From: "Marty Sample" Subject: River of Death Playtest Having never played a Civil War game of any sort besides a few games of For the People, I was somewhat aprehensive of diving into this game. Having played ASL and mostly WWII games for many years, I frantically scanned the map looking for machine gun counters ( Wilder's Spencer Repeaters would have to do) but to no avail. Panzergrenadiers were replaced by Minty's cavalry. Hmmm..... I was not only pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the game, but the feel of Civil War tactical combat in general. Scary. I may even start to look at buying a couple of these things. The chit pull command system seems to simulate the chaos and unpredictability of the situation . While I am sure my lack of knowledge of the rules led to some mistakes( such as disrupting several of Wilder's units with return fire from the same unit) the system did not seem overly complex. When play first started I was given command of Johnston's division and Forrest's Cavalry. I was supposed to cross a bridge and drive off the 9th SS Panzer, I mean Minty's Calvary brigade .Alas, my advance, hampered not only by woods but more so by my inability to properly deploy allowed Minty to not only withdraw over the river with no losses but to blow the bridge - and me without any Bailey bridging equipment or Robert Redford and some rafts. Anyway, I left some artillery to take some rather effective potshots at some units Minty left in LOS from over the river and headed south to a ford to cross the river. By the time I got across Wilder had come up to back up Minty ( Wilder had also burned his bridge after some rather inept die rolling on Pete Stein's part - his troops must have had green wood or something). Meanwhile, Scotts cavalry was wondering around up north_ I was a little unsure of how to use them. We broke for bait , I mean the free lunch that Richard had generously provided . To this point my cardboard troops had taken almost no real losses. I was starting to wonder why this game was called River of Death . Before we started play again I tried to pet the cat and was answered by a hiss and a baring of fangs.( this could be because Rich's loyal cat saw me looking at Summer Storm and was merely voicing the disapproval of its master.) This show of feline canines was a harbinger of things to come however.... My troops were now facing not only Minty but also Wilder's troops, who were armed with Spencer Repeaters. This essentially allows twice as many shots ( high ROF for you ASLers out there). My troops deployed rather piecemeal; the first brigade that faced Wilder lost about five strength points in rather short order......the Death part was now rearing its ugly head .Meanwhile, Liddell, under the guidance of Richard "stay away from the Spencers" Simon had forded across downstream of the destroyed Alexander bridge and was now unopposed in the area Wilder had left open to come use Johnston's boys for target practice. We stopped play at this point. A few random thoughts. The LOS rules seemed a bit vague - I do not know how specific they usually are in games like this, but , hey - I am used to ASL . Also, while I like the situation, there does not seem to be many possibilities on smaller scenarios - and we are talking about a four map game. This may limit the appeal . I may look at other games that use this system but are smaller - any suggestions ? ( does/will 3DoG/NewDoG have smaller scenario?) Now if only there was an option to drop the Red Devils behind the Union lines.... From: RGS48@aol.com Subject: Re: River of Death Playtest In a message dated 12/29/98 10:26:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, msample@tiac.net writes: << I was not only pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the game, but the feel of Civil War tactical combat in general. Scary. I may even start to look at buying a couple of these things. The chit pull command system seems to simulate the chaos and unpredictability of the situation . While I am sure my lack of knowledge of the rules led to some mistakes( such as disrupting several of Wilder's units with return fire from the same unit) the system did not seem overly complex. >> Marty seemed to be doing pretty well over on the right flank, tying up most of the Union left flank units, allowing Liddell to slither through the lines. For those of you unfamiliar with it, RIVER OF DEATH is a regimental-level game on Chicamauga. It's the latest edition of the GBACW series, with new and improved command and control systems. Turns are hourly. Movement is basically determined at divisional level (modified by corps commanders), with chits picked (secretly) for each division. These chits determine how many times the division's component brigades may activate during the turn (from 1-4 times). Each division can be in one of three modes, the mode determining what its component brigades can do. If desired, you can try to alter a bridgade's orders by rolling against the brigadier's rating (aggressive, cautious, unknown, etc), which can have some interesting results. It's not particularly difficult and pretty intuitive -- nobody had any trouble with it -- besides making life interesting for the players. The scenario playtested was that of September 18, a situation not usually portrayed in the games currently out on Chicamauga. There are plans for several scenarios for the folks with physcially challenged game rooms. The game is currently on the GMT P-500 list and further detail can be found on their website. (I don't have the URL handy but someone will provide it) I think that if you like tense, exciting games, you'll like ROD. Lots of room for maneuver and chances for both sides. This was one of the few battles where the Confederates outnumbered the Union and the real thing was as vicious a fight as their was in the ACW. As Marty indicated, he's not an ACW player but he looked like he was having fun. I think you guys will like this one. RGS