South Mountain

Prelude to Antietam

Reviewed by Wayne Close

Designed by Richard Berg with Jon Southard
West End Games, Inc. 251 West 30th St New York, NY 10001
Release Date: June, 1984
Catalog No. 10003
Price: $13.00
Complexity: Experienced
Solitaire Suitability: Good
Rating: ****

South Mountain is a simulation of the skirmish actions that took place three days before the battle of Antietam when the Union Army of the Potomac attempted to break through the Confederate rear guard and destroy the scattered Army of Northern Virginia. It was nice to see a Civil War game on a battle not done before. Victory is achieved by capturing certain geographic objectives and destroying enemy units. The South starts the game in possession of the objectives. The burden of attack is firmly on the Union.

The components consist of a 24 page illustrated rules book, 200 die-cut counters, 22 x 34" full color map, plastic storage tray and one die; a good buy at $13.00. The game is very well constructed; the cover art is pleasing though the figures are rather static. The only complaint with the map is that the combat charts are blue for the Confederate player and gray for the Union player. This was confusing at first.

In his designer notes, Mr. Berg states that he attempted to design a game that was both playable and accurate. In the accuracy department I can find no fault. This is an excellent simulation of Civil War combat. In the playability category, however, he was less successful.

Though this game was designed in basic and advanced versions, there are only five advanced rules so even the "basic" version of this game is complex. There is a wealth of detail here, and for those with excellent memories, I'm sure there will be no problems. However, most players will find themselves cursing as they forget to apply one special rule or another that applies to only one unit or situation.

This complexity also affects game length. Though West End claims a playing time of about six hours for your first game, it took experienced gamers 11 hours to play the 19 turns. There is a shorter, eight turn scenario included. However, it heavily favors the Union player. In both scenarios none of the Southern units can move for the first two turns, and even when released on turn three, some units remain guarding certain hexes. This leaves a pitifully small force to fight the relatively strong Union troops. 'While this is no real detriment in die longer scenario, it is a very, serious handicap in the short one, Compounding this problem is the fact that reinforcements for the South in the short scenario are virtually non-existent. The only large body of Confederate troops enters on turn six, but even force marched they can't have any possible hearing on the battle; theN simply arrive too late,

For better balance, these troops should be brought in on turn four or five. Ahistorical perhaps, but a lot less frustrating for the Southern player. Another alternative would be a longer "short" scenario of 10 or 12 turns.

Mr. Berg includes some parenthetical designers notes in the body of the rules text that help to clarify the rationale behind certain rules.

The rules are very well organized and readable. The only exception was the flank attack diagrams. The flank attack rules were very understandable, however, all three illustrations show units in improper facings. Worse, the errata change to them was in error itself. One unanswered rules question is whether an infantry unit with a two hex range can fire after a forced march. We assumed it could not.

There is no counter depiction or listing of counter values anywhere in the rules. Another item not included was a good set of players notes. The two short paragraphs written by Mr Southard were simply not enough to prepare a gamer for such a complex game. A ven nice touch in the rules, though, was the four-page historical commentary on the battle. This is the kind of thing I enjoy reading just before play it helps stimulate excitement for the game.

Toward the end of the game, the Union player has so many artillery pieces it will be hard to keep track of which ones moved that turn. This is important because they cannot fire if they move. There are markers included to keep track of movement, two for the Union and one for the South. There is a surplus of step loss counters, especially for the Union, so including more "artillery moved" markers would have been no problem.

In order to win this game, the Union player must take strategic mountain passes (high ground), and destroy enemy units. Since most units have six step loss levels before they are destroyed and each step loss is only worth a fraction of a victory point, the obvious strategy is to go for the geographic objectives.

This does not make for a pre-determined game, however There are many more objective hexes on the map than are necessary to win. This makes for a suspenseful game, as the Southern player does not know where the Union will strike.

One tactic that will almost always fail, though, is the mass frontal assault. if the Southern player is smart, he will be positioned on the high ground with friendly units protecting his flanks. This will make frontal attacks suicidal and that is as it should be.

Flanking movements are the key and the map is big enough to allow for this. The South cannot cover the entire front, though they have superior mobility and are working interior lines; they simply are outnumbered.

One innovation that greatly simplified play was the lack of formation rules. Instead, infantry that is force marching and artillery can never move into an enemy zone of control. This is such a simple and elegant solution that it's a wonder no one has thought of it before.

This game is a very accurate and detailed simulation and a must for anyone interested in the Civil War. However, I would not recommend it to the novice. Though fairly long and complex, I enjoyed playing it very much. The long scenario is well balanced and did create a lot of tension and excitement. The game has a lot of replay value. The numerous victory point hexes provide several good strategies for both the Union and Southern player to try.

South Mountain Game Strategy

Wayne Close is a Capt. in the Ill. Air National Guard. Close's design and development credits include Close Simulation's THE FALKLANDS WAR, ALERT FORCE and OPERATION KONRAD.

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