Rebel Fury

Saw a recommendation on YouTube the other day and bought it tonight. Rebel Fury is a hex-map ACW game by GMT Games designed by Mark Herman. Game lists several famous campaigns like Fredricksburg, Chancellorville, The Wilderness and so on. 

Will give it a run just for fun sake. 

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So play the Frederickburg solo game today. Only option is to play Union; the Confederates are static and do not move or attack. The scenario lasts for three turns. Victory condition for the Union player (me) is that it must be a Strategic victory which means capturing at least four hexes from a selection of seven of which all but one are held by the strongly fortified Confederates. Limited resources are allocated the Union forces with three off-the-map reserve units (one cavalry and two infantry) besides what's already on the game board. 

Game One: Learning the game so it was easily won by the Rebs. 

Game Two: Still learning the game play mechanics. Attacked on the Sunken road position but even with artillery support my forces were easily. Another win for Johnny Reb. And it was by a big margin.

Game Three: Getting the hang of it now but decided to ignore the Sunken road position and attack Hoods isolated position to the south. Managed to break through (using artillery fire spt and HQ spt) but then the game ended. Another CS victory. 

Verdict: Interesting. Going to play solo Fredericksburg again tonight.

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Another round of this interesting online board game by GMT Games. This time with screenshots...!

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Turn 1. Initial deployment. Same solo scenario from earlier today. Limited pieces on the map board for both sides. Confederates are static: they cannot move from their positions or counterattack although they are allowed to defend if attacked. As Union player you have to capture at least four of objective hexes - the seven red stars. Not sure why the remaining deployment is shown given the objectives are clustered around the Sunken road. 

Every action brings up the dialog box explaining the action which can be annoying after a while. 

The scenario gives the Union player a set amount of movement actions, in this case, it's always nineteen. HQ and detachments are moved first, then units. In this scenario, artillery is static too for some reason.

If outside an enemy ZOC and ZOI, the unit counter can move its maximum movement allowance (usually double on roads and in march formation). Proximity to an enemy will trigger a change of formation (automatic) from march to battle line.

Above shows movement ranges when a unit counter is activated. 

Turn 2: Whenever two opposing unit counters are adjacent at any time, movement ceases and the attack phase takes over (see below). Modifiers are applied (artillery support and HQ support - if within command range of 5 hexes). Die rolls are conducted by the game with the results given at the end of the attack (as shown above). 

Attack resolution is mandatory; you cannot proceed until they're all resolved. Cracking the Confederate position of Marye's Heights is a real tough nut to crack. But if you attack Ransom's position you can affect a breakthrough. But be mindful that Lee's HQ is right behind McLaws position and his presence will inspire the Rebs above and beyond. 

As seen above, I manged to break into the northern end of the Marye's Height position. However I made some poor decision when trying to follow through. Came close but no prize. 

The solitary point won was for holding one hex at the end of the game. Normally, the Confederates have a default 7 points lead at the start of the scenario. Worst loss was 13 - zip. Best result from tonight's effort was losing 4 - 1. 

Off-map movements was odd tonight. Pleasanton's cav detachment appeared at entry point I which is to the rear of the northern end of Confederate defensive line. All he had to worry about was Stuart's cavalry guarding that rear area. But I was unable to affect movement with the Union cavalry; he just sat at the entry point twiddling his sabre. The problem did not occur when I moved the two Union units through entry points J and K. May be a glitch perhaps? Or I haven't yet read through the PDF manual. 

Will play through a couple more times before tackling the major battles of this game. Cheers.