David R. Moody  - Aug 4, 2000 12:28 pm (#1257 Total: 6849)

Re: Shiloh and Chattanooga (XTR): I've got Chattanooga, and it has a lot 
of problems. Turns never seem to end--each turn has impulses, and you have 
to roll at the end of each of them to see if the turn ends, or you have 
another impulse. The way the dice roll ranges are set up, it is possible 
for turns to go on indefinitely. It is also entirely possible for 
Sherman's command to seize the Tunnel Hill position (which historically 
gave them so much trouble--Pat Cleburne defended there, and Sherman was 
stymied in his attempts to take it, which is part of the reason why Thomas 
was ordered to take the rifle pits at the base of Missionary Ridge) 
without a fight, thus rendering the entire Rebel position untenable from 
the evening of November 23. The map is not good--no indication where the 
Union trench line is supposed to go, and as someone else pointed out, the 
area between Chattanooga and Missionary Ridge is devoid of trees, where 
historically the ground was quite wooded. Finally, the result is pretty 
much inevitable--the Union just has to grind forward and use its numerical 
superiority to crush the Rebels. Very little subtlety involved. We tried 
the first day, saw what was going to happen, and put it away.

All that being said, there are some good concepts. Someday I'd like to 
tinker with it and make it better, especially since there are no other 
games covering the fighting around Chattanooga at a comparable scale.