Let's Play For The People (Civil War Board game)

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I did a Let's Play dynasty for Navajo Wars a while back that was pretty popular, but it had two problems. One, my wife's stupid cat walked over the board and ruined the game, and two, I didn't have any pictures, so there was some confusion about the situation from my descriptions.

So I am going to try again with my newest purchase, For The People. This is a game about the American Civil War. I will be playing solitaire with selective memory loss when playing the other side. I'm new to the game, so I may make some mistakes with the rules, and probably strategy as well. The rule book is pretty complicated, but I think I can figure most of it out. This time though, I will be using a VASSAL module to alleviate the problems described above.

I'll be explaining some terms as I go along to help explain gameplay. As always, comments about what I am doing wrong are always welcome.

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START OF GAME (PRE-SPRING 1861)

Here is the map at the start of the game.



The blue units are union, and the brown units are confederates. At the start of the game, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, TX, LA, TN, AK, MI, and AL have all seceded and are part of the CSA. MO, KY, and WV are considered border states. One of the early objectives for both sides is to take control of the border states for their side.

One of the main concepts in this game is Strategic Will (SW). Basically, this can be thought of as the will to continue the fight. This is how you win or lose the game. If the CSA SW ever drops to 0, they automatically lose. Likewise, if the US SW is ever half of the CSA SW, they automatically lose. There are other conditions which can end the game, but SW is the most likely.

Here's a screen shot of the area around DC to explain a little more about some of the units.



You'll notice Johnson and Beauregard. These are general markers. The large "2" is their strategy rating. Lower is better. This represents the card value needed to activate the general. For Johnson, you'll see a "1-2". This is the offense-defense rating of the general. Higher is better. This affects die roll modifiers (DRM) in battle. In addition, there is a light blue number. This is the Political Value, and is a pretty cool concept. What this amounts to is that if a general is made commander of an army over a general with a higher Political Value, you take a hit to your SW. This will come into play with McClellan, as he is tough to get out of power.

Also, you'll see a couple of Union units. The number value on them represents their Strength Points (SP). Higher is better. This is the size of the army.

In DC itself is the Army of the Potomac. At the start, this is the only army on the board. In the big map picture, on the left hand side is the army information. It's a little hard to see, but McDowell is in command with 5 SP's. Also, you can see a fort icon. This helps with defense, and also affects river movement in the west. This will get explained in more detail as we head to the west later.

Fighting units can either be armies, corps, or divisions. An army has a special army marker. Corps are led by a general. And divisions don't have a general leading them. In the DC picture, you can see an example of all three. The differences between them primarily affect movement, although armies have some special advantages.

The mechanics of this game are card driven. Each player has cards, and each card has an event and a operational value. So you have to decide to play the card for the event or for ops.

As we get into the game, I will explain more details about the specifics involved with each move that is getting made.

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SPRING 1861

The first thing that happens every turn is the reinforcement phase. However, in Spring of 1861, this phase is skipped.

The second thing that happens is to deal strategy cards, and conduct the strategy rounds. As I mentioned earlier, you can play your cards for either the event, or ops. If your card contains the enemy event, you can only use it for ops.

The union was dealt a hand with three confederate events, with ops of 3, 2, and 2. Their fourth card was a Minor Campaign card, which is worth 3 ops, and is an event that can be used by both players. Campaign cards are powerful, because they allow multiple moves with just one card. Minor campaigns allow 2 moves, while major campaigns allow 3 moves.

For the rebels, they had three union events with 2, 3, and 1 ops, and a Elite Units event, worth 1 ops. This card allows you to place an elite unit in your army. However, since the rebels don't yet have an army, this card will also have to be played for ops.

The union always goes first, unless the confederates announce they will play a campaign card to take the initiative and go first. For the first play, the union plays a 2 ops card. There are several different things you can use ops for. First, you can move forces. To do this, your general has to be equal to or less than the ops card. Or, you can move as many SP's as the ops allow. For this move, this is the option the union uses. In addition, ops can be used to create armies, relieve or reorganize your generals, build forts, or place PC markers (which will be explained shortly).

The union uses the 2 ops to move the 2SP's in Pittsburgh. They advance through Wheeling WV, leaving 1 SP behind. The remaining SP advances to Grafton WV, and stops there. Since this is a division, they can always drop off SP's, but cannot pick up additional SP's when they are moving. The union is making a move to take West Virginia.

For the first rebel round, they play a 2 ops card. Price heads down to Little Rock to grab the SP there, then heads into Missouri. He leaves an SP in Springfield MO, and advances to Rolla where he stops.

On the unions 2nd round, they play another 2 ops card, to place Political Control (PC) markers. You may place as many PC's as you have ops, and they can be placed in any neutral border state spot. The union places them in Parkersburg and Charleston WV. This currently has them at 4 of the 7 spots in WV, which will give them control of WV if it stands until the end of the spring.

The rebels decide to throw their lot into Missouri. If they can take Missouri, they get additional reinforcements. They place a 3 ops card, and Polk moves to Greenville, MO to block the open path Fremont currently has into the south.

In round 3, the union plays a 3 ops card. They notice that the rebels are making a move in Missouri, and are looking to slow that down. Fremont goes to Springfield IL, picks up the SP there, and advances to Ironton, leaving 1 SP behind in St. Louis. Fremont right now has a superior force (2 SP's) to both Polk and Price (1 SP). With 3-1 odds, you get a +2 DRM, so this is important. The rebels then play a 1 op card, and place a PC in Jefferson City, MO.

For the fourth and final round, the union plays their minor campaign for the event. They want to take the initiative in both the eastern and western theaters. In the west, Fremont decides to go back and pick up the SP in St. Louis, and heads down to attack Polk, who is the weaker of the two rebel generals. However, Price tries to intercept. An interception may be attempted when someone moves into an empty spot adjacent to an enemy general. If the enemy rolls their defensive rating or less, the interception is successful, and the enemy moves into the spot first, and a battle ensues. The intercepting force gets a +2 DRM. In this case, Price has a defense rating of 1, but manages to roll a 1, and intercepts. Fremont gets +2 DRM for 3-1 odds, and Price gets a +3 DRM (+2 for intercepting, and +1 defense rating). However, luck is with the union, and they emerge victorious. Both sides lose 1 SP in the battle. Since Price only had 1 SP, they are eliminated. Price will return later. Also, since Fremont had greater than 2-1 strength at the beginning of the battle, he can continue to advance. However, he decides to stop in Ironton, and block Polk.

For the second part of the campaign, the Army of the Potomac (AoP) decides it needs to ensure that West Virginia stays safe. Johnston is the only general which can easily threaten WV, so AoP leaves 3 SP behind to protect Washington, picks up the 1 SP in Frederick, the 2 SP's in Harper's Ferry, and attacks Johnston with a 5-1 force advantage, which will give a +4 DRM. Johnston knows this is a battle he cannot win, and tries a strategic retreat. To execute this, you need to roll less than or equal to your defensive rating. Unfortunately for him, it was unsuccessful. The union wins, and eliminates Johnston, but loses 2 SP's in doing so. The AoP finishes its turn by moving back to Washington, leaving behind SP's in Frederick to block any funny business from Beauregard. The eastern portion was much more successful than the west.

For the rebels last round, they only have the 1 ops card left. They decide to use it to place a CP in Paducah KY. This could potentially slow down the union division in Cairo IL. This ends the strategy rounds.

The next phase is the Political Control phase. During this phase, any unit that is in supply (which I haven't talked about yet) in an enemy or uncontrolled space gains control of that space. The 2 union units in WV take control. In MO, Springfield and Greenville go to the rebels, while Ironton goes to the union.

At this point, the states themselves are checked. West Virginia has 4 union PC's, so the state becomes a union state. Whenever a state flips, SW is affected. For WV, it is worth 5 SW. In addition, there is something called change of fortune. What this does is if your last SW change was negative, and you have a positive SW change, you get bonus points. Likewise, if you go from positive to negative, you take an additional penalty. The union starts with a negative, so they get an addition 2 SW. This gives them a total of 107+ SW to 100+ for the rebels. The "+" indicates their last move was in the positive direction. In addition, when a border state flips, any empty spaces go to the side that controls it.

The final phase of a turn is the attrition phase. For any spot that contains more than 2 SP's attrition occurs. For 3-6 SP's, it loses 1 SP, and for 7 or more SP's, it loses 2 SP's. In addition, if any units are out of supply, additional penalties may occur. Right now, every unit is in supply. The only place where attrition occurs is with the AoP, which loses 1 SP down to 3 SP, and Beauregard goes from 3 SP to 2 SP.

Here is how the situation in the east looks.


Beauregard is the only force for the rebels, and he is weakened. The AoP isn't particularly strong right now either. Butler's force in Fort Monroe is only 1 SP, so he's not a real threat. The union will get many reinforcements here, so the confederates need to figure how what to do here.

Here's the western theater.



Right now, it is still a bit of a stalemate. Neither side has made a play for Kentucky. Johnston is lurking in Nashville (which I cut off in my screenshot ), so he could do some damage there. Both sides are weak here.

The biggest decision to be made in the summer of 1861 for the rebels is where to concentrate their meager reinforcements. Do they focus on the east to protect Richmond, or try for a breakthrough in the west? The union is in a pretty good spot in the east. For the west, if either MO or KY falls to the rebels, that's not the end of the world, but they can't lose both.

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SUMMER 1861 (part 1)

This time, we can do the reinforcement phase. This phase is broken down into three parts: Reinforcements, Strategic Movement (SM), and Generals.

The union always goes first, and gets reinforcements in 3 areas. In the east, they get 8 SP's in Washington if it has supply. It does. In the central, they get 6 SP's in somewhere in OH or IN. They go to Bloomington. Finally, they get 4 SP's in either St. Louis, or IL. These will go to St. Louis.

For the confederates, they can place 9 SP's in any confederate state, but no more than 1 SP per state. These got to Gaineville AR, Nashville TN (under A. Johnston, giving him 2 SP's), Manassas VA (under Beauregard, giving him 3 SP's), Weldon NC, Marion SC, Decatur AL, Monroe LA, Meridian MS, and Atlanta GA.

In addition, they can get up to 4 more SP's through blockade runners. I haven't talked about this yet, but along the coast, certain ports are designated as blockade runner ports. If you roll above the current blockade rating, you can place a SP. There are four total regions to roll for. However, the union has not begun the blockade yet (blockade rating of 0), so all rolls are automatically successful. These units go to New Orleans, Columbus GA, Charleston SC, and Wilmington NC. If the rebels controlled MO and/or KY, they would also get an additional SP in those states.

The second part is Strategic Movement. For this, you can move any SP's by rail through any friendly territory. The union can move 15 SP's in this fashion, and the south can move 7 SP's. For the union, the moved 2 SP's from St. Louis to Ironton MO under Fremont, giving him 4 SP's. They moved 1 SP from Indianapolis to Cairo IL, and moved 1 SP each from Columbus OH and Wheeling WV to Cincinnati, giving 3 SP's total there. The plan is to form an army in Bloomington, and then advance on KY from there and Cincinnati. In addition, the smaller forces can try and finish off Missouri.

The confederates moved 1 SP each from Atlanta, Meridian, and Decatur to Nashville, giving A. Johnston 5 SP's. They also moved 1 SP each from Columbus GA, Marion, Wilmington, and Weldon to Manassas, giving Beauregard 8 SP's. The plan here is to form armies in Nashville and Manassas.

The final step is to assign generals. Generals come out in preassigned turns, and any removed generals reappear at this point. When assigning generals, their chits are turned upside down, so you don't know exactly what general is going where. Also, generals must be placed in a spot with at least 1 SP, and you can't assign more generals than SP's.

The final results for all of this were for the Union, Banks in Bloomington (6 SP's), McClellon to Cincinnati (3 SP's), Halleck to Grafton WV (1 SP), Pope to Philadelphia (1 SP), Rosecrans to Cairo IL (2 SP's), Buell to Frederick MD (2 SP's), and Burnside to St. Louis (2 SP's). For the confederates, Price to Manassas (Beauregard is already here with 8 SP's), J. Johnston to Nashville (A. Johnston is already here with 5 SP's), Smith in Richmond (1 SP), and Bragg in Columbus KY (1 SP). In addition, Stuart goes to Springfield MO (1 SP) and is created as a cavalry brigade. These are a little different, but basically when added to an army, they give it more power.

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SUMMER 1861 (part 2)

As the war continues, more action will occur. This is represented by getting more cards. This turn, both sides will get five cards.

For the union, they got two confederate events (both 3 ops), Glory Hallelujah (3 ops), Farragut (2 ops), and another Minor Campaign (3 ops). This is a very strong hand. Lots of ops. Glory Hallelujah gives 3 SP's representing the use of Negro troops. Farragut gives good bonuses for amphibious assaults, but unfortunately we're not in a position to take advantage of this.

For the rebels, they got two union events (1 and 2 ops), Ambush (1 op), Bermuda Blockade Surge (2 ops), and Personal Advisor (3 ops). Ambush is useless, since it targets cavalry, and the union doesn't have any yet. Bermuda gives SP's in blockade runner ports, so could be useful. Personal Advisor allows changing commanding officers without penalty. Since we are just now starting to form armies, this card isn't helpful at the moment. Not a particularly good hand.

Union round 1: Plays Farragut for 2 ops. They perform a naval operation. For coastal operations, you can move freely from a port to another port. If the port has a coastal fortress, you have to attack that first. However, for this move, we move Pope from Philadelphia to Morehead City, NC. This port is a blockade runner port, but doesn't have a fort, and is currently undefended. If this makes it through the turn, the union will control two of the three blockade runner ports in the North Atlantic zone.

Confederate round 1: Plays a 2 ops card to form the Army of Tennessee (AoT) in Nashville. At any time you can play a 2 or 3 ops card to form an army in a spot that has at least 5 SP's and a general. A. Johnston is the commanding officer, with J. Johnston 2nd in command. Since A. Johnston has the highest political value on the map, no penalties.

Union round 2: Plays 3 ops card. Moves McClellan and 3 SP's to Bloomington, picks up 3 SP's, and then moves south to Bowling Green KY to block the path of AoT. I gave up the plan to form an army when I saw their army form. Plus, McClellan is a great defensive general, so AoT will have its work cut out for it if it tries to attack.

Confederate round 2: The lack of ops in this hand hurts. I want to save my 3 ops in case something needs a reaction, so I am forced to play Bermuda for the ops, and form the Army of Northern Virginia (AoNV) in Manassas. Beauregard is the commanding officer, with Price 2nd in command. However, both Bragg and Smith are on the board with higher political ratings. This means the south takes a -2 SW penalty. In addition, there is something called change of fortune. What this means is that you have to keep track if your last SW move was positive or negative. The south starts with a positive, so since this is a negative move, we have a change of fortune. This results in an additional -3 SW. This leaves the south at 95-. I will use either a + or - at the end of SW ratings to show which the last SW move was.

Union round 3: Plays a 3 ops card. Fremont attacks Polk in Greensville MO with a 3-1 advantage. The roll has a 1-1 result. When I show battle results, this means that the first number is the SP's lost by the attacker, and the second by the defender. Whoever loses the most SP's is the loser. If there is a tie, defender wins, unless there is a *. So if the result was 1-1*, the attacker wins. In our case, Polk is technically the winner, but since they lost their only SP, they are eliminated and Fremont takes Greensville. But the good news for the south is, since Fremont technically lost, they cannot advance further. Their free run through Missouri is temporarily halted.

Confederate round 3: Plays Ambush for 1 op. Stuart moves to Clarksville TN. I was one movement point short of joining AoT, so in hindsight, placing Stuart there was a mistake.

Union round 4: Now it is time for the Minor Campaign. Banks takes his 3 SP's, moving through Louisville, Frankfurt, and Lexington, leaving 1 SP in each area. The second move has Halleck moving to Wytheville VA. The union has now made a major play for Kentucky, and is cutting one of the railways connecting the east to west.

Confederate round 4: Plays 1 op to finish moving Stuart into AoT.

Union round 5: I decided to play Glory Hallelujah for the ops, and use them to place 3 PC markers in Missouri. St. Joseph, Lexington, and Kansas City are all union. The union has taken the upper hand in the border states for now.

Confederate round 5: I have some tough decisions. Missouri is lost, so I'm giving up there. I can try and move AoT east through Tennessee and enter Kentucky from the east, which would threaten a weakened Banks. But doing this would give McClellan free entry into Tennessee. Kentucky won't go to the union this turn, so that's a risk I'm not willing to take. Instead, I decide to use AoNV to cause a major headache in the east. The plan is to attack Buell in Frederick, and if successful, I can then march through the north unopposed, which would obviously be a huge problem for the union. I play Personal Advisor for the ops to start the attack. AoP attempts to intercept in Frederick, but fails. I attack Buell with a 8-2 advantage. The roll results in a 1-2* resounding victory, eliminating Buell. Once special thing that armies can do is they can use a movement point to convert a territory. So I use all the movement points moving through Frederick, Baltimore, and ending in Annapolis, taking control of all three areas, and still keeping my supply lines open. This concludes the strategy round.

For the political control phase, Missouri sits at 6-3 for the union. 7 is needed for control, so they stay neutral for one more turn. Kentucky is at 4-2 for the union. 7 is needed for control, so it also stays neutral, although the union holds the upper hand here as well. However, if a union state has three or more spots held by the south, it results in some very bad news. The south gets +5 SW, while the union loses 5 SW. Both of these result in a change of fortune, which leaves the SW score at Union 99-, Confederates 102+.

In the attrition phase, all of the armies take attrition. AoP is at 8 SP's, AoNV is at 6 SP's, and AoT is at 5 SP's. Washington is still in supply because it is a port city, and for the union, port cities are always in supply. In addition, Fremont goes down to 2 SP's, and McClellan goes to 5 SP's.

The eastern theater looks like this:



Washington is completely isolated. However, there is nothing between the largest army on the board and Richmond as well. Could we have a major battle in Maryland? The better news for the union right there is that Halleck has cut one of the quickest ways to move east and west via rail.

The west looks pretty good for the union right now.



Missouri going to the union is imminent, and the union holds the upper hand in Kentucky as well. If McClellan can hold off AoT, Banks can finish taking the rest of Kentucky.

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FALL 1861

There are no reinforcements this turn. This represents the end of the 90 day enlistments at the beginning of the war, and those soldiers going home.

For the Strategic Movement phase, the union moved 1 SP each from Louisville and Frankfort to Lexington under Banks (3 SP total).

The confederates moved 1 SP from Charleston SC to New Bern NC to block Pope. They also moved 1 SP from Monroe LA to Colombus KY under Bragg (2 SP total) and 1 SP from Mobile AL to Dover TN (2 SP total).

Buell was assigned as 2nd in command in the AoP. Pemberton went to New Bern (1 SP), Van Dorn went to Dover (2 SP), and Polk went to Gaineville AR (1 SP).

Strategy phase:
Union drew 3 confederate events (2, 1, and 3 ops), Valley Devastation (1 op), J. B. EADS Riverine Ironclads (2 ops), and Strategy Board (2 ops). The Shenandoah Valley counts as a resource spot for the confederates when controlled. Valley Devastation destroys this resource if the union controls the area. The ironclads helps with amphibious assaults, and will be played for the event. Strategy board helps naval moves, but we’re not in a good position to do that right now. However, this card works well with the ironclads, so we may take a chance. The union’s objectives this turn are to take Missouri and Kentucky, and cut off AoNV from supply.


Confederates drew 3 union events (1, 2, and 2 ops), Brazil Recognizes Confederacy (3 ops), Major Campaign (3 ops), and Severe Storms at Sea 2 ops). Brazil gives 3 SW, and Severe Storms automatically interrupt a naval move. The AoNV is in a very vulnerable spot, so I think playing the Major campaign to keep them safe is the smart move. Remember that the rebels can play a campaign card to take the initiative and go first.



Confederate round 1: Major Campaign. AoNV moves to York PA, takes control, moves to Gettysburg PA, takes control, and ends in Frederick MD. They are now safe to retreat to Manassas if attacked. The unit in New Orleans moves to Forts St. Philip/Jackson. And finally, Van Dorn take 1 SP into Paducah KY, leaving 1 SP behind in the fort in Dover TN.


Union round 1: Plays J.B. EADS Riverine Ironclads for the event. Amphibious Assault modifier now is at 2.


Confederate round 2: Plays Brazil for ops. Builds a fort in Paducah KY. For forts, the rebels can play a 3 ops card to build a fort. The union can play 1, 2, or 3 ops to build one. Also, the rebels can only have 6 non-coastal forts on the board at any one time, while the union can have 12.



Union round 2: Plays Cabinet Intrigue for ops. Banks moves to Lebanon KY, leaving 1 SP, and ends in Somerset KY with 2 SP’s.



Confederate round 3: Play 1 ops and places a PC Rolla MO.


Union round 3: Plays 2 ops and moves Burnside to Jefferson City, leaving behind 1 SP, and ending in Rolla with 1 SP. Missouri will now fall to the union.


Confederate round 4: AoT leaves behind 2 SP in Nashville, and advances to Somerset to attack Banks. Result is (1-1), resulting in a Union victory. AoT is now in Clinton TN.


Union round 4: Plays 1 ops and places a PC in Falmouth KY. Kentucky will now fall to the union as well.


Confederate round 5: In a last desperate attempt, AoT attacks Banks again by playing a 2 ops card. The roll results in (1-0), which is terrible news for the rebels. This was the worst possible outcome for the rebels.



Union round 5: The union is in a great position to eliminate AoT, but doesn’t have a high enough ops card to move McClellan over there. Instead, they play Strategy Board to move Butler from Fort Monroe to Fort Fisher to finish capturing all the ports in the North Atlantic blockade zone. Unfortunately for the rebels, their Storms card cannot cancel naval movement initiated by an event. The roll results in (0-1*). Butler takes the fort, and for now the North Atlantic is completely under union control. This was a risky move for the union, but for the second straight round, they rolled very lucky.



Confederate round 6: The rebels have a major dilemma. They can take Smith and capture Fort Monroe, which opens up the blockade zone, but leaves Richmond completely undefended. AoNV can try and intercept if AoP heads south, and the union would still need a 3 ops card to even try, so decides the take the chance. They play Storms for the 2 ops, and move Smith with his lone 1 SP to Fort Monroe.



Union round 6: Only a 1 ops card is left, so it is used to build a fort in Cairo IL.



Political control phase: The union wasn’t able to move on Maryland, so the rebels gain 5 SW, and the union loses 5 SW, which puts us at Union 94-, Confederates 107+ . Then the union gains control of both Missouri and Kentucky, jumping them up to 106+. But in every fall turn, the union loses 5 SW for war weariness, which drops them down to 98-. I'm not going to list all the change of fortune changes, so they can be noted by paying attention to the + and - symbols.


For attrition, AoP loses 2 SP, AoNV loses 1 SP, and McClellan loses 1 SP.


Here is the situation around Washington:



This is the sole area of good news for the south, and even so, Richmond is undefended. Washington is cut off from reinforcements. Halleck is lurking just west Lynchburg, so could threaten Richmond. AoP is currently at 6 SP, while AoNV is at 5 SP.


Down the coast is starting to get interesting.



Butler and Pope have taken two blockade runner ports, and not a lot of defense around them. Pemberton will have to hold them off by himself.


In the west...

The south is in a world of hurt here. AoT is down to 1 SP. However, other than McClellan (4 SP), nobody has a large force. And McClellan is more of a defensive general, so they may not be able to take advantage. However, all of the border states are under union control, so they are not sitting too bad.