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For the People is a Strategic level Card-Driven board-wargame of the whole American Civil War covering the conflict from Texas to Pennsylvania, from the firing on Fort Sumter to the end at Appomattox Court House. You take the role of either President Lincoln or President Davis and command the armies, promote and relieve generals, conduct amphibious assaults, dispatch cavalry raids, and even battle incompetency and political intrigue among members of your own cabinet.
For the People includes a deck of strategy cards for conducting campaigns and incorporating the many events and personalities of the war. The Confederate player can build ironclads, naval mines (torpedoes), submarines, conduct overseas purchases, and work towards foreign intervention. The Union player can build up his naval blockade, his ironclad fleet, fight draft riots, secure the Border States, and issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Relive the history of this exciting time when our nation was torn asunder.
TIME SCALE: 4 months per turn
MAP SCALE: Point-to-point system
UNIT SCALE: 6,000 men per strength point
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: Two
COMPONENTS
420 full-color, die-cut counters
One 22x34" full-color mounted mapsheet
130 Cards [101 Kb pdf]
40-page Rule and Scenario Book
Player Aid Card
Two 6-sided dice
DESIGNER: Mark Herman
DEVELOPER: Mark Simonitch
MAP & CARD ART: Mark Simonitch
COUNTER ART: Mark Simonitch & Rodger B. MacGowan
(BGG description:)
This is the 4th entry in the We the People system of games, following Hannibal and Successors (but pre-dating Paths of Glory, which is arguably more of a spin-off than a follow-on). The playing area is much larger than say Hannibal, there are lots more forces and generals, and there is a much more complicated political control/strategic will system - as well as quite a few other significant elements. While still clean and streamlined for a complicated wargame, this is nontheless more of a serious hobby game than any of the previous entries in the genre.
(Note from Mark Herman:)
The game was reprinted and the latest and final version of the rules has incorporated all of the previous FAQs plus has re-written some of the more troublesome rules sections (rivers). To date, after a grueling three-year on-line tournament, no rules questions of note have been forthcoming. The above write up is mistaken when it states that "For The People" is based on "Hannibal vs Rome", but was my second game in the "We The People" genre that I created. The game dropped my battle card system in lieu of a more traditional combat results table to speed play and increase historical accuracy.
UPDATE:
The 2006 edition, component description above, was recently released. Other than the use of color in the rules and the play aids, the only difference between this and the 2006 edition is I added some variant rules to the rulebook. This rulebook is available from GMT games as a free download.
- Neat game
- Uses a familiar and effective system (like Paths of Glory)
- American Civil War theme is not the host's preference
- Paths of Glory is a better, more refined game using the same system
- Strategy and conflict during the American Civil War
- American Civil War
- null
- Paths of Glory
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card-driven — Implied by the comparison to Paths of Glory.
- Resource Management — Implied by the nature of wargames and strategic decisions.
- Wargame — A game simulating the American Civil War conflict.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Hunter is another one of those games we ended up playing a lot at University mostly while drinking
- Hunter has several problems it takes a lot longer to play than it should for what it is especially when you're doing the coup those can drag on quite a long time and also fundamentally it's pretty racist
- I think the hunter idea of a Banana Republic itself is pretty dated but the idea of a corrupt government where players of different office members competing for positions and stockpiling money definitely has potential just there's got to be a better way to interpret it
- Cosmic Encounter is still going strong and that is an achievement and a half
- it's core idea of a simple gameplay element Modified by a whole bunch of variable Powers has had a profound influence on all of gaming and unlike a lot of designs from this period it still holds up pretty well today
- so happy birthday to me for 42 years old today here's to 42 more
- if you want to do the same thing yourself just go to board game geek click on advanced search and search by year published range and just fill in the year and feel free to post your list Below in the comments
References (from this video)
- Personal favorite
- American Civil War
- American Civil War
- Empire of the Sun
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Rathman was a genius at doing like amazing things with very little.
- The Spar of the map and the way he did the color choices you know with the blue you know what he did makes it look like uh there's no um there's no green on the map right because I mean there would be some because but the trees were covered so it's got like a blue it's got like winter look to it and it just looks it just looks like the cover itself too it covers carries that whole thematic color exactly exactly
- it really was one of the first games that really focused on intelligence.
- You shouldn't have very little information; you should have tried to have the level of information they had at the time.
- It's got just a really elegant Siege system Logistics you know Depot system battle system so it's great
- I always have a game of Empire the Sun or for the people going all the time and so it's a tossup between those two but if I had to choose it would I I travel I find traveling with Empire the sun's easier because it's got better smaller scenarios I can play on the road
- that really kicked off The Monster game era at SPI and that was one of the first ones well the first one was but that was like a oneoff guy doing it
- I actually prefer and only play the first edition with the original rules everybody complained about those I think those rules were brilliant
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- That was rude.