Do you have what it takes to command an army in a pivotal campaign in the Shenandoah Valley - and to lead that army to victory? Are you another Jackson or Sheridan? Shenandoah is a 2-player play-by-mail game that may or may not answer those questions, but you’ll have some fun - along with lots of suspense and cheap thrills - looking for the answers. If you join up, you will command an army whose orders are simple: Defeat the enemy in the Valley! You’ll be engaged against an unknown enemy commander who will be as much in the dark about you as you are about him. Each turn you will be provided with an intelligence report that brings you up to date on your army’s current situation, what your side has discovered about the enemy, and the results of the previous day’s maneuvers and encounters. After digesting the current intelligence report, you will then issue your orders for the current turn. The reports you receive, of course, are ‘for your eyes only’ - your opponent is not privy to them, nor are you privy to his. As the non-playing umpire, I will keep track of all units’ movements, current strength and status, though you will probably want to do the same for yourself. Your job will be to plan your strategy, to issue orders to your subordinates and to respond to the unpredictability of the campaign. You will definitely experience the ‘fog of war’ - information about both the enemy and about your own subordinates’ activities will often be limited, even confusing. When opposing forces meet in an encounter that directly involves your own game-character (the army commander), you’ll receive a sketch-map of the potential battlefield, and you’ll be asked to submit a battle plan. Results of such battles will be passed back to you in your intelligence reports, as will the results of encounters by your non-player subordinates. In the current games the Confederates, with a smaller force, are on the defensive, while the Federal force is the attacker and has a maximum 20 game-turns to defeat the Rebs. If there’s a conflict over who commands which side, first response gets the choice. Players should plan on a ‘long-term’ commitment, as it takes a full month of real time for each game-turn when the communications are made through the regular mails. Hopefully, this could be reduced where players can participate via e-mail. Interested players, please send a one-time registration fee of $15, indicate your preference (if any) for Federal or Confederate command and indicate whether you are available for just regular mail, just e-mail or both. In return you’ll receive a campaign map, general campaign instructions, a multi-divisional order of battle and a request for your set-up instructions and your initial orders. The game will be a hypothetical campaign, set in mid-1863. See you in the Valley! Dick Burns 107 Dakota Ave. Wilmington, DE 19803 richb888@aol.com Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #135 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 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