#242 w/They Died With Their Boots On #2 - Pershing & Mad Anthony

They Died With Their Boots On 2 (Boots 2, for short), presents a wargame system that simulates two campaigns of the US Army from the late 18th and early 20th centuries.

The rules present sub-systems that show the wild fluctuations of fortune that historically affected the forces of both sides, from heroic fights to blunders that led to some of the more infamous military actions of those times.

Boots 2 uses an interactive game turn in which both players command an overall force made up of several sub-commands. During each turn, players alternate picking "command markers," which designate the sub-command within their force they may then use to conduct operations. The player then moves units of that sub-command and, at the completion of its movement, may conduct attacks with the units of that same sub-command. Play then passes to the other player, who similarly picks a marker and moves and fights. That procedure continues until all command markers have been picked. Additionally, certain events cause players to pick "heroism markers" at random, which may generate anything from mad, impetuous charges to abject surrenders.

The rules are divided into the standard rules, which are common to all games in the system (Boots 1 will have appeared in S&T no. 236), and the scenario rules, which provide deployment and reinforcement instructions, as well as victory conditions, for each specific battle game.

This edition of Boots includes two games: Pershing: The Hunt for Poncho Villa, 1916; and Mad Anthony: War for Ohio, 1791-94.