Clash of Giants: Civil War
- One back-printed 34" x 22" map
- 264 5/8" counters
- One Rules Book
- One Battle Book
- Player Aid Cards
- One die
- Rules (as of Apr 2018)
- Playbook (as of May 2018)
- Errata (as of 4 Jan 2017)
- French
- Gettysburg Map Patch
Description
Clash of Giants: Civil War, takes the game system
from Ted S. Raicer’s popular and critically acclaimed Clash of Giants WWI series
to two of the storied battles of the American Civil War: Second Bull Run and
Units in CoG: Civil War are mostly infantry brigades,
(with the odd cavalry brigade or demi-brigade).
Each day is divided into four day turns and one night turn. The maps
depict woods, hills, steep hexsides, railway cuts and embankments, roads,
rivers, creeks, bridges, towns, marshy ground, and the Devil’s Den at
The Activation rules, which combines random formation
activation (mostly corps for the
One thing that speeds play in CoG: Civil War is the
unusual treatment of artillery. There are no artillery units depicted; instead
artillery appears as Combat Support Markers which are added (attacker first) to
the combat strength of engaged units. Artillery CSMs are generally assigned to a
specific division or corps, though army reserve artillery can be used to support
any units. Artillery cannot be used in combat in certain terrain (woods or town
hexes), but there are no line of sight considerations to slow down play or
complicate the rules. Instead both line of sight and enemy counter-battery fire
are handled with an elegant abstraction: each turn all available artillery CSMs
of both sides go into a cup, and then half are randomly drawn. Whatever comes
out of the cup is available for use that turn, so the player with more artillery
on the field is more likely to get artillery support. This also allows a simple
way to model the effectiveness of the Union Artillery Reserve at
The two battles, Second Bull Run and
Winning involves a combination of taking and holding victory hexes, exiting units, and inflicting casualties. You can also earn victory points to compensate for units whose arrival is delayed-but only if you didn’t try to force march them to an earlier arrival! Players will have to judge trading losses for taking or holding tactically important ground.
Special rules cover such things as General Pope’s confused and confusing orders at Second Bull Run, the Confederate grand battery on the third day at Gettysburg, the use of the Union VI Corps as a reserve in both battles, cavalry delaying actions and retreat before combat, rallying units at night, and the actions of certain key leaders. But though there is enough chrome to give each battle a distinctive flavor, the action remains uncluttered, quick-playing, and exciting.
Not simply “another Civil War battle system,” CoG: Civil War presents a fresh new look at an oft-game topic. Giving each side a chance to change history in an afternoon’s gaming, the use of the Clash of Giants system also shows the sometimes surprising links between the battles of the Civil War and the opening battles of the Great War 50 years later. Fans of either the Civil War or the Clash of Giants series will not be disappointed.
Game Features |
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TIME SCALE | Day = 4 Hours Night = 8 Hours |
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UNIT SCALE |
Mostly brigades |
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NUMBER OF PLAYERS | 1-2 |