I love block games. Someday I will maybe be able to fully articulate why the simple fog of war and tactile satisfaction of blocks make my brain so happy, but today isn’t that day. Let’s just start from a position that I love them. However, I do not love them all equally and there are even some block games that I don’t like very much. I have previously written about card driven Columbia block games, most of which I really enjoyed and continue to enjoy, but I had never played a game from Columbia that used any other activation system. I must confess that I didn’t even know how such a thing might work. When I set out to make a study of American Civil War games I knew I had to include a block game and I also wanted to play something on Jackson’s Valley Campaign, so Shenandoah seemed like a perfect fit for the project. It also served as an ideal palette cleanser for myself and Pierre after our lengthy game of Manassas - we loved that game, but playing something that could be finished in a couple of hours had a great attraction after that marathon of a game. I didn’t expect a whole lot from Shenandoah, I was just looking for something light and easy to play, but I was really impressed with the experience it offered. I think people have been sleeping on this one, this is a great little block game!
Initial set up for Shenandoah - a long map suited to the long valley we will be battling over
The Union (i.e. me) has taken an aggressive position, pushing south into the Valley, and has met with fierce resistance. These battles do not go particularly well for the poor Union unfortunately.
The Union has been pushed back from their initial aggressive position, but two cavalry units have gone behind Confederate lines and will proceed to spend much of the game being jerks and messing with Confederate supply.
Shenandoah is a game about Jackson’s famous 1862 Valley Campaign, where he won multiple battles against Union generals and successfully pulled resources away from McClellan and the Peninsula Campaign in eastern Virginia. The game centres Jackson’s superior capability over his Union rivals, and Confederate allies, which is something I have mixed feelings about but does make for an interesting game experience. Blessing Jackson with superior stats, and making the Confederate units - including the famous the Stonewall Brigade - far superior to their Union counterparts, felt like it was straying a bit into Lost Cause mythmaking. At the same time, this was Jackson’s triumph so an argument can be made that these design decisions aren’t unfounded in the history and I don’t think the game buys too deeply into the myth of Jackson.
The Confederates generally have better units, are less likely to suffer step losses when Forced Marching, and are more versatile thanks to Jackson’s ability to activate any unit, even those under other commanders, and from a greater distance than any other commander. However, they also have to go on the offensive in a game system that favours the defender and seize territory to drain Union resources. If the Union can play a holding game and keep the Confederates at bay with only minimal numbers of troops they can win – delay and harassment are their path to victory.
Jackson pushes the Cavalry out of the bottom of the valley but doesn’t eliminate them. Meanwhile, in an uncharacteristic move of competence, Fremont has eliminated Johnson - racking up a lot of VPs and reducing the Confederate options for counterattack.
Shields marches off the map at Salem - each of his units adding a VP to the Union side so long as they stay off map for the rest of the game. Fremont’s offensive in the south continues while Jackson has pushed the harassing cavalry out of the valley and into the mountains to the west. Meanwhile Ewell is pushing up the eastern border but is faced with some less than ideal offensive options.
This is a fun dynamic, and one that is enhanced by the game’s relatively low block count and map. The small number of blocks makes the positioning of each unit vital and the map gives you an engaging suite of options to consider when placing them. The game uses a point to point map of the Shenandoah Valley with four different kinds of paths – Pikes, Roads, Trails, and Ferries. The most critical of these is the Trail, which passes through the many gaps in the mountain ranges that carve up the valley. Marching an army through a gap isn’t too much of a problem, the amount of blocks that can pass through a gap is the same as the stacking limit of most spaces on the board. However, only two blocks can attack across a gap, which creates a huge problem whenever you want to go on the offensive.
Gaps can also create bad supply, which doubles the cost of adding steps to any block so afflicted. This is crucial as activating a leader causes a step loss and if you have no steps left on your leaders - a common occurrence for the Union especially - you can’t issue commands. The map presents an amazing assortment of poor options for fighting once you leave the main north south pike, which means that it is very much in the interest of the Union to try and pull the fighting to those kinds of areas. The necessity of maintaining supply, especially in the late game, lends a real urgency to not letting enemy blocks sneak behind your lines.
Jackson pushes further west but has his supply restricted as a result - forcing him to draw supply through a vulnerable gap via New Market. Fremont has given up his southern offensive and pulled back to reform his troops. Ewell has made it further North but still struggling to launch an effective attack.
The game is quickly becoming Jackson’s Southern Valley Campaign as he drives off Union cavalry only to have to chase them to his supply base in Staunton or risk running out of supply completely.
Cavalry being the only unit able to retreat in the first round of combat makes them perfect for this work, as you can send them off on their own to cause mayhem – although once they’re out of command they can only move one space at a time and have to roll on the Forced March table which can cause them to slowly attrition down.
Shenandoah does a lot with a relatively simple set of rules. This is a classic Columbia eight page rulebook with minimal chrome but it still manages to create a lot of interesting asymmetry and evoke famous Valley Campaign. An easy example is the cavalry mentioned above, their ability to retreat in round one is a very small deviation from standard rules but one that makes their role in the game feel radically different.
Jackson retakes Staunton but every other major Confederate division has had its supply lines cut by Union forces. With Jackson at the bottom of the valley and few other options, the Confederate attack seems to be dead in the water.
Similarly, the fact that Union generals all start with only one step while the Confederates have several steps creates a situation at the beginning of the game where the Union desperately needs to be in supply and/or only activate a fraction of their forces because it takes all their supply to recover from activating all their generals in one turn. In contrast the Confederates can afford to be more aggressive early but their fewer supply points could cost them in the long run if they aren’t careful.
In our game the Valley Campaign was a decisive Union victory, and while it is far too early for me to comment on game balance it did make me think about how games should tackle something like the Valley Campaign. In 1862, Jackson greatly outmaneuvered and out outperformed his Union opponents in what has generally been regarded as one of the most impressive campaigns in American military history.
Should a game about this campaign give the player significant advantages to make it easier to replicate Jackson’s triumph, or should it require them to outplay their opponent as drastically as Jackson did in order to achieve similar results? I think Shenandoah picks a good middle path in that it gives Jackson advantages over his Union opponents but at the same time replicated the Confederate victory will take some doing. We shall see if this holds up over further plays, but I’m optimistic.
Jackson drives the cavalry east to Charlottesville - the base for Ewell’s supply. Ewell meanwhile manages to make an attack but Banks marches south and cuts off his supply again. Fremont meanwhile has somewhat stalled in the west.
Game end state - Jackson managed to attack back up the valley but it was too little too late, especially with Fremont sneaking in behind him. The Confederate army may not have been eliminated but a decisive Union victory nonetheless.
Shenandoah’s individual elements combine to make a really engaging and relatively simple gaming experience. This isn’t Great Campaigns of the American Civil War, it’s not going to offer you the full depth of the Valley Campaign, but at the same time it does a lot with its simplicity. It also manages to just be a really enjoyable block game in its own right. I’ve played a decent few block games in my time now and I would rank Shenandoah near the top of the Columbia games I have played. I’ve only played it the one time so far so this is very much a tentative ranking, but I would be surprised if more games greatly change this opinion. This is a great little game and one that I think any fan of Columbia block games should try.