The first Sunday in May, the 7th, will bring HMGS Great Lakes to The Soldiery in Columbus for its monthly game day. Through the graciousness of The Soldiery's staff, our chapter has reserved all the gaming tables on the first Sunday of each month. This will allow us an opportunity to get together, participate in some good gaming, and help recruit members for our organization. As president of Great Lakes I thought it only fitting that I run an event in May. I would like to invite you all to come out and participate in a variety of historical games.

The event I will be running will be an American Civil War battle, the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, fought in March of 1862 in the Trans-Mississippi theater. Only the first day of the battle (March 7th) will be re-created. The rules I will be using will be Fire and Fury, a brigade level set of rules that allows a gamer to enjoy the game, and not have to worry about wasting time for rules interpretations or chart searching. The game will start around 1:00 p.m. and has room for about 6 players.

RULES MODIFICATIONS FOR PEA RIDGE

1. Confederate Fatigue - All the accounts that I have read have all indicated that the Confederate army was fatigue beyond normal limits. Many refer to the soldiers falling asleep while moving into contact with the Union forces, and even drifting off while under intense fire. To reflect this in Fire and Fury game terms, all Confederate brigades will start the game "wom", as opposed to the normal starting level of "fresh". This will reflect the bone-tiredness of the Rebs as it will make it harder for them to maneuver or to press home a charge.

2. Musket Armed Troops - As this battle Is set In early 1862, many soldiers on both sides were equipped with smoothbore muskets instead of the standard rifle-musket of the day. Troops thus armed will suffer a reduced effectiveness when engaging in fire combat. Instead of the normal 1 point of fire for each infantry stand out to 8", brigades noted as having muskets will fire with 1 point per stand out to 4", and one-half point per stand from 4" to 8".

3. Indians - The Confederate army had one brigade which was mainly made up of Indians under the command of Albert J. Pike. In this stand-up battle the Indians performed poorly, scattering after their initial encounter with the Union troops, and looting and scalping a few prisoners later on. To reflect the Indians' behavior, two rules will used. First, on any turn on which the Indians have received artillery fire, they roll with a -1 modifier during their next maneuver phase. Secondly, upon winning their first melee, the Indians will take the next Conferderate player turn to loot and scalp. They are not allowed to move, fire, or engage in charge combat (unless they are the target of a Union charge) during that turn. This will only occur once during the game.

4. Franz Sigel - Whatever else is known about Sigel's failures during the Civil War, his performance at Pea Ridge was exceptional. Therefore he is rated as an "exceptional" general for this battle.

5. Union Command Structure - Although Samuel Curtis was the overall Union commander at Pea Ridge, Sigel played an important role in the Union victory. Due to his strong political ties, Sigel was given command of both the 1st and 2nd divisions (a wing command of sorts, mostly of German-American troops) and may influence those units within his command radius. He may not command any unit in the 3rd or 4th divisions.