You should know, right here at the outset, that until I received my copy of Martin Wallace’s Test of Fire: Bull Run 1861 from Mayfair Games, I had never played a war game. In fact, just looking at some of the huge boards laid out all over the Lancaster Resort during the recent WBC would have a tendency to give me a headache; all those little hexagonal pieces of cardboard getting shuffled around with tweezers, games that last for a week, and (gasp) dice.
Since the folks at Mayfair were kind enough to send me a copy, I tore off the cellophane, opened the box, and discovered a 16-page rule book; five pages of which were given over to an actual account of what is known as the Confederacy’s first major victory, and which, apparently, changed the course of the war. It gave notice to the Union that this wasn’t going to be some in and out process where they’d get in there with a bunch of troops, wipe out the upstart rebels and be home in time for supper.
Took me less than about 10 minutes to set the game up, arraying all the Union and Confederate tiles in their pre-determined locations along Bull Run (based on historical facts). The Union starts out with five more representative troops than the Confederacy. Each tile for the Union represents about 1,200 troops, while those for the Confederacy represent about 800 troops; this being based on the actual numbers that took part in the battle(s).
I was able to figure out that the turn process entails rolling either three (Confederacy) or four (Union) dice (in turn), and that each die dictates which of four possible actions you can take – pick a card (a “1” roll), fire your artillery (a “2” or “3” roll), move your troops (a “4” or “5” roll), or perform a Leader action (a “6” roll). All but a “1” roll can set up a battle versus your opponent, leading to ‘damage’ or ‘retreat’ for you or your opponent. Do enough damage or get your opponent to retreat enough and you’ll win.
The game will end for sure when you’ve run out of cards in your personal deck. Once there are no more cards available to draw from that deck, when you roll a “1” (pick a card) and can’t draw a card, the game will end at the conclusion of the next Confederate move. If the Union forces occupy two of three starred areas on the board, they have won. If they’ve failed at this, the Confederacy wins.
There are two ways that the game can end early. A player who opts to play a Rout card successfully can end the game. The Rout card allows a player to roll two die, and if the total of those die is less than or equal to the number of opponents forces that have been captured, then the game is over immediately. This is an appropriately unlikely scenario, until one or the other of the two forces has captured somewhere in the vicinity of seven or more opponent troops, which will take quite a while. The other end-game possibility occurs if the Union forces can successfully occupy Manassas Station, or Confederate forces can occupy Centreville.
A fellow gamer by the name of Charles and I sat down for a first go-round with this, and as I suspected, there were some concepts and rule idiosyncracies that I failed to understand, and which Charles, with a bit more experience with this type of game, was able to clarify. It being a first attempt, it took a little longer than normal, I think, although we were both a little skeptical of the box’s assertion that it could be played in 45 minutes.
You’re limited to three (Confederacy) or four (Union) actions per turn, and with 29 Union Infantry Units and 25 Confederate Infantry, it takes a while to wear down your opponent. As it was, we had each only captured two units apiece by game’s end, which happened about two hours + after we’d started.
At the start of the game, Beauregard’s Confederate troops (about 16,000 of them, represented by 21 game units) are surrounding Manassas Station, with 5,600 (7 game units) actually in Manassas Station itself. McDowell’s Union forces, by comparison, only have about 4,800 (4 game units) anywhere near the place. There is, though, an artillery unit with those 4,800, directly across Bull Run from a similar artillery unit under Beauregard’s command. Most of McDowell’s units are way off to the west, which leads to the necessity of some early movement before they can even engage the enemy.
Didn’t make much sense to me to spend a lot of time moving troops east to engage the forces directly around Manassas, so I tried what I guess is called a flanking maneuver, travelling due south from my troop locations where there appeared to be less resistance initially, and trying to forge eastward from there to get at Manassas Station. When offered the opportunity, I’d fire my eastern artillery across Ball’s Ford at the Confederate troops in the East (just to let ‘em know I was there) and was able, in fact, to cross Bull Run and get their artillery encampment pushed backwards (it was the only ‘starred’ territory I was able to capture).
In the meantime, I’m trying to sneak in from the west. Of course, the move was somewhat transparent, and Charles kept countering me; returning fire, building troops up to counter my build-up. I was pulling the scattered troops together and amassing them around Buck’s Hill on the Union side of Bull Run, and actually got them across the Run to Henry House Hill on the Confederate side.
As it turned out, I over-extended myself, and as I was approaching Manassas Station from the southern edges of the board, Charles cut off my avenues of retreat, and eliminated my front-line troops heading that way from the board. (Gotta have a means of retreat when you battle, ‘cause if you don’t, the troops involved are eliminated).
Charles kept pounding away at me, turning his artillery around to fire to his south (successfully), while building his forces up in the places I needed to capture to win. When we hit game’s end (signaled primarily by the drawing of the last card from the personal deck), I had captured only one of the three ‘starred’ areas, and was nowhere near capturing Manassas Station.
Basically, I failed to keep the game’s objectives in mind. I got focused on the movement of troops and area skirmishes and failed to create a strategic and tactical plan that effectively accomplished the game’s objective. By the time the cards had dwindled down to two or three (which meant ‘game end’ was coming), it was too late. He had too many forces in the other starred areas I needed and had effectively cut off my flanking maneuver in the south.
Live and learn. The exercise did kind of spark my interest in the whole idea of war games, although I experienced a familiar frustration with the vagaries of Lady Luck. Superior troop numbers are no defense against an opponent who’s got her on his side. By the same token, inferior troop numbers are no obstacle to victory when you’re getting good dice rolls.
Not wanting to base a review on a single experience, I returned to the site of my initial defeat a week or so later, and took up arms against a new opponent, another war game vet by the name of Chris. This time, I chose to command the Confederate forces, and was not surprised to discover that Chris approached the game in much the same way I had done versus Charles. He began moving troops south from the west end of the board, and tried to flank me. I started moving troops westward to meet him.
I also started a movement north on the east, forging over Bull Run and moving my artillery to take aim at Centerville, in an attempt to storm this Union stronghold and end the game early. Unfortunately, Chris and his Union forces had successfully built up in the area, and a combination of unfortunate dice rolls (on my part) and adequate forces to withstand my barrage, allowed him to hang on in Centreville, while his troops pounded my positions in and around Manassas Station.
He also seemed to be rolling an inordinate number of “1”s, which diminished his card deck very rapidly. When he drew the last card from his deck, I still had half a dozen or so in my deck. I had run out of time. In one of his final moves, he recaptured one of the three starred areas that were his objective, giving him the two that he needed. I couldn’t reach him on my last move, and the Union was victorious.
Some observations: As prevalent as the vagaries of dice roll luck appeared to be in operation, it eventually did boil down to the ways in which both of my opponents took advantage of troop movement and timely battles to secure their victories. I got closer to frustrating Union objectives in the second game, than I had battling Confederate forces in the first. Very close to the end of the second game, I had recaptured one of the three starred areas – Henry House Hill – and had it not been for a fortuitous dice roll on the part of my opponent, I’d have held on to that hill and won the game. That said, though, my recapture of the hill had been accomplished with limited troops, so the fortuitous dice roll of my opponent, made his recapture of the hill much easier than it would have been otherwise.
The historical accuracy of the set-up and troop numbers had an unexpected effect. When, for example, as the Confederacy, I had committed insufficient troops to defend an area, I found myself reflecting on how the real general(s) involved must have felt when a contingent of such troops was wiped out. I had issued orders (which are what the dice rolls are called) which led directly to the elimination of troops, and when I did the math, I discovered that some 3,200 men had ‘died’ as a result of orders I had issued. As imaginative as it was, it was a sobering thought.
Bearing in mind that my war game experience remains limited to this experience, twice, I’d have to say that Wallace has created a compelling exercise. Landscape, troop numbers and dice, which can readily be seen as duplicating what can appear to be randomness in real war situations, makes for an engaging couple of hours. The rules are simple, and the ‘battles’ are contained enough to make the game tight and manageable; not at all what I would normally have expected from previous perceptions of the ‘war game’ experience. I’m not at all sure that I’ll be tackling wider territory and world wide war scenarios any time soon, but I will, for sure, be getting myself back to Bull Run with this game for more attempts at getting it right. If you’ve never played a ‘war game,’ this is an excellent place to start.
Martin Wallace’s Test of Fire: Bull Run 1861was released 150 years, to the day (the sesquicentennial), from the date of the original conflict – July 21, 1861. It is a two-player game, recommended for ages 10 and up. While the box indicates that it can be played in 45 minutes, it is likely to take longer. In fact, it appears likely that the more experienced you become, the longer it will take; troop movements and chosen battles are likely to become more intelligently undertaken and it will take a longer amount of time to successfully undermine opponent objectives. It bears a manufacturers’ suggested retail price of $30, but as usual, it can be found for less with some wise shopping.
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