The third edition, otherwise known as the '2004 edition' of this very popular tactical level simulation of the battle of Gettysburg. The game spawned the 'Great Battles of the American Civil War' series and is a direct descendant of the old SPI favorite, Terrible Swift Sword.Components include three newly revised and beautiful maps by Mark Simonitch and Joe Youst (building on older work by Rick Barber and Joe Youst), 1680 counters including units and markers, some new charts, and ver. 4.5 of the GBACW rules.This edition attempts to bring a simplification to the complicated LOS procedures of the previous editions. The counters have also been cleaned up and overall this edition has quite a bit of visual appeal. This game is very complex but is a great simulation of ACW tactics. However, the game also works with a slimmed down version of the GBACW system rules called 'Simple Great Battles of the ACW,' the release of which coincided with the publishing of the game. SGBACW brings the series to players who are do not have the inclination or time to master the relatively formidable GBACW ruleset. - BoardGameGeek