"What to buy to get started?" Topic

Hey guys I just recently purchased the Fire and Fury rulebook (waiting for it to come in the mail) and I want to start a confederate force.I'll be getting Battle Honors and I'm wondering what I should buy to build a small force. Also, what material should I use to base the troops?? I've used cereal box card before but it's too flimsy.

I prefer Wargames Accessories steel bases.

I cut all my bases out of 1.5mm plasticard. It's a bit of work, but I have a drafting table with a straight edge so it goes quickly and efficiently.

You want lots of Texans, I mean lots of them.
I cut my bases out of thin paneling, but then my mommy lets me use power tools.

By the way, did I mention lots of Texans?

Oh, the Charlseton Light Dragoons are pretty neat too.

If you are truly just getting started Mattboard is a good option. You can usually get scraps (but nice sized) from framing shops. Even buying a sheet is not too expensive. This gives you material that is easy to cut, comes in a variety of colors and will take glue and paint. A plus is if you decide to re-base to something else you can remove figures by simply pulling them off or soak them in water if they are stuborn.

Litko has bases. Or you could go to Hobby Lobby or a craft store buy bass wood, and cut your own. I believe that Gale Force 9 sells bulk bases.

Thanks,

John

Second the mattboard suggestion for low-cost, easy to handle bases.
For troops, since F & F is brigade based, you should have 2-3 brigades (6-10 bases each) of infantry per side plus 2-3 artillery batteries (1 base with a gun and 2-3 arty figs). You would need a general figure as well.
This will give you a division of troops per side. You might want to add a brigade of cavalry as well (4-8 bases).
For organization and quality check the OB for Gettysburg in the basic rules.
Have fun!

Hey Shag, you forgot to tell him to buy lots of Texans.

The nice thing about metal bases is that if you plan on taking them anywhere (FLGS, friends' houses for gaming, cons, etc.) you can line boxes with magnetic sheet to prevent them from slipping around. Cardboard, et al, doesn't stick to magnetic sheet so well… :o)

Buy lots of infantry, get about 6 guns and a mounted commander and you should be good to go.

I love steel bases – I base everything on them. And rebasing from steel is not that hard either. The figrues pop off pretty easily.

Extra Crispy is right about the force mix.

I use 1" x 1" bases 3/8" plywood. This way the players handle the base and not the figures. Also prevents tipping over.

mjc

Ok so how does this sound for the initial army:

2 bags of confederate infantry advancing

1 bag of confederate infantry skirmishing

1 bag of confederate infantry marching

1 bag of confederate artillery

1 bag of dismounted Confederate Generals with horses and holders

1 bag of confederate cavalry

and as for the basing I think I'll use 1x1 wargame accessories metal bases.

Is this a good start to a confederate force? oh and what paints would you guys recommend?

Suggest you shop around a little before investing in your figures. Battle Honors are OK for their price, but for quality look at AB or Scale Creep figures.

Larry GettysburgSoldiers.com

"Is this a good start to a confederate force?"

Seems reasonable. How many guns do you get in a bag of artillery? You need enough guns for roughly 1 battery per division.

Personally, I'd have the generals mounted rather than on foot and dispense with the cavalry.

"and as for the basing I think I'll use 1x1 wargame accessories metal bases."

I wouldn't waste money on metal bases. Mount board is cheap and I have based all my armies on it for years.

"oh and what paints would you guys recommend?"

Acrylics. Not artists acrylics but modelling acrylics which are more liquid and smooth flowing.

Litko bases. Some folks aren't particular to metal bases scraping their terrain and if you get the 3mm thick base the player will be picking up the bases, not the figs.

When I started ACW gaming, I bought a huge order of Musket Miniatures figures. They're clean sculpts, which makes them very easy to paint, and they rank up very well on bases. Musket Miniatures also makes a nifty set of Fire and Fury markers. I've been using them for almost a decade, and they always get admiring remarks from fellow gamers.

The Battle Honors figures are very nice too. They're the same sculpts as AB, so you don't have to spend the extra money to get the AB name. The only problem I've had with Battle Honors is that some of the sculpts have such thin muskets that they bend during normal handling. Correct the bends enough times, and you'll have troops with a bunch of sawed off shotguns.

The maneuver element in Fire and Fury is the brigade, and to get a small sized game going, you should have about a corps. That means about 40 bases of infantry in four brigades, 2-4 batteries with limbers, 2 division commanders, and a corps command stand. If you're being economical, you can stick just three infantry on each base. If you want a more imposing battle line, try mixing in some four and five figure stands.

I'd stick with marching poses to begin with. The advancing and shooting poses can be a pain to fit onto the bases without having musket barrels protrude into the backs of the front rank. Since Fire and Fury rewards you for doubling up your brigade lines, you'll almost always have bases in front to back contact.

I'd also use the standard base sizes of 1" frontage by 3/4" depth. 1" square bases will give you too much depth, in my opinion. It just doesn't look as good.

Thanks for the replies! so how's this then:

1 bag of confederate infantry advancing (had Napoleonics and just couldn't stand the monotomy of marching poses)

1 bag of confederate infantry skirmishing

2 bags of confederate infantry marching

1 bag of confederate artillery (comes with 6 guns,how many batteries would that be?)

1 bag of Generic Generals

1 bag of limbers(comes with three which I would assume is only enough for half of the guns I'd be buying?)

2 packs of flags for the infantry

and 1 x 3/4 bases from litko(can't be bothered to make my own)

Thoughts? and specifically what brand of paints? would GW paints be usable? I have some colors from them.

Vallejo makes an ACW set.

I have used these and I don't think you can do much better for a "starter set".

link

RK103 American Civil War Pack (16 bottles of paint)

Yeeesh! at $45.99 USD that's a bit pricey. Seems I got mine for a lot less so you may want to shop around.

mjc

You can get the ACW colors at the Warstore for $39.60 USD

link

I am just about finished re-basing over 2000 infantry, don't do matte board. It is worth it to go metal bases!

Buy lots and lots of Union and Confederate infantry.
buy lots of artillery
buy a little bit of cavalry.
Buy lots of fence

Have fun

Old Glory 15s/Battle Honors are good, and at 15mm you won't notice the difference. I like the "enthusiastic" poses.

You could make your own bases or go with Litko, but I find metal work best for traveling, which when I have to do when I game. I've never had any issues with them damaging terrain. People will pick up your figures by the weapons, the flags, and anything they can get their hands on regardless of the bases, so I wouldn't make your decision based (pun?) on that.

Here is a suggestion for building your Confederate force.

The rule book should have some scenarios in the back that list the opposing sides. The list gives you a break down of the forces, number of stands needed for infantry, artillery, cavalry and command.

Pick one of the Confederated commands and build your force using that guide line. It should answer the question of many figures you need, guns, etc.

Joel

Arkansas units fight just as well as Texans, and you don't have to feed 'em as much or de-louse 'em.

Dem Miss'ippi boys are down-rit tough too.

Gentlemen! What about the gallant forces of the Old Dominion! Sic semper tyranis!

I think metal bases are great; I use cheap tile, which I score, put in the 'fridge and then snap – paints up good, very cheap (which is my main motivation)

The proposed force mix looks great – it took me about 10 years before I painted up any cavalry

Thanks for the replies guys! I can't wait to get my copy of the rules to start learning the game! I think I'm gonna end up having to buy two small forces though to demo the game at our local store.