General, I have no Incision

In Magnificent Style is a solo war game recreating a famously disastrous attack on Union forces at Gettysburg by General Lee in 1863, one led by Major General Pickett and known as Pickett's Charge. Not only is the battle famous - in war history circles, at least - for its outcome and the effect on the broader scope of civil war, it's also famous for what Pickett said after the battle when Lee told him to regroup his division - "General, I have no division". In which case the game does a pretty accurate job of playing out Pickett's experience of watching everything go to shit around him.

jaded

Although it's a war game with a suitably dreary, prosaic map and chits that signal events, In Magnificent Style actually reminded me of Can't Stop - just as in that somewhat simpler game, you're moving elements (brigades) along vertical paths using dice, but as with Can't Stop, you can go bust and have your men fall back to where they started each turn if the fates go against you.

The Unionists, who never move

For each brigade you have a choice - roll the dice and - you hope - move forward, or rally and hold position. The problem is the longer you spend in the field the more likely your men are to get hit by volleys, canister fire or artillery, so you really need to push on. But push your luck too much and you take a second heavy hit - and your men retreat to the comparative safety of your rally marker.

The Confederates, who must keep moving

In essence, that is the game. Some rolls allow you to advance, some are a kind of grim holding pattern, anything with a six in allows you to not only advance, but draw a chit that will help in some way too. But any roll with a one (apart from 6 and 1) is Heavy Fire, which is really not good at all - even if you drop back to avoid it, the Unionists still get to draw a chit and hit you with something fighty. Double one is really bad - that's a rout. Double six (On To Washington!) had me punching the air, which is not something I'd ever thought I'd do whilst controlling imaginary gun-toting, slave-owning secessionists.

Pettigrew takes a position!

If you reach the Union positions it's not over - there's now a bayonet fight to the death. It's pretty grim stuff.

There are three divisions (each with three brigades) led by Pickett, Trimble and Pettigrew, and - as long as they're alive - these Major Generals can help with a bit of leadership by boosting morale, or maybe just throwing some shitty dice again. You can also call on Longstreet (transfer men across brigades, twice) and Lee himself (no retreating! once) but despite all of this the odds are firmly fixed in favour of the traditional winners, the Unionists. My first play I scored a diabolical 8 points. My second I obliterated - I thought - that score, hitting 49. It was still a defeat, but at least I did as well as Pickett:

And finally tonight I played once more, and got off to a thrilling start, capturing a Union position on round two. But from there is was all downhill - the dice fell against me, the Union chits were dissolving my forces in front of my eyes. My major-generals, leading from the front, all got taken out by the enemy...



A mid-game sally was snuffed out in short order as Pettigrew's men were pinned down, and everyone who raised their heads had them shot off. It ended in misery, with a paltry 14 points. Considering you can in theory score over 180, this was disappointing. But considering the way the fire rains on you from the sky, I'd like to see it.

I will leave you with sanguine words from Pickett himself. He lived another (eventful) seven years after the bloody day, and later replied when asked why the Confederates failed so spectacularly: "I've always thought the Yankees had something to do with it".