For all the talk in the hobby press about games, we say too little about playing them. I present this article with that in mind. What follows is a narrative history of' the battle as my opponent and I experienced it. In spirit, this owes much to the idea initiated by Avalon Hill in their own house organ, The General. However, this is not a hex-by-hex recounting of every move and combat. Thunder is too long a game for that. I found that technique detracted from the real meat of an article: the underlying strategies and decisions made by the players.

This is a narrative of the game, primarily from my point of view (Confederate), as it unfolded. I hope other battle narratives follow in the future. They give ideas of' alternative strategies and allow us to vicariously experience more face-to-face play than we usually get. I urge readers to send in their own accounts, as I would like to see how they play the games.

Some statistics follow: mostly casualty figures. At the end of every significant action, I provide loss data by division or corps. I used these abbreviations: K=killed, S=stragglers. Where two numbers are separated by a / (#/#), the first value represents killed and the latter is stragglers. Union Corps designations are numbers. while the Rebels are names (Union 2 versus Confederate Second, etc.).

I chose the Rebel role in this game. My erstwhile Union counterpart was my good friend and longtime opponent, David "Sticky" Combs (a nickname that is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps someday, the story can be told.) Although this is mostly my version. I interject some Union comments as well. For variety. the Rebels chose three minor variants, the Union chose two, and we used the variant rules for defensive orders (see Ops 3).

Gettysburg is an interesting Confederate fight. The CSA player has a dilemma; he is outnumbered, yet must attack to win. The good news is that the CSA forces arrive more quickly than the Union. This allows a window of aggressive opportunity on the morning of 2 July. My strategy in Thunder is to attack on the first day enough to cripple the lead Union Corps, and possibly take Cemetery and Culp's Hill. Early on 2 July, I use Longstreet's First Corps, augmented as needed, to seize enough terrain to ensure victory. Next, I revert to defense in the face of mounting Union strength. The rest of the battle is a CSA defensive action, unless some major opportunity comes my way. I conduct my initial attacks with this defensive stage in mind, and try to establish a perimeter small enough to create a solid defense later. A Rebel player who tries to take Culp's and the Round Tops, but leaves Cemetery Hill in Union hands, is asking for piecemeal destruction.

The battle opened slowly. Heth's lead Rebels engaged the Union Cavalry along McPherson's Ridge. Only one Union brigade was engaged; the other was in its historical position. The Union 1-1 Inf Div also became engaged. After several straightforward turns, Heth's men broke off the attack with a stoppage check. The Union line held Seminary Ridge. Each side lost about 1,500 men, including 600 Union Cavalry. However, Heth's division suffered severely from stragglers and needed to regroup. Both sides recovered stragglers during the late morning.

At 2:30 p.m., I July, the action began again. By now, three more Rebel divisions (Pender of Third Corps, Early and Rodes of Second) arrived to face off against the Union I and 11 Corps.

Pender swung south to the Fairfield Road. Supported by Heth, he attacked I Corps along Seminary Ridge. The first option I had selected was improvement of the CSA command. I raised the initiative levels for Ewell and Hill, and improved Lee's abilities. However, it was little help. Despite repeated attempts, lack of successful initiative dictated a frontal attack. Things went wrong. Heth proved a weak reed, and the attack stopped almost immediately. Pender's best brigade suffered a rout in its initial engagement. Another brigade fell back disorganized. Both CSA stragglers and losses mounted quickly without inflicting commensurate Union punishment. Pender continued to press the attack, but he failed to do any real damage. The rout result kept popping up annoyingly, and inflicted too many straggler losses.

Things went better for the "Cause" north of town. The 11 Corps brought 2nd Division forward from Cemetery Hill. It was no match for the nine brigades of Early and Rodes. It suffered a defense failure in an early clash and had to conduct an emergency corps retreat (ECR). (The retreat alone cost 7 extra stragglers and put 11 Corps down the road to wreckage.) Reynolds hastily issued a new defensive order.

The fighting that afternoon did not redeem 11 Corps' reputation. Rodes and Early pressed on. A few turns later, the wrecked 11 Corps failed again and retreated through the town. With their flank threatened, I Corps tried for retreat orders but failed. Sticky avoided disaster by giving them an ECR. With cavalry covering the retreat, the Union troops fell back to Cemetery Hill to make their next stand.

It was about 4:30 p.m, Early and Rodes still had some fight in them. I committed them to a dusk attack on the hill. However, I broke it off after a turn or two because 12 Corps arrived to replace the battered 11 Corps. Dark was coming on. I elected to stop attacking. preserve power for the next day, and recover badly needed stragglers.

Fighting on the first day was conservative, even cautious. The biggest disappointment was that Heth and Pender failed to cripple the Union I Corps. They suffered heavily in the bargain. I dislike heavy losses on day one, before I have a chance to assemble real power. As I mentioned. the morning of 2 July is the best time for a Rebel offensive. Eight of nine CSA divisions are assembled, but the Union is still short two of their best commands, 5 and 6 Corps.

Losses to date

CSA 54/79

Early 10/8 (still in good shape)
Rodes 14/26 (not many routs, but high straggler die rolls)
Heth 17/26 (with C and D morales, a long time recovering)
Pender 13/19 (far too much for too little gain)

USA 54/86

1 Corps 24/55 (K losses significant but not critical, an excessive number of S due to ECRs and high straggler die rolls: once recovered, still potent)
11 Corps 18/30 (more time running than fighting, many of their losses carne from attacks on DG units)
12 Corps 2/0
1 Cav 10/1 (covered the retreat, but had time to recover stragglers by nightfall)

Historically, the South lost 81 K, the North 86 K, on 1 July.

Both sides recovered their stragglers during the night and assembled the armies into more compact positions. By dawn, everyone was back to strength except Heth and 11 Corps. Each of these still had 6 or 7 stragglers out.

We also spent the night planning. I augmented Longstreet's new arrival, First Corps, by attaching Johnson of the Second Corps. I intended to use them in a dawn attack from the rear on the Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill positions. Longstreet had orders to leave his rest area around Gettysburg starting about 1:00 a.m. on 2 July. His goal was to march east around Wolf Hill on the secondary road there, reach the Baltimore turnpike, and attack northwest to hit 1 and 12 Corps from behind.

Rodes was detached. He had a divisional goal to protect the rear of Longstreet's flanking column. I knew large Union fort nations would be arriving about midmorning from the east map edge. Rodes' job was to delay the Yankees enough to allow Longstreet to capture the hills and re-establish contact with the rest of the army. After that, Rodes could retreat and rejoin his corps for the big defensive effort to follow.

To ensure some measure of surprise, I needed a diversion. I detached Anderson's large division and gave them a divisional goal to march along the westend of the map. It would appear that they were preparing for a flank attack near the Round Tops. They moved along the east side of Marsh Creek and stopped occasionally to go into line and threaten nearby Union troops, in hopes of provoking a reaction.

The deception was successful. Sticky sent 2 Corps to face off against Anderson. He grew increasingly annoyed when my men refused to sit still. Third Corps was in line facing south, between Seminary Ridge and the west map edge. Finally. I retreated across Marsh Creek towards the rest of Third Corps, arriving there near dawn.

About the same time, Longstreet began to move and the results were exciting. As Combs realized my destination, he scurried about to interpose a blocking force to foil my plan. However, only 11 Corps was out of line and available to move. He quickly issued orders for a move that would have foiled my plan. Howard was to rush over and defend the Baltimore Pike bridge over Rock Creek. If I had failed to cross this bridge rapidly, I would have had to launch repeated attacks across it (like Burnside's at Antietam). Or, I might have had to cross upstream where the creek is passable while bogged down in woods. This would have required a frontal attack on Culp's Hill instead of a flanking maneuver. Additionally, Longstreet would have had problems as fresh Union forces kept showing up in his rear. Luckily, 11 Corps ran true to form and promptly delayed. I won the race, crossed over and deployed for the attack. Now, I could use the bridge to my advantage. A brigade and an artillery unit would be more than adequate to hold that bottleneck even against 5 and 6 Corps.

During the night, Sticky deployed his troops in a line stretching from Culp's Hill to Marsh Creek. The 12 Corps held Culp's Hill, and I Corps held Cemetery Hill with 3 Corps to Seminary Ridge: 2 Corps was massing for an attack along Marsh Creek, against my Third Corps. As mentioned, Howard's Hapless Heroes, 11 Corps, were recovering along Taneytown Road, and stuck in delay. As Longstreet menaced his flank, 12 Corps did an about face. The I Corps extended itself to cover both hilltops facing Gettysburg where Early's division was in line.

There would be fighting at both ends of the line. Rather than send the 2 Corps on a long march back east, Sticky decided to turn the tables on me. He sent 2 Corps forward in an attack on my Third Corps. It was a race to see whose line would break first.

At 5:00 a.m., Longstreet advanced. He started with a narrow front of four brigades due to limited space along Rock Creek. Finally, 11 Corps accepted orders and joined 12 Corps in a thin line opposing this advance. Simultaneously, 2 Corps advanced against Anderson's well-traveled Rebels who were holding my left flank with plenty of artillery.

The fighting was bloody. Longstreet made progress, inflicting serious punishment on both Union corps. At about 6:30 a.m., 11 Corps-wrecked again-failed a defense check and ECRed south, out of the fight. Supported by Heth, Early menaced the hills from the front. Suddenly, 12 Corps had both flanks exposed to Longstreet's enveloping attacks. By 8:00 a.m., 12 Corps was destroyed. All five of its engaged brigades were eliminated by stragglers (2-1-12 had not yet arrived). The I Corps, desperate, left the 1/1 division to hold back Early while the other two divisions tried a counter-attack to stop Longstreet. Early had orders to attack when the hills were weak enough. The two fires soon overwhelmed the two Union brigades, one on each height. The rest of I Corps suffered severely in their efforts to stop Longstreet, and finally joined 11 and 12 Corps in retreating south. By 9:30, Longstreet held both Cemetery and Culp's Hills in strength, brought up his cannon, and rested.

Meanwhile, 2 Corps' attack on Anderson failed mostly due to heavy artillery support allotted the Rebels. Four of the five CSA Third Corps batteries were committed here. Though they Suffered heavily (a two-thirds loss in gun points), they wrecked 2 Corps. Union 3 Corps was also committed. However, the need to maintain a coherent line with the rest of the Union army diluted its efforts. Also, when Cemetery and Culp's Hills fell, they had to refuse the flank to avoid disaster. At one point, 3 Corps had orders to rush to the defense of Cemetery Hill. They failed to get there in time. With too many missions and not enough troops. it could do little more than bleed.

A third action developed as the Union 5 Corps arrived from the East. One of Sticky's options augmented 5 Corps with French's Division. These troops pressed Rodes, who elected to give ground, since Longstreet had already secured his objectives and reestablished contact with the rest of the army. A small fight developed along Wolf's Hill. It ended quickly when Rodes withdrew and Combs, realizing the exposed nature of this movement, halted his attack. By 10:00 a.m., the bloodbath was over.

The losses speak for themselves:

CSA 141/98

Hood 21/17 (led the way in Longstreet's attack)
McLaws 12/14 (still plenty of fight)
Early 19/4 (beginning to hurt. but can still defend
Rodes 19/9 (ditto)
Johnson 18/18 (ditto, bore the brunt of the Yankee I Corps counterattack)
Pender 23/11 (heavily involved supporting Anderson)
Anderson 5/12 (remarkably light losses, Sticky mostly shot at the guns)
Heth 22/12 (picked up another few against 3 Corps)
Jenkins/Cav 2/1 (every little bit counts)

USA 200/167

1 Corps 57/34 (severely damaged, they had to fight a two front war)
2 Corps 36/35 (K & S combined-almost 70% losses, they went in straight ahead, charging guns and infantry, contrast these losses with Anderson's above, their primary opponent)
3 Corps 21/29 (too much to do, they fought in everyone's fight)
5 Corps 10/5 (still plenty of fight, singularly so ill the Union army)
11 Corps 27/22 (only lost another 900 men, again. more time spent running then fighting)
12 Corps 36/34 (the five engaged brigades eliminated to a man, these guys will be a long time recovering, down by Little Round Top)
French 3/8 (heavy straggler loss for the killed, ail unfortunate Rout result didn't help)
I Cav 10/0 (sensibly, they stayed out of the fight)

No more cautious approach! The South did well. I inflicted more losses than I suffered, even where Longstreet attacked. The various actions broke down as follows: Along Marsh Creek, the CSA lost 2,000 and the US lost 4,400: at Cemetery-Culp's Hills, the CSA lost 6,200 and the LIS lost 9, 100: at Wolf Hill, the CSA lost 500 and the US lost 1,300. In the twelve turns between 4:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., 8,700 Confederates and 14,800 Union were lost. Longstreet's Success was gratifying. He inflicted almost 3.000 more losses then he suffered. I attribute this result to my ability to concentrate on each corps in turn, overwhelming their flanks. The I Corps' desperate attack helped as well.

As quiet settled again, both sides began the rebuilding process. We devoted the rest of 2 July's daylight hours to straggler recovery. I solidified my defense since I had shot my boll offensively. and would simply have to hold ground from here on. As mentioned above, the Union player still had two fresh corps ready to commit, plus the optional forces of French's Division. I could only count on six unscathed brigades: Pickett's three, Ransom's optional two, and Law's brigade of flood's division (L/H/I ) which arrived at noon. I also had Anderson's Division, with only five hard losses. I was fairly confident I could hold oil during the ensuing defensive phase of my plan.

I set about implementing that plan. I retained both Cemetery and Culp's Hills. Hood and McLaws and Johnson, reinforced by Ransom, held them. Third Corps remained in its line running west from Cemetery Ridge to Marsh Creek. Second Corps established a line running north from the foot of Culp's Hill-Johnson's positionto York Pike. Finally, I massed Pickett's troops and Stuart's Cavalry in the town itself, ready to be sent by Lee to any threatened part of the field. It was a strong line, supported by my remaining cannon. Its main weakness was that I lacked enough men to extend to the west map edge and protect my lines of retreat from flanking.

It became clear that Sticky planned to wait until 3 July to make his attack. The rest of the 2 July passed with little fighting, but much Union marching. By dawn, the Yankee plan was in place and readily apparent.

It was a two pronged assault. with a secondary flanking effort. He moved 6 Corps up around the end of the Rebel line at York Pike. This forced me to deploy Stuart's cavalry to help extend Ewell's Second Corps. The second thrust, 5 Corps with French attached, aimed directly at Culp's and Cemetery Hills. It started from the same point that Longstreet had launched his own charge. The 3 and I Corps were Supposed to aid the 5 Corps attack by hitting the scam of the CSA First and Third Corps west of cemetery Hill. The battered 2 Corps supplied the flank move. They crossed to the west side of Marsh Creek and marched towards the Rebel entry/exit hexes. They occupied the Fairfield Road exit, and threatened an attack against the Third Corps' Left. The ever valiant 11 Corps came into line to connect 3 Corps' left with 2 Corps' right, but (wisely) without an assault mission. The Cavalry connected 6 Corps with the remaining Federals east of town. deploying in the wood line around Wolf Hill. Only the sadly depleted 12 Corps was left out. They simply marched to Wolf Hill and rested, recovering stragglers.

At dawn, the whole mess stepped out at once. My earlier confidence began to wane. Once in motion, the Union army looked mean! To make matters worse. I could not stop 2 Corps in my rear. I had to send Pickett to meet 6 Corps when he continued to work around that flank. This time his plans played to my weaknesses.

On Culp's Hill, Johnson's CSA Division blew out in about 90 minutes, pounded by unremitting Union frontal attacks. I made him pay, but Johnson's men had suffered too many losses previously. Ransom's two brigades, both in extended lines, also began to lose heavily. The Union I Corps Attack-Stopped early, but 5 and 3 Corps pressed on. A turn later, Sickles' men dropped out. However, by then I had to choose between holding the high ground or saving the army. I reluctantly ordered Longstreet's Corps to fall back into town and for Ewell to follow. With the hills taken, 5 Corps halted and began to work on fresh attack orders, allowing a breathing spell.

In the north, along the Harrisburg Road, a free-wheeling battle developed involving 6 Corps against Pickett, Stuart, and scattered Second Corps troops. After several turns, 6 Corps needed a rest, but Sticky could not get them to stop. In fact, Sedgwick soon lost touch with reality and pressed the attacks long after the chance of success was gone. While Stuart did lose heavily, Pickett's reinforcement caught some 6 Corps men in the flank. By 7:00 a.m., the corps was badly damaged. With only eight maneuver brigades, it was too far from the rest of the army to properly screen its flanks and suffered repeated rear attacks. Sedgwick finally failed a stoppage check and withdrew his four surviving brigades back across Rock Creek.

Along Marsh Creek, I felt frustrated at the 2 Corps' incursion. When 11 Corps came up into line, I decided to rattle Sticky with a spoiling attack of my own. Anderson, with only 5 losses, got initiative and lashed out at Howard's "invincibles." They fell quickly back to avoid destruction. He rushed Buford's troopers (the I/Cav) up to help. Now, isolation west of Marsh Creek threatened 2 Corps.

I can always count on Sticky to react aggressively. Encouraged by their success to date, he ordered 2 Corps to make a diversionary attack on Pender's men of my Third Corps. A couple of turns was enough to convince him that Hancock's men lacked offensive strength. However, it pushed the battered 2 Corps that much closer to collapse. This attack halted quickly.

The great Union offensive lasted about seven turns, until 7:00 a.m. In that time, he incurred 13,000 additional Union losses, and I lost almost 10,000 Confederate. The attacks had stalled. Meade was scurrying around trying to restart the offensive, though only 5 Corps had offensive potential left.

If I let things stand, I felt I would lose. Casting about for opportunity, I chose to punish 2 Corps. I began to assemble a makeshift attack. I felt I could recover the lost victory points due to his holding one of my retreat hexes (H), and I might inflict enough loss to trigger a VP award for wrecking 2 Corps as well. Longstreet's men got the job, mostly by default. Hood was wrecked, but McLaws was not quite. I attached Pender, (also wrecked, but in the right place at the wrong time) and began to move. Pickett was just finishing up against 6 Corps, and had only 7 losses in that action (He had let the cavalry bear the brunt of the casualties). Using a divisional goal, I sent Pickett to join the attack as well.

I had one additional card to play. The Union army was in bad shape. I estimated that he had a large number of wrecked formations. I demanded a Panic Check and got lucky. His status was two, dictating a trip to the table. Score another point for my side, since he had no less than 16 wrecked divisions! We checked the table; he needed a 10+ to panic. The Rol I was a 10.

With Panic triggered, Meade ordered all troops to leave the map and retreat towards Washington. The result was a massive Rebel victory.

At first glance, this seemed an arbitrary way to end the game, and I know several people have complained about the rule. A deeper look justifies the result. The Union army was shattered, with several corps completely wrecked. Ignoring stragglers, the final losses broke down as follows:

USA 339

1 Corps 61 (virtually useless)
2 Corps 52 (over 50% hard kill losses: in effect, destroyed)
3 Corps 37 (very heavy losses, with no attack power left)
5 Corps 33 (probably one assault left in them; they left many men on Culp's Hill)
6 Corps 48 (as with 5 Corps, but they desperately needed recovery time before they would be effective again. They had another 50 losses in S)
11 Corps 41 (these guys were almost useless without losses, further casualties only aggravated the problem)
12 Corps 36 (see 3 Corps)
French 11 (attached to 5 Corps; maybe one attack left in them as well)
Cav 14 (still some punch left, but about the only ones)

CSA 239

Pickett 7 (in good shape)
Ransom 14 (they still had power, but lost heavily in stragglers)
Hood 28 (they could defend, but not attack effectively)
McLaws 21 (not far behind Hood)
Early 21 (limited service, not much aggression left here either)
Rodes 25 (a big division, they could take more than the rest)
Johnson 27 (heavy losses in the best units; no teeth left. I do not even want to use them defensively.)
Pender 33 (they got beat on all battle, and never really did much. They, too, were down for the count)
Anderson 16 (some attack left)
Heth 25 (keep 'em on defense)
Cavalry 22 (heavily damaged, they are out of the fight).

With 33,900 men gone and stragglers counting for another 14-15,000 or so, Meade's panic was justified. No doubt he realized what they would say in Washington about the slaughter. We can learn a more subtle lesson as well. You need to watch the loss count and avoid running up large wrecked division totals. A general who wrecks his army pursuing victory has won no victory at all. Even counting victory points without the panic, Sticky probably lost because he triggered awards for excessive casualties in the 2, 11 and I Corps. The panic only changed the level of victory, not the victor.

We tried to use status faithfully in our play, but did apply some shortcuts. In turns where nothing happened except maneuver or status recovery, we omitted rolling. We saved it for the battle turns. Both of us still experienced large status fluctuations, running the gamut from 5 to 1. Lee definitely had a better status through most of the game, though I rolled mostly on the neutral table and as often on the negative as the positive. Sometimes the man just did not seem in touch with reality. Sticky rolled more on the negative table, but I think he had a worse game. My flank move caused him grief, and you cannot dismiss a 10,000 loss differential. I was lucky that he was at 2 status when I checked, and even then he had to break a 10 to panic. Each game of Thunder I have played has been different. I look forward to the next encounter with relish. In the future, we will try to get other game replays out for your enjoyment. By the way, we court-martialed Howard, had him shot, tortured the corpse, burned the remains, scattered the ashes, broke the urn, and imprisoned his family-fit punishment for his lackluster performance at head of the 11 Corps. Command is a perilous business.