War of the States: Gettysburg, 1863
War of the States: Gettysburg, 1863 Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Leaders, Troops and Formations
The two types of pieces in these games are leaders and troop units.
Leaders are the most important, and have three numbers: Command Radius, Tactical Leadership, and Initiative (in that order).
- Command Radius is how far away from himself a Leader can give orders to troops and lower-ranking leaders.
- Tactical Leadership is the extra dice which troops in the same space with the leader get to roll in combat.
- Initiative is a Leader's ability to control his troops when it counts.
The Army Commander commands your other leaders. All leaders command their own troops. Each leader has a stripe the same color as the triangle or stripe (depending on the game) on his troops. A leader and his troops together are called a formation.
In Command and Out of Command
To play a turn, start by checking whether all leaders are within the Command Radius of the Commander, and whether all troops are within their own leaders' Command Radius. Those within command radius are "In Command." Any others are "Out of Command."
- If In Command, troops move and fight normally.
- If Out of Command, troops can't attack the enemy or move closer to them, and move one less than normal.
- An Out of Command leader can try to command troops on his own, by rolling equal to or less than his Initiative on one die. If successful, the leader and his troops are In Command. If not, they're Out of Command.
Initiative and Activation
Next, check to see who goes first. Each player rolls one die and adds his Commander's initiative--reroll ties.
The winner rolls another die and subtracts the result from his Commander's Initiative to see how many formations he can activate. A result of 1 or greater lets you activate that many formations. If the result is zero you can still activate one formation. If it's less than zero you can't activate any formations for now.
Example: Say the Confederate Commander is Bragg, and the Union's is Grant. Bragg's Initiative is 3 and Grant's is 5. Both players roll a 3. The Confederate result is 3 + 3 = 6; the Union's is 3 + 5 = 8. The Union player goes first, and rolls to see how many formations to activate. He rolls a 3, so the result is 5 - 3 = 2 formations.
The first player chooses the formations to activate, and moves and fights with them. Then the other player does the same. Then the first player rolls to activate more formations, and so on until both players have activated all their formations, or fail consecutively to activate any formations (by rolling more than their Commander's Initiative). Then the turn is over. Each formation can activate once per turn.
Activating a Formation
When you activate a formation, its troops move and fight in the following sequence:
- Cavalry can charge.
- Artillery can bombard.
- Units which didn't charge or bombard can move, and Infantry (only) can assault.
Leaders move up to four spaces per turn, cavalry and horse artillery up to three, and HQ and Infantry up to two.
Movement and Stacking
When moving, units must be able to fit into the spaces they enter. Units can't move into spaces they can't fit in. If the unit can only fit by turning a certain way, it must turn that way. Only leaders and artillery can stack on top of other units. So, other than leaders and artillery, you can only put units in a space that fit there.
Combat
Each troop unit has two numbers: Strength and Morale. When attacking, a unit rolls a number of dice equal to its Strength. Every 6 rolled is a hit. High Morale can increase the number of dice a unit rolls, and helps it avoid taking hits if it retreats from an assault. If it takes a hit, flip it to its lower-strength side, or replace it with the piece showing it at its next-lower strength level.
Each type of combat is different.
Cavalry Charge
Cavalry can charge enemy units that are exactly two spaces away with a clear space in between. If they charge the front of enemy infantry, the infantry fires and does damage to the cavalry first. If they charge it in the flank or rear, the infantry can't fire at all.
Artillery Bombardment
An artillery unit's range is equal to the number of triangles printed on it (for example, three triangles = range 3). An artillery unit can bombard enemy units inside its range (in spaces). Every 6 rolled by artillery is a hit, unless it is heavy artillery, or is firing at the flank or rear of enemy infantry, or an artillery leader is with it. Then it hits on a 5 or 6. An artillery unit expends one ammunition point each time it fires.
Infantry Assault
In an infantry assault, the attacker and defender both fire and do damage simultaneously. Only infantry can assault, and can only fire toward its own front or flank, not its rear. It hits every time it rolls a 6.
If an infantry unit takes a hit, it can try to avoid it by retreating one space away from the enemy (if it takes two or more hits, it can only avoid one hit this way). It retreats and rolls one die. If it rolls under its Morale, it avoids one hit. If it rolls over its Morale, it doesn't avoid the hit even though it retreated. Units that are Out of Command must always retreat.
That's it--you can start playing now! See the combat example below for further details.
Combat Example
This combat takes place on the Chickamauga map. Union leader Thomas of XIV Corps is in space 178 with the XIV Corps/1st Division. The XIV Corps/4th Division infantry and artillery are in space 179. Confederate leader Hood of I Corps is at Dalton Ford (space 154) with the I Corps/1A Division. The 1/B Division is in space 153, while Confederate cavalry leader Wheeler is in space 152 with the Wheeler 1/W and Wheeler 2/W cavalry units. All leaders are within range of their Commanders and are therefore In Command, and all troop units are on their A strength side.
The Union player won the initiative roll and gets to activate one formation. He activates Thomas and his units. He has no cavalry, so he cannot conduct a cavalry charge. He does have artillery, so he spends one ammunition point and bombards space 154. He rolls two dice, rolling a 3 and a 6. The Confederate 1/A Division takes one hit and flips to its B strength side.
Then the Union player advances Thomas and 1st Division into space 156, and 4th Division into space 155 (the artillery bombarded so it can't move). He declares that both divisions will attack 1/A Division in space 154.
The Union player adds up the strengths of his two divisions plus his leader's tactical rating and rolls 7 + 10 + 3 = 20 dice. He rolls 3 sixes, and the Confederate player decides not to retreat, so he replaces the 1/A Division B-strength piece with its E-strength piece.
The Confederate player declares that 1/A Division will attack the Union 4th Division, and rolls 9 dice for the division on its B-strength side (the side it started the assault on) plus 3 dice for Hood's tactical rating = 12 dice. The Confederate player rolls 3 sixes. The Union player decides to retreat 4th Division to try to avoid one of the three hits. He rolls one die and compares it to 4th Division's morale, which is 5. He rolls a 4, so 4th Division only takes 2 hits instead of 3, and the Union player replaces 4th Division's A-strength piece with its C-strength piece.
Now the Confederate player rolls for activation, and gets to activate one formation. He activates Hood and his units. He has cavalry, and 4th Division's retreat left an open space (155) between the cavalry and the Union 1st Division. The cavalry charges, and since 1st Division's flank is facing space 155, it can't fire.
The Confederate player rolls dice for the strength of the cavalry plus Wheeler's tactical rating, 4 + 3 + 1 = 8 dice. He rolls 2 sixes, and the Union player must replace 1st Division's A-strength piece with its C-strength piece (infantry can't retreat from a cavalry charge to avoid hits). Since 1st Division did not lose more than half its strength levels, (it goes all the way down to strength J), the cavalry must retreat back to the space it came from.
The Confederate player has no artillery, so he decides to attack the weaker Union division with both of his own. He moves 1/B Division from 153 into 152 and then 180. He then moves 1/A Division from 154 to 155, pointing its flanks toward spaces 153 and 180 to protect itself from future Union attacks. He rolls dice equal to the divisions' strengths plus Hood's tactical leadership, 6 + 5 + 3 = 14 dice. He rolls three sixes.
The Union player retreats 4th Division to space 178 to try to avoid one of the hits. 4th Division's C-strength morale is 4, and he rolls a 5. This is over the division's morale, so it takes all three hits despite the retreat, and the Union player replaces the piece with the 4th Division's F-strength piece. The Union player still gets to shoot back with 4th Division at C-strength, so he rolls 5 dice, but rolls no sixes, and scores no hits.
Now the Union player gets to roll for activation, and can try to activate formations on other parts of the board. The turn continues. . . .