Review | Rebel Fury | GMT Games | The Players' Aid

Rebel Fury from GMT Games is a six pack of two player American Civil war battles that can be played by gamers of any experience level. Crammed with content, and slick rules this box has so much to enjoy, and much to look forward to from the coming series.

[markherman]

First off, thank you for your thoughtful review. I apologize in advance for a long reply, but as my next Clio's Corner, Chancellorsville: Simulating Grand Tactics during the American Civil War will not be out until early next year I wanted to post a few important ideas for your viewership to consider. 1. Grant, you own a copy of Fort Sumter, take the cubes and when you place an HQ on the map, count out the range and at the outer edge place a cube (blue for Union, gray for Confederate), and then do so every three or four hexes to define the edge of your command range. Its what I do... 2. I have listened to at least a hundred gamers say, Grand Tactical is somewhere that is not tactical or operational. It actually has a formal definition, per Jomini the grand tactical level "is the art of making good combinations preliminary to battles, as well as during their progress." That is why the game is about maneuver because that is what the grand tactical level of combat as that is what Professor Mahan (West Point, 1820/30s) taught them. 3. While you may dismiss the combat system as die rolls and to quote, "its a game"... actually it is me turning over 50 years of orthodoxy on how to correctly calculate ACW assaults. The ACW is a direct fire war, no indirect guns that dominated warfare in the twentieth century. You cannot amass more men per yard than I can put in front of you, so all attacks essentially begin at 1:1 odds and given the communications of the day supported attacks were by their nature uncoordinated. Here is the most important three points. A. two out of three assaults (assume both sides well supported) failed. Using detailed statistics, see Clio article when published, is based on a combat system not based on one assault, but two assaults in sequence (first time I have ever done it this way), which (before dice are rolled) enables attacking a position to have a two out of three chance of success. B. Frontal attacks can only get one supported attack against a straight line (geometry), but hitting a flank (or salient; Muleshoe) allows the grand tactic of 'attacking in echelon' for two sequential attacks. The odds advantage in this game is not in a single die roll, but in two sequential die rolls and supports the history on how they took planned assaults. C. You know when you have outmaneuvered your opponent is when he has to attack a position that you got to first, and cannot turn your flank. Lastly, what folks will hate about this combat system is there are no safe combat columns, a zero is always, repeat, always bad... not a mistake. As I said this combat system and how it uses sequential attacks using historical tactics via relative postion is what makes it a Grand Tactical Simulation and why it will be resisted because how could fifty years of precedence be wrong. It may have eight pages of rules, but it is me writing all of you the Twain shorter letter, short but not unsophisticated. I hope that helps yours and others in future sessions. By the way, less than $10 per battle, cheaper than the old B&G Quad. The 10k essay on all of this will be in C3I #38.

[geneshaw]

I love the review and generally any game by Mr. Herman for the detail of design alone...but that being said I already have so many ACW games to play that I am not looking for more in this field. The promise of shorter ACW battles is inviting and the maneuvering race for position looks like fun. For Herman's "Empire of the Sun" game I produced multi-color transparent plastic zone of control hex patterns that could even be overlapped and left under the units to easily visually measure 360% ranges of control and interdiction overlap zones. Simply, go to a stationary store section in a Walmart type store and purchase a multi-colored pack of transparent file folders and duplicate and cut out 360% hex patterns the area size of command. Cost about $3 dollars for one 12 file pack for enough folder material to make 30 to 50 individual hex patterns as needed.

[gmlogan]

Great review. I’ve all but sold off all of my heavier ACW wargames (GCACW, CWB Series, etc) because they just don’t get to the table often enough. Picked this one up because it seemed to fit exactly what I was looking for in a lighter complexity treatment of the ACW. Excited to play it and others in the series.

[crispy]

Simply fantastic game system. Very excited for the next volume. Stoked y’all are covering this, had to comment 15 seconds in 😅

[progfict]

Played the game at SDHistCon East...with Mr. Herman teaching the game....even though I lost, I had a blast, as the game (played the Wilderness scenario) told a great story....and he had some some extra copies to give away....which was awesome....

[michaelscherer]

Looking forward to the play through video. I played the Chickamauga scenario as well and had a blast. Also Shelby Foote’s trilogy is epic!

[derekrledr]

Another fun review! My solution to the Command Radius issue was to mark the farthest corners of each Command Radius with different coloured bingo chips for each Leader. When reading Mark's Play Book... I got a real chuckle out of his Public Service Announcement.

[ThymeKeeper]

Enjoyable game and system. I have just gotten into playing some ACW games after never having touched one. This has been my favorite so far. When it's a new topic for me, I prefer something easily digestible so I am not learning the theme and learning the mechanics at the same time, if that makes sense.

[twhanmer]

Thanks for the review! You should do your playthrough of Wilderness! I played solo and loved it.

[douglewis]

Great review, great game. Just read Stephen Sears, “Chancellorsville.” Scenario very faithfully recreated the challenges Lee and Hooker faced. Exciting scenario with strategic (movement) choices and many tactical decisions. Really liked the combat system and plan to replay Gettysburg using this combat. Would love to try this scenario “blind” with 2 boards and a game master to recreate the fog of war that both commanders faced. Looking forward to playing all the scenarios.

[charleslatora]

I preordered in 2019. Haven't played yet

[SaxonChronicles]

my I ask what rounder you used on those counters? they came out nice. I was afraid to round these because on thicker counters the results seem to be worse

[A._J_.]

Alexander gets interrupted frequently on this channel. Let the guy finish his comments.