Death Valley

Battles for the Shenandoah: Developer’s Notes for the Death Valley Expansion Pack

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This coming August will mark the third anniversary of Death Valley’s publication. During the GMT Seminar at CSW-Expo 2019, six weeks or so before the game shipped to customers, I announced that designer Greg Laubach was working on a follow-up battle, Piedmont. As time went on, those listening that evening might have wondered what had […]

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Developer Notes

Fisher’s Hill: A Death Valley Narrative-Style AAR (Part 3)

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Introduction This is the third and last installment in my after-action report for “Fisher’s Hill”, one of Death Valley‘s 1864 battles. Like the preceding parts, it employs a “narrative” style designed to display the GBACW system’s level of detail. In all but the final section of the article I avoid game terminology. Nevertheless, the AAR

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After Action Report, Designer Blogs, Scenarios/Variants

Fisher’s Hill: A Death Valley Narrative-Style AAR (Part 2)

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Introduction This is the second in a three-part after-action report for “Fisher’s Hill”, one of Death Valley‘s 1864 battles. Like its predecessor, it employs a “narrative” style, avoiding game terminology but relying solely on GBACW system mechanics for its details, except for invented dialogue between historical figures. Where not entirely indulgent, the dialogue serves to

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After Action Report, Designer Blogs, Scenarios/Variants

Fisher’s Hill: A Death Valley Narrative-Style AAR (Part 1)

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As a counterpart to the after-action report for the Death Valley scenario, “Carroll Burns the Bridge”, which appeared several months ago in this blog, I now offer this first installment of an AAR for one of the game’s 1864 battles, Fisher’s Hill. This one, too, employs a “narrative” style. I believe the GBACW system is

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After Action Report, Designer Blogs, Scenarios/Variants

Carroll Burns the Bridge, Part 3: A Narrative-Style AAR for Death Valley’s Variant Cross Keys Scenario

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This is the third installment in a three part series depicting a playtest for one of the Alt-History scenarios from Death Valley. Parts one and two can be found here and here. The action here starts with the 1400 turn; see my previous articles for the 0800-1000 and 1100-1300 turns.

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After Action Report, Designer Blogs

Carroll Burns the Bridge, Part 2: A Narrative-Style AAR for Death Valley’s Variant Cross Keys Scenario

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Introduction This is the second installment in a three part series depicting a playtest for one of the Alt-History scenarios from Death Valley. The action here starts with the 1100 turn; see my previous article (found here) for the 0800-1000 turns.

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After Action Report, Designer Blogs

Carroll Burns the Bridge: A Narrative-Style AAR for Death Valley’s Variant Cross Keys Scenario

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Introduction Wargamers often praise a rules system for the “narrative” it provides during play. I assume what they mean is, if we were to describe in detail the course of the game as we played it, the result would sound very much like a historical account. If so, I would agree that the “narrative” is

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After Action Report, Designer Blogs

Lee’s Lieutenants in the Shenandoah: Death Valley’s Confederate Leaders

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In a previous article we looked at northern leaders depicted in Death Valley, one for each battle in the box. This article does the same for the Confederates. True, the article’s title is a little inaccurate, as Lee was actually only an advisor to Jefferson Davis until late in Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah campaign. But “Davis’s Lieutenants…”

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Designer Blogs

Lincoln’s Lieutenants in the Shenandoah: A Look at Union Leaders in Death Valley

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Casual readers of Civil War history may come away thinking Abe Lincoln mismanaged the 1862 Shenandoah Valley campaign, but chose his commanders wisely in 1864. Actual battlefield performance in these campaigns, however, suggests a more nuanced assessment. In this article we’ll take a look at the northern leaders depicted in Death Valley, one for each

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Designer Blogs

Mounted Troops in Death Valley

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Weapons and tactics tend to evolve over the course of longer wars. The American Civil War was no exception. The two years elapsing between the 1862 and 1864 Shenandoah Valley campaigns witnessed changes in both regards. Death Valley‘s design seeks to reflect those changes. In previous articles, I described the way the game handles late

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Designer Blogs
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