April’s Harvest: The Battle of Shiloh, April 6 & 7, 1862

About this board game

April’s Harvest: The Battle of Shiloh, April 6 & 7, 1862 is a Civil War brigade-level game for 1–2 players, with play times ranging from 4 to 20 hours. It is the ninth game in The Gamers’ Civil War Brigade Series.

Set along the Tennessee River, the game covers the Battle of Shiloh from the Confederate army’s opening drive through the surprised Union camps to the final Union counterstroke. Confederate forces mass under Albert Sidney Johnston, while Union troops at Pittsburgh Landing are commanded by Ulysses S. Grant.

April’s Harvest portrays the entire two-day battle at a detailed operational scale. Each game turn represents 30 minutes, each hex covers 200 yards, and the playing pieces represent brigades, placing the struggle’s shifting lines and pressure at the center of play.

• Special rules cover the fighting at the Hornet’s Nest.
• The arrival of Buell’s Army of the Ohio is deliberately uncertain.
• Union gunboats and Confederate looting receive specific treatment.
• Optional situations explore how Shiloh might have unfolded without Grant’s surprise or with additional troops from Van Dorn’s Army of the West.

The game includes a full-color 22 x 34-inch map, 280 counters, the second-edition Civil War Brigade Series rulebook, and a dedicated 24-page April’s Harvest rulebook. Two six-sided dice are also included.

With high solitaire playability and a medium complexity rating, April’s Harvest offers a substantial study of one of the American Civil War’s bloodiest early battles. Its 1995 release remains focused on the choices, uncertainty, and escalating combat surrounding Shiloh.