In order to show how leaders work in this new edition of A HOUSE DIVIDED, I’m going to look at a historical battle as it would play out in the game. In this case, let’s look at Chancellorsville, in April and early May of 1863. As it happens this is also the turn when the 1863 historical scenario starts, so we know the game position of the relevant units.

The accompanying map is a piece of the playtest (not final art) map showing the key terrain of the Eastern Theater at that time.

Here’s where the armies are deployed on that map:

UNION

Harper’s Ferry:           1 x veteran infantry

Baltimore:                   1 x militia infantry

Fort Monroe:               1 x militia infantry

Washington:                (Army of the Potomac)

                                    6 x veteran infantry

                                    2 x militia infantry

                                    1 x veteran cavalry

                                    1 x militia cavalry

CONFEDERATE

Fredericksburg            (Army of Northern Virginia

                                    1 x crack infantry

                                    3 x veteran infantry

                                    1 x militia infantry

Manassas Junction:     1 x veteran cavalry

Richmond:                  1 x veteran infantry

The Union player moves first and only has one march to expend on this theater. The player activates the troops in Washington and moves them as follows

            To Front Royal:          1 x veteran cavalry

            To Manassas Jnctn:     4 x veteran infantry

                                                1 x militia infantry

                                                1 x militia cavalry

            Remaining in Washington:     2 x veteran infantry

                                                            1 x militia infantry

The defending confederate cavalry retreats before combat to Gordonsville, and it does not count as a victory for the north. The union promotes and recruits in the Western theater.

CONFEDERATE TURN, April 1863

The Confederate player has two marches for this theater.

1^st March: The Richmond garrison moves to Fredericksburg.

2^nd March: Army of Northern Virginia attacks from Fredericksburg to Manassas Junction with

1 x crack infantry,

3 x veteran infantry.

So this produces a battle with the attacking Confederates having 4 infantry (1 crack, 3 veteran) versus the Union defending with 4 veteran infantry, 1 militia infantry, and 1 militia cavalry. The following Reinforcements are available

            Battle Round 2

                        Union: 1 veteran cavalry (Front Royal), 1 veteran infantry (Washington)

                        Confederate: 1 veteran cavalry (Gordonsville), 1 veteran infantry (Fredericksburg)

            Battle Round 3

                        Union: 1 veteran infantry (Washington)

                        Confederate: 1 militia infantry (Fredericksburg)

            Battel Round 4

                        Union: 1 militia infantry (Washington)

So, the reinforcements are pretty even, at least at first. The South begins with a slight qualitative edge (that single crack infantry), but a pronounced numeric disadvantage (four units versus six, that grows to seven units versus ten once all reinforcements are in). This would be a very risky attack, and would have to enjoy a lot of luck in the die roll department to succeed. But what does the Commander Rule do to change this up?

Historically there were three Commanders included in the game who participated in this battle: Hooker on the Union side and both Lee and Jackson on the Confederate side. (As a side note, Commanders were chosen for the game who commanded significant independent armies. While Jackson was sometimes a subordinate of Lee, he was also the commander of the Army of the Valley, and so is included from the time he was first given that army command.)

Each leader has from one to three Command Abilities. Usually a player can only use the abilities of a single commander, but there are times when a second leader can be useful, as we’ll see below. First, let’s look at the opposing overall commanders.

Lee is one of the best generals in the game. He has a Command Ability rating of D-F-S. That means:

            D = Defensive, F = Fast, S = Strategic

Defensive [D]: Defensive commanders have three abilities: Defending, Entrenching, and Rearguard.

Defending: When the Defending general is Defensive, at the start of the first two battle rounds the Defender rolls (1D6/2, rounded up) for the number of advantaged (+1 to fire value) units of the Defender that battle round. This bonus is not received if being attacked by a Cautious commander.

Entrenching: When moving, a Defensive general may entrench in a non-Key City box for one march instead of two.

Rearguard: When withdrawing from a battle, all units of the Commander receive an additional -1 defense against Parting Shots.

Since Lee is attacking, most of those don’t help, although if he loses this battle, the Rearguard ability will mean a few more of his men will get away to fight another day.

Fast [F]: A Fast Commander always receives one free march every turn (but is still limited to two marches total).

This is a great ability, but again it doesn’t have any effect of the battle once it is joined.

Strategic [S]: A Strategic leader has three Abilities: Movement, Delegation, and Rally.

Movement: The Commander may take other leaders along as part of his stack. Cautious Commanders in the stack ignore the movement limitations of Caution.

Delegation: All Abilities of all Commanders in the stack are used (but each ability is only used once, even if two or more commanders share it).

Rally: At the start of each friendly battle round, flip one Reduced unit to full strength.

Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. The Rally ability will help this less-numerous army hang in there a little longer, maybe long enough for quality to tell. But Delegation means Lee can also use Jackson’s abilities. Let’s take a look at him. Jackson’s rating is A-F. We already know that F means fast, but what about A?

Aggressive [A]: When the Attacking general is Aggressive, at the start of the first two battle rounds the Attacker rolls (1D6/2, rounding up) for the number of Advantaged (+1 fire value) Units of the Attacker that battle round. This bonus is not received if attacking a Cautious commander.

So, on balance, the Confederate Command Abilities mean that:

1. 1D6/2 (rounded up) units will fire with a +1 fire value for the first two Battle Rounds.
2. 1 Confederate Reduced unit flips to Full strength each Battle Round
3. If they lose the battle, all surviving units receive a -1 defensive bonus against enemy Parting Shots.

That’s not bad, but what does Hooker bring to the table? Hooker’s Command Rating is A-R.

We already know that A means Aggressive, which will not help him in this battle, as he is on the defensive. R means Reckless, which is bad news.

10.45 Reckless [R]: On the first battle round, roll (1D6/2, rounded up) for the number of Advantaged (+1 fire value) Units of the force opposing the Reckless Commander (whether Attacking or Defending) which are Advantaged in the first two battle rounds.

So add another 1D6/2 Confederate units that fire with a +1 fire value for the first two Battle Rounds, and all of a sudden, this looks like a pretty good attack.

This example also covers all the Command Abilities in the game, with one exception:

Cautious [C]: The commander and all units stacked with him at the start of Movement may only use a single march to Move, and may not make a Jump Move. The player must spend an additional march for a moving Cautious commander to Attack an enemy-held city. If not attacking, a Cautious commander may use a second march to Entrench, and may do so in any city box for one march.

Cautious sounds like a disadvantage, and when it comes to strategic maneuver it certainly is. But avoiding the enemy being advantaged for Aggressive and Defensive commanders is very welcome sometimes.

Next Week: Part 2 — Arrivals and Departures of Leaders (and Event Cards in general), and Leaders and their Ratings

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