First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now. Also, I know that traditionally the 12 Days of Christmas happen after Christmas Day (starting on December 25th and ending on January 5th also known as Twelfth Night) but I want to do this in a lead up to the holiday.
On the 10th day of Christmas War Gaming, my true love gave to me…
10 Union Troops of Wilder’s Brigade Activating
The Rock of Chickamauga is the 2nd entry in the Black Swan Series from Flying Pig Games designed by Hermann Luttmann and follows closely on the heels of A Most Fearful Sacrifice. Using the same game system, which is based on the well received Blind Sword Series, The Rock of Chickamauga covers the entire Battle of Chickamauga, fought from September 18th through the 20th, 1863 in northern Georgia. The Union Army of the Cumberland, under William Rosecrans, is driving south from Chattanooga, hoping to envelop and trap Braxton Bragg’s Confederate Army of Tennessee. But Bragg anticipates the maneuver, pulls back and then counterattacks the overextended Union forces. They meet along Chickamauga Creek, nicknamed the “River of Death”, in an epic struggle.
The Black Swan Series uses a card-draw activation system that functions similarly to a traditional chit-pull system. This system is a core mechanic for introducing uncertainty, friction, and the fog of war into the gameplay. The cards themselves contain specific game information and orders, which streamlines play and reduces the need to look up rules or charts, saving time compared to traditional chit-pull systems. In a recent play, I was handling the Union army and during the card-draw activation pulled the Rosecrans card from the deck which required me to roll a die and consult a table on the card. I had been lucky earlier in the round as I was able to get Wilder’s Brigade to arrive on the battlefield and then pulled this card which allowed me to activate him and his 10 unit Brigade consisting of infantry and supporting artillery to move up the road to plug some holes and hold off the counterattacking Confederates.
If you are interested, you can check out our unboxing video at the following link:
We also posted an interview with the designer Hermann Luttmann and you can read that at the following link: https://theplayersaid.com/2024/10/23/interview-with-hermann-luttmann-designer-of-the-rock-of-chickamauga-from-flying-pig-games-coming-to-kickstarter-october-24th/
You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:
2 Armored Trains Supporting – 1920: Nest of Eagles from PHALANX
3 Federal Agents in Hot Pursuit – The Pursuit of John Wilkes Booth from Blue Panther
4 Ships Bombarding – General Orders: Sengoku Jidai from Osprey Games
7 Red Dust Rebels Campaigning – Red Dust Rebellion from GMT Games
8 Reloads of Machine Gun Ammunition – Fields of Fire Deluxe Edition from GMT Games
-Grant
The Players' Aid 