Here’s a look at the current playtesting of the upcoming historical/horror game, The South Shall Rise Again!, to be published by Victory Point Games. VPG designer, developer, and our pal John Welch has this report:
The tactical histo-horror game The South Shall Rise Again! has been getting a major graphics overhaul thanks to the talents of VPG’s own Noelle LeBienvenu. The counters are looking very thematic, which adds a lot to the game experience. The rules maestro Alan Emrich will be giving the game a shake-down prior to the playtest kits going out in the mail. I’m looking forward to getting additional feedback on the game experience from playtesters and how well the multi-player rules work. The game is semi-cooperative but with the high score winning, so look for some 
Two other features that add depth to the gameplay are the Event cards and Character cards. The Event cards were something I added to Keep Up the Fire! and they put added some great moments of sudden relief or stress. In The South Shall Rise Again!, these Event cards come in the same variety, with some helping the players and others helping the undead. Each time a player rolls doubles, and Event card is drawn, so the timing of these twists of fate is never certain.
Each of the four soldiers that come with this game (Private Thomas is pictured here) also receives a Character card allowing for personal abilities and modifiers to differentiate each soldier and lay the groundwork for more complex character traits in the successive ‘episodes’ in this series. As the series expands, it will not only introduce new characters, but role-playing elements as well.
In Episode Three, The Cleansing of Atlanta, this game series changes scale from tactical to strategic, and proffers new challenges. It will introduce a host of new units and equipment with the Union object of burning Atlanta – but not for the same reasons it was burned in our timeline. Combat switches to the brigade level with Union, Confederate and undead forces engaged. The current system design allows players to play the histo-horror versions of the Battles of Shiloh, Gettysburg and Sherman’s March to the Sea (and by removing the undead units, you can refight these battles as they occurred historically).
