Overview
This is a game I’ve had on my shelf for awhile. When I first started playing and getting into solitaire wargaming I stumbled across a few videos of In Magnificent Style. This particular version is the Worthington Publishing deluxe edition of Hermann Luttmann’s classic game. The game itself centers on the infamous “Pickett’s Charge” on the 3rd day of the battle of Gettysburg. As the player you are placed in the role of General Longstreet as you send your 9 brigades in a bounding march towards the Union line.
While you could say the game is very tactical, it is NOT a game of maneuver like many wargames, but rather one of push your luck. The whole game pivots around the idea of can you push your brigades across the field in time (5 turns) to take Union positions, but if you push too hard…you just might lose everything. While the idea of playing from the confederate side wasn’t something I was excited about, I was interested to see what gives the game such high praise. Fresh of playing another Luttmann design in At Any Cost Metz 1870 at Buckeye Game Fest I was excited to finally get this one off the shelf.
Historical Background
I won’t go too much into the detail here. Gettysburg is one of the most famous battles in the American Civil War (ACW) and wargaming in general. There are MANY sources that you could find to do a much more detailed job at walking through the history. In fact, if you really want to check out ACW historically and how it is depicted in gaming you should for sure check out the “We Intend to Move on Your Works” Series on the Homo Ludens Podcast. Featuring Dr. Stuart Ellis-Gorman and Pierre Vagneur-Jones, the duo currently are playing chronologically through ACW games and then breaking them down. Very good stuff! Check out the podcast below.
However, just in case you know nothing of the event I’ll give you the brief rundown. After two days of hard fighting Confederate General Robert E. Lee was desperate to make a breakthrough. He orders a charge across mostly open terrain towards the Union position on Cemetery Ridge. To soften the lines, the Confederate artillery opened fire. This barrage was at that time one of the largest ever in warfare.
The Confederate artillery though was largely ineffective. Most shells exploded harmlessly overhead and prematurely. With the large amount of smoke obscuring the battlefield the rebel army could not see the results. It conducted its advance into waiting artillery and was cut to shreds.
By the end of the assault the Confederates saw over 40% of their units killed or wounded. Unable to sustain the battle, Lee withdrew his Army on July 4th towards Virginia. Gettysburg often held as one of the turning points of the war for the Union. The other happening almost simultaneously: The fall of Vicksburg to Grant in Mississippi.
Game Mechanics
Game Board
In Magnificent Style’s design is broken into the two sides: Confederates spaces at the bottom and the Union positions on Cemetery Ridge at the top of the board. The map is divided into nine columns, one representing the course each of the nine brigades will advance across.
The Emmitsburg road running through the map is highlighted. Its impact with fence that had to be crossed historically is that these spaces are difficult to advance into. Also there are two other features:
- Two farms (Bliss and Coori) are spaces that provide cover and all hits dealt while a brigade are in these spaces are reduced
- The Angle: A space along the Union line was a corner of the fence that historically was where some of the most brutal fighting happened. All brigades in these spaces take one additional hit
Lastly there are a couple zones:
- There are 10 numbered zones that may be targeted by Union artillery fire through the game
- Green, Yellow, and Red zones of the board that have various effects. Some of these include ability to reveal fire chits, or might deal additional hits based on card events
Also the board contains helpful aids. This includes a sequence of play, movement results table, and turn track along the right side of the board.
Components
Cards: The cards give a lot of the flavor of the game. Many times based on movement rolls you’ll be prompted to draw either a blue or gray card. However the game cleverly uses dual sided cards in a single deck. From that deck you’ll draw and read either the gray side (confederate event) or blue side (union event.)
Brigade and strength counters: The confederates control nine different brigades each of which have a fresh and reduced side. Per the rulebook his is mainly for narrative effect, but is a nice touch and has some optional uses. First it can be used to denote when a unit is at five or less strength. Secondly it can be flipped to show a unit is shaken. Lastly this disrupted side could be ignored altogether. This optional illustrative touch is very neat inclusion.
It is worth noting the strength of each brigade starts at ten marked with a counter. When it takes hit, counters are reduced showing the brigade’s combat strength weakening.
Rally/Done markers: Each brigade has a marker to show its current Rally point. A big part of the game is making progress. Then choosing when to allow a brigade to stop and rest. When you end an activation for a unit it moves the rally point up to the units current position. Lastly, the marker flips it to a DONE side to show the brigade has completed its activation for the turn.
Event Markers: many cards will drop event markers. These could denote obstacles. They could be bonuses to units; reminders for time track; or even events that can be used to cancel a future card event and then discarded.
Union and Hit Markers: At each column end starts smaller union strength counters. These start at five. While the objective is to eliminate them and have your confederate brigade move into the Union position to secure it. However along the way Confederate volley fire and/or artillery might allow you to draw hidden fire markers. These are revealed at the end of each brigade’s turn based on what zone they are in (Green, Yellow, Red). Each may confer a modifier for rest of the turn or reduce the Union counter. The could just as likely though be a miss and do nothing!
Gameplay
In Magnificent Style is played over 5 turns that each have 4 phases:
- Union Activity Phase: Skipped on the first turn this step allows a draw of a number of Union event cards as printed on the current game turn space on the track
- Follow Me! Phase: Each Division General still in play can be assigned to a single eligible brigade.
- Confederate Activation Phase: This phase has three steps: first you decide if you want to move your active unit (which you can do as many times as you want) or stop and bring your rally marker up to the current position. Then you reveal Union hit markers based on what zone your brigade is in, and finally you move the current advancing brigade marker to the next unit you wish to activate.
- Lastly the Housekeeping phase involves the following steps: You can use a fresh division general to draw a gray card, you flip all rally markers to ready side, remove all temporary fire chits, flip all confederate generals to their ready side and advance game turn one space.
Activations
The heart and soul of the game is the Activation phase. This is where the game system’s Push-Your-Luck style really shines. What you do is roll two d6, one red and one white. Then you consult the movement chart printed on the board and apply the result.
The secret sauce here is you can keep moving a unit as much as you want. In theory you could march all the way to the Union position and capture the end in the first turn. However looking at this table you’ll notice the likelihood of doing so would be slim.
Looking at the results the worst is a rout on when you roll double ones. This involves taking damage based on how far you are from your current rally point. However, the worst of it is all progress you have made vanishes. The unit is returned all the way to confederate start and a blue event card is drawn.
The other thing to note is moving into obstacle spaces requires at least one six rolled. This means if your unit gets to the Emmitsburg Road you might roll many times and not be able to move. If you decide to keep rolling you know each roll will possibly land on a heavy fire or rout!
This mechanic really dials up the tension! It makes you think after a string of good rolls “Do I stop now, or try for just one more space?”
Battlelines Advance!
The other neat mechanic in the game is that certain rolls allow you to form a battle line. This takes units on either side of an active unit together as a group. Then ALL units move space(s) even if the adjacent units have already activated. This is a great chance to move multiple units with fewer rolls and fewer chances for bad luck. The best of these is the “On to Washington!” roll. This allows a battle line to move 2 clear spaces or enter 1 obstacle space PLUS drawing one gray card
Bayonets!!!!
The other tense point comes when your confederate unit finally enters the Union space at the end of it’s column. First that space is considered an obstacle, so a roll that allows entering an obstacle space is required.
After that then Bayonet combat immediately commences. each side starts with dice equaling 1/2 of its strength points. Then it applies modifiers. Confederates get bonuses any adjacent positions already taken, events, or a division general granting additional die. Union positions gain more dice based on adjacent Union held positions or the printed fence along certain spots.
The maximum bayonet dice for each side is capped at 6 dice. Then all dice are rolled with hits resolved simultaneously.
All one, two or three results are misses. A roll of four counts as a morale loss. A roll of five is a partial hit and a morale loss. A roll of six is a full hit and a morale loss. The winner is the side that inflicts the most morale losses and then hits reduce each side by total hits (rounded down).
In this case a unit might win the combat, but be eliminated. If the confederate side wins but the Union is NOT eliminated the Union counter will move to a Union reserve box behind the Union space. There are some events that might allow the unit to counter attack and initiate another bayonet combat.
Card Event Duality
The other item that really drives the narrative focus of the game is the card play. The Gray Confederate cards give bonuses to you as the player. The Union Blue events REALLY do a lot of harm. These could be things such as events, but many times involves artillery fire hitting certain zones or dealing damage to either your active brigade or brigades in other sectors.
Here Hermann does a good job of really balancing the game. One of my favorite cards that showed how each side believed they were correct and God was on their side.
There are plenty of events that also feed into ACW lore and nicknames such as “the Old War Horse.” This was the nickname for General Longstreet. It allows you to take his corresponding chit to cancel a future event card which can be extremely timely if used correctly.
The deck also feeds into the chaos as rules are set up on how to construct the deck in regards to the “reshuffle” card that exists. You can shuffle it in various places in the deck. This gives more or less variability or remove it for even less repeat of card events.
If the movement Push-Your-Luck is the engine of the game, the card deck is the narrative soul.
Division Generals
The last element I want to talk about that effects gameplay is that of Division Generals: Pickett, Pettigrew, and Trimble. These Generals are assigned to one of their brigades in their division each turn. Each be used for various functions to assist with modifying many of the luck based actions of the game. Most of these actions apply only to the division the General is attached, so careful placement each turn is critical.
These actions are as follows:
- Re-roll movement dice once and take the new result
- Increase hits placed during open fire events by 1 hit
- Recover an additional Strength Point during a Confederate Reserve event
- Cancel retreats triggered by events
- Roll an additional combat die during bayonet combat
- at the start of housekeeping phase draw a gray event card (before doing anything else)
- Transfer Strength points from the unit the General is attached to one adjacent unit OR re-constitute an eliminated unit by reducing the current unit and using those points to bring a previously eliminated unit back.
These events can only be done ONCE per turn per General. Also they only apply to the unit the General is attached and then the General is flipped to “Used” side.
There are TWO one time General Longstreet markers that are NOT attached during the Follow Me! phase but rather used when needed. However unlike Division Generals, the Longstreet markers do NOT return each turn but rather once used are removed from the game. Either way these counters are helpful to counter punishing rolls or assist in combat to weakened units.
HOWEVER, it is worth noting that there are events that may wound or kill a General. Also, if the unit a General is assigned is reduced to zero its corresponding General is also killed. This removes the General from play permanently, so use them wisely.
Victory conditions
Like many solitaire game this is a game that is very much a “beat your previous score” style. Each Confederate Strength Point adjacent to Union positions score 1 point. Those in a captured position count as 3 points with bonuses for consecutive adjacent captured Union positions.
If you get most of your units wiped out like I did on your first play don’t feel bad. Even a score of 60 is still a Major Defeat and the historic outcome.
I find that getting more than say a 150 would be very difficult. Even more so is the incredible victory level defined as 181 or more points. This is something that would be incredible given how much the game throws at you!
Interestingly the game also has a much more simple “Player performance level.” This tries to separate how this game might have effected history and the overall outcome of the war from how you performed as a player. It is solely based on how many positions you capture by the end.
I found this concept of separating the historical from “how did I do?” score to be something to think about in relation to the ACW and Confederacy and very interesting.
Game Impressions
What did I think of the game? Well for starters I can absolutely see why the game has so many positive reviews from solitaire wargamers. It is jam packed with tense moments and historic crazy things: Generals rallying troops to overcome bad odds or help stuck units get over that fence to keep going, or having a unit that gets so far only to get hammered and routed back to their lines to start the long process over again. Each play had incredible ups and downs: crazy events happening at opportune and unlucky times that helped swing turns one way or the other.
That said it is very much a dice chucker. Those that don’t know when to call it quits will roll until bad things happen. In my first game I had 3 units get routed on the first turn. Luckily they hadn’t progressed very far, but having them return to the beginning when I was shooting to get everyone at least to the yellow zone to start was very disheartening. Something that if you hate dice rolls and random strings of bad rolls you might want to avoid this one.
Lost Cause Impacts
It wasn’t really until recently I had heard a lot about “the lost cause.” and its pervasiveness in our historical views of the war. I’m not going to get into a deep dive here to discuss what the Lost Cause is. If you haven’t heard of the Lost Cause, I encourage you to at minimum familiarize yourself by reading the wikipedia entry here. I will say though that there were a lot of moments where I was taken aback at the idea of enshrining what the confederate army was trying to accomplish.
In no way would I support the Confederate goals of pro-slavery. Just as much as I as wouldn’t support fascist ideals of Nazi Germany in World War II games. I can totally understand folks that would take issue with playing a solo only game where you play as the CSA just as much as I would people that don’t want to play as Germans in WW2 games.
This game does come with a lot of feeling of the honor and glory of those CSA soldiers that marched across that field to only be annihilated. It very much tells a story from the Confederacy point of view.
Even the generic “How did I do?” performance level scores have that issue. Capturing 8 of 9 of the spots has the game calling you an “Expert.” This prompts “Where were you when the Confederacy needed you?”
Is all of this a bad thing? I’ll let you decide for yourself. There will be a lot of people that probably tell me: “Russ this is just a game, relax.” They wouldn’t be wrong. While I’d never think that I could write about such a game and the feelings it conveyed on me as well as a more talented writer could, I will say that I’m conflicted here. I’m still trying to find words to convey some of that conflict I had while reconciling what I was doing game wise. I’m still thinking on what the game was trying to say about the confederacy and Pickett’s Charge on the overall view of the war and likely will for some time.
Final Thoughts
In Magnificent Style definitely a game that mechanically has a lot of good things I like in a solo game. It has a lot of chaos, narrative moments, tense agonizing decisions and plays relatively quickly in an hour to an hour and a half if you’ve mastered the rules.
I didn’t mention the production quality and as usual with Worthington Deluxe editions this one is very good. As you could see from my pictures the components were nice, pre-rounded corners and the game comes with a nice storage tray.
On the flip side I was not a fan of the rulebook. While it had everything needed, it was very limited on visual aids and even the example of play was all text with no illustrations. I felt that a few more pages but some nice examples would have made the game even easier to figure out. That said I didn’t have any real difficulties with the game and playing it.
I couldn’t help but wonder what I felt about trying to get the Confederacy to change history in this one. Its definitely a game I’m glad I played. However I’m not sure its one I want to pull of the shelf again for a while while I sort out my thoughts. I can definitely see the praise it gets for sure for a great system design; but I can also understand people that pass on the theme and playing from the Confederate perspective. I would say though that if you are all interested in checking it out it is well worth your time. Especially if push your luck is your thing as this game has that in spades. As long as you are okay knowing that the game is coming from the Confederate side of the battle then have at it. It is definitely a good solitaire wargame experience mechanically and tension wise. It hits a lot of the things I like. I’m just not sure the theme is one I want permanently in my collection. Is it for you though? That’s something you’ll just have to ask yourself.
