"A Real Newbie ACW Question: What Rules "Rule"?" Topic

Guys I've recently become interested in the American Civil War and I'm nearing that stage where I'm seriously considering gaming it in some way.

I have absolutely no knowledge of what games are available (I presume there's gerzillions of them waiting on every corner) and I would really welcome any recommendations from the TMP community out there :)

I know its a real general request (I'm not even sure what level I'm interested in yet) I was wondering if there is a real "stand above the rest" ruleset out there. I think I would be most interested in the control of a full battle rather than a smaller skirmish game. An over all game of the war might be interesting if it came recommended.

I found some videos on youtube featuring a couple of games ("Guns of Gettysburg" I believe one was called) that looked really interesting but I would appreciate if anyone with experience could offer their expert advice :)

I would love to game it properly with minis on a tabletop but I'm too concerned at the expense as I've already spent a lot recently on other projects ;0 and I was kind of hoping my marriage would last a little longer so please keep that in mind…

Any advice would be very appreciated

Thanks in advance

John

I would suggest looking on the TMP message boards and looking at ACW section. Read the threads there and see what battles and games interest you most, then find out what rules they were using.

In my opinion: For full battle rules I recommend Fire and Fury. Each player commands a US Corps or CS Division. If you want to drop down a notch Regimental Fire and Fury uses the same basing.

And donīt forget, the tried and true Black Powder can handle the job as well.

I also enjoy the original Fire and Fury, and for a little Old School action, On to Richmond canīt be beat.

I have also heard tell that the Johnny Reb series are good, but I donīt own them so canīt give a personal recommendation.

It is a great era to game, and donīt forget the war in the west. Good luck and enjoy!

Altar of Freedom is a pretty good ruleset, it lets you fight complete battles on a standard gaming table and has some really good mechanics too regaring generals personalities etc. Not complicated either!

one way to keep the expense down is to game in the smaller scales . a 6mm or 10mm ACW army is going to cost a bit less than 15mm and much less than 28mm . they should also take much less time to paint and will take less table space to play a game .
I can't help you much with rules , i've played Longstreet a few times and really enjoyed it and it has an interesting campaign system , but i haven't played any other ACW rules . i think Longstreet uses the same basing as the Fire and Fury rules but not as many required to play a game so you could build up to F&F

If cost is a factor maybe consider porting Battlecry to tabletop. Do a Google search, plenty of info in how to do it out there.

I've had a lot of 6mm ACW for years, but never actually got round to gaming with them until I came across Fire and Fury (original version, not the more recent regimental version, although I hear that's good). The downloadable scenarios provide a great basis for enjoyable games. The mechanisms are easy to pick up. I have about 70 bases for both sides and that's plenty for a four player game. My Infantry bases have about 6 to 8 figures to a 20mm base and cavalry 2 or 3. I think the 15 mm game uses 1inch wide bases, but as long as both sides are similar actual base sizes not really critical. As 6mm figures are pretty quick to paint, you could easily have an army to play with in a short space of time; for example I put together 40 bases of Union infantry in just over a week of 1 to 2 hour painting and basing sessions.
Have a go.

I don't know if any rules rule, or maybe some rule locally. I know numerous ACW gamers and we all have different sets we game with. I use Volley and Bayonet (a 3" x 3" stand is a brigade)for actually gaming entire battles in a reasonable amount of time.

if you can wait a bit, john hill, the man behind johnny reb, will be releasing ACROSS THIS DEADLY FEILD. this will open up big battles while still focusing on the regiment.

They Couldn't Hit An Elephant from TooFatLardies plays really, really well

Hey Grey, lots of choices out there. What do other gamers use in your area? Might be helpful to tap into your local resources.

Oh here is a great blog for ACW 10mm luv it

link

Thanks
Duane

Plastic Perrys are a low expense entry but it might pay off to see what scales and rules are being played in your area first.

Depends on the scale…

For full battles nothing beats Volley & Bayonet. We run over 100 historical battles with these rules. We've done Stones River probably 20 times alone. Gettysburg probably 6-7 times.

For smaller battles with great flavor… then Fire & Fury…
It plays much slower than V&B but has a lot of flavor… think Shiloh or Perryville…

For smaller… the Regimental Fire & Fury is quite fun.

Joe Collins

I suggest you find some local gamers or hit a regional convention and play a couple different rules sets and look at the scales. Take your time to decide what you like best. Besides the discussions on TMO, most rule sets have a Yahoo group or other forum. Read through them and some AARs.

My personal preferences are FnF for larger battles and Johnny Reb for the smaller ones.

All good suggestions. We use Guns at Gettysburg. It has four well done scenario books also.

For Gettysburg on a 6x4 tabletop, I'd recommend Altar of Freedom.

For Longstreet's attack on the Round Tops on a 6x4 tabletop, I'd recommend Fire & Fury.

For the battle in the Wheatfield on a 6x4 tabletop, I'd recommend Regimental Fire & Fury.

After enjoying Fire & Fury for ages, I'm really liking Altar of Freedom. I just want to play the whole battle in a few fun hours and not need 40,000 miniatures (and a decade to paint them). :)

And I second Duane's recommendation of BTSherman's 10mm ACW blog. Great stuff.

I love me some Old Glory 10mm ACW minis. They're cheap, paint up quickly, and 10mm looks great en masse on the tabletop.

Depends on the level you want to play…if you want larger battles with the brigade as the basic maneuver unit, then Fire and Fury.

If you like each unit to be a regiment, the Regimental Fire and Fury or Black Powder.

Yes, Black Powder works well, but as has been said, you really need to find out what is popular around you…

Guys thank you very much for all your advice…I've been busy trailing through the old AAR posts as advised and found some examples of your recommendations…

I'm slowly checking out Volley & Bayonet, Fire & Fury, Longstreet, Black Powder, …before moving on to the others…John's recommendation of "Across the Deadly Field" also sounds intriguing

I'm also very grateful for the very kind invitation to try out "Longstreet" with some local Edmontonian TMPers who noted my distress call :)

Very impressed with the 10mm minis on the link but to keep expenses down and for the practicalities I'm more inclined towards 6mm for now.

Really appreciate everyone's help here…I wouldn't expect anything less from you all

Call to the Colors is free, and the basing is the same as Johnny Reb and several other rule sets.
Here is a link to their Yahoo group: link

The game was designed to be played in a four hour convention time slot.

Grelber

I'm still a big fan of Johnny Reb III, but it seems to have fallen out of favor with the ACW gaming crowd. It has all the detail I want in a game plus moves very quickly and is great fun besides.

Hey, Panda, if you do decide on Fire and Fury I have the original full color rulebook and two scenario books for sale right now.

If you're "inclined" towards 6mm, at least stop by and enjoy some good wargaming eye-candy! I have several scales, but it's hard to beat the look of 6mm for really big battles….

6mmACW.com

@Grelber cheers…anything that's free is most welcome right now ;)

@nazrat For sure I'll keep those in mind, thanks :)

@6mmACW amazing and inspiring stuff…6mm was a compromise till I saw `your link…great tutorials too, thanks I suspect I'll be visit again soon with my broken wallet in tow :)

I also am a Johnny Reb III fan, and there are several here in Indy who play. Not to mention the biAnnual JohnnyCon in even years – small ish but really nice con dedicated to JRIII.

The guy who runs it frequents these hallowed halls.

Hey GP…Here in NorCal Fire N Fury & FnF Regimental has the nod over JRIII.

However, I'm looking forward to the new Across the Deadly Field. I'm met Mr. Hill and talked ACW for a couple hours with him at a NorCal convention.

I hope, with Osprey's able editorial team, these new ATDF rules will be much superior to JRIII (which in my view weren't well written and certainly not well organized).

Grey Panda, Im from Edmonton and have a huge ACW 15mm collection complete with Irish Brigade, JR, Black Powder, Longstreet, and Fire N Fury.

Shameless Plug:

Jorge Rodriguez's Unofficial ACW Black Powder adaptation is available in issue 1 of the ACW Gamer Ezine:

ACWGAMER.com

Johnny Reb. It has the right flavor for the time period. It just "feels" right when you are playing it. My friends and I have played it over 100 times. Regiments break, heck, entire brigades break, and, just like their historical counterparts, they can come back and win the day. Not many games give you the chance to take chaos and turn it into victory.

Rally around the Flag works.

If you are just thinking about geeting your feet wet and don't want to invest a lot of money then these are my suggestions. See what people are playing around where you live. Go to a gaming convention to help get a feel for what you like or don't like about various rule sets. As far as rules go, I would recommend Carnage & Glorry II. There are no basing or figure ratio requirements so no huge investment in figures. They have a very active yahoo group. It is a computer moderated gaming system that is excellent for solo play until you find a group or rules that you like most.

When it comes to figures I would suggest 1/72 plastics. Hobby lobby has Billie IMEX sets pretty cheap. Check out plasticsoldierreview.com to see what all is available. They usually come in gray or blue plastic so you don't even have to spend time painting them if you don't want to.

When it comes to gaming and marriages I understand.

If you are planning to go with 6mm figures Rapier Miniatures and Baccus mix well. Rapier has more variety of poses than Baccus, but does not make any cavalry at this time.

If you want to fit full battles on an average size table Volley and Bayonet and From Manassas to Appomattox by Hoplite Research will work.