GCACW Beginner’s Tutorial: Lesson 4

Entrenchments

Units can improve their defense value by digging entrenchments. Over the course of the war, entrenchment doctrine changed. In 1862, the school of thought was that green troops would not leave dug-in positions to attack, so entrenchment was discouraged. By 1864, digging whenever a column stopped marching became a way of life. These tendencies are reflected in the rule system by how quickly units can entrench. In 1862 and 1863, entrenchment can only occur if a unit ends the turn at fatigue level 0. In 1864, units can entrench during the action cycle and this adds a legitimate option to the menu of actions. If you entrench, you become better defensively, but use fatigue levels so you are less able to react to the enemy. The Entrenchment Table (see the last page of the Standard Series rules) summarizes the rules nicely.

To play the next scenario, you might review the Cavalry Retreat rules as they come into play. At this point, all rules in the basic rule set have been introduced except 5.4 Burn RR Station, which should be easy enough for you to understand at this point. So now it is time to just practice what you've learned.