"Question from a Newbie +26 years!" Topic

Hello all!

Twenty-six years ago this month, I played in a Gettysburg scenario at a local game store. I can't recall what rules we used, but that experience left me dreaming for the day I would play again. I've been interested ever since, and have taken tentative steps towards historical miniatures gaming, but have always fallen shy of just going for it.

I've owned Fire and Fury for years, including the Eastern and Western scenario books. A few years ago, I snagged a bunch of 1/72 scale ACW figures on clearance from Hobby Lobby. I've cut bases for them, but that's about it.

I enjoy painting, and have painted 25 and 28 mm fantasy figures for years.

So, with these facts in mind, does anyone have any advice on how to proceed? I've got rules, figures, bases, and paint, but can what I have go together well enough?

I also have a question regarding stands. What do most people do regarding figures marching vs. skirmishing? If there is a column of figures in a marching pose that enters into battle, are they replaced with stands of skirmishing pose? I wonder this because of the various poses in which one can order figures.

Thanks,

Lee

I'd recommend that the first thing you do is decide on a scenario and rules. Fire and Fury isn't to my taste but if you like it, it's a fine place to start. Pick a battle you particularly like and write out the OoB, Then start painting. You'll find painting historicals generally goes faster than Fantasy and if you are to exacting, you can knock out units at a pretty good clip. The key is to not paint anything not required by your chosen scenario.

For 1/72, I'd separate all of my figures by pose, and then make regiments of same and similar poses. So, all of your marching (or marching and advancing if you are short on marching poses) will be in their own regiments, firing and loading guys would be in their own regiments, etc. I have never seen anyone switch a marching unit to firing unit when it comes into contact with the enemy. Did you pick up some artillery as well Good luck with your project.

Welcome! Yes, everything should go together.

Normally, we just accept that sometimes a brigade of marching figures is on a firing line, or a brigade of firing figures is marching down a road. It looks nicer otherwise, but it takes a lot more figures and slows down the game.

As I recall, F&F mostly caters to 15mm figures, so for 1/72, first thing I'd do is work out basing size and see whether I needed to change the distances to accommodate.

Rich is right: you probably want to paint for a small Gettysburg scenario and build up from there. If you're not happy with anything, you want to find out before you've built huge armies and massive boards.

Painting soft plastics is a little different from painting metals. Soak in hot soapy water, rinse and air dry. You might spray coat colors with Army Painter sprays which (usually) adhere to plastics, but anyway use acrylic paints and give them a clear flexible coat when you're done. Some people use dilute Elmer's glue, some Future floor wax, some Woodland Scenics Terrain Cement.

But go ahead and start, and check back with TMP if something troubles you. Everyone here is happy to give free advise, and to offer you a full refund if it doesn't work out.

Once you have the based, play a couple of games! Fire and Fury rewards aggressive play, try to close to combat (firing does not remove things fast).

If you like, paint away. I've used Fire and Fury since it was first published. I find it a clean/quick system that can give historical results

You might also give Regimental F&F a try. Another suggestion since you are starting from scratch is to check out the Cigar Box Mats printed for specific battles to save you some time and research. (They have several for Gettysburg)

15mm is a very popular scale for ACW and it seems to me that the usual basing is four figures on 1x1" square. This gives a nice two rank line look and works well with the ground scale you will need to represent most ACW battles. It is very hard to get that with 1/72. I base four figures (all the same pose) in a single line on a 1x2" base and two figures on a 1x1" command stand.(you can use more stands for bigger units) This helps to denote the change from line to column. I also use a 1/4 inch thick bass wood base since it gives the stands some weight and gives the gamers something other than the figures to grab.
I mount the guns on as narrow a base as you can get away with and have two bases per battery. I don't use limbers 1) because 1/72's don't usually come with any or enough 2) the depth of the base is already way out of proportion for the foot print of a battery so I choose to let it include the space taken up by limbers. Two bases side by side mean deployed, end to end means limbered. If you feel you have to have limbers use a couple of horses from your cav. The number of figures per stand indicate the number of guns. I paint the muzzles brass for smoothbore and black for rifled.

There are a lot of times you are going to have to model dismounted cav so you will need separate bases for them.

Any more questions please ask. Above all, do whatever works for you and have fun!

Welcome!

I like Fire & Fury myself – the old school version

As to the figs, like many of the others I group figs of the same type in each unit – so you have marking brigades, firing brigades, etc – I don't change them on the table during a game as it really slows things down with the exception of mounting/dismounting cavalry and limbered/unlimbered guns

I use one gun per battery but if you can fit two they look better

I have some limbers and they are useful for showing limbered versus unlimbered but I don't have nearly enough

So – slap on some paint and get them Rebs and bluebellies onto the table!

I would recommend Black Powder Rules. Hope it helps.

As always, comments are appreciated.

Take care

Andy

Thanks to everyone so very much!

I took stock of the 1/72 figures I picked up. They are Billy V Toys brand, distributed by Imex:

2 – Civil War Union and Confederate Infantry. 50 Billys and 50 Johnnys to a pack, for a total of 100 per side.

3 – Battle for the Alamo. Each pack has 4 canon, and a few wretches that could pass for Confederates.

2 – Pilgrims and Eastern Indians. Each pack has maybe 3 or 4 guys aiming/kneeling, but the camp accessories and horses are great for a camp scene.

2 – American Western Settlers. Each pack comes with 2 Contestoga wagons which may be anachronistic, but could look cool behind the lines. Also has cool camp elements, horses, and livestock.

Each pack also has a printed template you can cut out and fold/paste to create a 3D building! So, when assembled, I'd have 2 – farm houses; 3 – corners of a destroyed building ("Alamo"); 2 – cabins ("Pilgrim's House"); and 2 – shops ("school house").

I also have:

2 – Imex 1/72 Union Artillery set, and

1 – Imex 1/72 Confederate Arty set

Right now, I may begin playing Fire and Fury with these guys since I have them. I may even fix them on bases with that wall hanging puddy until I have time to paint just so I can dive in and start.

Medium-term, I plan on going 15 mm and picking up all the new (to me) Fire and Fury stuff (Regimental, 2nd Edition, and the scenario books).

And… I want to tip a toe into AWI, too, lol!

I know there are umpteen threads on rule preferences, etc., but any advice on that or anything else is appreciated. In this digital age, I find that I can become paralyzed with just reading about getting started rather than just _getting started_!

Lee

ACW 15mm or 10mm figures for a good scrap and `Regimental Fire & Fury` are good rules to start with.
AWI 28mm figures are great but smaller scale figures are good too and best rules by a mile in my opinion are `British Grenadier`.
Hope this helps, most AWI battles were not large and 28mm figures look great for smaller affairs.

Ed