Three Days of Gettysburg Deluxe Edition’s design is picking up pace and is now moving through both alpha and beta testing of the current scenarios.

These include the traditional first-day battle. However, multiple scenarios have different starting times for the whole July 1^st fight. The first scenario begins at 7 AM and is designed with the optional Skirmisher rules to cover the small unit fighting and maneuvering before the Union infantry arrive. While the original 3DoG first-day scenario was fun and exciting with a slow-moving Southern infantry division facing a nimble but smaller Union cavalry force, it had little to do with the actual history of the morning fight before Reynold’s Union infantry arrived. The typical competitive play focused on the threat of cavalry charges against the flanks of the Rebel force and had no resemblance to the fighting early on that July day.

Now, the Union player is challenged to use Buford’s cavalry skirmishers to delay Harry Heth’s infantry long enough for Wadsworth’s division to deploy along the ridges west of Gettysburg. Specialized rules guide the players on a more historical path without straight-jacketing play. For example, skirmishers can slow down the advancing Southern forces, but Advance Order units may move adjacent, albeit without fire capability in their activation. However, the skirmishers must, in turn, decide to retreat with a required UDD or face Shock from a larger unit with likely destructive results for the small, loosely formed force. Multiple retreat results force the skirmish formations away from the front lines and can eliminate the skirmisher unit if pushed long and hard enough. There is also the possibility of skirmisher-to-skirmisher conflict vying for control of good defensive ground, like the sturdy farm buildings surrounding Gettysburg proper.

The Skirmisher rules underwent testing last year at the ConsimWorld Expo and the annual GBACW battlefield touring event held last summer in Gettysburg. Many changes were made to make the rules more accessible and more historical, and we hope that further testing will continue to improve the rule set. A smaller, short scenario for control of Herr Ridge is an excellent introduction to skirmishers. However, the Skirmisher instructions (very loosely based on Death Valley’s excellent Open Order) are the largest and most complex optional rules of the game and are meant for those dedicated GBACW players looking for the deepest simulation. For players who enjoy the system as is, most scenarios are designed for the standard set of rules without the complications of skirmishers.

Additionally, the Simple GBACW rules (designed by Nathan Mueller) will be released with the game. With a rules set of less than 15 pages, the complexity is significantly less but still retains the GBACW system flavor. We look to open the system to a large group of gamers whose taste runs toward faster and simpler simulations.

Another significant rule allows elite units (such as the Union Iron Brigade and the 26^th NC regiment) to continue to attack and defend without Collapsing when losses exceed fifty percent. However, the downside is that recovering stragglers with these units is more difficult than a standard unit, as their losses are more likely to be wounded and killed instead of stragglers.

An additional first-day scenario starts at approximately 9:30 AM with the arrival of the Iron Brigade and Reynolds corps on McPherson Ridge and is designed for standard play without skirmishers. While the game includes the original three maps and adds a fourth covering the cavalry battlefield, all first-day scenarios are intended to be played on the northern two maps for those gamers with limited room. For players with a larger play area, the East Cavalry Battlefield map can be added to give some options to the Union arrival timetable and location. Maybe “Extra Billy” Smith Of Early’s division did see Federal troops out to the east.

For those players who enjoyed the short play time and small maps for scenarios included with Into the Woods, we will have multiple small map scenarios that will fit on most any game table and be playable in an evening.

Deluxe 3DoG will be the ultimate Gettysburg game and we have tried to add as much optional historical flavor and chrome as any gamer might want to see in this best known of battles. We will detail some of those in the next update, along with additional scenarios.

My thanks to my developer, Joe Caparula, for his work and suggestions for this update.

Dick Whitaker

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