Gorgeous map and playing pieces. Rules straightforward and clear. Obscene excess of tables and charts to cross-check for combat, supply, political events. Large amounts of table space are needed for them, too. E.g., both players must check three tables for each combat. Excessive energy is required for production, maintenance supply, and for determining units commanded by leaders prior to rolling for initiative, and for moving and attacking.

The second edition's map rightly eliminates the non-existent Great Kansas Forest. Various other subtle map improvements were made.

The variant leader counters were disappointing, as they add another table to consult without adding any new leaders. Many great officers on both sides were killed early in the war, men who would certainly have become important leaders had they lived. These should have been included. I'll provide a list on my next post. I believe the star-rank system should be eliminated, and all leaders' factors reduced 1 if they command a corps, and reduced 2 if they command an army. E.g., McClellan made a fine division and corps commander.

As the rules stand, no sane Southern player would build ironclads or river gunboats,as any he builds will be very expensive and will be quickly destroyed by the stronger Northern Navy. Also, the South really does not have a decent chance to hunker down behind forts and entrenchments, as forts & fortifications are also too expensive & risky to build. The errata

The maintenance supply rules are cumbersome and make little sense. Each month, a pile of over 100 strength points costs only 3.5 supply points, on average, to supply, with an average attrition of under 14% if its supply not paid. At the other extreme, a stack of 1-5 strength points costs about 1 supply point to supply, on pain of a 50% chance of complete elimination of the stack if the supply is not paid. Every single hex with strength points (sp) must roll for its supply consumption once per month, and on another, attrition table if the supply is not paid. It would make more sense to require maintenance supply points only of stacks of 5 sp or more, and to require it every two weeks, on pain of elimination of 1/4, rounding up, of the stack's strength above 4 sp, if the supply is not paid. Such a rule would eliminate two unnecessary tables, and be more realistic. Forces in the field, surrounded and without supply could not hold-out one month.

The cavalry probe rule in the second edition errata rules is good but the historical ability of cavalry to raid deep behind enemy armies is still not really supported in the rules, as cavalry cannot retreat before combat if there's a single enemy cavalry sp in the attacking force. This makes such raids a suicidal tactic. Cavalry should be able to retreat before combat unless completely surrounded or attacked by a force with at least 3/4 as much cavalry strength.

The production rules are too time consuming and the production spirals take up too much space. Production once per quarter-year with a single type of resource point, not a combination of resource points and manpower points, would make the game move faster and eliminate the spirals. Also, players could hide their upcoming production in their private records. The Volunteer Calls and Drafts are one of the coolest features of the game, and could be included as impulses of resource points, each lasting two quarters.