"ACW Dice Tower Design?" Topic

If you were to design a dice tower for use when wargaming the American Civil War, what would it look like?

(Keep in mind that dice towers generally need to be at least one foot tall, and are often tall and slim.)

I would build a ACW observation or signal tower the dice would roll on the inside and into a yard type area with a stone wall or fence type box on the bottom. Union Tower of course!!!!

Good choice but mine would Southron and padded for quiet.

An empty whisky bottle.

Viper, good call.

I would build it like a Dalek, and every time dice are fed into the pop up lid to be rolled, it would exclaim "EXTERMINATE"!

R2D2 would be cool also.

I like Battle Phlox's whisky bottle idea.

Alternately, a period lighthouse. Cape Lookout was completed in 1859 and is very eye-catching: link

Naturally, wouldn't be ACW without the Stars n Stripes and the Confederate battleflag.

I think WeeSparky has a different perspective on the ACW than the rest of us…

wooden leg

Of course Daleks were involved in the ACW. They were really good at covering their tracks.

How about a telescope (large lens down), or a canteen.

The only thing I can think of would be a 12-lb Napoleon barrel. It would probably have to be 1/4 scale though, and probably not made of solid brass, since that would weigh quite a lot.
link
Maybe made of plastic painted a glossy brass color, and mounted on a wooden base designed to look like an ammunition crate for the dice to roll into. The "touch-hole" would have to be more than a little oversized, allowing the dice to pass through it.

Perhaps it could have a little reservoir with water that puts out a little wisp of water vapor when it's used. My kids have a Thomas Tank Engine that does that link . That would be kind of cool!

So, when will it be ready?

A building like St Victor's would do the job:

link

The Lutheran Semenary from Gettysburg? It has a nice belltower & picket fence.

Perhaps the Cemetary Gatehouse from another famous attack?

An upturned cannon?

A Saw mill, with a cement mixer tank idea inside you drop your dice in a whole in the roof , Then you turn the water wheel till the dice fall out a high window.

would take some work to build but it would work

A tin cup

Or a conversion of one of those black man money banks. Reversing the mechanism so the figure spews dice.

He would work well for either Unionists or States Rights partisans.

A snare drum came to mind? You could find the type of coffee can with "frizbee" snap on plastic lids amd put the works inside. Outside you could paint the eagle or what ever ornimantation that may also be proper. If a die ever got stuck,you could just remove the head. a pair of drumsticks the drum is "resting on" could be the shoot from which the lucky die exit.
Best of all, even with the loading and exiting holes, you could still "beat it like a drum"..carry it around the table by it's sling…that would be a real conversation piece and a practical tool! Depending on the ornimentation, it would work for numerouse "Horse and Musket" periods besides the ACW.
Another thought I had was a telescope. Maybe from towel or wrapping paper tubes to represent the "telescoping" sections.
Let me know if you go the drum route snd how it turned out, I might want to do one also….

Good Luck,

Carl

Belltower and a fenced graveyard.

I would stay away from the chap in the red shirt above, might be considered in extreemely bad taste, if not down right racist!