Price: $9.99 USD
Game Design: Tom Russell
Art: Ilya Kudriashov
Publisher: Tiny Battle Publishing
Players: 2
Duration: 60-90 minutes
Complexity: Medium
Solitaire Suitability: High
Blood Before Richmond is a series of games recreating some of the Seven Days Battles fought between George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, under its daring new commander, Robert E. Lee. McClellan squandered a numerical advantage by demonstrating what would become a characteristic knack for turning tactical victories into strategic failures. Lee's ambitious battle plans were hindered by subordinates who seemed incapable of carrying them out – chief among them, oddly, the usually exemplary Stonewall Jackson. If either side had been up to snuff, the war might have been decided in late June 1862. Tiny Battle Publishing is proud to present this series of quick-playing, medium-complexity games about these fascinating and overlooked battles of the American Civil War.
The story of the Seven Days is the story of bizarrely incompetent leaders and badly-timed attacks, but Savage's Station really takes the cake. The usually wily Rebel general "Prince John" Magruder is charged with leading an attack on the lightly-defended Union rear, to be supported by three divisions under Stonewall Jackson. Jackson got confused and never showed (surprise-surprise), and Magruder, stoned out of his gourd on morphine, dragged his feet all day before finally launching a half-hearted assault after 5PM, which was ended by a sudden thunderstorm.
This is the smallest (and weirdest) of the games in the Blood Before Richmond series, and it's all about evaluating risk and pressing your luck. The Confederate player can bring in extra units, such as the famous Land Merrimack (a rail-mounted naval gun), but at the cost of precious VP. Will he have enough time to make up the difference, or will the game be called on account of rain?
- 88 counters at the brigade level
- A stylish and distinctive 11 x 17 inch map
- Rules with enough grit for aspiring grognards