Review of the Day: Shenandoah: Jackson’s Valley Campaign
Here we are again for another HexDiceFire’s Review of the Day dear followers! Today I’ve chose to review an American Civil War themed light wargame from Columbia Games, the well known wargame company which made blocks system famous. The game is Shenandoah: Jackson’s Valley Campaign, and it’s played from 1 to 2 players. This wargame depicts the epic campaign of Stonewall Jackson’s CSA army led against three Unionist armies in 1862. The game gives the players the opportunity to revive those ferocious battles following history’s flow or to change the outcome of this scenario, leading your armies in a possible world where Unionist defeat Jackson. It’s all up to you. Let’s look at the box and then at the game in this brief review.
The Box
This wargame comes in a typical box from Columbia Games. They respect a standard that never changes and that makes their boxes really cool to be collected on shelves, cause they resemble books. The paint on the cover it’s really evocative and perfect in the overall design. Inside the box there are a lot of wooden block in blue (USA) and gray (CSA) along with the stickers you’ll need to stick on them, which are nicely printed and really clear. The only thing I didn’t like was CSA sticker’s background colour which was light brown. I think it could have been better a grey background like the block’s colour but that’s not a great problem, only a matter of tastes. The resistant mounted map is really bigger than I expected and it’s graphically really essential. The artwork on it gives clear info about cities, locations and connections but it’s mostly monochromatic. I appreciated it in any case cause it helps concentrating on the unit without being distracted by a bizarre colour palette (like the ones in old Victory Games, remember?). I reccomend to the producer a smaller wooden cube to keep track of gaming turns, which I noticed it’s not included. The dice are enough for each of the players, so you won’t need to share common dice for the entire match. The rules are really easy to read and to understand, so that makes this game really great cause you can decide to play it only after half an hour of reading. The last things you’ll find in this wonder-box, are two Unit Displays to organize your armies before setting up the game.
The Game
Shenandoah is medium-light wargame, where players get turns activating their HQ, moving units and fighting in a really particular way. Each army has cubes in their colours that must be placed in their starting cities. Some other cubes are left apart as reserves and enter the game in the following turns only if the owner decides to use them. Once the setup is done, each player should have all their units hidden from other, like in the old classic Stratego by Milton-Bradley, father of wargames’ Fog of War mechanic. The units must be revealed to the enemy only when a battle begins and in no other way during the entire game. Types of units resemble those involved in the Civil War: Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery. Each of these units has a symbol to distinguish it from another one; a letter, useful for set-up and HQ dependency; a strenght factor(1 to 4 with numbers printed in sequence, one for each side of the block) and a letter in couple with a number (the letter defines the quality of the troop, from A which is the best and fires first to C which is poor and fires lastly; the number tells you the maximum number to score a hit with that unit, using a D6 die). When a unit gets a hit, it must be reduced turning the block so that a lower number is visible on the upper side.
In the example up here, Csa units with Jackson are defending from Banks’ units. Csa units have 1 strenght each, the number on the upper side. Unionist have two 1, a 3 and a 0 (they’re upside down). If Jackson takes one hit, it must be rotated to show the 0 factor in place of 1. A unit which has only a single strenght factor, like these two Csa Regiments, must be destroyed if it takes a hit. The strenght factor tells the player how many D6 dice he must roll when firing with that unit. The battle lasts for 3 rounds and when the fourth begins, the attacker must retreat if he didn’t destroy all enemy pieces. There are also exceptions for Cavalry or for Artillery and there also reinforcement units, in the cities adjacent to the city where the battle is fought, which can join - in later rounds - the fight. Terrains have effect on movements and stacking limits, but they’re easy to remind, so you won’t go mad seaching modifiers on big tables. The fundamental thing in this game is the Supply. Units must trace a continuous line to a Supply Base/City of their colour. South has a very limited supply and North is able to move more freely without risking a total supplies’ cut. Supply points decrease as long as the enemy block on or more of your Supply Base/City. These points are needful to reinforce HQ (without them you won’t move or battle with any unit) which use their Strenght Factor to activate units around them. Supply point can also be spent to reinforce the strenght of one or more combat unit. This is the most strategical factor of the game, so the player must use them wisely. Reinforcements (the units left apart after the setup) are simple units with low values, used as substitutions. Each player can bring of of these units from his display to the field, attaching it to a brigade with the same letter (f.e. Artillery ‘N’ goes with other ‘N’ units and it is activated by a ‘N’ HQ). This is the core of the game, now let’s talk about what I think of it.
(Paolo - Union Player, is watching his display to select a reinforncement unit)
My opinions on the game
I really love dice and I love American Civil War themed board-wargames. I collect them, I study the historical period, so each game is also a lesson for me and a way to learn. I think that Columbia games knows how to transform big historical battles into simple but deeply strategical games. These is not a simple thing to do and many companies fail in doing that. I’ve tried many other titles from Columbia and I appreciated every one of them in a different way. This one give the players an opportunity to understand and partecipate in a campaign without being wounded by big tomes of rules, lots of modifiers or constant dead times. The turns alternate really fast and if you love dice here’s bread for you teeth, cause you’ll be rolling them really often. The overall design is really good; the blocks give that 3-Desque feeling that sometimes every wargamer needs; the rules are clear, full of examples and well written. Love ACW? Love blocks? Love playing wargames in 3 hours or less? Well, that’s the game for you! Even if you don’t know nothing about American Civil War this could be a game for you, because in Shenandoah, you are the leader and only you can change history!