Illustrated Example of Play: Matthews Hill, part 1

Initial Deployment

This is the battlefield at approximately 9:30 AM. Colonel Evans has positioned his depleted command to concentrate firepower on the northwest road, the most likely avenue of the Yankee assault.



Burnside's brigade leads Hunter's division, searching for the best point to launch the Union hammer blow against the right flank of the Confederate army.



Bartow and Bee, meanwhile, hustle their brigades up the road to reinforce Matthews Hill. They will be able to move on-board when a red 10 is drawn.



The first card pulled is the 3 of Clubs. This allows the Union player (we'll call him Irwin for now) to issue an order to one regiment or leader. Irwin chooses to advance Burnside himself 6 inches down the road.

Rules: Everything You Need to Play "Then Holler"

Living Rulebook Version 1.0 (PDF)

This is the download link for the Living Rulebook Version 1.0.

It contains the complete Basic Rules for Then Holler.

With this ruleset you can model any infantry engagement, real or imagined, in the American Civil War.

It also contains one pre-made scenario, the early morning slugfest over Matthews Hill that officially began First Bull Run.

Over the next couple of weeks we will publish the final rules for cavalry and artillery.

As we receive feedback and continue to fine-tune on our own we will update the Living Rulebook directly.

Further updates on the site will include notes for designing your own scenarios as well as rules for campaigns and multi-player commands.

Enjoy the game!

Rules: Melee Combat

Melee combat occurs whenever a regiment moves into contact with another regiment. This is called "Charging" and costs 1 Fatigue Point.

To do damage with melee, order the regiment a regiment in melee in the way that you would give it a fire order (you can in fact Charge and do melee combat in the same card pull). Its Combat Grade is equal to the "Melee Frontage" of whatever side of the regiment is in contact with the enemy. A flank attack, in addition to having the + 1 modifier in the same way as shooting, will mean that the target regiment can only attack back only a limited Melee Frontage.

To execute melee combat costs 2 Fatigue Points, as opposed to the normal 1 for shooting.

All relevant Combat Grade modifiers (uphill/downhill, in Stream, etc.) are evaluated normally.

Once a regiment is in melee it can reform as it pleases as per orders, paying normal Fatigue penalties to do so.

A unit may move out of melee combat with a normal move, but it must become disordered at the end of the move.

Being in melee does not prevent a regiment from receiving Fatigue Grade bonuses from leaders nor regenerating fatigue whenever it would normally be allowed.

Regiments in melee may never fire out of it; other regiments may never fire into it.

Rules: Quick Reference Charts

Fatigue Grade

*Basic Movement: + 1 Fatigue Point for every company of Frontage, minus 1

*Shooting: + 1 Fatigue Point

*Taking Fire: + X Fatigue Points, where X is the attacking regiment's Combat Grade

*Moving in Light Woods: + 1 Fatigue Point

*Moving in a Stream: + 3 Fatigue Points

*Moving in a Ford: + 1 Fatigue Point

*Moving uphill: + 1 Fatigue Point

*Moving through a house: + 1 Fatigue Point

*"Pushing" a regiment an extra D3 inches (only once per order): + 1 Fatigue Point
A unit can Push for free if it ends its movement on a Road

*Wheat: + 1 Fatigue Point

*Abattis: + 2 Fatigue Points

Combat Grade

*Close Range (within 2 inches): + 1 Combat Grade

*Normal Range (within 4 inches): + 0 Combat Grade

*Long Range (within 12 inches): - 1 Combat Grade

*Target downhill: + 1 Combat Grade

*Target uphill: - 1 Combat Grade

*Target in Light Woods: - 1 Combat Grade

*Target in Stream: + 2 Combat Grade

*Firing from Stream: -2 Combat Grade

*Target in Ford: + 1 Combat Grade

*Firing from Ford: - 1 Combat Grade

*Target in House: - 2 Combat Grade

*Target in Wheat: - 1 Combat Grade

*Target in Abattis: - 2 Combat Grade

*Targetting regiment's flank: + 1 Combat Grade

*Targetting regiment's rear: + 2 Combat Grade

- - -

We imagine these lists will grow as the game grows, but these are all the Fatigue Point penalties and Combat Grade modifiers you'll need to play the Matthews Hill scenario.

Rules: Turn Sequence

The course of play in Then Holler is governed by a normal deck of playing cards. Players flip cards one at a time. When a card is flipped, this is what you do--

*Red Number Card--order one Confederate regiment or leader

*Black Number Card--order one Union regiment or leader

*Jack--evaluate leaders

*Queen--regiments rout

*King--regiments take casualties

*Ace--evaluate regiment Fatigue Grade

Occasionally specific cards will have greater significance. In the 9:30 AM scenario, reinforcements will enter the board when 10s are drawn.

Number Cards

When a regiment is ordered it can move once and/or fire once. After an order is completed, evaluate Fatigue points taken by the ordered regiment as well any other affected regiments.

When a leader is ordered he may move up to six inches. Facing, Frontage, etc, do not affect his movement. Leaders don't have Fatigue Grades and don't take Fatigue Points.

When a regiment is ordered to fire it may fire at any regiment within its range and within its facing (that being a cone extending at 45 degree angles from each corner of the regiment). Relevant ranges are measured from the lead company; the lead company is also what determines a regiment's status as in terrain even if it isn't fully on the feature in question.

Jacks

When a Jack is pulled both players go through 3 steps with each leader they control. They will--

*determine quality
*regenerate Fatigue Points
*check for well-being

To determine your leader's Command Quality, roll the indicated die on his unit card and add the modifier. Your leader will extend that to all regiments within his Command Range (four inches in any direction).

The leader regenerates a number of Fatigue Points equal to his Command Quality to all regiments within his Command Range. Note that Command Range is traced from the leader to the lead company of the target regiment.

Finally, if there are any enemy regiments within your leader's Command Range, roll a D6. On a roll of 1 your leader has been killed by enemy fire and is removed from the board immediately.

Queens

When a Queen is pulled both players evaluate their regiments' Fatigue Points. Any regiment above 5 Fatigue Points is in danger of routing.

If a regiment is above 5 Fatigue Points it has two options:

*Become disordered
*Rout

A regiment can become disordered to stave off the effects of battle. Whenever a regiment elects to become disordered in the Queen phase it may ignore a potential rout. It immediately changes formation to have a Frontage of zero, which we represent by breaking apart the companies slightly on the table.

Once a regiment is disordered it must reform and take necessary frontage Fatigue for that redeployment before it can truly be effective. If a regiment is forced to rout or take casualties while already disordered it must take them, a regiment cannot be disordered more than once at a time.

If becoming disordered is not possible or not desired, the regiment must fall back a number of inches equal to its current Fatigue Points minus 5. In other words, the regiment must retreat one inch for every Fatigue Point it takes over 5 (Wavering).

Whenever a regiment retreats it moves back immediately towards its table edge. It maintains its Frontage but does not take Fatigue Points for the rout move.

Also make a mark on the retreating regiment's unit card. If a regiment's retreats ever exceed its Fatigue Grade, that regiment is considered completely broken and is removed from the board.

After all relevant disorders and rout moves have been made, players pull another card.

Kings

Kings call for a casualty check. This goes mostly the same as a Queen's rout check. Regiments can either:

*Become disordered
or
*Take casualties

Becoming disordered functions the same way as it does with Queens. There is no difference between a regiment disordered by a Queen or disordered by a King, and a regiment can never be disordered more than once.

To take casualties, look to any regiments with a Fatigue greater than 5. Those regiments, if not becoming disordered, lose one company. The damaged player can choose which company to remove.

Aces

An ace usually brings a sigh of relief from all players. All regiments immediately regenerate Fatigue Points equal to their Fatigue Grade. Another card is drawn.

- - -

When you come to the end of the deck roughly an hour of game-time has elapsed.

Regiments can be ordered over and over again with successive card draws, but be prepared to pay the price of an ill-timed Fatigue check.

Try to position leaders where they'll do the most good when a Jack is drawn.

Color only matters with number cards. Face cards mean simultaneous evaluation.

* * *

Well, with the rules posted previously on the site and this turn sequence you could probably blunder your way through a game (if "you" exist). That's what we've been doing.

We'll compile this all tomorrow and throw in a quick-reference chart that should clear up any (most) difficulties. We are no longer finding it funny that formatting a quick-reference chart is the hardest part of writing rules.

After that, an objective and an order of battle is all you'll need for the basic game.

Rules: Infantry Movement

Infantry movement in the Civil War was, put simply, a logistical nightmare. Moving regiments cohesively around a training green was aggravating; moving regiments cohesively around a battlefield was Herculean.

The best officers knew just how far to push their men. In Then Holler, regiments take Fatigue Points for movement and receiving fire alike, so difficult maneuver will directly affect how quickly your regiments take casualties and rout.

Infantry regiments--with very few exceptions--may move up to 6 inches in a turn. Even if the regiment doesn't actually "move" or cover any ground, it can still change formation and facing as it pleases. Over the course of its movement a regiment can take Fatigue Points for terrain, formation, shooting, and a few other things.

Figure 1 shows the 7th Virginia in column. Right now the regiment is said to have a "Frontage of 1," because one company is at the head.

Figure 2 shows the 7th Virginia not moving anywhere, but deploying into a firing line. Note that the lead company stays in place. Any time a regiment is ordered, you may move the lead company to a different place within the formation for free.

Also note that the 7th Virginia now has a Frontage of 5. Regiments take a number of Fatigue Points equal to their final Frontage, minus 1. This change of formation has cost the 7th 4 Fatigue Points.

Figure 3 shows the 7th moving into double line. Their final Frontage is 3, minus 1 is 2 Fatigue Points. Note that the distance of movement is measured from the lead company to where the lead company ends up. Also keep in mind that a Frontage of 3 means that the regiment has a Combat Grade of 3, and can put out 3 Fatigue Points worth of firepower if they so choose.

Figure 4 is the same movement as Figure 3, but through Light Woods. This isn't the Wilderness or anything, so moving through these particular trees only costs 1 Fatigue Point per 3 inches of movement within it. This does not affect the 6 inch maximum, but you must ask yourself if your troops can take the added strain of difficult terrain.

We'll assume that the 7th spends 6 inches in the Light Woods, which means it would take 2 Fatigue Points. It would also take 2 for its final Frontage (3-1=2), for a total of 4 Fatigue Points.

There are a few other things that cost Fatigue Points (charging and shooting, in particular) and a few more terrain rules (houses, hills, streams, and fords) for the 9:30 AM scenario) left to cover. And also expect an quick reference chart--which will cover the Fatigue Point costs of various terrain, an overview of movement, procedures of fire combat, turn sequence, etc.--to be released alongside the scenario.

Map: 1st Manassas, 9:30 AM

1st Manassas, 9:30 AM

It's a hot July morning in 1861. Finally--and only momentarily--overcoming communications difficulties, USA General David Hunter sends Ambrose Burnside and his 2nd Brigade forward to force the Confederate line back across the Warrenton Turnpike.

CSA Colonel Nathan Evans waits atop Matthews Hill with barely a regiment behind him, watching 20,000 blue-coated troops unfold into assault formations.

Generals Bartow and Bee scramble their brigades in Evans's support. Young men from Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi squint nervously at the dust swirling a few miles down the road.

It's only going to get hotter, and the word has just been passed through the Northern ranks that an intrepid young officer named William T. Sherman will soon hit the Confederate flank with a full-strength brigade...
* * *
This is a rough map for the scenario that will be put online with the basic rules. A couple of things to note:

-Each box represents roughly a 2x2 inch square on the battlefield. The game is scaled in the following way:
-One inch equals 50 yards.
-A company of 120 takes up a frontage of 7/8 inches, 3/4 inches deep. These are guidelines, and minor deviations for the sake of sanity will not affect the game.

-The map should end up being about 36x30 inches, representing a little less than a mile by mile snapshot of this particular engagement.

This is our first foray into AutoRealm, a free map-making software online. (Find it here: http://www.autorealm.sourceforge.net/ ) Its power seems to only be matched by its inscrutability. As we continue to publish scenarios we have high hopes that we will only get better at it.

If all goes according to plan then tomorrow will see enough of the basic rules posted to get you on your feet playing the game. An order of battle and a little bit more background on the 9:30 AM scenario will follow shortly after.