I have played it five or six times before I sold my copy. That should give you a hint on how this story ends. :-) The Rebs won every game, easily, and usually on the first day or second day. The Yankees have little left to fight. Maybe our tactics were wrong. Maybe the Yankees should run away! But the map is not that big. The system is Columbia's tried and true, roll one D6 for every strength point. Infantry melee, giving the attacker and defender opportunity to fire, defender firing first. Artillery that did not move, may fire alone, before melee, without enemy counter fire. The best Columbia game, and one that I would recommend is East Front. It may be the best WW2 Russian Front game you can buy, and it isn't cheap at $65. Ouch! There's also an expansion, called Volga Front, which gives you more map and some counters for $30. The game starts as every Gettysburg game does, with Buford's Cavalry on McPherson's Ridge, waiting for Heth's attack. I've been to Gettysburg many times, and this is one of my favorite spots on the battlefield. At the moment Heth starts his attack, the rebs never stop attacking. It's actually rather fun for the Rebs. Move up the artillery guns, then blaze away at the yankee position till he's forced to withdraw, because he knows the infantry melee is coming. The Rebs always have artillery superiority. The Yankee get a few more reinforcements, and set up in another defensive position, like the town of Gettysburg, which I hate, because the real Yanks at the real Gettysburg didn't think it was a good defensive position, but I'm getting off topic. The Rebs continue to advance with AP Hill and Ewell the same old way. Bring up the guns and blaze away! The Yankees will start to melt, then send in the infantry, and maybe there's a Yankee block that gets to run away. Gettysburg falls and what's left of the Yankees retreats to Cemetery Ridge, Culps Hill and the famous Round Tops. Writing this makes me want to return to the Gettysburg Battlefield again. It's great fun for me. Once again the Yankees have set up a strong defensive position in Meade's traditional fortified fish hook. The Reb continues to attack in the same old way. Bring up the guns. Blast the Yankees on the heights. They start to take hits. Send in the infantry. Drive the Yankee survivors back. It may be fun, but it's not the American Civil War. It feels like World War One!! I have not played Gettysburg in a while now, and maybe someone changed a thing or two to make a game out of it. If someone wanted to play, I would, and I'd insist on playing the Rebs. Playing the Yanks was depressing. Gettysburg was the last game I pre-ordered from Colombia. I generally like Colombia Games. I own Hammer of the Scots, War of 1812, Quebec 1759, Rommel in the Desert, and Napoleon. I think all these are pretty good, depending what you're looking for. (Fun, simple and quick, and not much detail) I guess you could say the same for Gettysburg, but it just feels bad to me, especially playing the Yanks. Maybe I was playing wrong! The best thing other than playing these games is "talking" about them. Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 11 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com