"OTR - How many units per player?" Topic

I was thinking of setting up my ACW figs for On To Richmond rules. For a 3-4 hour convention slot with 3-4 players per side, how many units (brigades) do you (who have run this game before) give each player? One division of around 4 brigades per player (with some artillery and maybe a cav unit)? Two smaller divisions of 2-3 brigades per player?

Most games and gamers can handle 5-12 "things" per player. So for games like OtR and Fire and Fury about a Union Corps or Confederate Division

But I would not have any cavalry in the battle. Most ACW battles had little to no "battlefield" cavalry involved. They were mostly infantry/artillery affairs.

For a convention game, I would suggest a division or two of 3 to 4 brigades plus an artillery battalion or two each per player.

Jim

It really is a corps sized game. So assuming 3-4 divisions, there would be 2-3 brigades per player and a battery of artillery. 1 player per division. Like Col Campbell says above, cavalry is rare on the battlefield. If you choose to include them, probably no more than 1 brigade operating independently would be about right.

Dave Gamer,

Sounds like you are using original OTR…have you ever looked at the regimental version?

Found a copy online a few years ago and my sons really enjoyed learning it.

I would concur 3-4 plus arty for whatever system you use.

Concur with a smallish corps per player--six to nine brigades with supporting artillery. Scale counts too, though. Be sure you give each player at least three feet of table. If you spend the game wishing the adjacent commander had showered or eaten something different for lunch, it detracts from the gaming experience.

Saber6: True on the 5-12, but OTR is one of those, "pull a card and then that division moves and fires, etc.." so, even though I would be doing "look aheads" on the cards to get more than 1 player moving at a time, it does slow down the game if there's a lot of divisions on the table…

ColCampbell: True on the cavalry, but I've got it so I'm going to use it! As said, probably only 1 brigade and they'll be able to dismount (gotta get those repeaters in there)

Who asked this joker: Sounds about right. I asked because I don't want to give the players too much so the game gets finished in the allocated time but of course I want players to have enough troops to make the game interesting.

afilter: Yes, I'm using the original brigade-scale OTR (actually, the revised edition put out by Scale Creep not too long ago). I've looked at the regimental version but (A) it looked a lot more complicated than the brigade version and (B) I have other reasons for using brigades that I shall not go into here. FWIW, when I do regimental ACW I normally use Piquet: Field of Battle 2.

Robert: Ha ha! Actually, I've been to many cons and haven't run into too much funk – my last trip to my local supermarket, now that's ANOTHER matter…. :)

I put on an OTR game at Cold Wars a few years back. The union had 4 divisions of infantry at 3 brigades of 6 stands each. Each brigade had a battery. The Confederates had 3 divisions of 2 brigades at 8 stands each. They had 3 batteries of artillery and an independent cavalry brigade. There was a woods on the union right and a river on the union left. The Confederates occupied a low ridge between the features.

I told everyone at the beginning of the game that they should conduct themselves as a general would in RL.

The rebels had the option of deploying their cavalry in an ambush in the woods. The union had the option of sending a division around the confederate right and cross the river some turns into the game behind the confederate line. Both sides opted for these strategems.

The Union players advanced along a borad front with 3 divisions. They scirted the woods in column of march. On or about turn 3, the rebel side opted to spring their ambush. I said they could fire or do a mounted charge. They opted for the charge. It destroyed one union brigade and caused 3stands of casualties upon another. The guy prtested that he was not informed theat this sort of thing could happen. I replied that he should have conducted himself like a real general as I warned at the beginning of the game. The charge ended up being a mistake as the cavalry was wiped out by union fire inthe following turns.

The Union flank attack hit home a turn or so later. The Confederate players faired better as they headed my warning leaving a brigade somewhat close to the ford in the river. A bloody melee ensued in the water. The first union assault was thrown back. The second gained a tenuous toehold. Unfortunately, the frontal assault, on the ridge was now gaining traction, unhindered by any further ambushes. Eventually, the Confederate army just ran out of men and were forced to quite the field. It ended as a minor victory for the Union side.

he game lasted less than 4 hours. The players seemed to have a good time.

Three to four brigades, plus a battery would be enough. As mentioned above, skip the cav. If you are going to run it as a convention game, you need to split the table in half and give each half a set of cards. My fear is that a 6-8 player game is going to bog down, with folks spending a lot of time just standing around doing nothing.