by Bill Simoni, 5 November 2025
Eutaw Springs was originally published in 2002 as a bonus game within Guilford. It kept that position when reprinted in the first Tri-Pack from 2017. The game that follows was played using the tri-pack version.
Eutaw Springs has two scenarios – the Campaign Game and the Historical Scenario. The Campaign Game starts with the Patriot forces off the map, giving the player some agency in aligning their push towards the British forces. The Historical Scenario starts in turn 4, picking up after the forces are much closer to each other.
click images to enlarge
Historical Scenario
Win conditions for this scenario are straightforward. A decisive victory requires significant casualties to be inflicted on the other side, plus capturing Greene (for the British) or taking complete control of particular camp hex (for the Patriots – see the blue start next to the bid red plantation house in the above picture). A substantial victory is the same as in all the titles – push your opponent’s army morale to 0. Finally, a marginal victory is achieved by the side that has 3+ VPs more than their opponent.
My plan with the Patriots was to form up a line, then bash into the Brits, trying to push them back before they knew what hit them. As you can see in this next picture, I couldn’t resist throwing some units in alone. While not disastrous, a quick breakthrough was not in the cards.
I was able to push the British around a little bit. But he never truly lost his defensive shape along the front lines.
Sending the dragoons on a feint around my right did draw off some forces. This desperation on my part could have been ignored with no real import, but protecting against it also didn’t cause the Brits any particular hardship.
My opponent realized he didn’t need that much defense against the dragoons and started moving some forces back to the main line, which I’ve finally been able to disturb a little bit. Detaching a unit to my left was ill-advised and ultimately unsuccessful in getting it back to occupy part of the British camp.
The British took initiative and reformed the line, pretty much consigning me to a loss, unless Fortuna chose to grace me with unearned and outsized favor.
I did sneak in one of my dragoon units to occupy a campsite, but they were quickly dispatched1 . There was no real change along the main line as the Brits didn’t need to chance any combats. They were content with the marginal victory. It’s a good thing I love these games, because I sure can’t win them!
Final Thoughts
Eutaw Springs is a fitting conclusion to what I’ll call Phase 1 of the series. The game-specific rules are straightforward and are not difficult to absorb. As usual, you just need to remember to apply them. This game was played in almost exactly 2 hours with my opponent having only played the series once before.
We’ve now looked at all the games in Tri-Pack #1. There is plenty here to make it a great value. All of the games are suitable to teach new players, but I prefer Saratoga and Eutaw Springs for this. They play the quickest, offer clear opportunities for both sides, and have the fewest special rules.
From here on in the series, the games add more twists to the formula, perhaps trying to avoid falling into a rut. We’ll see if that is successful, but it did make the games a bit more weighty and less solitaire-friendly.
Next up: Savannah – throw out what you “know” about this series.
You can chat about this game in the Age of Gunpowder section of our discussion forums
Battles of the American Revolution Series
Mentioned in Dispatches Episode ~ Series Intro ~ Saratoga ~ Brandywine ~ Guilford Courthouse ~ Eutaw Springs ~ Savannah ~ Monmouth ~ Pensacola ~ Germantown
Camden Event Podcast Episode
Saratoga Digital ~ First Impressions ~ Gaming vs The AI
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