A House Divided 1st Edition:
The Long Lost Rules

I don't know how many times I've been asked what the old Breaking Rail Lines and the Supply optional rules were from the first edition of A House Divided. These were two rules that I deliberately cut in the 2nd edition of the game (and those 2nd edition rules became, largely unchanged, the 3rd edition of the game). For completeness' sake, I present them here, slightly edited to conform with 2nd/3rd edition text language, along with a Designer's Note from yours truly at the end of each.

Breaking Rail Lines

Players may destroy rail lines in order to slow enemy advances or destroy enemy communications.

In order to break a rail line between two boxes, an infantry piece must first move over the line, ending a march in one of the two boxes connected by the line. Then, during that same turn, the piece must spend one march in that box to break the rail line, performing no other activity. (Of course, other pieces beginning the march in that box could use it to move, entrench, or even break other connected rail lines.)

Similarly, cavalry may break a rail line by moving over it. This can be done only if the cavalry unit moved one box that march. There is no additional march cost for cavalry to break a rail line.

Effects of a broken rail line: A broken rail line is treated as a road. Mark it with a Rail Break marker to indicate its broken status. [Eight of these markers were provided in the game; on their reverse side they were Stripped markers. I've scanned a set of these counters and included them in this article.]

Repairing a broken rail line: Broken rail lines may be repaired at the beginning of a player's Movement Segment. The Union player may automatically repair one rail break per turn for free. Otherwise, one March is expended to repair one rail break. No piece has to be present in the area to repair a rail break; just expend the March.

Note: The reason I cut this rule from the 2nd edition was that it was clunky. The 1st and 2nd edition maps were smaller than the 3rd edition, and the space between some of the boxes was pretty tight. Consequently, the Rail Break markers could really jam things up and make manipulating the pieces very fiddly, especially in the Eastern Theater. The primary effect of cutting rail lines was to waste the other guy's marches when you had some to spare and he didn't. The 2nd edition Leadership Table largely accomplished the goal of reducing surplus Marches in the game by simply reducing their number, so it was decided that this rule could be cut in the 2nd edition of the game.

Looking back on it now, with the larger 3rd edition map, this might be an interesting Optional Rule to drag out of the dustbin and try again. It's definitely Pro-Union (because they get the free repair), but it could make an interesting tool for both sides on occasion.

Supply

Note: The Supply Rule from the 1st edition of the game is still largely there in the 2nd and 3rd editions. What I cut was the bit about foraging, which is presented below:

Foraging: Pieces in a box that does not contain a Stripped marker may be supplied by foraging. A box containing more than one piece may be stripped (even if it could trace a supply line) at the beginning of a player's turn. In addition, boxes may be stripped during movement. One piece must spend one March in a box to strip it. (Of course, other pieces beginning the march in the box could use that March to move, entrench, or break rail lines.) Simply declare the box stripped of forage and place a Stripped marker in it.

Players may strip boxes to deny their forage to the enemy.

Foraging Effects on Supply: A box that is out of supply (i.e., it contains more than one piece and cannot trace a supply line) at the beginning of a player's turn does not have to eliminate one piece if that box is stripped that turn (to feed those pieces).

Removing Stripped Markers: All stripped markers are removed from the board at the beginning of the June turn of each year. Thus, each box may be used for foraging once per year.

Note: The reason I cut this rule from the 2nd edition was that it was a pain in the butt. Fiddling with all those Stripped markers was annoying. First, you usually had to dig around under stacks of units to find out where they were. Second, when you moved those stacks, the Stripped marker often got picked up with them ― something you might not notice right away unless that move culminated in a battle. Third, if you forgot in June to remove them all, things could really get messed up and a player could feel quite cheated if he later went on to lose the game. All in all, foraging was an ergonomic disaster with little enough positive game play effect to make it worth all the rules weight and bother.