Arrivals and Departures of Leaders (and Event Cards in general)

Leaders came and went with fair frequency in the Civil war, removed from command by relief from above or sometimes an enemy bullet. How does the game handle that?

Some leaders start the game in play, and a few of them appear on schedule during the first year of the war. After that, they are replaced with other leaders based on Event Card draws.

The game now includes an Event Card Deck divided into smaller yearly decks for 1862, through 1865. The events in each yearly deck are historical, and the card indicated which month of the game it occurred in, but in the game the cards of a given year are shuffled and drawn one turn at a time. So the actual events of the year will happen, but when they happen is subject to the luck of the draw.

A number of these cards include the title Room at the Top, along with the designation of which side is affected. When that card is drawn, the side in question must replace one of their leaders in play. Most leaders have a second leader printed on their reverse side. In that case, just flip the leader counter over. If the leader has already been flipped, or doesn’t have a leader on his reverse side, remove him from play and substitute one of the leaders in the Holding Box. It’s simple and it gets the job done.

Here are some other event cards from the game.

625. Drought

*Advance the turn record one month (counts as two months of action).

*No Cavalry jump moves allowed.

*Confederate player removes any one active Confederate infantry to the Recruiting or Promotion Pool.

The heat and drought in the summer of 1862 severely restricted army movement. The widespread Southern crop failures also caused unrest and much desertion, as men went home to help their struggling families.

626. Trouble on the Frontier (Union)

*Union player removes any one active Union infantry to the Recruiting or Promotion Pool.

The Dakotah uprising in Minnesota, August 1862, force diversion of Federal troops north.

627. European Recognition (Confederacy)

*Place the RECOGNITION marker three months later on the Turn Track. If by the end of that marked turn the Confederacy wins a Major Battle (Rule 12.2) in a city box which was originally Union-friendly (i.e. blue-tinted), Britain and France (and most other European states) recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation. Add the CSA militia unit to the Recruiting Pool, and subtract 1 from all Union recruiting rolls for the remainder of 1862. 

Some European states leaned toward recognizing the Confederacy late in 1862 when Lee invaded the north, but his retreat after Antietam ended that.

632. Recruiting of African-American Soldiers (Union)

*Union player takes the two USCT militia infantry units from the Reinforcement Holding Box and place one three months ahead on the turn track and the other six months ahead. On those turns the militia units are added to the Recruiting Pool.

Following the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863, the Union Army began raising Black troops, many of them former slaves, in large numbers from liberated areas of the Confederacy. Some were raised as volunteer units from those states, others as Federal regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT). Eventually 180,000 Black troops would serve, of whom 36,000 died, a significantly higher mortality rate (20%) than that of all Union volunteers (15%).

636 New York Draft Riots

*Union player removes any one New York militia infantry in play and places it six months later on the turn track. On that turn place it in the Recruiting Pool.

Historic draft riots in New York, July 1863 caused diversion of troops to restore order.

646. Three Year Enlistments Expire (Union)

*Union player removes any two active Union Veteran infantry units to the Promotion Pool.

The enlistment terms of large numbers of the Union regiments enrolled for three years’ service in the summer of 1861 expired during the summer of 1864, just at the height of the Overland Campaign, which weakened the Army of the Potomac in particular.

Leaders and their Ratings

Here are the commanders included in the game and their Command Ratings. I’ve also included the time period they were historically in play (this can be different in a game depending on when certain event cards are drawn) and their fate.

            UNION

Buell               C-D     [AC. Enters play 11/1862 to 10/1863] Relieved

Burnside          D-R     [AP. Replaced McClellan 11/1862 to 1/1863] Relieved

Grant               A-D-F [AT. Enters play 11/1862 to 3/1864] Promoted

Grant   II         A-F-S  [Overall command. 3/1864 to end of war]

Hooker                        A-R     [AP. Replaced Burnside 1/1863 to 6/1863] Relieved

Meade             D         [AP. Replaced Hooker 6/1863 to end of war]

McClellan       C-D     [AP at start to 11/1862] Relieved

Rosecranz       A-R     [AC. Replaced Buell 10/1863 to 1/1864] Relieved

Sherman          A-F      [AT. Replaced Grant in West, 3/1864 to end of war]

Thomas           C-D     [AC. Replaced Rosecranz 1/1864 to end of war]

AC = Army of the Cumberland

AP = Army of the Potomac

AT = Army of the Tennessee

            CONFEDERATE

J.E. Johnston   D         [ANV at start to 6/1862] WIA

J.E. Johnston II D       [Replaced Bragg AT 12/1863 to 7/1864] Relieved

A.S. Johnston  A-F-R  [AT at start to 5/1862] KIA

Lee                  D-F-S  [ANV. Replaced J.E. Johnston, 6/1862 to end of war

Bragg              C-D     [AT Replaced A.S. Johnston, 5/1862 to 12/1863] Relieved

Jackson           A-F      [AV. Enters play, 10/1862 to 5/1863] KIA

Hood               A-F-R  [AT, Replaced A.S. Johnston 7/1864 to end of war]

Early               D-R     [AV. Replaced Jackson 5/1863 to end of war]

ANV = Army of Northern Virginia

AV = Army of the Valley

AT = Army of Tennessee (variously called Army of the West or Army of Mississippi in 1861)

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