From: Roberto Chiavini Subject: Game Variant Dear Alan, Thank You for putting the reviews on Grognard. With this mail there is a variant for Fresno's Brother against Brother (a major revision of a flawed design). Ciao Roberto Variant Rules for Fresno's Civil War: the war that pitted brother against brother For those of you out there that, like me, have bought this game, hoping to find something very akin to SPI War between the States (a game I have always dreamt of, but I have never seen in all my hobby-life here in Italy), here is a thorough revision of the short and lacunose rulebook, with a lot of additions, that try to give more chrome and playability to the game. In the making of this new set of rules I've taken advantage of the suggestions and the hints given by John Kisner, John Bowen and Dave Mignery, which have been published in F&M 81. I'm indebted to them for having switched on a light in my head and having pushed me to undertake this adventure, that I'm still not sure if was worth the effort. Variants to the existing rules 3.0 Play sequence The Production Phase is made only once every month (in the first segment (I) of every month), for the accumulation of Production Points and the buying of new units. Leaders' choice is still made every two weekly turns. 3.1 Stacking Union and Confederate garrisons both have a 16 points stacking limit. 3.2 Zone of Control (ZOC) It's not possible to enter reinforcements in an enemy ZOC. A retreating stack passing through an enemy ZOC loses 10% of enemy combat points (at least 1 point). 4.0 Initiative Every player can add the modifier of the highest ranking leader commanding an army. 4.2 Rail movement The Resource Points percentage is calculated at the start of every month and remain the same for four turns. 6.0 Leader's Choice The Union Player can draw two leader every two turns between March 1862 and April 1863. Terrain effects chart River +1 +2 Tidal River prohib. N.A. Bridge negates river +1 Ford +2 +1 CRT DRM Strength Comparison 1-5 or less +5 x3 losses 1-4 +4 x3 losses 1-3 +3 x2 losses 1-2 +2 1-1 +1 3/2-1 0 2-1 -1 3-1 -2 4-1 -3 x2 losses 5-1 -4 x2 losses 6-1 -5 x3 losses 7-1 -6 x3 losses Resource Table: Variant to the existing rules The existing rules are substantially modified as they have to fit to the monthly turn and for adding more meaning to the single cities. Confederate resource points Every confederate state produces monthly the points indicated in the following table. Every conquered city costs to the losing side 4 to 8 resource points. When a capital is taken, half the resource points of the state are lost. The resource points produced by ports are multiplied by 4. Confederate Resource Points Table State RP 1861 RP 1862 RP 1863 RP 1864/65 PLxcity Virginia 60 65 75 90 Georgia 60 65 80 90 N. Carolina 30 35 40 50 S.Carolina 30 35 40 45 Arkansas 20 20 25 25 Alabama 30 35 40 45 Tennesee 70 75 80 90 Mississipi 30 35 40 45 Louisiana 40 45 60 65 Florida 30 35 40 45 Texas 50 55 55 60 Total 450 500 575 600 Union Resource Points The Union gets points according to the following table. Every lost city costs 8 RP. The six cities indicated in the original chart cost that number of RP multiplied 4, if taken by the South. Union Resource Points Table 1861 1862 1863 1864/65 700 725 750 850 Personnel Points The existing charts are immutated for the Union player, but he has to subtract 2 points for every Union or Missouri, Kentucky and West Virginia city not controlled at the time of the volunteer call. The Confederate player rises his levels for the volunteer call to 415-330-320. He subtracts 2 for every southern city not controlled at the time of the call and adds 2 for every neutral city controlled. Both sides don't make points for conquering enemy cities. Modifiers for the volunteer call The points obtained for the volunteer call must be totally spent in the year in which it has been made. No more than 50% of this total can be spent in a single turn. In a year can be made only a volunteer call. As soon as the first levy is made, the player loses forever the possibility to made other volunteer calls. No more than a levy can be made every year. At the end of every game year (i.e., before "I Jan" turn), a die is cast on the militia table to see how many militia points are lost. A die is cast for every army or IF. A garrison made only by militia points loses automatically half its strenght (rounded up). Militia Table from -2 to 3: 0 4-5: -10% 6 : -20% 7 : -30% 8 : -40% 9 : -50% 10 : -60% 11 : -70% 12+: -80% DRM: - leader amministrative value -3 for the Confederate army in 1863 -2 " " " " in 1862 and 1864 -1 " " " " in 1861 -2 for the Union army in 1863 and 1864 -1 " " " " in 1862 +1 " " " " in 1861 +5 for unit(s) out of supply +2 for Union unit(s) in enemy territory +1 for Confederate unit(s) in enemy territory Upgrading militia During the Production Phase of every month, it's possible to change with line infantry up to 4 militia units in 1861, up to 6 in 1862, up to 8 in 1863 and up to 10 in 1864-1865. The other way to upgrade militia is in battle: 25% (round fractions up) of the winning units and 10% (round fractions down) of the losing ones of every battle become line infantry. Both these ways are the only possible ones for upgrade a militia (the Production Table is not used). New Production Tables The existing Production Tables don't take in consideration an important factor for the game: the time that is needed to have the unit you have bought with your points. With the following tables, we have tried to correct this. PRODUCTION TABLES UNION Unit Type PP RP Turns Militia 1 5 2 Line infantry 1 10 8 Cavalry 1 50 3 Ironclad 1 135 36 River Gunboat 1 45 12 River Transport 1 36 9 Ocean Naval 1 108 48 Ocean Transport 1 72 24 Level 1 Fort 1 120 8 Upgrade Fort (x level) 1 75 6 Siege Train 1 48 5 Supply depot 0 36 4 CONFEDERACY Unit Type PP RP Turns Militia 1 5 2 Line infantry 1 10 8 Cavalry 1 30 2 Ironclad 1 90 36 River Gunboat 1 30 12 River Transport 1 24 9 Ocean Naval 1 72 48 Level 1 Fort 1 120 8 Upgrade Fort (x level) 1 75 6 Supply depot 0 36 4 Add to the Political Points Table Union Army ends the turn adiacent to Richmond -1 Union controls Arkansas -2 Confederacy controls West Virginia +2 Blockade Tables and Piracy Their use becomes monthly. They cannot be used if the attacking factors are less than 0. To put units in the Piracy box, they are simply picked from the map. Now, to simplify the procedure, it's made only one roll for a single box (no more divided in zones). The Table results are unmodified congerning the naval losses, while the RP are multiplied by 4 (if the result is "RP"), by 6 (id "RP1") and by 12 (if "RP2"). "RP+" result is unmodified. Infantry training It's possible to put into the game your infantry units before the 8 game turns cost. Every player could choose up to 5 cities as training centers. He need at least a leader with an amministrative value greater than 0 in every of these cities, if he wants to use it as a training center. Every leader may train a number of infantry SF up to the maximum he could command as a corp leader. If these conditions are met, the owning player may anticipate the entering of these units by a number of turns equal to the amministrative factor of the leader. Every center may stack a maximum of 3 leaders or 120 SF in a single moment. All the Confederate training centers must be on the map, except one that may be situated in Texas. The Union centers could be everywhere on or out of the map. The units which are trained outside the map must enter by rail (no more than 60 SF for single line). Units trained in centers on the map must enter the game from these cities (with a limit of no more than 60 SF in a single turn). If a center is conquered by the enemy, roll a die: the result (multiplied by ten) equals the percentage of SF lost as prisoners or stragglers. The survivors can enter the game two turns later from a city in a range of no more than 30 hexes from the conquered center. Cavalry If you have more cavalry than your opponent, you have a favorable DRM of +1/-1 and the chance to use a Tactical Chit 2 levels higher than the combined sum of your generals command values. A force made up only by cavalry SF may escape from a battle, simply rolling a die on the Cavalry retreat Table. CAVALRY RETREAT TABLE 1-5: no loss 6-7: -10% 8 : -25% 9 : -30% 10 : -40 11 : -50% 12+: -75% DRM: - leader command value +1 if enemy cavalry = 1/2 of your cavalry +2 " " " = 1/1 " " +3 " " " = 2/1 " " +4 " " " = 3/1 + " " New Rule: Supply All the combat units on the map must be supplied to operate normally. Any unit out of supply must roll on the Attrition Table. Supply is taken by depots and through rail-lines leading to cities. A unit is in supply if it's situated in a range of 8 MP from a depot or a rail-line running without obstacles to a supply center (for the calcule of the distance, you must count the hex where the supply center is situated, but not hex where lie the unit drawing its supply). A supply center is a non-besieged city on the map (or an unblockaded port), or a rail-line exiting a map border (only for the Union and for Texas). Every city can supply up to 1 corp; every state capital city or strategical city, and every rail-line exiting a map border can supply up to 1 army. A supply line is blocked by enemy combat units or their ZOCs. Friendly units negate enemy ZOCs for this purpose only. ATTRITION TABLE 0-3: no loss 4-5: -10% 6 : -20% 7 : -30% 8 : -40% 9 : -50% 10 : -60% 11 : -70% 12+: -80% DRM: - commanding leader administrative value +1 forced march +1 every out of supply turn +1 every battle fought in that turn +1 every turn spent under siege Cities and Sieges A city is under siege when surrounded by enemy units or their ZOC, and therefore it's unable to receive supply. In this case, the besieger may roll every turn on the Attrition Table to inflict losses to the besieged, and every other turn to the Siege Table to receive a surrender. SIEGE TABLE from -3 to 4: - 35% A / no loss D 5-8: -20% A / -50% D 9+: Surrender DRM: -/+ besieging and besieged leader(s) administrative value - Fort level +1 for every siege turn (+2 for every winter siege turn) Revised values for leaders in play Several of the values indicated by the original designers of this game are debatable at best. Besides, the reduction of every leader's ability to a single number limited the realism of the game, leading to not a few "strange" events. So, I've differentiated two leadership values for every leader in play (except the Naval ones, who maintain their single leadership value), one for his combat ability and the other for his administrative capacity. I've tried to revise these factors according to other existing games on the subject and data collected elsewhere. Anyway, the use of these new values is totally optional (even my choices are debatable, of course), and if you want you can use the existing factors without many prob lems. Revised Leaders list Leader Name Command Value Adm.Value Rank Rank 1s 2s 3s 4s 1s 2s 3s 4s UNION Banks -2 1 Blunt 1 0 Buell -1 3 Burnside 0 -1 1 0 Butler -3 0 Couch 1 0 Crittenden 0 0 Curtis 0 0 1 2 Custer (CAV) 1 0 Franklin -1 0 Fremont -2 1 Grant 2 3 4 2 4 4 Grierson (CAV) 0 1 Halleck -2 0 Hancock 2 3 1 1 Heintzelmann 0 1 Hooker 1 -1 0 0 Howard -3 -1 1 0 Keyes -1 0 Logan 1 2 0 1 Lyon 2 2 1 0 0 1 McClellan -1 3 McClernand -1 0 McCook -1 0 McDowell -1 1 McPherson 0 1 0 1 1 1 Meade 0 0 0 0 1 1 Ord 0 1 2 2 Pleasanton (CAV) 0 1 Pope 0 -2 1 1 Porter 2 0 Reynolds 0 1 0 1 Rosecrans 0 0 Scholfield 0 1 0 1 Sedgwick 0 1 0 1 Sheridan (CAV) 1 2 1 0 0 1 Sherman 0 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 Sickles -3 1 Sigel 0 3 Slocum 0 1 Smith 0 0 Steele 0 0 0 1 Stoneman (CAV) -1 1 Sumner 0 1 Sykes 1 1 Thomas 2 3 3 1 1 2 Wilson (CAV) 1 0 Wright 0 1 CONFEDERATE AP Hill 3 1 1 2 AS Johnston 1 2 Ashby (CAV) 1 0 Beauregard 1 1 Bragg -1 1 Breckenridge 0 1 0 1 Buckner 0 1 Cheatham 1 1 Cleburne 3 0 DH Hill 1 1 1 1 Early 1 1 0 0 EK Smith 1 1 1 0 1 2 Ewell 1 0 0 0 Floyd -1 1 Forrest (CAV) 3 2 1 2 Gardner 0 0 Gordon 2 1 1 1 Hardee 1 2 0 0 Hindman 0 1 Holmes 0 1 Hood 3 3 1 0 1 1 Huger -2 1 J.Johnston 1 3 Jackson 2 4 3 1 2 2 Lee 4 3 Longstreet 2 1 0 0 Magruder 1 1 Mosby (CAV) 1 1 Pemberton 0 0 1 1 Polk 0 2 Price 0 0 0 1 SD Lee 1 2 0 0 Stewart 1 0 Stuart (CAV) 2 2 1 2 Taylor 1 1 1 1 Van Dorn 0 2 Walker 1 0 Wheeler (CAV) 1