Introduction

Each game in the GBACW series comes with a “Battle Book” featuring, among other things, special rules that seek to reflect the unique aspects of the battle(s) treated.  No one familiar with the Battle of Shiloh will be surprised to learn that Into the Woods’s Battle Book is chock-full of such rules.  In this article we explore them with the goal of showing how Dick Whitaker forged and shaped his design to evoke what happened near Pittsburg Landing early in April, 1862.

I’ve grouped the game’s special rules into five broad categories: 

• Army Organization
• Leadership & Troop Quality
• Terrain
• Line of Sight
• Shiloh-inspired Rules

Key to the abbreviations used in this article:

• DRM = Die Roll Modifier
• LOS = Line of Sight
• MP = Movement Point(s)
• SP = Strength Point(s)
• UDD = Universal Disorder Die Roll

Now that we’ve been briefed, let us plunge Into the Woods.

Army Organization

Although the carnage it wrought set the pattern for the war’s future, Shiloh was in many respects representative of the early stages of the American Civil War.  The game reflects that in several ways.

• Union Division Leaders.  The Army of the Tennessee includes no corps commanders.  Each of its six division leaders caps the chain of command for his division.  His brigadiers are in command and can change orders during the Division Orders Phase provided they are within his command range.  This is equally true of Buell’s Army of the Ohio.  The game’s stand-alone April 7^th scenario, however, requires division leaders to start the turn within Grant’s/Buell’s command range to be considered in command.  This exception was adopted purely for reasons of pacing—the April 7^th fight was slower to start and never quite reached the level of ferocity characterizing the previous day’s struggle.
• Confederate Command Structure.  Other than having two army commanders, Johnston and Beauregard, the Army of Mississippi’s command structure mostly follows the usual pattern, with the chain of command reaching downward to corps, division, and brigade leaders.  Two Confederate corps were so small as to merit unique treatment.  John Breckinridge directly commands the Reserve Corps’ three brigades.  William Hardee’s 3^rd Corps similarly boasts only three brigades, but nevertheless includes a division leader, Thomas Hindman.  Pat Cleburne’s brigade can trace command to either Hindman or Hardee, and if Hindman becomes a casualty, Hardee can command all three brigades directly.
• Unbrigaded Units.  Both the Army of the Tennessee and the Army of Mississippi included cavalry units attached to infantry divisions rather than being brigaded, and the game follows suit.  These units may be attached to the division’s brigades.  The same is true of Union artillery, most of which are divisional assets, but may be attached to a brigade in that division.
• Unassigned Units.  Both armies also include “Unassigned” units. Several Union batteries are classed as army assets and cannot be attached to lower-level commands.  Two Confederate batteries are also army assets, but may be assigned to divisions or to brigades.

Leadership & Troop Quality

Although all three armies at Shiloh included units that had seen action, both the troops and their leaders were still learning their craft.

• Leader effects on UDDs and Rallies.  No matter how many stars a leader’s counter has (i.e., no matter what his rank), he contributes only a -1 DRM to UDDs and Rally attempts.
• Confederate Direct Command.  Due to terrain difficulties, a flawed initial deployment, and the havoc of battle, Confederate command and control quickly broke down at Shiloh.  Beauregard and Johnston responded by often directing individual brigades into action. The game grants them that ability.  Beauregard, however, forfeits his +1 Initiative Rating for the turn if he exercises it.
• Unit Cohesion.  With a few exceptions, a unit’s disordered cohesion rating is two less than its good-order rating.  Yes, that means Disorder more easily leads to Rout.  After all, we want to give Bull Nelson a chance to react just as he did when he disembarked at Pittsburg Landing late in the day, only to see thousands of blue-clad troops cowering along the riverbank.
• Green Units.  In contrast to the series rules, Green regiments UDD whenever they Retreat Before Shock, not just when they’re disordered.  On the other hand, they have no -1 DRM when firing.
• Cavalry.  For GBACW fans who haven’t noticed, the current design team is on the lookout for fast troops’ unrealistic battlefield antics.  Such mythical derring-do can easily undermine an otherwise solid design.  To that end,
  • All cavalry units are treated as Green for Shock purposes; i.e., they must roll for commitment.
  • Unbrigaded/Unassigned cavalry suffer the -1 DRM for “No Brigadier” when they Shock.
  • Unless under Attack Orders, cavalry cannot end a move more than four hexes from friendly non-cavalry.  If it starts an activation more than four hexes away, it must move within that range as quickly as possible.
• A. S. Johnston’s Unique Abilities.  In a battle full of personal tragedies, one loomed larger than all others.  It still does today.  Desperate to restore the Confederacy’s fortunes in the west following the loss of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, Albert Sidney Johnston was killed leading from the front.  The designer has given the CSA player both the ability and the motivation to use Johnston in a manner evocative of his actions that day but at the risk of losing him.  During any given Action Phase, provided his command range suffices, he can:
  • Automatically place a brigade under Attack Orders, even if the brigadier fails an Orders Change attempt.
  • Bestow “Aggressive” status on a brigadier stacked with shocking units.
  • Ensure that Green regiments shock, even if they fail their commitment roll.
  • Activate any one brigade any time after the turn’s first AM has been played but before the next AM is drawn.  This activation is in addition to any other the brigade might undertake that turn (even if it’s a fifth activation), and of course counts toward Fatigue.

Johnston may use each ability once per turn.  He may use them all in the same Action Phase or distribute them among different Action Phases.  If he uses them, however, he must roll for Leader Loss during the Commander Movement Phase.  (See also “Leader Casualties”, the first entry in the “Shiloh-inspired Rules” section, below.)

Terrain

Anyone who’s walked the battlefield is familiar with its fields and woodlots.  The more enterprising may have hiked down into the ravines like Tilghman or Dill Branches.  The visitor may not realize that the growth in the wooded areas, except in the ravines and certain other places, was not as dense then as it is now.  The local farmers needed wood for fences and fireplaces, and their foraging animals ensured minimal new growth.  The designer took account of this.

• Woods.  Infantry movement cost for Woods hexes is 1.5 MP, rather than GBACW’s typical two MP.  Thus, a unit under Advance Orders can move through four wooded hexes per activation, and a unit under Attack Orders can move two such hexes.  Withdrawal Movement through Woods hexes is possible without a UDD – recall that the series rules prescribe a UDD when the cost of the entered hex is 2 MP or more, and that is not the case here.  Similarly, artillery can Retreat or Reaction Move into Woods, provided the total cost to move into the hex would not exceed 3 MP.  The Thickets located near the Sunken Road are a different story – infantry pay three MP, and the movement cost for other arms is, of course, higher.
• Woods Effect on Command Ranges.  Cavalry cost for Woods hexes is 2 MP.  That cost applies to leader Command Range unless following a thoroughfare, reflecting the difficulty mounted aides would have faced bringing orders to troops off-road.
• Field hexes are treated as Clear Terrain.  A terrain symbol (imagine worm fences) marks the boundaries of the fields.  These Field Boundary hexes are partially wooded but treated as Clear when moving from a field or Field Boundary hex of the same field.  They are treated as Woods hexes if moving into them from elsewhere.  They are also treated as Woods for Fire & Shock purposes.
• Sloping Ground hexes are handled differently than they were in Death Valley.  Movement into them costs infantry +1 MP, unless the unit is already paying +1 or +2 for slope or Gully hexsides to enter the hex.  Artillery firing from Sloping Ground incurs a -2 DRM.
• Marsh hexes represent flooded areas, which were plentiful due to the early spring rains.  These low-lying areas are also heavily wooded.  Marsh hexes are thus particularly costly for movement and of course prohibited for artillery.  Non-artillery units attempting to leave Marsh hexes must UDD.  If an already disordered unit fails the UDD, it remains in place, finished for the activation.  Even a Facing Change in a Marsh hex requires a UDD.  Good order units failing the UDD are done for the activation, while already disordered units that fail cannot even make the change.  Leaders, however, enable units in Marsh hexes to enter non-Marsh hexes without a UDD.
• Roads negate all Terrain movement costs, as usual.
• Farm Lanes, while akin to Trails in the other series games, do not negate hexside costs.  Instead, those costs are halved, just as the in-hex terrain is.  Artillery trying to negotiate Marsh hexes or Steep Slope hexsides via Farm Lanes will have a particularly trying time.

Line of Sight

With the Woods being more grove-like than those we moderns are accustomed to encountering when moving off-trail, the designer reached way back to SPI’s Pea Ridge for a suitable treatment of LOS.

• Thickets block LOS.
• Woods hexes that also feature Sloping Ground or Marsh block LOS as usual.  But all other Woods hexes do not, unless the LOS runs through a second Woods hex.
• The Shadow Exception does not apply to Woods unless the hex also features Sloping Ground or Marsh.
• Artillery on High Ground (i.e., all hexes between it and the target hex are lower than the artillery’s hex) may fire at that target regardless of Canopy of Trees or the LOS running through two or more Woods hexes.  Such Fire comes with a negative DRM, to be sure.  The idea here is that being able to see the enemy is not the only criterion for Fire.  Where there’s enemy, there could be a dust plume, but at Shiloh it was more likely that black powder smoke betrayed troop concentrations.  But woe unto friendly units adjacent to the target – all such units must UDD, regardless of the Fire’s result. 

Shiloh-inspired Rules

• Leader Casualties.  Shiloh took a hightoll on leaders.  Johnston is the most notable example, but among division leaders alone, Sherman, Hindman, Cheatham, Clark, W. Wallace, and Prentiss all suffered wounds of varying severity or were captured.  Into the Woods addresses this reality with one required and one optional rule.
  • Johnston must roll for possible Leader Loss during the Commander Movement phases of the 12 PM to 6 PM turns.  If he uses any of the “Special Abilities” described above, he rolls with a -1 DRM.
  • An Optional Rule requires leaders stacked with a unit suffering lost SP due to Fire or Shock to roll once for each SP lost.  In addition, leaders stacked with units that complete Shock Step 6b (i.e., Shock Resolution) must roll for loss, in addition to any roll required for SP losses suffered in that shock.
• Recovery from Rout at Shiloh was a little unusual.  Thousands of Union troops fled for Pittsburg Landing early in the battle and were still there when evening came.  Although the attacking Confederates were more likely to pull themselves together after routing, by the morning of April 7^th the Army of Mississippi was unable to field much more than half the strength with which it began the contest.  Thus,
  • Union units attempting Recovery before the 6 PM turn do so with a +3 DRM.  Afterwards the DRM is +1.  Confederate units attempt Recovery with a +1 DRM until the 7 PM turn.
  • As these DRMs would result in a staggering number of eliminated units under the series rule, that rule is amended here.  Failing a Recovery roll costs an SP, no matter how high the adjusted roll.  As many units were newly raised, they can sometimes afford quite a few failed Recovery attempts and still be potential assets.
• Special units.  The game includes Gunboats; Union heavy artillery with limited mobility; and, for scenarios depicting the opening Confederate attack, the Detachments Colonel Peabody sent out to determine just what was going on in the woods south of his brigade’s camps.  In addition, one Union unit, the 14^th Missouri Sharpshooters, is armed with Dimick Rifles.

• Looting and Friendly Fire.  You can’t read about Shiloh without learning that many Confederate troops paused amidst the well-stocked Union camps to gather the fruits of their conquests.  Not only that, but given the wooded terrain, the smoke, and  the havoc of battle, instances of Friendly Fire or reluctance to fire at possibly friendly troops were numerous.  Special AMs handle all such events.
• Confederate “Surprise”.  Although parts of the Army of the Tennessee were edgy due to the previous day’s skirmishing, the Army of Mississippi achieved a degree of surprise on April 6^th.  William Sherman and Benjamin Prentiss were especially surprised.  The following rules seek to capture that surprise factor.
  • Union Alert.  The further to the rear a Union division, the later it is eligible to activate.  Along the front line, Peabody’s brigade will activate before the rest of Prentiss’s 6^th Division, and Hildebrand’s brigade will probably activate before the rest of Sherman’s 5^th Division.
  • Roar of Battle.  The rearward Union divisions had little idea what was happening up front.  To make matters worse, Grant didn’t arrive until the battle was three hours old.  Thus, each of the brigades in the three rearward divisions must roll to determine its defensive assignment when it first activates.  The Union player may find his bird’s-eye view of the battlefield does him less good than he’d hoped.
  • DRMs to Union UDDs and Rally attempts.  All such die rolls incur a +1 UDD until the end of the 9 AM turn for all First Day scenarios, including the April 5^th variant.
  • Fire Combat results and Rout.  Until the end of the 10 AM turn in First Day scenarios, Union units suffering a 2^nd Disorder due to Fire Combat results must UDD in addition to SP loss and Retreat.  Failing the UDD results in Rout.
• Ammo Resupply is not an automatic action in Into the Woods.  Once again, these were new armies.  Transport arrangements were subject to the same confusion that plagued every aspect of the respective armies’ efforts, and resupplying units distant from the roads and Farm Lanes was out of the question.  Thus, only units in Union encampment hexes, or on or near thoroughfares leading to supply sources and unblocked by enemy units, are eligible for Resupply.  Even then, a unit eligible for Resupply must roll, with varying DRM depending on circumstances.  As Union ammunition wagons were parked at the Landing and did not move until Grant arrived, Union units attempting Resupply when not in camp hexes incur a +3 DRM to their roll through the end of the 10 AM turn of any First Day scenario.

Conclusion

Thus ends our survey of Into the Woods’s special rules.  I believe it’s fair to say they are innovative, historically grounded, and an easy fit for GBACW.  In my next article I hope to offer an AAR that puts these rules to work and fully displays the map.

I thank Dick Whitaker and Greg Laubach for reviewing this article and offering their comments and corrections.  Into the Woods has taken several years to design and develop, much like Death Valley before it.  Shipping day no longer being that far off, we hope this preview of what’s under the game’s hood is both timely and informative.

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