Rebels in the White House II VASSAL module

For detailed instructions, watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6X8CYq7uJk

Introduction

This VASSAL module implements the Rebels in the White House campaign (hereafter RWH2) as published in Roads to Gettysburg II: Lee Strikes North (RTG2). Ownership of RTG2 is assumed for players, as this module does not include information such as scenario-specific rules or victory conditions.

This module is based on Rob Doane’s Stonewall Jackson’s Way II module; players familiar with that structure will recognize the mechanics and concepts from Rob’s earlier work. In particular, the module supports automatic processing of the game’s Recovery Phase. To accomplish this, many unit status indicators are created from units’ right-click menus in order to create an association between unit and status that VASSAL can track. Care should be taken to keep associated counters together (e.g. when separating a large stack).

Using the Counters

Most commonly used game functions can be accessed by right clicking on a game piece and selecting options from the menu that appears. Hotkeys are shown for those functions, and the hotkey for a specific concept is kept the same across counter types (e.g. CTRL-F is the “Flip” command for all counter types that can be flipped to a single alternate side). Unit counters have the most complex command structure.

Guide to Units

Other Counters

There are two remaining categories of counters found in the Game Pieces window: Game Markers and Terrain Markers.

Game Markers are broad game-status counters that do not generally appear on the map. Turn indicators, Rain and River Fordability, and other such counters are found in this section. These counters behave normally.

Terrain Markers include depots, bridges, damaged or destroyed structures, victory condition hexes, and other generally-immobile counters found on the map. These counters do not stack with other counters and can only be selected (for movement or for menu commands) by holding the SHIFT key while clicking them; this makes it easier to move Units near these features without moving the features themselves. Once selected, these counters are outlined in red and can then be manipulated normally.

None of the scenarios in RWH2 use “control of a hex” (last side with a unit to pass through, whether or not presently occupied) as a victory condition; therefore, none of the victory condition hexes change color based on occupation in this module. The various colors of hex outlines are therefore strictly a visual aid to categorization.

Fort counters with the combat and artillery values for the various Union forts printed on the map are available. Only those forts with outlier values (such as the zero-artillery forts near Washington) are placed in the default scenario setups, but players should use the other counters as desired. All such Fort counters can flip to a Destroyed Fort counter. A separate Destroyed Fort counter is also available.

Recovery

To recover all Units on the map at the end of a turn, simply click the Recover button in the toolbar that corresponds to the current weather (Rain if raining, Normal otherwise). This function may take several seconds to complete for larger scenarios. All Units will attempt to Entrench (if doing a Normal recovery), reorganize their Manpower counters, recover their Exhaustion, reduce their Demoralization, Exhaust if fatigued, reduce their Fatigue, and Disorganize if Out of Supply.

Important: The automatic Recovery feature currently does not affect Units on the Force Display windows or otherwise not on the main Map display. Perform the Recovery Phase on those units manually.

Important:The automatic Recovery feature assumes that all eligible Units prefer to Entrench rather than build or repair bridges or ferries and will not attempt to Forage with eligible Units. Perform those actions manually, undoing the automatic entrenchment if necessary (the player should take note of the pre-Recovery entrenchment of Units they intend to take other actions with).

Some scenarios include Units that are not allowed to move at the start of the game. They are assigned bright yellow "Turn x" counters to show which turn they are released (or “Not Released” counters if they are released by event rather than by turn). As long as the yellow marker is stacked with the unit, it will not recover or entrench at the end of a turn. Important:Keep the restriction marker stacked on top of the relevant Units. To remove the restrictions, advance the Game Turn counter on the Time Track display or delete the restriction counter directly.

Victory Points

The Victory Points display includes counters for VPs (defaulting to Confederate, but flippable to Union for negative VPs) as well as casualties taken. Casualty counters are separated into “Manpower Losses” (standard combat and retreat losses) as well as “Surrender Losses”, “Marching Losses”, “Army of the Potomac Manpower Committed”, and “Army of the Potomac Manpower Returned” counters for scenarios that also track those manpower numbers. All of these markers must be manually advanced.

The Map

Map errata specific to RWH2 has been incorporated into the map images used in the module:

Additionally, the module uses only North map hex numbers for the portion of the SJW North map that overlaps with the (unused) South map. The map image, however, shows South map hex numbers. Mouse over any such hex and the North map hex number will pop up.

Scenario Notes

RWH2 Scenarios 2 and 3:

Reinforcements arriving on Turn x (“Turn 2”, “Turn 5”, etc) are placed on the appropriate turn of the Turn Track. The Confederate Vaughn cavalry Unit is placed on the Turn Track on the turn in which it can first be brought into play. Consult the scenario-specific rules for the precise timing of such reinforcements.

In Scenario 3, certain Union Units are not available to activate or entrench on the first turn of the game; these Units are marked with a “Turn 2” counter. Delete these counters to allow the Units to entrench normally. They can be deleted either individually or by advancing the Game Turn counter.

RWH2 Scenarios 4 and 5:

Variable-placement at-start Units and Leaders (Early’s forces) are placed on the west margin of the main map near Winchester. Consult the scenario-specific rules for the precise placement rules for such Units and Leaders. For Scenario 5, separate starting positions for Winchester and Front Royal are provided. Note that the initial -90 VP penalty for starting in Front Royal is indicated by flipping the VP markers to Union and showing 90 VP.

Union Units begin both scenarios “Not Alerted”, and are not eligible to activate or entrench until they become alerted. Delete the “Not Alerted” counters to allow the Units to entrench normally. They can be deleted individually, by advancing the Game Turn counter, or by deleting the “Not Alerted” message box(es) on the map. Both scenarios place one such message box northeast of Winchester; Scenario 5 places a second such message box east of Front Royal.

Reinforcements arriving by random event are placed on the margin of the Turn Track. Union WV reinforcements are likewise placed on the margin of the Turn Track, stacked by increment for convenience. Union Army of the Potomac reinforcements are placed on the Off-Map Display. Consult the Advanced Game rules for the particulars of how AP Units progress through the Off-Map Display.

Confederate supply is tracked on the Supply Display. All supply tracking and status adjustment is manual.

County control is tracked on the County Control Display. County names cycle through Neutral (Grey), Union-Controlled (Blue), and Confederate-Controlled (Red).

A Confederate Manpower counter is available in the Unit Markers section of the Game Pieces window for POWs recovered from a successful Point Lookout raid (A13.0).

Command Reference

Significant user commands are:

Credits

For module issues, contact Stephen Rochelle at lomn75+RWH2@gmail.com. Documentation of the module’s implementation for developers is available at http://gcacw.rochelle.name.