HOW TO USE THIS MODULE

Starting the game:

After opening the module, locate the two buttons on the left side of the USA Draw Pile and select whether to play the Historical Setup (cards are not shuffled) or Non-Historical Setup (cards are shuffled).

In either case, Late War cards are placed at the bottom of each deck and remaining cards are placed on top. Counters at the bottom of the screen between the decks and discard piles indicate how many cards remain before Late War for each player, how many cards remain in each deck, and how many cards remain in the Northern player's deck before the 1864 Elections.

Hand Windows:

Cards may be drawn manually to each player's hand, or by pressing the "Draw" buttons in the hands. To stack cards, right-click and select "Store in Upper-Left Corner of Hand." Cards are placed in the upper-left corner for efficient storage only and must be dragged out of that stack in order to be played.

Playing Cards:

Leaders, infantry, cavalry and naval units may be played by manually dragging and dropping them to the appropriate theatre of war. Map cards and Enigma cards must be played by right-clicking on the card and selecting the appropriate option. Map cards will not be playable if it is not legal to do so (e.g. if no adjacent map card has yet been played).

Declaring Attacks:

To declare an attack, right-click on a space and select the appropriate option. The module will place an Attack marker and automatically deduct supply, or it will remind the player that no supply point existed to launch the attack. Once combat is resolved, right-click on the Attack marker to remove it. If the space was captured, left-click to change control.

Withdrawing and Depleting Units:

To withdraw a unit during combat, right-click on the unit and select "Withdraw". A white marker will cover over the unit's combat strength to indicate that it is no longer contributing to the combat.

To deplete a unit after combat or send it to cadre as a casualty, right-click on the unit and select the appropriate option.

Combat Aids:

The button opens a window with helpful combat markers. The "USA Command" and "CSA Command" markers can be attached to each separate command and will track the changing strength and number of active units in each command. Right-clicking on these markers will also permit the players to identify which commands are actively engaged in combat and which have already been used to attack or defend this turn. The "Naval Support" and "Pesthole Bonus" markers can be dragged onto commands that are engaged in combat in order to keep track of the strength adjustments caused by each.

After combat has been resolved, the button will remove the temporary "Naval Support" and "Pesthole Bonus" counters, remove the "Active", "Already Attacked" and "Already Defended" notation from the USA Command and CSA Command markers, and remove the Attack marker(s) from the board. The button will re-activate all withdrawn units.

Automation:

A number of processes are automated for easy record-keeping. These include Objectives (VP); the Blockade; CSA production; supply/turn and free restores/turn; Kentucky and Wheeling neutrality; and most Enigma effects. (The game will still provide a message reminding players of Enigma effects that are not automated.)

Players must still manually update the Railnet status of each side and manually adjust supply (except that attacks  declared using the USA Attack or CSA Attack markers will automatically deduct 1 supply point).

Emancipation Proclamation:

To record when Emancipation Proclamation becomes playable (i.e. when the North wins a battle with 5 or more corps engaged), use the button on the toolbar.

Optional Rules:

To access optional rules that are supported by the module, use the button on the toolbar.

Message Preferences:

By default the module provides a significant amount of reporting of various events to the message window. To change what the module reports to the message window, go to File --> Preferences --> Blue vs. Gray.