Army of the Potomac: Campaigns of 1862 & 1864

The Civil War Heritage Series Volume II

by

GMT Games

 

 The American Civil War was one of the largest wars to happen in the West since the Mongol invasions of the Middle Ages. Its scope, compared to the last few centuries of warfare in Europe, was tremendous. I do not think history readers fully grasp the magnitude of what Lincoln gave himself as a task. It was even more daunting given the United States propensity to shrivel its Armed Forces to almost nothing up until slightly before World War II. You also have to add into the fact that the war itself shrank the available trained manpower, officers, soldiers, and sailors, possibly up to one half. Lincoln needed to enlarge both the Navy and Army by hundreds of times. Most wars in the last few hundreds of years were fought over comparatively small pieces of land. The Northern Armies would have to conquer and keep subdued more than half the eastern part of the U.S. As the old adage goes "Amateurs study tactics and professionals study logistics". Both sides in the conflict would have to arm, clothe, and most of all feed hundreds of thousands of troops and animals. This of course would have to be done with almost no infrastructure in place. The fact that both sides, the South in particular, were able to create and keep their armies in the field speaks much to American ingenuity. 

 

 Almost every book about the Civil War lists its own milestone as the time and place that won and lost the war, be it Pickett's Charge or the fall of Vicksburg. A man who had great insight picked a totally different decisive moment. Porter Alexander who was an officer in the C.S.A."s Army of Northern Virginia wrote that, to him, the South lost the war when it did not crush The Army of the Potomac in the Seven Days Battles. Never again during the war would the forces be so close in manpower and elan. So, this leads from my diatribe to the game at hand. The gamer is given by Mr. Herman and his crew the ability to play out The Seven Days Battles in almost their complete totality. He has also given us the ability to play out most of the 1864 Overland Campaign. So, let us begin with what GMT Games has to say about the game:

"Army of the Potomac: Campaigns of 1862 and 1864 is the second volume in the Civil War Heritage series and the follow-up game to the innovative and acclaimed Rebel Fury. Army of the Potomac uses the same core rules as Rebel Fury, so players familiar with Rebel Fury will be able to jump right into the action. Each battle in Army of the Potomac 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.

Army of the Potomac covers the battles of Spotsylvania II, North Anna River, Cold Harbor, and the entire Seven Days battle (McClellan vs Lee), including the prelude Seven Pines (McClellan vs Johnston) when Johnston's wounding brought Lee into the command of the Army of Northern Virginia. Each battle places you, the player, in the role of the Army Commander (Grant, McClellan, Lee, Johnston). 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.

Army of the Potomac also includes a set of campaign rules that allow you to conduct operations from Spotsylvania to Cold Harbor featuring logistics and attrition. Also included are two bonus scenarios to allow owners of Rebel Fury to also fight Spotsylvania II and begin the Campaign scenario from Wilderness to Cold Harbor using their original Rebel Fury map.

Four 22" x 34" Game Maps (A,B,C,D)

Three 11" x 34" map sheets (E,F)

One 11" x 17" map sheet (G)

One Small cardstock map (Map C extension)

Two Counter Sheets

One Civil War Heritage Series Rulebook

One Playbook

One 8.5" x 14" cardstock Union 1864 Off-Map Display

Two 8.5 x 11" cardstock Time Record Tracks (1862 and 1864)

Two Player Aid Cards

Two 10-sided dice (one blue and one gray)

One special die (with soldier & explosion icons)

PUBLISHED 2026

DESIGNER Mark Herman

DEVELOPER Jason Carr

MAP & COUNTER ART Charlie Kibler"

 As is my want, I will start discussing the physical properties of the game and we will start with the maps.

 The first thing you will notice after opening the box is something that a grognard would find to be very strange. The contents are made up of mostly maps. Usually in wargames the maps are shrunken in size to be able to fit the area of fighting into its box. Here you are given a plethora of maps and not really much else. The amount of mileage on maps is almost always accompanied by a huge stack of counters to be punched, cut, and clipped (if you are so inclined). The number of counters you are given here are awash in a sea of maps. 

 The maps themselves are definitely a labor of love. They are not works of art solely on their own. However, they are most assuredly works of wargaming art. They are a bit subdued in color. They also belong squarely into the less is more category. Everything the gamer needs is plainly laid out on them. The player does also not have to guess or toss a coin to decide what terrain is in each hex. They are a study in simplicity and usability. Which is, after all, what we wargamers are looking for.

There are a total of five hard cardstock player's aids. Two of them are exactly alike. So, each player has all of the charts and tables needed for the game with the obverse being the Terrain Chart. There is a small foldout that is the Union Off-Map Display. Next up, there is the turn record track for the Sevan Day's Battles and 1862 Campaign the remaining Moves/Attacks track, and on the back is a large printout of the Sequence of Play. The last has the Turn Record Track for the 1864 battles and Campaign along with its own Moves/Attacks Track. 

 The Rulebook is 24 pages long. It is in full color, and the print is in two-column format. The pages are made of paper compared to the magazine type pages you find in most new Rulebooks. Between all of the notes, explanations, and examples of play the rules look to be only about 14 pages long. The Rulebook's shortness does not in any way represent the depth of the game. Then we have the 56-page Playbook. It starts out with five pages of important information that will either make your life easier or is compulsory reading. The last tidbit explains the four changes to the series rules. These are also meant for the first game of the series Rebel Fury. Two may be used and two have to be implemented. Pages 6-39 hold the setups and victory conditions etc. for the different battle and campaign scenarios. The rest of the Playbook is filled with expansive Designer's Notes and other ramblings from Mr. Herman. The piece on the Battle of Chancellorsville and the scenario creation of that battle in Rebel Fury is excellent. The Playbook itself is, as usual, manufactured in the same way as the Rulebook.

 We finish up with the two countersheets. One thing about the countersheets is that they come with the counters separated in blocks for each Battle/Campaign. The counters also are marked in the upper right-hand corner to which they belong. However, this just makes separating and bagging them in the beginning so much easier. Again, you will probably be amazed at the number of counters compared to the map sizes in each battle/Campaign (especially the Campaigns). The 5/8" size of the unit counters make them easy to read and for placement. There are also 1/2" counters for keeping track and detachments among other things. These are naturally a little harder to read then their larger ones. 

 All in all, these represent the wonderful artwork and manufacturing that GMT Games gives its customers. The game components would also give you a very short unboxing, unless you wanted to pore over the marvel of simplicity and style that the maps are.

 The game is sort of a "two mints in one" proposition. The Battles are designed to be elegantly and easily played with simple rules. The Campaigns up the ante by over 50% in their listed complexity. To be fair, upon opening Rebel Fury I was at first a little miffed that the game seemed so easy. I finally wrapped my head around Mr. Herman's less is more style for this series. Instead of drowning the player in minutiae he was trying to encapsulate the actual feeling of commanding an army in the Civil War. It is a magnum opus of a game that uses the KISS style. The ruleset not only works but it has been lauded by grognards and newbies alike. It has also won numerous awards. 

 With so many accolades and praise from people who know their way around a wargame, I am somewhat at a loss for words. I will endeavor to do my best. One of Mr. Herman's greatest gifts to those of us who read military history is in the visual field. The game shows you exactly how much you are adrift in a sea of mileage. It also knocks out of your head all of the "Grant should have gone around Lee's left" ideas that people have. For purely logistical reasons Grant is always going to go to Lee's right. At least, in major moves and not short movements like the North Anna etc, you get to see how both sides are like movie monsters and shuffling toward each other. 

 The simplicity of the rules, especially in the battles, allows the player to really think what has to be done. The game has just enough chrome to immerse you. However, what it does not do is try to drown you in 50 pages of rules to force you into historical play. Does some of the game take off in ahistorical moments? Absolutely not. At least nothing out of the plausibility spectrum. Do you get real Civil War outcomes in the scenarios? Most definitely yes. Its name is not Panzers in Virginia. 

 As you can read in the copious Designer Notes the game was designed to be an accurate depiction of the battles and campaigns it represents. Due to the designer's ability the game also has a simple set of rules. For those of us who are mentally glued to the CRT in games you might have a problem. The Civil War was a brutish affair, as Mr. Herman shows, with most engagements being somewhat similar to the push of the pike. The design is meant to force you into the mindset of a Civil War general. The abundance of field fortifications in the 1864 battles/campaigns put an even more brutal twist to the game. 

 The logistics/supply rules add so much to the already excellent game system. These and the other rules on zone of control and forcing attacks really takes this game from just being a normal Civil War game where you are just trying to beat the CRT to an award winner.

 Thank you, GMT Games, for allowing me to review this game. I also want to thank Mr. Herman for a design that is as historical as it can be given the constraints of board wargaming. The physical situation of both the 1862 and 1864 campaigns are spread out in a wonderful vista for you. I am slightly singular in that I play wargames for their inherent historical information instead of their merits as an actual 'game'. This is also why my reading at the time has such a bearing on what game will appear next on the table. The more that a game goes into the historical range of design is also my meat and potatoes. That is why I am so taken with both Rebel Fury and this game (and the series). The next game in this series by GMT Games appears to be 'Lee Moves North' simulating both the Antietam and Gettysburg battles/campaigns.

 No AI was harmed or even touched during the making of this review.

"It was an Abyssinian maid

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora." *

Robert Peterson

GMT Games

Army of the Potomac: Campaigns of 1862 & 1864

Rebel Fury: The Civil War Heritage Series Volume I

My Review of Rebel Fury: The Civil War Heritage Series Volume I

* If you need to know who and what your education is severely lacking.

The Devil's To Pay!

The First Day at Gettysburg

by

Tiny Battle Publishing

 The first day of Gettysburg was a great Confederate victory, but also a great failure. Lee had wanted to attack the Army of the Potomac as it was strung out on the roads trying to catch the Army of Northern Virginia. Unfortunately for Lee, he had the Army of the Potomac right where and how he wanted it, but he didn't know it. Both A.P. Hill's and Ewell's Corps converged on the town of Gettysburg almost by design. The Federal Army was straggling bit by bit into the Confederate forces. While it is true that Hill's Corps was roughly handled in the morning, in the afternoon the remnants of several Federal Corps were streaming toward the heights to the east of Gettysburg. Once the Confederates were poised beneath the heights, where the Federal troops were expecting the next attack, nothing happened. To history's amazement, the blow never fell. This is the story of the 1st day of the Battle of Gettysburg. So, let us look at Tiny Battle's take on it using the 'Blind Swords' system to game it.

  This is another game designed by Hermann Luttmann. I have seen some strange postings about this game. So, let us try to straighten this out right now. The company is called 'Tiny Battle' for a reason. The games they sell are 'Tiny Battles'. You see, there seems to be a theme here. This is the third game I have reviewed for them. It is by far the largest or theirs that I have reviewed. However, the game is 'tiny' compared to other games I own. It is also good to remember that good things come in small packages.

 This is what you get with the game:

1 - 17” x 22” map 

176 – Counters

3 – Player Aid Cards (1 Union and 1 Confederate) 

Multiple six-sided dice (Black, white and red)

1 – Full-color rulebook

1 -box

 This is the sequence of play:

1. Advance the Game Turn Marker

2. Command Decision Phase (Pick 2 Events + Randomize 2 events)

3. Special Artillery Phase (Fire Combat/Move 8MPs/Rally)

4. Chit Draw Phase

5. Activation Phase (Order/Fire/Movement/Assault/Rally)

6. End Phase

 

 The map was designed and drawn by Rick Barber, and if you are familiar with the game 'Longstreet Attacks', it looks very much like it. The hexes are 250 yards wide. The map is very colorful and makes it easy to see each hex's terrain, while still keeping its unique charm. The counters are strange and are a mix of high grade and low grade material. They are a bit 'busy' and the color choices make it a bit hard to read some of them. They do seem to be coated unlike any other counters I have seen. They feel almost like a thin coat of clear plastic is on them. However, in more than a few of them the top layer of the front of the counter is pulling up away from the rest of the counter. Strangely, the backs of the counters do not seem to have this problem. The Player Aids are well done, but again a bit small and busy, in keeping with the Tiny Battle theme. While reading this, keep in mind the words 'Tiny battle'. You could easily scan and redo the Player Aids to a larger size if necessary.

 I will use this snippet from Tiny Battle to describe the system:

 "Units are multi-counter brigades, with each strength point representing about 100 men, and these brigades are organized in
groups of regiments as they were deployed at the battle. The system is a new version of the Blind Swords system, with this implementation emphasizing ease-of-play and accessibility while maintaining the popular spirit of "historical chaos" represented by the other games in the Blind Swords family. This system utilizes a unique chit-pull mechanic that will keep players on their toes and engaged throughout the entire game."

 There are two scenarios that come with the game. The first is the 'Tutorial Scenario' that is named 'Ewell be Coming 'Round the Mountain (But not Early Enough), I love their quips. This scenario is only four turns long from 3:00-5:00PM. The "Main Scenario' called 'An Unexpected Encounter' is the full first day of fighting.

 I am a big fan of the Blind Sword system. So, in that regard there is not much else to say. I feel that it gives you, to quote Tiny Battle, the right amount of "historical chaos" for a nineteenth century battle. You and your opponent's plans will be in shambles at times, and just when you are ready to strike at his jugular, the moment slips away. 

 The rules are well done, and if you are used to the system you can start playing immediately. The only real problem I see with the game is the counters if they get too much playing time racked up. Other than that, it is a good representation of the first day of Gettysburg. Thank you Tiny Battle for allowing me to review another of your games.

Game Link:
https://tinybattlepublishing.com/products/the-devils-to-pay-the-first-day-at-gettysburg

Robert