comfortably accommodate the elongated (1.2”) unit counters.

The map-sheet incorporates a terrain legend and Turn Track along the Right-hand short edge (the Confederate left). Also built into this column are Casualty boxes for the two sides.

The game's two counter-sheets.  

The game comes with two counter-sheets, each printed on a medium weight white-core cardstock and each consisting of a mix of square 0.6” and the aforementioned 1.2” by 0.6” counters. The double-width counters are brigade-sized units representing the two sides’ complements of infantry, cavalry, and artillery units. The square counters represent the two side’s divisional and corps Commanders and also provide an assortment of administrative counters.

The unit counters are a study in usability and at-a-glance identification. Each unit has a silhouette of an unmounted or mounted soldier or a cannon to identify it as an Infantry, Cavalry or Artillery unit respectively. Each infantry counter also exhibits a white silhouette of the brigade’s home state. At the right-side end of the units is a big, easily read number (two numbers for Artillery units) indicating the unit’s current battle strength in Strength Points (SP). This number represents the number of dice that unit will roll in combat (attack or defence), with an overall ceiling on ten dice per roll. Many units are represented by two or more counters, which are flipped or replaced as the unit suffers losses in combat and loses SP. Finally, each brigade is identified by their brigade commander’s name, which appears on the bottom edge of the counter, superimposed over a colour-bar that identifies their divisional affiliation (this is something reflected in the layout of the Confederate and Union Order of Battle cards, which we’ll see coming up). The regiments that make up the brigade are also listed on each counter, which has no game value, but adds to the historical depth of the game and is a nice, respectful touch.

The orientation of the unit counters is crucial in the game; the top long edge of the counter represents the front facing side of the unit, and the unit is paces in the hex side to side, to that edge is acing two hexes. These represent the front. The two hexes below the counter are the units rear, and the remaining hexes meeting the side edges of the unit are its flank. This configuration will, of course, impact on movement and combat. Up to three brigades may stack together in a hex (as well as up to two leaders), but only two of these may be infantry brigades. That's all I'm going to say about brigade units at this point. I'm no expert yet - wait for the AAR.

The Players' Aid Card. Only one is provided, but by the end of the second game,
you'll probably remember most of the regular tables.

Fire on the Mountain comes with a single Player Aid Card, a Set-Up and Reinforcements schedule, and two Order of Battle cards, one each for the Confederate and Union players. All of these are single-sided and printed on a sturdy weight of card-stock.

The PAC offers a quick reference Sequence of Play and charts for the Burnside Roll (reflecting Burnside’s order to all Union formations on his arrival at the battle to disengage with the enemy until he had taken stock of the situation), and charts for Rallying and Regrouping units, checking Morale, and a set of guidelines for Commander behaviours (various Commanders may be subject to different conditional rules in certain circumstances).

The Union Order of Battle;

...and the Confederate Order of Battle. Note how provision has been made
for the multiple-step units.

The Orders of Battle cards allow for the setting out of each side’s units in a coherent and organised fashion. Each Brigade has a corresponding template of each of its step-counters on the Order of Battle (one, to or three counters), and these are grouped by division. This is unusual in this kind of set-up, but it removes the need to stack and swap out units' step-counters on the fly.  Personally, I think this is a great approach; it should speed up solo play especially.

The game should exhibit a low counter-density. This is partly due to staggered arrival of the reinforcements for both sides over the course of eight turns, but also because, even if every unit from both sides were to be deployed at exactly the same time, this would still only come to twenty-nine units for the Confederate player and thirty-five for the Union.

The Set up and Reinforcement Schedule (as I like to call it).

The Set Up and Reinforcements schedule is just that, a card that lists the set-up locations for the initial forces, and breaks down the reinforcements list turn by turn to make it easier to track. Each unit that starts on the map is represented by its divisional commander and a reference to its position or on the board’s numbered hex-grid. The reinforcements are presented as a list of Confederate or Union divisions, with a map entry hex for those units.

Some games build the reinforcement schedule into the Order of Battle, but given both the size of the unit counters and the relatively low density on the board – there are only about sixty units among the two sides combined – I think this is a more sensible approach.

As always, the good folks at Legion Wargames have provided zip-loc bags in sufficient quantities to house the game’s loose components. I’m old enough to remember when coins still came in paper rolls and the best way to store game counters was in empty matchboxes or, if you were lucky enough to have a supplier, typewriter ribbon cases, so I always appreciate it when these are provided, even when they don’t get used. Fire on the Mountain also comes with ten dice, five each in red and black. Ten in all, which (as mentioned earlier) is the total highest number of dice to be used in a single roll, so that makes sense. I’m not sure if there is any significance to the two colours of dice as I haven’t finished going through the rules yet, but for what it’s worth, they do look like nice dice.

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So, that covers the components of Fire on the Mountain. Everything looks functional and really quite nice. The counters should really stand out on the map, and the housekeeping should be a breeze with the Orders of Battle cards and the reinforcement schedule. I should point out that the Set Up and Reinforcement Schedule isn’t actually called that, but that’s how I thought about it and now I can’t stop calling it that. The word “schedule” never appears on the card or – so far as I’m aware – in the rules. Don’t get uptight when your copy just has “19.0) GAME SET UP” at the top.

This has been the second part of my exploration of my three-game Legion catch-up order. I don’t think I’m going to get to part three, A Glorious Chance (Legion Wargames, 2023) for a couple of weeks, given family commitments over the holidays, but I may surprise myself. In the meantime, thanks for reading this far, and hope the season is good to you and yours.

 

* This is not meant to be an indictment against the misuse or wrongful allocation of the picture; Barron no doubt did his best with the resources he had to hand. The US Army Center of Military History still represents the painting on their website as being Turner’s Pass. These things when left this long tend to take on a life of their own, and while everyone else appreciates the fine work or the stirring narrative, only pedants and curmudgeons mutter their disapproval.

 

Stripped Down for Parts: By Swords and Bayonets

 

 

The Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) series is my White Whale. Or one of them. I circled around the game for years. I heard it was difficult, that the rules were hard to digest, that understanding of line-of-sight was conferred only on the worthy by some greater power. Okay, I’m exaggerating. But everything I read suggested GBACW was tough to start with but incredibly rewarding if you push through and grok it.

So, in a rash moment, I dove in. I bought Death Valley: Battles for the Shenandoah (GMT Games, 2019), and Into the Woods: The Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862 (GMT Games, 2022) in quick succession. I started reading the common rulebook, and while not something you’ll breeze through, the rules – was reading the latest (2022) version from Into the Woods – seemed clear, sensible, and understandable.

I’ve mentioned previously in A Fast Game that I’m keen to get into GCBACW and was planning to get a couple of the smaller scenarios from Into the Woods to the table (more pushing counters around to get a feel for the game and the line-of-sight rules, rather than diving in like a damned fool). Circumstance and my own conflicts of interest had kept this from happening, but as it was, when GMT announced the inclusion of By Swords & Bayonets in its P500 roster, I decided to put those ambitions on the backburner and wait for this one to come out. Like a lot of other people, I’ve been eagerly awaiting its release since.

Normally I try to bring a little a clarity to the components in my unboxing narrations, but I don’t think I cold bring anything this that hasn’t already been covered in Gary Mengle’s unboxing video over on his YouTube channel, Ardwulf’s Lair (subscribe and thank me later), with the game’s designer, Allen Dickerson.* I recommend taking the time watch the video in its entirety (it comes in under three-quarters of an hour), especially if you’re unfamiliar with the system. Instead, I’ll mostly just offer quick run through of everything that comes in the box, with some comments on the physical qualities of the components, and a few historical notes.  

The cover illustration for a game will usually the tone for the game. The choice of a Currier and Ives lithograph depicting the Battle of Mill Springs,1862. I’ve written about another print company that made a specialty out of American Civil War prints, Kurtz and Allison, in a previous post. The notable difference here is that, while it could be argued that Kurtz and Allison’s output was technically of better quality and more fully realised (certainly richer in detail), Currier and Ives were producing their prints contemporaneously with the events depicted. A copy of the Mill Springs print was submitted to the Library of Congress in the same year the battle was fought.

The back of the box: so full of promise.

Overall, the box shell is of the solid quality that GMT has been housing everything lately.I've heard that the box is the single most expensive component to produce for a new game. For what it's worth, I'm happy to pay a  couple of bucks extra for a sturdy enclosure.

While some games in the GBACW series have presented multiple battles in a set, these have been interconnected, often parts of a greater campaign, or single day scenarios of a longer battle. By Swords and Bayonets goes the full SPI-style quad-game experience, with geographically and chronologically disparate battles, each using the GBACW series rules, with some situational tinkering for each battle. This is a first for this series, but Mr Dickerson has alluded to a second four-battle pack  already in the works (or at least in the research stage).

The box back offers a teaser of what’s to come. Four maps (in miniature, overlapping), some representative counters, shown at about actual size, and some brief paragraphs setting out the scope of the game. The inset details I’ve come to think of as the Scope Box (though I doubt that will catch on) declares that the game is intended for 1-2 players (though I doubt Mr Dickerson agrees), that each battle will likely take four or more hours to resolve (so probably not appropriate for a school night), and the game is intended for players fourteen and up.

The game’s complexity is rated at 7 out of 9. I think this is probably true of anyone’s first game using the GBACW rules; if you’re familiar with the system, I’d wager this would go down a notch or two, though there will be things to integrate with each new situation (but in that richness is much of the appeal), and Solitaire Suitability also comes in at a 7 out of 9. Regarding the game, the map scale is 140 yards per hex, with altitude graduation 20’each, each unit stands at roughly fifty men per Strength Point (or a single cannon), and each turn represents an hour of battle time.

GBACW series rulebook.

The GBACW Series Rulebook is the next evolution of the series rules from the 2022 edition featured in Into the Woods. All significant changes to the 2024 edition rules are indicated throughout by a Minie ball icon in the margin. The rulebook itself runs to 44 pages. Of these, the cover page offers a detailed Table of Contents, the back cover presents the credits for the broader GBACW system. A through Index takes up the next two pages inside the back cover. In all, the rules amass 38 pages, with another two devoted to an optional Fatigue rule that, according to many trusted commentators familiar with the system, shouldn’t be considered optional at all.

The rules are both well laid out and are augmented with edifying illustrations where appropriate. This is a series that has been in near constant development since maybe the early eighties, and it has been honed by many minds. Nothing made by the hands of man is ever perfect, but by now the GBACW system rules must be polished to a high sheen.

All three books share the qualities of being printed on a nice weight of matte-finish paper, in – if I’m not mistaken – a very readable Garamond-family type. The books are staple bound, which is perfectly fine for presentations of this length. I tend to mistreat my rulebooks, rolling the pages back over themselves when I’m learning a game, but comparable length booklets from GMT have stood up to this abuse admirably.

 

BS&B Battle Book. Let's get this party started.

The Battle book is adorned with another Currier and Ives lithograph, this one the Battle of Newbern [sic] N.C. March 26^th 1862. A better rendering of the print is available from the Huntington Digital Library and is worth a look. The slight differentiation in colouring between the Huntington print and the one used for the Battle Book is that each print, after being pressed on a limestone block for the black and white image, was hand-coloured by in-house artists, so some variation was inevitable.

The cover also features a Table of Contents, from which we can glean that three of the battles featured in BS&B are single-scenario ventures, while an alternative scenario is offered for the Battle of 2^nd Rappahannock Station. The next two and a half pages outline general principles for the playing of the four battles – each scenario will have its own particular rules as well. Special note should be taken of rule 17.0 Fatigue, which states “In all By Swords and Bayonets battles, Fatigue is not optional,” (emphasis in the original, but thankfully it isn’t presented in bold).

Each scenario is laid out in the manner as in previous entries into the GBACW line. One of the things that make BS&B such great value is that, while most of the scenarios are single situation games, the situations of the four games are quite radically different, each bringing its own qualities and flavour to the table.

The Battle Book also includes a two-page Designer’s Notes that should be required reading for anyone embarking on the game. It closes with a reproduction of the counter sheets (which we will get to shortly), and an exhaustive set of credits for the game on the back cover.

Examples of Play Book. Chock-full of demonstrative goodness.

Also included in this set is a third booklet given over to an extended example of play that the designer has put together using images from the VASSAL module created for playtesting the game. The booklet runs to 32 pages, with a one-page forward, and a very detailed thirty-page of detailed and thoroughly illustrated play-through of the Battle of Big Bethel. This book alone is worth the cost of the game for someone new to the system and keen to learn. The Example of Play is replete with fully annotated set-piece examples of how the rules of the game function in an actual game situation. This might be the resource that nobody realised the series was lacking.

Terrain Effects Charts for the battles of Big Bethel and Mill Springs.
Terrain (and elevation) play a big role in GBACW.

The game comes with a handful of various manners of cards, ten in all. All of the cards are printed on a familiar weight of cardstock, with a light sheen rather than a full gloss finish, making them much more readable under lights.

The 2nd Disorder Table. Clauses and consequences.

Of these, for are Terrain Effects Cards, one for each battle, and each with the common Second Disorder Chart on the verso. These are 8½” by 11” cards. If an already disordered unit receives a second Disorder result (as can happen in a multitude of circumstances) the owning player must refer to this chart and follow the instructions for the appropriate case. This chart is very well laid out and easy to follow.

Confederate and Union Organisational Cards for the Battle of Big Bethel. The others
share roughly the same configuration, but are tailored too each battle.

Four back-printed Organizational Cards – also 8½” by 11” – are also included, two for each side. Each card has two sets of tracking aids on either side, each face covering the for battles of the game. These are used by each layer to track turns and collected victory points, as well as various administrative functions in the game, such as routed/regrouping and eliminated units.

Player Aid Pard, external panels (back (left) and front).

And the same PAC inside the fold.

Finally, two bi-fold 11’ by 17” Player Aid Cards provide the tables and charts needed for the most common functions in the game. This is a well laid-out PAC, with each panel dealing with its own set of game circumstances. The front face offers tables for Rallying, Brigade Coordination and Order changes, and notes on the Loose Cannon result from an unfortunate Brigade Orders Change roll. The inside-fold deals with Fire combat, offering the Range effects and Fire results tables, as well as notes on Stacking limits and non-phasing fire eligibility. The back face covers Shock combat, with the Shock Resolution Table, and supporting guides and tables.

Battle of Big Bethel map.

Battle of Mill Springs map. The poor lighting really doesn't do justice
to these map sheets.

Battle of New Bern map. Tough fighting with all that forest.

Battle of Rappahannock Station map. Two scenarios, no waiting.

From a presentation point – in my view, at least – the maps are where BS&B really shines (though the work done on the unit counters has really paid off as well). These were prepared by GBACW stalwart Charles Kibler. The four maps are back-printed on two 17” by 22” sheets. These are also printed on a good weight paper-stock, the same quality as those included in Into the Woods and Death Valley. The maps hit that sweet spot between attractiveness and playability. I don’t think I have much more to offer regarding these, except that they are one more reason to get some B&SB to the table.

Counter sheet 1 - mostly fighting units and leaders.

The game comes with just two sheets of counters. The counters are all ½”, which can sometimes make for some difficulty for me personally, but I don’t think these should be troublesome at all. 

A sample of Confederate and Union leader and unit counters. Like I said, a lot
of information in a small space, but still eminently readable.

The unit counters carry a lot of information, but it is clearly organised and presented, with blue and butternut backgrounds for the opposing Union and Confederate forces, a colour-bar to mark each unit’s command affiliation, and numbers representing the unit’s Strength, Cohesion, and Movement allowance.

Counter sheet 2 - mostly admin markers, but also included are two errata counters
 for the Death Valley expansion, Battles of the Shenandoah (Bottom-right).

About half of the counter mix is made up of administrative markers, including numbered counters to keep track of casualties taken by units, mnemonic devices for unit orders and various states such as low ammunition and fatigue. Overall, the counter registration is very good across both sheets, and the die-cutting is so good that, I dare say, clipping may not be required.

An unexpected boon. A counter tray (stray tray?). Dice are also included
(though not pictured, but you've all seen ten-siders before).

As an unexpected bonus, a counter tray has been included in the package. I don’t know if that’s just for the first hundred lucky prize-winners, or if all copies will come with one. I think a single tray should accommodate the leaders and troops, though some of the shared administrative counters will probably need to reside in Ziploc baggies. Which may actually be more desirable in the long run. The game also comes with two appropriately coloured ten-sided dice, one blue, one grey. These feel like good rolling dice, but I’m already stealing myself to their sudden but inevitable betrayal.

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Realistically, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get By Swords and Bayonets to the table. It is on my Ten Game Challenge list (as a reserve title), so I have an excuse to pull it out, one game at least. If anyone else has played it, I'd appreciate any advice you can offer on which battle would be best to start with. Leave a comment if you have a firm view on this, and thanks for reading this far.

* Since posting this, GMT Games has posted a video of Allen Dickerson in conversation with Rachel and Luke Billingsley on the GMT Games YouTube Channel, discussing BS&B and the future of  GBACW generally. I've heard elsewhere there's a appetite  at GMT for another quad battle game on the back of BS&B's apparent success, but our intrepid designer isn't interested. In the interview, Mr Dickerson stated he's weighing up a big-box Death Valley-style campaign game covering the McClellan's Peninsula Campaign of 1862. We can only hope.

Review: Hold the Line: The American Civil War

  

Recently I’ve been on something of an American Civil War kick in my gaming. This is mostly due to the recent release of Mark Hermans’s Rebel Fury (GMT Games, 2024) and the extra attention I've been giving Brothers at War, 1862 (Compass Games, 2022) of late. Both are remarkable games. and each rewards the time spent with them immensely.

All of this has got me harking back to my earliest ACW gaming experiences, the Blue and Gray series (Worthington Publishing, 2016), and Hold the Line: the American Civil War (Worthington Publishing, 2019), both released by Worthington. I backed this on Kickstarter when it was put up – I think my order was in the high double digits – and we played the hell out of this when it arrived. I’ll say up front; I love this game. It’s not a nuanced simulation of famous SCW battles, but it’s a relatively fast playing game that offers a pleasant and satisfying ACW-flavoured experience. Just as there’s room for both Caesar: Rome vs. Gaul (GMT Games, 2020) and Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! (PSC, 2022), I’ve got space for in my collection for both the The U.S. Civil War (GMT Games, 2015), and this.

First, though, something of a confession. Hold the Line: the American Civil War has been out of print for at least a couple of years now, and the good folks at Worthington Publishing tend not to republish older titles, preferring to forge ahead with new games (though there have been exceptions to this). Reviewing an out-of-print game is something of a guilty pleasure, but at the same time it might encourage others who have a copy sitting on their shelf unplayed to dust it off and give it another play (or even to sell it on and let someone else enjoy what it has to offer).

 

Terrain lay-out for the Shiloh scenario. Just right of centre are the Peach Orchid,
Bloody Pond and the Hornet's Nest clustered together; centre-left, Shiloh Church.

Appearance

Anyone familiar with Worthington’s earlier Hold the Line games will recognise the essential configuration immediately. The mounted board is a blank hex-field, ## long by ## deep. The hexes are on the large side as they have to accommodate three or four blocks (multiple counters in the earliest iterations of the ruleset, Hold the Line (Worthington Games, 2008) and Hold the Line: Frederick’s War (Worthington Games, 2013).

Anyone with a general interest in historical wargaming will be struck by the similarities between Hold the Line: TACW and the Commands and Colors family. I’m addressing this here because the similarities are mostly cosmetic. Both games use a blank, oversized hex-grid board with interchangeable terrain tiles that overlay some of the hexes in a given scenario to better approximate the historical battlespace. The two games also use blocks (so far as I’m aware, Hold the Line: TACW is the only game in the family that does; the early iterations used counters, while the re-implementation of the Hold the Line: the American Revolution (Worthington, 2016) game and its French and Indian War (Worthington, 2016) expansion featured uniform miniatures, much like its spiritual second-cousins, Battle Cry (Avalon Hill, 1999) and Memoir’44 (Days of Wonder, 2004).

Union Infantry and Artillery with their Commanding Officer, setting up a
delaying action in defence of Pittsburg Landing (Victory Point location). 

The blocks bring several qualities to the game experience. My first experience of a game that used stickered wooden blocks was Commands and Colors: Ancients (GMT Games, 2006) at a friend’s place. My first thought was, “This is like a poor man’s miniatures.” I still think of block games like this in those terms. I don’t mean it in a negative way, either; I’ve played a lot of miniatures games, and marvelled at how good they look on the table, but there’s no getting around the fact that they are expensive, time-consuming to prepare, and space-hogs for storage. Wooden blocks are durable, presentable (the colours and illustrations pop on a game-board) and they’re a lot easier to stow away than lead figurines when you’re done with them. And they offer the a similar tactility and verisimilitude in play; I’d argue as a player you get a greater sense of loss and growing desperation removing a block from a unit on the board that you do flipping a counter to drop a step. In short, the blocks were a solid choice for Hold the Line: TACW.

The art on the block stickers is simple but attractive and effective, the blocks themselves easily identified by their colour. There are only a handful of unit types in the game; Infantry (four blocks) Cavalry (two blocks), Artillery (two blocks), Leaders, and, for the Union, Gunboats (a single block each). What differentiates the infantry, cavalry and artillery units is the presence of a single “flag” block in the unit. Flag blocks identify (to the owning player only, at least until they get into combat) the morale rating of the unit with a coloured bar at the bottom; green for untested (“green”) troops, black for battle-tested troops, and gold for the exemplary fighters (like Gibbon’s Iron Brigade, though the scenarios don’t get down to this kind of granularity). The morale rating affects the chance of a unit having to retreat after combat (using a special die).

The terrain tiles are one of the most beautiful features of the game. Well, most of them. Unlike Commands and Colors: Napoleonics (GMT Games, 2010) or Horse and Musket (Hollandspiele, 2017), which both take a bird’s-eye view of the terrain, the tiles in Hold the Line TACW are drawn at an elevate viewing angle which adds a certain charm to the groves. ploughed fields, towns and churches, and even the swamps. Sunken roads and rivers are still presented straight-down, which is makes sense, design-wise and removes any potential confusion, but the rest are a nice ascetic touch.

 

Starting set-up for the Shiloh scenario. On the edges are the Union Reinforcements,
river edge in turn 5, top edge in turn twelve. If the Confederates haven't taken
Pittsburg Landing by turn eleven, they're in for a tough time of it.

Play

Hold the Line: TACW is a fairly fast-playing game mechanically; players take turns taking actions until both have passed, then you being a new round. Sounds simple, right? What can slow it down is the choice of actions, coupled with the fact that you can never do everything you want to do.

The central functional aspect of Hold the Line: TACW is the allocation of Action Points. Action Points (AP) are the currency you spend to do things in the game; moving a unit or engaging the enemy in combat comes at a cost. Your AP allocation is a limited resource, and it’s partially randomised. Each scenario will tell you how many base AP you get each turn as the Union or CSA, usually ranging from three to five points, and more often than not, weighted slightly in favour of one or the other side.

Units are represented by blocks with a picture of their type on each, with one block carrying the flag, and identifying the unit’s morale strength. Infantry units are comprised of four blocks, cavalry and artillery two blocks each, and Leaders, of course, a single block. The Union also has gunboats in some scenarios; these are a represented by a single block.

The play is IGO-UGO; the players take turns – initiative holder first – rolling for their additional AP, then spend those points to move they units or to engage them in combat, or as many as they wish before passing to the next player. Most units move or engage in ranged combat for one AP (unlike C&C, a unit can engage in ranged combat with an adjacent enemy unit, and there are reasons this may be desirable). Cavalry units can move and fire for the cost of a single AP, but not the other way around. If a unit is already adjacent to an enemy, they can engage in close combat for a cost of two AP.

In both Ranged and Close Combat, only the attacker rolls for damage. In if the defender in Close Combat, receives a hit, they roll a special die for a retreat; the Retreat die has three green spots, two black and one gold, so untried units have a 50% chance of being forced to retreat, veteran units about 33% and elite units around 17%.

Some terrain features, like hills, woods and towns will give the defender a bump one level up in their morale for retreat rolls, e.g., green will roll as black if defending from a sunken road. If they stand their ground, they will get the opportunity to give back in kind I their next activation. Combat in Hold the Line: TACW can be bloody, especially in close combat, where rolls hit on a 4-6. Each hit in combat removes a block; this is representative of the loss of cohesion under fire - the number of rice rolled for the attacking unit remains the same.

The game comes with twelve scenarios, with some famous actions represented, like First Bull Run, Antietam, and Chickamauga. The scenarios are turn-limited, with a set of victory conditions for one side, while the opposition may have a target VP number, or can simply run down the clock on the aggressors. The longest games run to 20 turns, but a victory for one or the other side can often be attained before that. Looking at the available forces alone, some of the scenarios can appear somewhat unbalanced, but that hasn’t been my experience in play.

CSA forces preparing to advance on the Union screening positions.
Infantry units can move through or share a space with friendly Artillery.

Appraisal

Hold the Line: TACW is a relatively straight-forward and accessible game (the rules are articulately covered in just seven pages) that accomplishes what sets out to do. Using simple components and easy-to-grasp rules, it offers a way for novice players to tackle some of the pivotal battles of the American Civil War in a manageable and engrossing. It requires about as much mental effort as a Command and Colors game, but instead of the frustration of not being able to do exactly what you want because of a deficiency of the necessary cards in your hand, the frustration comes from the limited number of AP available each turn. Even if you add five or six points from a good roll, you’re unlikely to order every available unit or set up the perfect play for your next round. This would probably annoy the very same people who don’t like C&C, and for pretty much the same reason; the game mechanics portray the same battlefield confusion and the limits of command in control in nineteenth-century conflicts that discrete hand-sizes do in a CDG like Commands and Colors: Napoleonics.

In some measure, it’s more freeing as a player because it forces you to make provisional plans two or three rounds ahead, albeit without the security of knowing what resources you’ll have available over those future turns. It makes play incredibly dynamic, and it keeps both players fully engaged and on their toes.

While I don’t think it’s likely to happen at this stage, I’d really like to see a reprint of Hold the Line: TACW. It’s a shrewd, engrossing game, simple yet satisfyingly frustrative, that can play out very differently with successive plays. It brings a lot of Civil War flavour to the table in a fast-playing, intellectually and tactilely satisfying package. If you haven’t played it and you ever get the opportunity, please try it out.