Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
War Between the States, 1861-1865, simulates the American Civil War from the opening shots at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. War Between the States uses three maps to cover the major theaters of operation from Galveston, Texas, to St.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Movement Points
Spend a movement allowance across spaces with different costs.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Hexagon Grid
Use a hexagonal map where each space connects evenly in six directions.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Read the full game description
War Between the States, 1861-1865, simulates the American Civil War from the opening shots at Fort Sumter to Lee's surrender at Appomattox. War Between the States uses three maps to cover the major theaters of operation from Galveston, Texas, to St. Joseph, Missouri, and from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Jacksonville, Florida. A total of 1400 counters represent various units and game effects. Game turns represent the passage of a week of real-world time, with "cycles" intervening during which players carry out such routines as production, blockade, construction, politics, etc. Each game turn is divided into two player turns, during which one player or the other may move his ground and naval combat units on the map and attack his opponent. The game can be played as a huge campaign using all three maps and simulating the entire war from beginning to end. That requires hundreds of man-hours.