Almost at the start of Death Valley‘s design work we realized the difficulty of approaching its 1864 battles using only the chrome featured in previous games in the GBACW series. By 1864 southern leaders faced a growing manpower crisis, while the north supplied an increasing number of its units with repeating rifles and carbines. The Union cavalry, in particular, benefited from the firepower upgrade, training to fight dismounted so as to maximize its effect. The combination of superior northern numbers and firepower threatened to turn our 1864 battles into massacres.

Aware, however, that Jubal Early and his Valley Army gave an impressive account of themselves in 1864, our challenge was to identify the factors that made battles like 3rd Winchester and Cedar Creek so close-run. GBACW gave us leader ratings and varying Efficiency pools as ways of differentiating strengths & weaknesses, but it wasn’t superior southern leadership that allowed Early’s troops to take on Sheridan’s juggernaut at odds of 1:3 or worse.

Instead, the answer lay in late-war tactical innovations. The most striking of these is described in Fred Ray’s Shock Troops of the Confederacy — the creation of Sharpshooter battalions in the Army of Northern Virginia, whose II Corps formed the primary element in Early’s Valley Army.

Early in 1864 Robert E. Lee ordered all his infantry brigades to organize a sharpshooter battalion. In a few cases an existing battalion would be converted to sharpshooter status, as was the 3rd South Carolina Battalion in Kershaw’s brigade. But usually each regiment in a given brigade contributed a sharpshooter company to the brigade’s battalion. The company was exempt from routine fatigue duties and considered part of its parent regiment except when in the immediate presence of the enemy, at which time it would form as part of the sharpshooter battalion and cover the brigade’s front.

The sharpshooter battalions gathered together the cream of the ANV. Requirements for membership were marksmanship and fidelity to “The Cause”. The men were armed with Enfields, which were thought more accurate than Springfields at ranges of 600-900 yards, and trained in long-range fire and skirmisher tactics. Each battalion also had one or two Whitworth rifles imported from England, often equipped with telescopic sights. The Whitworth could be lethal at a thousand yards or more, and served snipers effectively.  (Ray, p. 277)

The Union army was, of course, not blind to the value of sharpshooter units, as the early creation of Berdan’s two sharpshooter regiments attests. While Berdan’s men served with the Army of the Potomac and are thus not represented in Death Valley, Getty’s division of Wright’s VI Corps had a sharpshooter battalion originally commanded by Captain Beattie. That unit is included.

In Death Valley sharpshooter battalions are assumed to have formed prior to set-up. The rules governing their use seek to capture their reality as elite units.

• There is no activation penalty for Sharpshooter units that are Out of Command.
• The number of activations of a Sharpshooter battalion is not restricted due to their brigade being Combat Ineffective.
• Sharpshooter units need not UDD after conducting Reaction Facing changes.
• When firing and not moving, Sharpshooters benefit from a +2 DRM. All Range Effects DRM also apply, but Sharpshooters are not eligible for the Prepared Fire bonus.
• Sharpshooters can fire and move, provided they use 50% or less of their MA, but receive a +1 rather than a +2 DRM.
• Maximum Range for Sharpshooters is 6 hexes instead of the normal 5 hexes for Rifles.
• Whenever a Sharpshooter unit achieves any sort of Fire Table result on a target stacked with a Leader, roll for Leader loss (the Whitworth Effect). This is in addition to any required leader loss rolls.

Playtesting indicates the Sharpshooters’ performance generally matches the historical record, thus fulfilling our early hopes for them as a major part of the Confederate response to Spencer repeaters and the Union’s preponderance in manpower. Maybe even better for Death Valley, they have proven to be as much fun to play as the Spencer-equipped Union units.

Author: William Byrne