FOR THE PEOPLE

Designer's Comments (Mark Herman)

updated 031104

Lifed from the GMT Games For the People Site

After 25 years of designing wargames I finally have an opportunity to enhance one of my favorite designs. Jim Dunnigan once told me that, “no game is ever finished, it just gets published.” Well in this case I get to really put the finishing touches on a design. The game has been playtested for an additional two years with all of the components and this edition will certainly incorporate all of that material, enhancing the value of the player experience. I'm not saying its perfect, but from a playtesting, quality point of view it will never be better than this. Every good, and quite frankly obvious question, has been asked, answered and factored into the rules.. Overall, I am very excited about this re-issue of this design, my personal favorite to date. I thought I would give you some views for those who already own the AH version and for those who are thinking about buying the new edition, but either played the first edition a few times and dropped it or never played it.

The three big issues with the game when it was originally published were how General losses were generated, understanding Union naval control on the Missis-sippi, and the vulnerability of the opposing capitals to capture; sometimes called the trade of queens. Other than these three issues the game was very well-received..

The response to the Leader Loss rules in the original game from a small minority was very intense and seemed to center on emotional issues. The main point is players didn't like the idea that one of their decisions (use of alot of DRMs) caused Jackson to die, but the point is it worked on various levels. The player made choices that had a downside, I had captured a meaningful historical thread, and the overall results were very historical (recently cited in Perfidious Albion as a big plus). The one gameplay problem that was fixed was that in the original rule set there was a loophole (not seen by any of the playtesters) whereby the opponent could make a suicide attack to force die roll modifiers on the player in the hopes of causing a general casualty. We fixed this problem during out online development long ago.

The second issue was which sections of Mississippi river system were under naval control or not. The rule worked fine, but the original graphics made it confusing to visually figure out if you were inexperienced with the game. The GMT graphics team (best ever in the business in my view) of Rodger MacGowan and Mark Simonitch have already solved this problem so you will not be experiencing any issues in this area.

The last issue, the vulnerability of capitals to capture, was a significant dimension of the design. The problem I was confronted with was how do I force historical behavior on Union players who know, a priori, that attacking Lee (especially with the Dream Team) was a losing tactic. The answer was that the Union needed to gain in chess parlance the advantage of opposition. The idea is if both the Army of the Potomac and Northern Virginia are rein-forced and ready to tangle, the Union, if it attacks first will prevent the capital from being lost. If the Union lets Lee attack first, the capital could fall. This simple concept forced the historical Eastern Theater mentality on the Union player with no special rules whatsoever. Quite frankly I am as proud of this design mechanic as of any I have ever done.

The problem with this was players who were unfamiliar with the concept would find DC taken in 1862 (its period of greatest vulnerability) and feel that the game was flawed. All of the experienced players, myself included, rarely if ever lose their capital, but it requires careful and thoughtful game play if your opponent is targeting DC. I don't think this is a bad thing in a game, the requirement for good play, but there was something missing. One feature that I felt was missing in the original design was the rationale for the Peninsula campaign, the use of McClellan, and the fact that players weren't using the valley the way I wanted them to. In this edition, I have used the extant river rules to make the Potomac a major river which means that DC cannot be attacked from Manassas if it has a fort in it (it starts the game with one). DC can be attacked if the South moves north of the river via the valley or Frederick, MD. This very simple change makes all of the difference in the world.

Overall, I am very excited by the new version. It solves what little bothered me with the original and improves the graphics significantly over its predecessor. I have also added 14 new cards, the most interesting of which are the new Southern concentration cards, which allow the South to surprise the Union with the Shiloh or Chickamauga offensives.