Despite the fact that the end result of the Peninsular campaign is usually considered a victory for Robert E. Lee, of the three majoractions comprising the Seven Days, only Gaines Mill might be considered a clear-cut Confederate victory on the battlefield.

The other two major actions--Freyser's Farm and Malvem Hill--produced only tactical stalemate or bloody repulse. Even worse, Gaines Mill was itself flawed, saved only by the courage and determination of the troops after the plans of their leaders had gone awry. None-the-less, it was greeted both North and South as a signal Southern victory, and set the tone for the rest of the week.

First Time for Everything...

Wargaming has done little to notice either the action or the full campaign. In a world where a new Gettysburg game seems to appear every 6 months or so, it seems like there is room for a few other battles, and Gaines Mill has topped my personal "to do"' list for some time. You can't imagine how delighted I am that this title--the first of a set of three destined to cover the entire Seven Days, plus the battle of Seven Pines--is finally being printed.

The game is more, of course, than just a recreation of the fighting along Boatswain's Swamp on the afternoon of June 27th, 1862. With three maps, and covering two days of real time, Gaines Mill embraces the entire period of action north of the Chickahominy River. There less than one-third of McClellan's Union army stood defensively, waiting for reinforcements destined never to arrive, and presenting Lee with a unique opportunity to concentrate against his opponent. McClellan was the first of many commanders to leam that it was best not to give Lee too many such opportunities, because the latter was almost certain to take advantage of them. Gaines Mill proved no exception.

This CWB game is also unique in that the Union is heavily outnumbered, for once. Porter, the Union Corps commander left holding the bag, as it were, mustered no more than about 35,000 men, while Lee daringly concentrated more than two thirds of his own army--55,000 troops, includingJackson's Valley Army, newly arrived from the Shennendoah--to crush Porter. The fact that Porter even stands a chance here is due to the uneven quality of the Confederate leadership, which had some of its least impressive moments of the Army of Northern Virginia's history here.

Leadership and Command

The CWB system aims to highlight the leadership and command factors of the armies, and here is a situation replete with chances to do just that. Spread across three maps, command- control issues are magnified, and order failures exacerbated. Jackson will likely be the most cursed here, because he rates a 'zero' for most of the game. Despite his impressive reputation, Stonewall's failures were justly famous here, and at a time vvhen virtually all of the army--including Lee--repeatedly fumed to him for the decisive act in the various plans Lee struggled to implement.

A simple zero, however, didn't really recreate the problem. Lee continued to rely on Jackson through the campaign, and I needed a similar hook to keep the player from simply dismissing the man and shuffling him aside. First, Jackson permanently commands three divisions, in effect the only existing corps within the army at start, and hence a large amount of the force the CSA player will need to win the game. Second, every day there is a one-third chance that Jackson will flip to his four-rated side, and hence become the super-soldier we all know and love. Miss the roll, however, and he remain!) the passive observer of events that history records.

The other main aspect of the campaign I wanted to capture was the evolving nature of the Confederate command structure at this time. Lee began the fight with no organization larger than a division, all theoretically equal. Needing some intermediate level of control between Army HQ and the divisions, Lee created a wing structure on the fly, crafting an organization as he went along. Not surprisingly, this was only a partial solution. The player can create similar wings, bound onlyby the rigid seniority strictures thatLeehad to face. Hence, you will find that often the higher-rated, younger officers lack the seniority to lead many other divisions, while older Senior commanders don't carry the coveted "four" rating. Longstreet, due to his solid reliability during that last week in June, is an exception--high in both seniority and ability.

Armies in Balance...

Tactically, the two armies are really at their prime for this period of the war. Both sides have seen significant action and were well-trained, but had not vet heen bled white by repeated slaughter. Hence, each side has large numbers of strong units with good morale, which leads to more staying power than shall seen in a lot of CWB designs.

Historically, it was command failures which created the slugfest that Gaines Mill became--long on frontal attacks and short of finesse. Hopefully, you will do better. Tactical scenarios vvill present you with the historical bloobaths.

Mechanicsville, for instance, is best played solitaire or as a quick learning experience. It is unlikely that the CSA troops, conducting a frontal attack through a swamp, are going to do any better than the historical result--a bloody repulse which cost Lee 1,400 men and Porter less than 400.

Slugfest

The historical Gaines Mill, too, is a slugfest, with a solid Union line beset by hordes of Confederates. Gaines Mill was a battle fought almost exclsively with frontal attacks, where Hood led his Texas Briade straight up the middle and finally cracked the Union line.

If you just want to pound each other, I heartily want to pound each other, I heartily recommend this one for you. Of course, you need not follow these bloody historical footprints, and other scenarios allow better maneuvers.

Players should bear in mind that Gaines Mill is only a portion of the entire action, and hence many decisions are removed from their hands, awaiting the publication of the other two games. For instance, Lee's gamble is fait accompli--as is McClellan's lack of response to it.

Lee chose to strip the southside lines to concentrate north of the Chickahominy, and there was certainly an opportunity for McClellan to attack and capture Richmond while Lee was bogged down on the wrong side of the river for two days. The second Volume will have this dilemma as its main focus, and will mate with Gaines Mill to recreate both sides of the stream. Volume three addresses McClellan's famous change of base, and the violent fighting at Freyser's Farm and Malvern Hill.

Make Me a Map

The Seven Days maps were probably the most difficult I've drawn. You'd think that the one area the Confederates would know well would be the ground just outside their own capital, but the period maps I've found differ quite a bit. All of them agree on the major road net, of course, but vegetation and side roads were largely question marks.

By 1864, when the armies had returned to this area, better maps existed, but large segments of the field were significantly changed by the construction of fieldworks. Early on, however, I dropped a lot of the side-roads--especially farm lanes--since the historical commanders had virtually no maps, and ignored the sideroads almost entirely. The Union did a better job of mapping, and early on I toyed with creating a class of road that only Union players could use, but upon reflection, found it really wasn't that big an advantage.

Still, I do like the idea, maybe I'll get to use it some day. As it stands, I think the maps are an excellent representation of the terrain and the road net significant to the historical participants.

And now to the FUN!

Of course, with the historical situation, the Union player has a difficult task. Badly outnumbered, he has to fight for two days to avoid being outflanked and crushed. However, following what has become my personal tradition of ACW designs, I've tried to include as many potential 'whet if's' as possible.

Historically, McClellan sent two divisions to help Porter in his darkest hours. Here I've allowed players to send double that force--two full Corps--to aid the Union cause, and deliberately reduced the VP costs for those releases to balance out the equation. (of course, that particular gimme' will disappear in the full campaign--how to straddle the river is your own decision there.)

Plus, of course, I've included McClellan's personal favorite 'what-if'--the presence of the Union 1st Corps (who were withheld from the Young Napoleon, and the primary reason he gave for not capturing Richmond).

All in all, Gaines Mill includes 10 scenarios, ranging from half-map tactical situations best played solitaire-- Mechanicsville--to the full two-day, three-map extravaganza. Jackson's arrival is variable, creating an edge of uncertainty for the players, and several different two-map scenarios were created for those table-challenged players.

I hope you enjoy playing the game as much as I did designing it, and here's to the rapid arrival of the other two titles!