One of the two current Shenandoah Play By Mail games fizzled out since the last report. Player dropped out on Turn 5 (of 20), while the game was still in its early stages. The player had a change of location and quit sending in his turns, so the win was awarded to his opponent, who would have much rather continued the game. It was shaping up as a good campaign. This game had the largest Order of Battle I've ever used for one of these campaigns and would have featured some large battles. Oh, well. I guess that underscores another important part of PBM and that is the need for a commitment on the part of the players, as well as the umpire. The players have to be willing to stay in the game for the long-term, and to meet the deadlines for each turn. Failure to follow through on either of these commitments doesn't just frustrate the umpire, it also does the same for the opponents. An umpire can warn that failure to meet deadlines will result in the umpire going ahead and moving the player's units in ways the player may not approve of, but by that point the game begins to break down anyway. Someone who isn't interested enough to keep up with the moves and the deadlines isn't going to be interested enough in the game itself to stick with it. On a brighter note, our other Shenandoah game is forging ahead. There have now been two larger cavalry battles in the northern end of the map, both of them going against the Federal army. In one, the North attacked a concentration of Rebel cavalry at a key crossroads, but were driven back. Elsewhere, a large force of Confederate cavalry attacked a Federal cavalry force holding a key bridge and drove the Federals back. The Southern commander has now destroyed or gained control of all the bridges over the Shenandoah River, which divides the map into east and west approaches. We'll eventually see what the Confederate commander has in mind with his control of the bridges. In the meantime, the Northern commander is thrusting forward. I can't go into detail because the players also read these reports. No need to give them additional intelligence. The Southern commander continues to spread information and misinformation through his Masada Newsletter, which he has passed along to the Northern side, an interesting sidelight to the ongoing campaign. We now are on Turn 10, and we have yet to have a large-scale encounter, although there have been lots of scouting contacts. I look for that to change soon, as the players feel the pressure of the time limit. They only have 20 day-turns to meet their goals, so time begins to run short. These games are complex, intense experiences for the players. There is a lot of detail to keep up with, a challenge for the umpire (that's me). But the rewards for all seem to be worth it. There is a suspense and a thrill that go with detail and we are working our way toward a resolution of the campaign. It takes some patience, but that is part of the joy of PBM. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #125 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 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