Rebel Fury
Battles of the American Civil War
by
GMT Games
Designer: Mark Herman
As a wargamer for a long time, I was not a big fan of the western battles of the American Civil War for some unknown reason. To be honest, there were some battles like Gettysburg in the Eastern Theater that never really interested me in playing for many years. However, three battles have always caught my attention. They are Antietam, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. While there have been a good number of games about Antietam, the other two have always, in my eyes, gotten the short shrift as far as wargaming. The Wilderness and Spotsylvania have always interested me as far as reading about them and gaming them. I reread 'If it takes all Summer' by William D. Matter and Gordon C. Rhea's 'The Battle of the Wilderness' pretty much on a yearly basis. So, when I saw that Mark Herman, one of my favorite designers, was going to do a series of battles based on his Gettysburg game system that appeared in C3i Magazine #32 (Published by the late and very lamented Rodger B. MacGowan) I was only somewhat enthused. Then I saw that Volume I was going to contain not just the Battle of the Wilderness but also have Spotsylvania and I became very interested. I was more than happy to review a game that included those battles even though the complexity of the game/s is on the low side. More on this later. let's dive right in and see what you get with the box and how the game plays.
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This is what GMT Games says about it:
"Rebel Fury, Volume I of the Civil War Heritage series, uses the low-complexity Gettysburg system featured in C3i Magazine #32. The Battles featured are Chickamauga, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, Chancellorsville, and Fredericksburg (solitaire).
This design features a new system on Civil War combat akin to the old SPI Blue and Gray Quads. Each game in Rebel Fury is quick-set-up, quick-playing, and deeply interactive. The density of counters in each scenario is low, allowing you to see and experience the big picture of the battle.
Rebel Fury places you, the player, in the role of the Army Commander (Lee, Burnside, Hooker, Bragg, Rosecrans, Grant). You maneuver your army to find the enemy’s flanks, concentrate your forces for an attack, and determine where to commit your artillery assets.
Units are portrayed at the Infantry/Cavalry division level. The Civil War Heritage series game system features a new Zone of Influence/Zone of Control mechanic that controls unit formation (March/Battle) based on their proximity to your opponent. As your units close with the enemy, your forces naturally break into battle formation, where they then maneuver the last distance to engage. Unlike most hex and counter wargames, this system allows you total freedom to move units in any order multiple times, unleashing the full range of historical tactics in a simple and clean format.
Combat features a differential combat system with few but significant factors that capture the key features of Civil War division level combat. Units are rated for quality, artillery support, supporting units, and terrain. The game features artillery duels with the occasional Exploding Caisson result. The Civil War Heritage series combat system accurately depicts the ability of units to launch multiple waves of attacks on the same position, capturing the back-and-forth nature of many famous combat duels.
Each battle features special units and situations, such as Wilder’s Brigade of mounted infantry (Chickamauga) plus other famous units and personages. If you are looking for a competitive, quick-playing Civil War battle game, Rebel Fury may be the game you have been looking to fit into your busy schedule. The short playing time (1 hour or less) entices you to play multiple battles in the same sitting."
This is what comes with the game:
Three 22” x 34” Single-sided Map Sheets
Two 130-counter Sheets
One Rulebook
One Playbook
Two Player Aid Cards
Two Displays
Two 10-sided Dice
One 6-sided Custom Die
One 2" Box
The complexity rating is a 3
The solitaire rating is a 5
The battles that actually come with Volume I are these:
Fredericksburg
Chancellorsville
Chickamauga
Chattanooga
The Wilderness
Spotsylvania
As usual we will start with my take on the game's maps. There are three of them, and as mentioned, they are single-sided. The maps are all very well done. They show most, if not all, of the different landmarks that were parts of all of the battles. Each hex has its own terrain that is easily identifiable. I was never a fan of the older game maps that you had to guess what terrain your counters were in. One odd thing about two of the maps is that the Chickamauga/Chattanooga map shows how rough and forested the terrain was compared to the Battle of the Wilderness (to be fair, the woods in the Wilderness were newer growth compared to an old forest). The maps are certainly up to snuff. The Rule of Play booklet is on the shorter side of rulebooks at only 24 pages. The type size is more than adequate for older grognard eyes. It is in full color and has many examples of play for the gamer to more easily understand the game's rules. It comes with the now almost obligatory index, another step forward in gaming. The Playbook comes next and is similar in its appearance and type, etc. Oddly, it is also 24 pages in length. It contains the scenario setups, victory conditions, etc. Almost at the end of the Playbook there are Designer Notes which explains the hows and whys of the different game concepts. The last part of the Playbook is a piece by Mr. Herman in tribute to Rick Barber, which is another great loss to the wargaming community. In it he explains that Mr. Barber had done two of the maps. However, on the box the counter and map credits actually go to a Mr. Charlie Kibler. I am assuming that maybe the aforementioned maps from Mr. Barber were rough drafts or something like that.
The game comes with two hard stock Player Aids which are two-sided and have all of the charts and tables on one side with the terrain chart on the obverse. Next comes two more hard stock pieces. The first is the 'Union Off-Map Display' for the Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville map. The second has the remaining moves/attacks chart and the turn record tracks for all six of the battles included. There are two countersheets included with the game. The majority of the counters are 5/8" in size with a few detachments, pontoon bridge, etc., 1/2" sized. They are large enough to read all of the pertinent information except for the very small letter in the upper left-hand corner that denotes what battle the counter is from. I suggest that you use the included bags and mark them for ease of use. Two things struck me when I looked at them. The first was the very few leader counters that come with the game. The second, was the small amount of actual troop counters in each battle. For example, there are only 21 troop counters for the Confederate side in the Battle of Spotsylvania and only one leader counter. This game will definitely not be one where you will have to worry about counter clutter or stacks.
You also get the small bags and dice needed for your Civil War gaming. The components taken as a whole represent the usual GMT Games attention to detail.
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I was really not expecting to become enamored of this game or the series. True, it had two of the battles that I most enjoy gaming and reading about, but it had some negatives in my mind. It was just too simple and did not seem to have enough counters to portray the immensity of those same battles. The inclusion of a solitaire version of the Battle of Fredericksburg was certainly a plus. However, it was only setup to play the Union as solitaire (which does make sense seeing how the battle historically happened). How would the Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania playout and the attack of the Confederate 1st Corps on the second day of the Wilderness. My fears and snootiness about the game were both wrong and totally uncalled for. Yes Virginia, there is a time and a place for massive maps and tons of counters with a rulebook to match and old phone book. There is also room in our hobby for a game that would take only an hour or so to play and not take up the dining room table. The shortness allows two players to try different strategies all in just one gaming session and does not take up the dining room table, much to the wife's chagrin.
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I usually do not repeat what the game company or designer writes but, in this instance, I think it is needed:
"This design features a new system on Civil War combat akin to the old SPI Blue and Gray Quads. Each game in Rebel Fury is quick-set-up, quick-playing, and deeply interactive. The density of counters in each scenario is low, allowing you to see and experience the big picture of the battle."
In this the designer has succeeded, in my eye, to a tee. It is not a beer and pretzels game. The game is much deeper to me than the old quad games were. The game also shows maneuvering to battle in the American Civil War, for want of a better term, correctly. Fighting until exhaustion and each side taking a pounding was the name of the game in most Civil War battles. This game reflects it in its combat rules. Apparently, some people do not like the changes in combat from the original Gettysburg game in the series. Well, there isn't much to say on that score. That is just a case of "You say potato" etc. The game is enjoyable and easy to learn. On some small level my mind still does understand that.
The first thing you will notice about the counters is that there are no strength points! I know - complete and absolute heresy! Even blocks in wargames have strength points you mutter to yourself. Once again, this is not your grandfather's wargame. The next interesting part of the game is that the rulebook states four key concepts at its beginning. The first is that the game does have normal Zones of Control, but it also has a Zone of influence going out another hex larger than the ZOC. The second one is that the game's movement points are nothing like your regular hex and counter game. The larger division counters have one side as a battle formation and the other as maneuver formation. It does, however, have extended road march. There are numerous changes to both movement and attack/defense compared to earlier hex and counter games. The separate changes would be too long to list. The most important part of this review is the next two sentences. Please pay attention to them. Yes, the game is different, and it might take some time to get used to the different rules. However, it WORKS, as both a game and a study in Civil War army management.
I also have to state for the record that Mr. Herman did not include a bibliography of every book he has read about the American Civil War since age eight or ten. Therefore, you will not be able to dig through them, or his brain, to find out where exactly he came up with the new insights and rules for the game. This might be a bit harsh, but understand I say this with love. If your idea of a good time is to disparage and refute everything a designer has done with a wargame that he designed, please get another hobby. Or better yet, you could design your own game or change the rules of this one to your own ideas. Each wargame is a child of each designer's mind. Just because they have a different take on something does not mean you are right, and he is wrong or vice versa. I have removed myself from my soapbox at Speakers Corner.
The game to me is quick and represents Civil War battles in a somewhat new light. It does not play like a game to me. It plays like a designer's take on Civil War realities.
Thank you very much to GMT Games for allowing me to take Rebel Fury for a spin. I was not expecting to become a fan but here we are. Once again, my personal foibles have been stripped bare for me to see.
For those who are interested the Great Battles of the American Civil War is going to be headed to the Battle of the Wilderness courtesy of GMT Games. Here is the P500 link:
GMT Games - Stepping Into Hell
For those who love ancients here is the link to the upcoming Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World designed byMorgane Gouyon-Rety:
GMT Games - Hubris: Twilight of the Hellenistic World
Robert Peterson
Rebel Fury: Battles of the American Civil War
GMT Games
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