With the dust just having settled in the previous Shenandoah campaigns I've been running, I've received several more inquiries about starting up some more of these two-player games and recently launched one of them. This one features a player from a previous campaign who wanted to try again, as well as an overseas opponent. This time the game is unbalanced as well. Previously, the games were encounter-type campaigns, with each side advancing from their end of the campaign map with roughly equal forces. But the current games feature an outnumbered Rebel player who has half the map under his control at the start of the game and is trying to fend off the Yankees, whose goal is to capture the Rebel supply depot in 20 day-turns. The different victory conditions should present each player with unique problems to solve. I'm hoping the time limit also will encourage the attacker to move decisively as soon as possible. So far, we have just completed Day 3 and the commanders are still feeling each other out. One of the most enjoyable aspects of these games for me is how the umpire system allows cavalry to be used in a more realistic role. In Shenandoah, they are the eyes of each side's army and must be pushed forward to seek out the enemy, as well as to screen your own forces. As in history, cavalry plays a much smaller role on the actual battlefields, where they are comparatively weak anyway. This cavalry use can get tremendously complicated, with the players being allowed to break down their cavalry brigades all the way to the battalion level. That means lots of small cavalry units ranging all over the map, skirmishing with the enemy and trying to find out where his main forces are located. In addition to unbalancing the forces involved, I've also revised the orders of battle, giving both sides more actual units. The earlier games had smaller forces involved. This time, the commanders have more troops at their disposal, even though the defending Confederate general still has smaller numbers with which to hold off the Federals. I've been working up some OOBs for the next game that gets under way and I've increased the troops numbers yet again. Actually, since each player must spread his troops out to cover the various routes of advance on the campaign map, the total numbers are a bit deceptive. You've never got that many troops at hand when a battle looms. Beefing up the OOBs gives the commanders something to fight a serious battle with. By the time of the next PBM report, there should be some interesting developments to report in this latest game. The commanders' overall plans are developing and each has some surprises in store for him. Back to the Valley! Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #123 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1998 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com