Conquering the Valley: Cross Keys/Port Republic from Tiny Battle Publishing tells the story of Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign as it comes to an end when they face two Union armies on consecutive days. If he can defeat the Union forces, Jackson’s men can rejoin Lee near Richmond.
This game is the second entry in the Shattered Union Series of American Civil War games. It combines the smaller battles used by the Blind Swords System with the card system used in the Black Swan System. It uses regimental units due to the small size of the opposing armies so it should play quickly. This series, like the other two, are inspired by Hermann Luttmann’s efforts over the years.
We published an interview with the designer Claude Whalen on they blog and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/02/12/interview-with-claude-whalen-designer-of-conquering-the-valley-cross-keys-port-republic-from-tiny-battle-publishing/
-Grant
The Players' Aid 
I had to do some serious “arts & crafts” time with this one, but definately worth it. It had 4 big production errors. A) the shaken disrupted counters had a wrong modifier value one each side. I have a P-touch and printed and put on the correct value. B) the player aid card was apparently the same one from the first game Hill of Death. Half the range values were wrong and it was missing values for mixed guns.The terrain costs on the back were half wrong with missing information there too. The reference to stacking strength per hex was wrong. Again, P-touch to the rescue. C) there is a missing counter, a half strength union piece. Color copier to the rescue, I made my own counter. And finally D) all but one of the cavalry pieces were missing the artwork on the dismounted side. The values were there, but no artwork for the unit. Color copier to the rescue again. Wayne Hanson did a review and pointed out all the above production errors. The arts & crafts time was well spent because the game is good.
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Yikes. Thanks for pointing that out. Did you play it? What were your thoughts?
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I only have two plays, but liked it very much. I’m torn between the card system and the original chit pull from Blind Swords. There’s just something about drawing cards, where the order of the cards is set; you just draw them to discover what the order is. With chit draws, when you reach in that bag (I use Crown Royal bags), literally anything can happen because it all depends on what chit you wind up grabbing and pulling out! I’m leaning toward the chit draw system currently, because there’s that excitement that when you go to draw a chit, you have no idea what chit you’re going to pull! That verses just flipping over the top card of the deck to see what it is. I know it’s a small thing, but new players always react in a very positive way to draw bags and chit pull. Just a thought and my .02 cents is all! Check out Wayne’s review vid on Valley, he does a way better job, and a very restrained at that job, of pointing out the production errors on Valley.
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