Thanks to our game you will make your big dream come true. You will become the commander-in-chief of an entire huge army! Do you want to equal Alexander the Great, Caesar, Jan III Sobieski or Napoleon? It is possible with us! No more battles to control one barn. In this scale of the game, the fate of the entire country is in your hands. Win and you will become a real hero, a real strategist, a real commander-in-chief!
General information
Gods of war – Robert E. Lee is a historical wargame, set in time of American Civil War and mid 19th century. You can play battles from Bull Run to Gettysburg but also from Solferino to Sedan.
The game is part of a series called “gods of war“. The first was the Gods of War – Napoleon. The game concerned the Napoleonic wars and was published only in Polish. Another planned title is Gods of War – Togo, which will enable naval battles in the period from the Battle of Trafalgar to the Battle of Tsushima. More here LINK.
As you can see, each game in the series has its patron, general or admiral who won many battles. In the case of General Lee, he became the patron of the game due to the fact that the project initially concerned only the American Civil War. The game was very well received, so we created its second edition, which allows you to play through various conflicts in the mid-19th century, from the Crimean War to the Franco-Prussian War.
The main rulebook contains lists for the armies of the Union and the Confederacy. Successive armies and war theaters are issued with add-ons to the game. The first was the “Rule Britannia” which introduced two British armies – the main one and the colonial one. Their organization and armament concern the late 1850s and the first half of the 1860s, so they allow for the hypothetical participation of the British in the American Civil War, but also the 2nd Opium War, the Indian Mutiny, or even the expedition to Abysynia. More expansions and armies are on the way.
What distinguishes our game
In our game, you play the role of the commander-in-chief of an entire army and you will play the battle from this perspective. The game is therefore designed to play the greatest battles of the era, such as Gettysburg, Sedan, or Solferino. Your main task will be to manage your generals. You can have an excellent battleplan, but if you order an offensive to a cautious general or defence, to very aggressive one – your plan may fail. Imagine Jackson instead of Ewell at Gettysburg and you will get the point. Poor commander wan’t be able to execute a sophisticated plan, but they may be good enough for a frontal assault or static defence. As a commander in chief you have to bear in mind all of this.
The fog of war is also very important. We use a system of patrol markers, at least half of them are “empty” (just a patrol) half of them hide corps. Your enemy does not now which patrol marker is just a patrol or a corps. Only when two patrol markers or patrol and a unit close to certain distance, they are revealed. And that’s how you again have to thing as a real commander in chief from mid 19th century. Is that hill in the middle a good spot for artillery? So is this enemy patrol marker just an empty marker or maybe his reserve artillery? You have to read terrain, and make a lot of guessing. Make a decisions without a full knowlegde of your enemy positions. That’s the real mid 19th century warfare!
The game is scaled to easily play huge battles, so one infantry and cavalry stand is one brigade, one artillery stand is on brigade or battalion of artillery. Because of the focus of commanding many things like combat or movement are simplified. As a commander in chief you don’t bother about tactics of regiments or individual brigades, but you will watch the performance of entire corps, and divisions.
Our miniatures
The players use 6 mm miniatures (we produce our own sets of ACW and mid 19th century miniatures, see: http://www.bolter.pl ). We produce metal and 3D printed resin sets. We were the first manufacturer in the world who produced 3D printed 6mm scale miniatures of the same or better quality than metal models. More information about our miniatures can be found here: LINK
English translation
We hired a professional translator and have a group of fantastic proof readers. The translation is ready, but there is a lot work on proofreading now. The plan is to make a premiere of English version of the rules in late 2020 but it could be changed because of Covid-19 pandemic.
There are some things which are already translated, for example an Army Builder. You can create some roosters here:
We also play a league, mini – campaign and tournaments in Poland. Here you have more information about it:
Additional information
The rules are easy to learn, the second edition of the rulebook got 160 pages (the English one should have approx. the same).
The second edition of the rulebook had it’s premiere on February 2020.
A short movie from the battle of Gaines Mill, that shows how our game works:
You can visit our “how to start?” page, where you will find most important links: http://www.gmboardgames.com/blog/en/how-to-start/