House Divided, A

The year is 1861. At 4:40 a.m. on April 12, Confederate artillery batteries open fire on Fort Sumter. The South Carolina fort, which guards the entrance to Charleston harbor, was bombarded for thirty-three hours with 4000 rounds before the Union troops inside lowered the American flag and surrendered.

Thus began the American Civil War. Over the next four years, three million men would take up arms against one another. In many cases, families would be split and loved ones would end up on the same battlefield opposing each other. When it was over, at least 620,000 Americans had lost their lives. There was hardly a family that didn't experience loss. It had truly been a "brothers war."

You and up to two other team members will take command of one of the three theaters of operation for the Union or for the Confederacy. Although you have your own armies to command, and generals to oversee, you will need to work closely with your other theater commanders. Together you must decide which generals should command which armies to best take advantage of their unique talents. You must also decide who will control armies as they travel from one theater to another. Will you retain control of an army outside of your theater or relinquish control to your teammate? Each side has it's advantages and disadvantages, so carefully consider your decisions: the fate of the Union and Confederacy hang in the balance.

A House Divided is a strategic game which pits 2 teams (or players) head to head in a recreation of the Civil War. The goal is to capture your enemy's cities. Accomplishing this goal is not easy for either side as the North has greater production capability, but the South benefits from more talented Generals.

Even though A House Divided uses the RISK pieces, it plays similar to other territory based combat round type games like Axis and Allies and Shogun. Each unit type, Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery has certain combat values. Generals, represented by cards on the table and corresponding markers on the game board, provide modifications to their army's statistics and provide movement capability for an army when they are in the field rather than in a railed territory.

The hand of event cards and General cards are shared by the team. Cards are acquired both at the end of each round of play and at the end of a player turn and if that player has won at least one battle or captured an undefended city.

Limited naval warfare is conducted by event cards, Admiral cards, riverboats and forts. Riverboats provide troop transport along waterways. Forts contain inherent troops and help guard waterways.