"Can I play Brigade Fire and Fury on a" Topic

5ft by 3 ft table using 15mm figures? If so what type of historical scenario is possible?

Thinking about getting back into this period after selling my Confederate army some 35 years ago!

Sure you can. Although the 3 foot makes scenarios hard. Guess you would have to focus on a portion of a battle to fit.

You could do battles with a couple of divisions per side, I would think. Divisions only had 2 or 3 brigades normally.

Sure. I think you'll have to make up your own scenarios or take a smaller section of a larger battlefield.

All of the foregoing comments are wisdom.

If you have not already committed to 15's, consider
Good Ground's 10mm line.

You can easily have two divisions a side by gaming part of a larger battle.

I have often taken scenarios written for regimental-level rules such as Guns at Gettysburg or Johnny Reb and re-scale them to Brigade Fire and Fury.

For example, Guns at Gettysburg's stated ground scale is 1mm = (roughly) 1 yard). This is close enough to saying 25.4mm or 1 inch = 25 yards that I do not count the difference.

If I take a Guns at Gettysburg scenario for a 8 x 5 table (representing an area of 2400 x 1500 yards). At Brigade Fire and Fury's 150 scale (1 inch = 45 yards) this becomes a 53 inch x 33 inch table, close to your 5 x 3 specification.

Alternatively, follow the suggestion in the rules for 6mm and 10mm by reducing all measurements by 75% (i.e. infantry bases are 3/4 inch wide and 9/16 inch deep instead of the standard 1 inch x 3/4 inch). The First Bull Run scenario in the Fire and Fury rules now occupies a space of 54 inches x 45 inches, only slightly larger than your specification.

yes you can. there are some considerations. Look at ground scale and the rule distances, especially for artillery and troop movements.

If you have a side on static defense, if you set that line to close to the table edge, any forced retrograde movement might take them off the table edge. A lot of gamers play, "off the table, out of the game". You might wish the opportunity to rally troops.

Secondly, artillery would easily range the table [and not necessary long range, but medium/close] if set on. OTOH, at less than three feet, artillery in defense might be swarmed quickly without getting the typical defense [thing Gettysburg Pickett's charge] of firing at 900 yards down to 300 yds. and less where ordnance might change to canister.

Scenario design is important for these features. There are probably other considerations too! Good luck and good gaming.

You could also look into Altar of Freedom, which has scenarios for every major battle of the war on 6x4 tables max, many of which you can squeeze into 5x3. I'm in the same boat, table-wise, and finally got tired of playing tiny parts of Fire & Fury scenarios on my table when I wanted to play the whole battle.

Thanks for all the kind advice. I think I will look at 10mm figures as this would seem to offer more possibilities with the available table space although I am bit worried about painting such small figures. I don't know much about Altar of Freedom – is it more complicated that Brigade Fire and Fury?

Altar of Freedom's, as noted, is designed to allow every major battle to be played on a table of 6 x 4 or smaller. I would not rate it as more complicated than Brigade Fire and Fury (I have played both, but retain a personal preference for Fire and Fury).

My view is that, compared to the original Fire and Fury from 1990, Brigade Fire and Fury is like an up-scaled version of Regimental Fire and Fury – you lose some detail (fences do not need to be represented in Brigade Fire and Fury, while they must be represented in Regimental Fire and Fury because they can modify die rolls) in return for being able to play larger-scale engagements (all of Day One of Gettysburg instead of just the action on McPherson's Ridge).

If you wish to refight entire historical battles, the ground scale of your chosen rules determines the play area you need. If you must limit your play area, you must either use a rule set with a ground scale that allows all of the battle's area to represented or restrict the area of the battle represented.

Some years ago, I took the Stones River game from the Great Western Battles scenario book for Fire and Fury, and only played the action on the southern half of the battlefield because my maximum table size was 6 x 4 (The Wilkinson Turnpike was the approximate northern edge of the table). This still gave a game with 3 divisions on each side

As to the question of painting 10mm, I game 6mm (originally Heroics & Ros, now a mix of Adler and Baccus) on 15mm-sized bases. I went for 6mm partly because I lack confidence in my painting skills, and do not think my paintjob would pass muster at 15mm. I am sure that both 6mm and 10mm manufacturers will be happy to show you some eye-candy to convince you the smaller scales are worthwhile.

We went with 6mm Baccus figures and Fire and Fury at 4/5ths scale. The scale is easy. Just treat 1" in the Fire and Fury rules as 2cm in the 4/5ths scale. So, infantry bases are 2cm wide. Baccus figures are very easy to paint, particularly for ACW.

I simply change the ground scale then converted the inches on the PDF version of the QRS.
My current QRS are in 45 yards per inch for the 150 scale. Yes that is … 360 yds is spelled out on the QRS instead of 8 " for musketry etc. I use my carnage and Glory style measurement sticks with 45 yards to an inch with the marked divisions in 22.5 yds intervals.
If you decide to go with a smaller than 1 " base width, with either less 15mm troops per stand or a 10/6mm figure, FnF has a 6mm play ground scale version of the QRSs :
PDF link

use your imagination and push the borders of your constraints!

MG

. I don't know much about Altar of Freedom – is it more complicated that Brigade Fire and Fury?

No, comparable. Certainly not more complex.

I do 10mm now for ACW. I find 15mm just as time consuming as 28mm, and I like how the 10mm ranks up.

Yes, we have played two games, admittedly pick-up games, using the updated Brigade rules on a 3'x 4' table.

Both scenarios are on my blog:

Defend the Station

and

Hold the Gap

Tony.