More maneuvering as the campaign enters its 15th day. The Federal commander has pushed down the east side of the Valley, while the Rebel commander has held the west side and carefully destroyed bridges linking the two. The result has been that neither side has so far encountered substantial forces from the other side, and a virtual deadlock continues. There have been numerous cavalry skirmishes, with both sides getting the advantage at various locations. The Federal cavalry has run up on some Confederate infantry and generally been repulsed. Both sides have been careful to stay in a scouting mode, however, and have deliberately avoided bringing on a full-scale fight that could cause major losses to an inferior force. Once again, the maneuvering has been intense and I cannot say much about the location of the opposing troops because that would give away some of the plans in the pages of the Lone Warrior. Until the opposing commanders are able to break through the fog of war and determine the locations of the enemy units, the fog will have to remain in place. Each turn, each commander is given the location of his own units and the locations of known enemy units. He is then asked to order his units to take whatever action he wishes for the next turn. But his subordinate commanders do not always follow his instructions as he intended. Sometimes the weather will slow them down, other times a stubborn commander on the scene will think he knows better and will unilaterally decide to take a different action. So far, some of these unexpected moves have involved moving more slowly than anticipated or not moving at all. At the end of the turn, each unit also reports back to Army headquarters on what has transpired during the day. If the courier is delayed, or takes the wrong road, there is a chance the report is delayed, meaning the commander will not know for certain what has been accomplished during the day. All these complications keep the commanders from knowing precisely what is happening. They usually have partial information, at best, on which to base their next turn's orders. Luckily for all, the reporting units have become more efficient at getting their couriers through to headquarters as the game has progressed. A decisive battle is still looming, as the Federals must capture the Rebel depot to win, while the Rebels must prevent this or take the Federal depot to create their own victory. Time grows short. Till next time. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #127 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