A Primitive Madness

A Primitive Madness is a two-player wargame depicting the fighting that occurred at Sharpsburg, Maryland on this deadly day. It utilizes the Black Swan ACW wargame system, first used in the popular A Most Fearful Sacrifice game, its Pipe Creek expansion, and then followed by the equally successful The Rock of Chickamauga. Like the Blind Swords game system (which is closely related to this series) the Black Swan system emphasizes the three FOW’s of war … the Fortunes of War, the Friction of War and the Fog of War … but at a grander scale and with lower rules overhead. Players will be challenged to deal with a developing battle situation - never quite sure of what the Gods of War will throw at them.

September 13, 1862 – Corporal Barton W. Mitchell and First Sergeant John M. Bloss of the 27th Indiana are walking around on the former campground of Confederate General D.H. Hill near Frederick, Maryland. They suddenly spot an odd sight – lying in the field is a bundle of three cigars, bound together by a rather official looking piece of paper. They discover that this document is, in fact, a copy of Confederate Special Orders 191, detailing the exact movements of General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. This information indicated that the Confederate army was split into two parts – a force under “Stonewall” Jackson attacking the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, and Lee’s portion of the army continuing its advance into Maryland. The captured order was brought to the attention of General George McClellan, commander of the Union Army of the Potomac. McClellan was an engineer by trade and a capable but extremely cautious commander. But this newly gained information gave him the boost of confidence he needed to take the initiative. McClellan ordered an attack through the South Mountain gaps on September 14th, in an effort to help relieve the Harpers Ferry siege. The subsequent victories along South Mountain allowed the Union forces to pursue the retreating Confederates back towards the Potomac River from the 15th through the 16th. McClellan had successfully maneuvered his army with the intent of catching Lee’s main force with its back against the Potomac River at Sharpsburg. But once again, the dark cloud of hesitancy and insecurity hovered over the Army of the Potomac as it commenced battle on the 17th. What followed was not only the bloodiest day of the war, but the single bloodiest day in American military history.

—description from the designer