"Altar of Freedom players..." Topic

ok guys,
I purchased Altar of Freedom recently and have become infatuated with it. So much so, that I am currently looking at placing an order with Baccus that will, I am thinking, cost me about $400 USD USD. Yes, its not all that much, and will give me all that I need to play any scenario (bought both scenario books too) but I am out of work for at least the next month, so I need to be sure when I pull that trigger.
The reason that I like AoF so much is that it seems to provide what I would enjoy in an ACW wargame. The appeal, for me, Is the varied personalities of the commanders. Does the ruleset deliver on what it seems to?
also, most regimental sets that I have played in the past, and hence why i don't have any ACW figures, have degenerated into nothing more than a flavorless infantry slugfest with no character and nothing happening on either side. this holds true to most of the "scenarios" that I have played as well. do the scenarios in the books provide differing and flavorful games, or does it become "same ish" also, in the odd instance that I play through the 2 books, where does one go with the game?
I am hoping that my read throughs are accurate, in that this is the ruleset I was waiting for, but I want to ask the people who play it….
what do you think guys??
thanks,
Joe

I like it. So far we have played Champion Hill twice, with Shiloh on tap for the coming week.

But the Fencibles are a picky crew and I don't know if we've sold all on it yet. There are other rules I like that we don't play because other members don't like them.

A suggestion: cut out some cardboard counters and play a game or two to see if you like the rules. Of course, 6mm ACW based for Altar could be used for Baccus rules and Volley & Bayonet too. The counters can used to try the game out while you wait for your figures to be delivered.

To be honest, "flavorless infantry slugfest" describes many a real ACW battle.

I'm not saying your wrong… But historical accuracy at the expense of boredom isn't what i was wanting to game, lol

I understand where you're coming from – including budgeting for a project, and wanting to make sure you can get the enjoyment that you hope to. I can't answer anything about Altar of Freedom, but I can give you a piece of (hopefully) valuable advice – base flexibly! Altar (and several other rules) use single stands/blocks for brigades, but many other rules don't. If you base your figures on smaller bases and then use sabots to play games like Altar, you won't be locked in.

Although it's not in your op, I went through some of the same quandaries as you with regard to the ACW, and currently I'm optimistic about the old rules "On to Richmond". You can probably still get them for free by doing a thread search here on TMP.

The ACW shouldn't be about "flavorless infantry slugfests" … it should be about managing a fascinating and frustrating mix of weapons, varying qualities of troops and commanders, over some terrible terrain – a real challenge from a gaming perspective.

Cheers,

Christopher

Christopher,
you know, I have those rules on my computer somewhere. I totally agree with you on what ACW battles should be like. I know a lot of rule sets try to do this, but it just seems that the results don't mesh with the ideas… I would also be so bold to add that the varying personalities of the commanders should affect the game almost as much as the qualities of them. This is actually what drew me to Altar of Freedom, and the initial read through promises to deliver. I just wanted to know how it translates into play…

I like your idea about sabots, but besides what they are I know nothing about them. I was toying with an idea of successive layers of magnets to make all sorts of different basing options… but it was rather costly.

of the rulesets that I do like, Black Powder/Hail Caesar (which works oddly well for ACW with a few tweaks, based on one test play) will work with the troops based for AoF. It isn't a game that seems to care all too much about base sizes. I also like Gettysburg Soldiers, while quick, there isn't a lot of variation and flavor in my opinion. Guns at Gettysburg seems quite good, using a 6mm figure strip instead of a single larger figure, but there lies the first issue of cost for basing.

VTSAOgames,
Don't know why I didn't think of that… thank you much
HistoryPHD,
Didn't mean to come off as snippy, I hadn't eaten yet. I apologize sir.

~Joe

Card counters is how I got a board gaming friend over to the dark side, starting with DBA with card counters. Now he owns a bunch of tin armies, including the Confederates we play with.

I posted my review of the rules on the Pendraken forum. Maybe what I wrote on Feb. 20 answers some of your questions.

That was a nicely detailed review on the Pendraken forum. Because the rules are entirely scenario-driven based on historical battles, I suppose once you've played all 36 battles, that's it. But 36 battles is quite a few to play, and I've played quite a few of them multiple times (sometimes with the same players and sometimes with different players) and found different scenario outcomes.

If you enjoy other systems, I'd certainly suggest smaller bases that would allow you do any Fire & Fury-based system, and just combine a few bases for Altar of Freedom.

No offense taken :-) History is my job, so I just HAVE to throw those little asides in

I guess it would help if I posted a link to the review…
link

If you want to get an army to try out a rules set without spending a lot of time or money, I can recommend PaperTerrain's ACW armies:

link

Although many of our battles have come down to tactical victories not outright ones, the games have all been very enjoyable. I really think the command and control is a big part of making it feel right from a Corps commander's perspective. You could always tweak the brigade strengths if you are interested in a bit more balance in some scenarios or to capture the historical performance of some units. Most of my 6mm were based on 20x20mm bases for various regimental rules so I started with sabots and and am slowly extending my armies with single based units.

measuredvoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2nd-Manassas.jpg

I would like to thank everyone for their input, it has been quite helpful. I have wanted to game civil war for quite some time now (my favorite period actually) but I have come to the conclusion that this set is the one that holds the most hope of me actually enjoying the games that I play. I'm pulling the trigger on enough baccus6mm to play all the scenarios for Altar of Freedom.
Thank you again to everyone
~Joe