Board Games A Most Fearful Sacrifice

[Pat Answer]

My pre-ordered Father's Day gift arrived just in time for the anniversary:

A Most Fearful Sacrifice is a Herman Luttman design, featuring an innovative system that combines dice rolling with an event cards deck the player is partially able to arrange (like poker hands). So there is the fight on the board and a layer of strategy off it as each side interferes with the plans of the other. I am working through the intriguing rule book this week.

It's huge (placed in comparison above with an old classic). The reason is because the map is an old-fashioned mounted board, which one doesn't see much anymore because paper does save space. But the map, one of the last from the late, great Rick Barber, is alone worth it. Five by four feet (!) of gorgeous tabletop battlefield. (Boy am I glad for the space at the new place and no cats!)

Of course I couldn't resist breaking it in with my own pieces and game system:

Sigh, it's going to be hard for me to concentrate on the grill this weekend…

 

[Pat Answer]

"I moved in this morning as directed…."

"I thought it was only a few militia. But it was dismounted cavalry…."

"Well, sir, they wouldn't leave. My boys got the dander up. We deployed the whole division and went after them…."

 

[Pat Answer]

"We just about had them running and then all of a sudden I see us moving in on infantry. They got infantry support up from the south…."

"The boys got pushed back. Then we reformed and tried again… but there's more infantry now, I don't know how many…."

"But it started out as a minor scrap with a few militia…"

"…and the next thing I know I'm tangling with half the Union army."

All quotations from The Killer Angels

 

[Quantrill's Missouri]

That looks all kinds of awesome!

 

[Pat Answer]

That looks all kinds of awesome!

Definitely having fun with it… and I haven't burned any food yet.

 

[lupaglupa]

Boy, that brings back memories. My father and brother played these games - my father even built a special table for them in our attic. It takes a lot of time and dedication! I'm glad to see these games still exist.

 

[Pat Answer]

They still exist and nuts like me are still addicts. There is a small renaissance in board gaming today - fueled perhaps not too ironically by the internet. Alas, like paper news and magazines, it's dinosaur alley long-term, but hey…

 

[Pat Answer]

Union command fails a crucial roll and Dirty Dan does his thing…

 

[Pat Answer]

…and pays for it…

V Corps holds onto Little Round Top, however. (In this timeline, a certain Maine colonel doesn't live to make his regiment famous. Maybe his only slightly wounded brigade commander will.)

 

[Pat Answer]

Interesting…
The (compared to history) late arrival of the VI Corps is noted by scouts as Ewell launches a vigorous assault on Culp's Hill - which only demonstrates that Union defenses there are not appreciably weakened. Longstreet's units have all but destroyed III Corps but are themselves pretty beat up by sunset.

With Cemetery Hill still an obvious death trap, Lee and his lieutenants come to the conclusion that Meade is replacing his losses without too much trouble.
The Pennsylvania campaign will continue, but not here. Pickett's fresh division will spearhead the next maneuver…

 

[Enoch L. Cade]

Great pix - I have the game, but am gonna need a much bigger table, I'm afraid. I've heard nothing but good things about it, along with Luttmann and his various "Blind Swords" and other systems that seek to replicate the fog and friction of war. The map and components are beautiful, up to the level of Clash of Arms.

 

[GwilymT]

View attachment 476728
Union command fails a crucial roll and Dirty Dan does his thing…

Dirty Dan gonna Dirty Dan!!!

 

[Drumfish420]

That's really cool, where would I find one?

 

[Enoch L. Cade]

That's really cool, where would I find one?

The game, you mean? Right here at Flying Pig Games. There are several smaller (one-map) scenarios, so you don't have to unfold out the whole thing.

 

[Drumfish420]

Great thanks!

 

[Pat Answer]

Great pix - I have the game, but am gonna need a much bigger table, I'm afraid. I've heard nothing but good things about it, along with Luttmann and his various "Blind Swords" and other systems that seek to replicate the fog and friction of war. The map and components are beautiful, up to the level of Clash of Arms.

Still working through the actual rule book. The way the cards are used seem to be more about command choices than random events, so the friction is more about struggling to get your army to do what you want than dealing with potentially 'out of the blue' handicaps. Which I think makes for a more instructive approach; impressed with the concepts of "Blind Swords" so far.

Hehe… as I mentioned above, 20 square feet of map. I am extremely fortunate for the moment to not have to commandeer the dining room (yeah, right, like the Mrs would let that happen…). Otherwise it would be the TV room floor. And that ceased to be a real option about 25 years ago if you know what I mean…

 

[Enoch L. Cade]

Still working through the actual rule book. The way the cards are used seem to be more about command choices than random events, so the friction is more about struggling to get your army to do what you want than dealing with potentially 'out of the blue' handicaps. Which I think makes for a more instructive approach; impressed with the concepts of "Blind Swords"

Hehe… as I mentioned above, 20 square feet of map. I am extremely fortunate for the moment to not have to commandeer the dining room (yeah, right, like the Mrs would let that happen…). Otherwise it would be the TV room floor. And that ceased to be a real option about 25 years ago if you know what I mean…

Does your card deck include the "Stonewall" option? I think a Kickstarter bonus were cards that allowed you to play Stonewall at the battle (which would require some tinkering with the order of battle) but I'm not sure they are in the second edition. (I guess I could check by opening the shrink on the cards).

I'm gonna have to wait until I retire and have a dedicated game room/studio/table before I can lay that baby out in its full glory. Actually I have a lot of monster map games -- eg, Clash of Arms and Marshal Enterprises for Napoleonic and Age of Reason battles. Eylau, my favorite battle, is almost the size of Gettysburg in its La Bat incarnation, and I think Eylau games coming out this year from NES and Sound of Drums are of an equal size. There is something so pleasant about walking around a huge table covered with a beautiful map. (I don't want to get a cheap folding table; that just doesn't seem right.)

Until then, I think I'll try the Little Round Top scenario in the Gettysburg game which I think's a one-mapper. Luttman also did a "Longstreet Attacks" game, focused on the second day; it uses an earlier/subtly different version of the system in "Sacrifice". That one is also waiting for table time - right now I'm engaged in Bonaparte's first 1814 battles in France.

 

[Enoch L. Cade]

Pat, separately -- (the late) Rick Barber designed a Gettysburg game. Have you ever played it? I don't hear it discussed that much, which doesn't mean anything.

Also, you probably know this, but GMT is coming out with a third edition of Three Days of Gettysburg, the original Richard Berg behemoth. I had the first edition way back in the stone age, so I had to get this one - it's in P500 status now. Three 34x22 maps!

I'm looking at your rules, and there is a LOT to like about them. I picked up Death Valley and Into the Woods the other day, so might try them with one of the smaller one-maps from those two.

 

[Pat Answer]

Pat, separately -- (the late) Rick Barber designed a Gettysburg game. Have you ever played it? I don't hear it discussed that much, which doesn't mean anything.

Also, you probably know this, but GMT is coming out with a third edition of Three Days of Gettysburg, the original Richard Berg behemoth. I had the first edition way back in the stone age, so I had to get this one - it's in P500 status now. Three 34x22 maps!

I'm looking at your rules, and there is a LOT to like about them. I picked up Death Valley and Into the Woods the other day, so might try them with one of the smaller one-maps from those two.

I picked up Rick Barber's Summer Storm not too long ago. Love the idea of rewinding the Gettysburg clock so there is a confrontation in the area but who knows exactly which parts of your army will be where when it begins.
I, too, preordered the new 3DoG.

Thanks. Remember my "rules" are quite 'generic' guides for large-scale tactical plans and hardly a substitute for a well-researched game. I do hope you enjoy them but be sure to let me know what you feel doesn't work well.

 

[Belfoured]

Still working through the actual rule book. The way the cards are used seem to be more about command choices than random events, so the friction is more about struggling to get your army to do what you want than dealing with potentially 'out of the blue' handicaps. Which I think makes for a more instructive approach; impressed with the concepts of "Blind Swords" so far.

Hehe… as I mentioned above, 20 square feet of map. I am extremely fortunate for the moment to not have to commandeer the dining room (yeah, right, like the Mrs would let that happen…). Otherwise it would be the TV room floor. And that ceased to be a real option about 25 years ago if you know what I mean…

Speaking of the Luttmann "Blind Swords" system, I just picked up the Perryville game from Revolution. Based on a skim it looks like it measures up to the Cedar Mountain, Pea Ridge, Wilson's Creek, Kernstown, and First BR games - and none of the maps touch 20 square feet. (That always reminds me of the Gamers' 9 map frolic for the full campaign option with the three Seven Days games in CWBS). The subsequent designers for First BR, Wilson's Creek, and Perryville seem to have done a good job with the system. I'd suggest any of those for a smaller test.