A House Divided: The American Civil War (Phalanx Game, 2001)

[Whiterook]

A House Divided: The American Civil War, 1861-1865 is the 3rd edition of the series, started with the 1981 and 1989 GDW 1st and 2nd editions, with a 4th edition coming out in 2012 by Mayfair Games). I chose the 3rd because it had by far, better artwork than the others, though there are some errors inherent in pretty much everything after the 1st in one way or another. Also, the 1st had a paper map, the 2nd had a harder bound One but in four puzzle pieces, the 3rd has a foldable map like Axis & Allies…clear winner on that last! An example of component upgrades…



…Units from the GDW and Phalanx editions:
Top row, GDW militia, veteran and crack Union infantry.
Second row militia, veteran and crack Union infantry from the Phalanx edition.
Third row, the "hit" side of crack CSA cavalry from the Phalanx and GDW edition.

A House Divided simulates the epic struggle of the American Civil War that was fought over the twin issues of slavery and state's rights. The period from 1840 to 1861 saw these issues brought to a boil, and in 1861 the nation became tangled in a terrible war that lasted four long years.

The game depicts the war between North and South from the First Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas Junction) to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse – or Grant's surrender at Harrisburg... Each player leads one of these two nations and makes the strategic decisions which determine the outcome of the war.

The game board represents the United States, north and south and from the Atlantic coast to just west of the Mississippi. [...] The play map contains a number of boxes, each representing a city, town or locations important to the war. These boxes are connected by transportation lines – blue for rivers, tan for roads and black for railroads – which provide the paths to victory or defeat.

Can you keep the Union whole or force the separation of the United States?

A local wargamer I know has mentioned wanting to play this for a long tome now and it’s been in the back of my mind. Recently, I found a bundle on WargamerVault of BattlePlan Magazines, three of which feature variants on this game; so I took a deeper dive on this game and saw it reminds me a lot of other games I’ve become enamored with, namely Compass Games’ Pacific Tide and Ostkrieg, so it rose to the level of, where can I score a deal? That would be the GeekMarket for $15! (…$14.50 shipping).

Excited to get this one!

[mikeh]

Does the Medal of Honor on the 3-1 unit mean anything or just for show?

[Whiterook]

May 22, 2024 11:08:42 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Does the Medal of Honor on the 3-1 unit mean anything or just for show?

It means it’s a Crack Unit, which is basically like an elite soldier (a step up from Veteran)… besides it’s combat value of 3, crack infantry have a defensive value of -1; meaning that, if an enemy militia or veteran unit is firing at a crack infantry, that militia and veteran unit has their combat value reduced by one… and making it more interesting, even crack infantry is reduced when firing at crack enemy infantry.

Pieces firing at entrenched crack infantry have the combat value redefined by two! There are some further restrictions on firing at entrenched units, but I’ve not read the rules yet, so I don’t have a real handle on it in terms of cavalry.

[mikeh]

Thanks Em! I have to get me a ACW game one of these times, I keep saying I'm going to but it never seems to happen.

[Whiterook]

May 24, 2024 22:56:39 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Thanks Em! I have to get me a ACW game one of these times, I keep saying I'm going to but it never seems to happen.

It was an era of wargaming I avoided for a very long time! …the military doctrine and style of fighting was just too foreign to me, being a WWII gamer, and the thought of marching files and files of soldiers head on into enemy fire was just too intimidating for me, for some reason. I’d be hard pressed to name an ACW game I played decades ago… but slowly, I’ve been adding a few to the collection.

About the easiest ACW game I own is Pickett’s Charge, which I bought as a zippie for a pretty low price (…I want to say, about $25), but I just looked it up on White Diog Games’ site and they made a boxed version of it now, at $41…still not too bad a price. They offer a PnP at $25, however if you were to get it profession ally printed at a print shop, it’d creep up at least another 10 bucks so, I’d go with the boxed version.

The miniatures on boardgame must have for me would be Day’s of Wonder’s, “Battle Cry”, which is a Command & Colors game akin to I Memoir ‘44… lots of fun and extremely solo friendly!