First Kernstown: March 23rd 1862

1862 – First Kernstown (American Civil War in 3D) This is our first of five battles in the Jackson Valley Campaign of 1862 and the fifth battle in our series of the American Civil Wargames in 3D. It sees the Union army under General Nathanial P Banks being attacked by the Confederate General Thomas J “Stonewall” Jackson. The Union army is massing for a push on Richmond and General Jackson in located in the Shenandoah Valley to the West shadowing the Union force of General Banks. Word comes to Banks that he is to split his commission and send half of his force to support the push on Richmond. Jackson's superior General Johnston learns of this and sends word to Jackson that this must not occur. Jackson immediately turns around and marches back some forty miles to attack Banks. First Kernstown initially has a time limit of 12 bounds in which the Confederates must achieve their task objective. Its design allows for a fast, fun and realistic game within a 1 hour period of continuous play. The game gives a flavor of the American Civil War period and a simple chain of command solution adds intrigue to the game, keep the chain of command together and everything is fine, lose it and it could cost you the game? Combat is designed around the three factors that appear on the unit counters, these indicate the Range, Attack and Strength of the represented unit. You don’t even need any dice to play the game since a dice tile system is included with the game, but if you want to roll dice then it’s the simple six sided variety that you will require. The game board is designed to be used either 2 dimensionally as a straight print and play or 3 dimensionally, this takes a little more time to construct but it is well worth the effort for the impressive game board you get at its completion. The final 3D game board gives you a realistic feel to the terrain and shows the tactical dispositions of all the game counters.