gaiusrabirius | 28 Oct 2017 5:26 p.m. PST |
I recently ordered and was impressed by Bruce Weigle's "1871" ruleset – but the attractive game boards photographed inspired me to think about Gettysburg, the full three-day battlefield, on a manageable tabletop size, of, say 6 feet x 4 feet, perhaps larger. What rulesets would you recommend for that ground scale and game board size? |
Extra Crispy | 28 Oct 2017 7:00 p.m. PST |
In order to get Gettysburg on a table that size, your ground scale would need to be about 250 yards per inch. You could use Volley & Bayonet and convert to centimeters so each base is 3x3cm instead of 3x3 inches. Or use Bloody Big Battles? |
Extra Crispy | 28 Oct 2017 7:00 p.m. PST |
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T Callahan | 28 Oct 2017 7:26 p.m. PST |
I played in a Second Day Gettysburg using a modified Johnny Reb 2. We had eight players. Took all day but we had a definitive end around midnight. Terry |
Lucius | 28 Oct 2017 7:29 p.m. PST |
Altar of Freedom does it. The 3 day scenario and 6' x 4' map of the whole field is in the Eastern Battles scenario book. |
79thPA | 28 Oct 2017 9:28 p.m. PST |
I believe Volley and Bayonet requires a 6x10 table. A 3" x 3" stand is a brigade. As noted above, you can change the ground scale which, in the rules, is 1" equals 100 yards. |
GatorDave | 29 Oct 2017 4:41 a.m. PST |
Did it with Fire and Fury, the original edition, a number of years ago. If I recall we ended up using 5 – 2.5'x8' tables. It was a lot of fun. |
redbanner4145 | 29 Oct 2017 5:16 a.m. PST |
Bloody Big Battles has a 3-day Gettysburg scenario on a 6 by 4 table in its Yahoo group files. |
PJ ONeill | 29 Oct 2017 6:28 a.m. PST |
I second Altar of Freedom at that scale. |
CATenWolde | 29 Oct 2017 8:17 a.m. PST |
The best rules to play the battle are Brigade F&F, but they are also less forgiving of reducing the table size by the degree you want, due to each unit being represented by several smaller bases. For that, V&B is probably better, which also means BBB would work (although I haven't tried it). The problem with rules like Altar of Freedom that don't really represent troop/ground scale (i.e. units are the same size no matter how many actual troops they represent) is that the relationship of troops to ground in historical battles is often thrown off. Blucher has the same problem in Napoleonics. Having said that, I actually *have* reduced the unit footprint of brigade F&F, by using 15mm frontage bases, each with 3x 10mm figures. Still looks great, exactly like an F&F game, but I treat 15mm as a "game inch", meaning my 3x1.5m table is huge! But, small bases like that aren't to everybody's liking. Cheers, Christopher |
Lucius | 29 Oct 2017 9:13 a.m. PST |
My copy of the original brigade level FnF called for a table that was something like 8' x 14'. Great rules, but just the wrong level of abstraction for a 6'x 4' table. I did Day 1 of GBurg with Fire and Fury, with my brother. It was like when I ran my marathon – lots of prep, took a lot of time to do, glad I did it, still talk about it. But never want to do it again. Troop/ground scale distortion is a trade-off that you have to accept at this level, to get a 6x4 table, and a decision in 6 hours or so. |
Rich Bliss | 29 Oct 2017 12:03 p.m. PST |
I've done it several times with V&B. No reason for me to use anything else. Reduce to cm scale and you'd be good to go |
Scott MacPhee | 29 Oct 2017 12:28 p.m. PST |
I've played the second day at Gettysburg with Fire and Fury, and it played very well. We had a 5' x 9' table, and it covered Culp's Hill to Little Round Top. |
alan L | 30 Oct 2017 3:52 a.m. PST |
Bloody Big Battles definitely. |
Hafen von Schlockenberg | 30 Oct 2017 4:23 a.m. PST |
You never go Full Gettysburg! |
David Grech | 30 Oct 2017 3:52 p.m. PST |
We're doing first day of Gettysburg using fire and fury 2nd edition 6mm on 66% 15mm bases on a 6x5 table great game Davidgrech.blogspot.com |
ChrisBBB2 | 01 Nov 2017 5:57 a.m. PST |
Here's a photo-AAR by some guys who played the BBB Gettysburg scenario: link And a photo-AAR from when our group fought it in 2014: flic.kr/s/aHsk6kyFiH Including the scenario. (Possibly an early version, may have been modified since then.) Chris Bloody Big BATTLES! link bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk |