In 1861 the Confederate States of America was born when 13 states seceded from the Union. The Civil War ended with the South victorious with the signing of the Christmas Armistice at Dunker Church, MD on January 2nd, 1863.

Tensions through the years have increased....

The summer of 1944 finds the all the world in the iron grasp of war. Germany, having crushed the British after the Sea Lion invasion of 1941, finds itself in possession of Western Europe and North Africa. The Soviets surprised the Nazis with an unprovoked attack in the winter of 1942, but were now realing under the German juggernaught. In the Far East, Japan, China and the Soviet Union are locked in combat across the forested wilderness of Eastern Asia. British leadership in Canadian exile promise to fight on until "the last man takes the last breath of freedom."

The North American continent, protected from conflict for hundreds of years, begins to smolder in the inferno of World War. The CSA, having fought on the side of the Central Powers in the Great War, finds an ally in Germany. Strong words of border expansion and "absorbing" disputed waterways of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers fill the halls of the Confederate government in Atlanta. The CSA begins to flex it's military muscle, as convoys of what Hitler terms as "leased" equipment run the gaunlet of Canadian submarines in the Atlantic to adding state of the art Panther tanks to the CSA army. Border clashes become common as tensions rise.

To the north, president Roosevelt cautions his neighbors to the south to reduce military aggression close to the borders or "face the reality of defeat by the hands of democracy!". The Canadians and remnants of the British and French to the north begin sending surplus arms and men to assist in the US military buildup.

Borders between the North and the South have been heavily defended since the end of the Civil War. Large, heavily dug in and defended forts line both sides, with garrisoned troops on standby for repelling border incidents. The main waterways of the Mississippi and Ohio remain neutral, although neither side uses them for transport other than inside protected borders. The borders of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers become an armed camp as both forces prepare for the inevitable.