American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I will not comment on the value of individual scenarios but the variety is there to give people choices. If a scenario has 'hist' or 'historical' in its title then this is usually the scenario that the designer thinks best replicates the historical situation. To see the differences between them there is often an indication in the Description for each scenario. Your example is a little unusual as there are two 'historical' scenarios (plus their weather variants). However, if you look at the Description you will see that 2a says:
'Some Abatis has been removed and breastworks added.'
Perhaps there is some uncertainty over what defences were historically present. Or perhaps it is simply to give the players a choice [I'd imagine it would be a little easier for the attacker if the abatis are removed.]

The same for 'Alter OB' and 'Graphics'; they are simply there to give players some choices about how they view/play the battle.

"Also looking at weather effects, it seems Nov 7 1861 in Belmont was a totally clear day, yet the weather versions indicate some probability of snow ..."

Again, it's about choice. Perhaps there was a chance of snow and other things so they have been allowed for to enable someone to test such 'what ifs'.


Sometimes the Campaign Notes for different titles can also provide insight into why some choices were made.

Finally, you may also come across some odd titles that include terms like c1u1, c1u3 or c3u1. I only found out last year what those terms mean. They are scenarios from the campaign games in the titles. For example, c3u1 for a specific battle refers to the Confederate third choice (c3) and the Union first choice (u1). Thus, many battles (from the campaign game) will have different variants and, yes, there are usually [I hate to say always] weather variants of each of them.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

There is only one Campaign Shiloh. It was originally published by HPS, then went to JTS and finally WDS. But they are all the same scenarios. There might have been some fixes along the way, but generally all are original. The game engine has changed considerably since the HPS version, but that did not impact the scenarios. Over the years, the naming conventions have changed a bit for subsequent titles. FH and FD for example are not necessarily meant to be immediately understood but should be made clear after reading the scenario description. FH-Fort Henry, FD-Fort Donelson. I did that more for myself to keep them organized at a glance. Not the best, I know.

Weather was a new feature at the time, perhaps Shiloh was the first to use it. It was not meant to reflect historical weather for that specific time in history. Some were, but many are not. The intention is to add some variability to the original non weather scenarios. A bit of flavor as it were.

At this point, 20+ years later, I don't think renaming the scenario list would be beneficial. Especially when you consider club records use the current names.

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

That is certainly an old post from 2020/2022. Being new, I wonder how you found it. But yes, it is worth a look, thanks.

Edit after a quick review: I think I need to demote Stevens from Corps to div commander so that there is no gap in the command structure from the bottom up. And since Reno cannot be both Div and Corps at the same time, we stop at Div. That means there is no Corps commander.

Also, both Stevens and Kearny were killed in the battle and placed correctly, so no changes there.

Thoughts?

WOW, when I made that one change, I had to change it for a total of 24 scenarios. This includes those in the campaign files.

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Brigadier General Richard Walker
II Corps, 4th Division, 6th Brigade
Army of Tennessee
(JTS/WDS Scenario Designer)

The boys seemed a bit skittish and prone to run (the wrong way) so I went looking.

Burnside was Corps CO, but was in transit (as was the 3rd Division) so only the 2 divisions took part. Makes sense (to me) to have Stevens and Reno as Div COs, only c5000 men total with Reno acting Corps CO in Burnside's absence. 24 scenarios to change, ouch, sorry...

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Lieutenant Chris Horn
II Corps, 2nd Division, 6th Brigade
Army of the Potomac, USA