To Save the Union

To Save the Union is a Strategic level block micro wargame depicting the American Civil War from the spring of 1862 until the autumn of 1864. It is played on an area movement map of the entire Confederacy and uses a simplified card-driven game system. The game features block playing pieces that represent infantry, cavalry, militia, naval units, and leaders. The game begins just before the battle of Shiloh in 1862 and ends shortly after the 1864 presidential election. The scoring system revolves around public opinion. The players attempt to use each military success to undermine the determination of the other side to continue the struggle. Command points are used to move units, fight battles, reorganize defeated armies, and build entrenchments. The battle rules include a differential combat results table and there are simple but effective supply rules based on railroads, ports, and rivers. The game has a low-to-medium complexity level and takes less than two hours to finish. The design has been crafted to reduce the game to the essential elements of the conflict without giving up the historical flavor of the Civil War period. The title is taken from a letter written to newspaper editor Horace Greeley by Abraham Lincoln. In a passage about emancipation President Lincoln wrote: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union"