"2mm ACW Rules, Figs, and general advice" Topic

Hey guys,

I'm new to ACW and am interested in 2mm. Partly because it's cheap and easy to build both sides and partly because I'm interested in recreating a grand conflict such as Gettysburg—the whole thing, not just a scan and pan. Anyone play this scale?

I hope the unit scale can be one stand = one regiment. And with a 2mm mini being a glob of guys, I hope one mini = one stand. Of course rules, money, table space may proclude this.

Does anyone know a good set of rules that can handle a truly large game? JRIII sounds like has attempted to scale up but still carries a bit too much crome for this size of game. For example, I don't see how one can track an individual regiment being disorganized, and partial flanks, and what not at this size. But I've never played, never seen this scale played, and so I might be way off. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Does anyone know of a quality source for 2mm ACW figs? Quality meaning trustworthy, prompt, and a web site that'll show you a picture of what you're buying. I prefer an American based outlet to save shipping and currency exchange.

Does anyone have—or a link to—an OB for Gettysburg? Hope to see something basic like corp/division/regiment name, # of men, and quality.

Does anyone have any general advice for this scale or genre? Problems or pitfalls? Words of encouragement?

I belive the only maker of 2mm minis is Irregular Miniatures. For rules, have you thought about a modified version of Grande Armee? Good luck with this project, let us know how it goes and take some pics if you get the minis!

JT

Awales,
You may want to take a look at "wargamesdownloads.com", they have Paper Armies on sale for $2.00 USD for the ACW set. Plus a set of rules for refighting Gettysburg as well.

Good luck on your project.

Hello Awales:

On the rules, I have two suggestions:

(1) Volley & Bayonet. Each stand is a brigade. At full scale a base is 3" square (like Grande Armee). Looks like lots of fun, easy to teach, plays fast.

(2) A new ITNOG variant in which each brigade is 4 stands. It is roster based, nad has an interesting card-activation system.

Finally, may I also suggest Volley & Bayonet in 6mm "pocket scale" ? Basically, you take the game and convert from inches to centimeters – each brigade becomes a 3cm sqaure. When you adjust the table, a 4x8 foot table reduces to about 2x3 feet.

On a single base you can get 12 figures (3 strips). Artillery are on 1/2 size bases which gets you a gun plus 2-3 crew. You could get the armies for Gettysburg probably pretty cheap. And you can get them from Steve at heritage-studios.com here in the US.

The Gettysburg scenario calls for a 6x9 table which reduces to about 2.5 by 3.5 feet. The union side has about 55-60 infantry bases.

I have pictures of "pocket scale" for Napoleonic if you want to see them.

Also, join the 2mm wargaming yahoo group, it has some ACW pictures as well as Gettysburg stuff.

link

JT

I don't want to sound cruel but why don't you just use blocks of wood painted blue and gray? You're not going to be able to see anything and you could save yourself some eyestrain.

For a decent OOB with regimental strengths, see Bill Norton-Taylor's excellent website, the Battle of Gettysburg Resource Center.

gburginfo.brinkster.net

His regimental strengths are adapted from Busey and Martin's book "Regimental Strengths and Losses at Gettysburg," the definitive source for Gettysburg data.

You are correct that 2mm single stand = regiment scale will not work for Johnny Reb 3. JR requires 4 stands / regiment (JR3) or 5 stands (JR1 / JR2). My regimental level Gettysburg scenario books break down the battle into bite-sized pieces, and might be a useful resource for anyone planning to refight Gettysburg at the regimental level.

Apologies for talking up my own set of rules, however they are designed for smaller scale figures and larger scale battles.

hwcn.org/~ao421/fbg.html

Thanks for all your help. I was afraid of getting flamed with all the newbie questions. The gburginfo.brinkster.net site is excellent. I'll be investigating the rules over the next few weeks. And by all means, push the stuff you wrote, you like, or you thought you saw at a convention.

tabletopwarrior: no offense taken. some like to study the color of pants or types of hats the men of 186x wore in battle. Myself, I would like an ACW game to reflect the mass of humanity involved—for I believe that's the overriding theme to the war. That theme is why I want to capture the whole battle on one board. That's why I feel a blob of 2mm guys will represent a regement better then 4 6mm guys on a stand. I also believe that a battle field can be made at this scale that will rival those built for 6mm, 10mm, 15mm and beyond. The trick is to capture an aesthetic standard and keep that throughout the entire board (if men are blobish, then buildings need to be blockish, roads/rivers are linish, and trees are puffs of green stuff). So rather then not seeing anything, I'll argue that you'll see alot more then your average ACW game.

I have a couple unpainted 2mm ACW armies I will never get to. If your interested and in the US maybe we can work something out.

jake.rose@us.army.mil

The newer playtest version of Volley and Bayonet allows for alternate scales. I would set it so that 1 stand is a regiment and whatever the width you chose for the stand be equal to 150 yards (which was the average frontage of an ACW unit throughout the war – Johnny Reb uses this frontage as well). Set 1 strength point to equal somewhere in the range of 80-100 men. You should be able to get a set of the playtest rules through the Volley and Bayonet Yahoo group.

Tabletopwarrior

Look at this stuff ….

link

… now tell me that monochrome wooden blocks would look as good.

Don't spout off on what you know nothing about.

awales

As I painted these for someone else I can't be much help with rules suggestions but he plays Horse Foot and Guns with them. Volley and Bayonet I have played, but only a few times and only for Nappies. They seemed simple enough and played fast and fun.

There used to be a US supplier for Irregular (and may still be) but, from what others on the 2mm lists say, it is easier to order direct from Irregular in the UK and the price isn't too different.

Tony Hughes

I haven't played in a 2mm game (yet) but I saw some pictures of one for the War of Spanish Succession and it looked really good. It looked like they used one stand for a battalion and the battalions looked like battalions so your idea of 1 stand per unit would be perfect I think. I also agree with the others here that you want a 'brigade' scale set of rules.

V&B is a great ruleset, especially for what your after. For Irregular 2mm, you can order directly from them or you can order thru Silver Eagle (in the US). Back to V&B, it is easy to learn, quick to play and does give a feel for the mass-battle of musket-era warfare (IMO). Not everything is super-detailed, but at this level, it shouldn't be.

I had some 2mm armies at one time, I would use Fire and Fury with a block per stand and use the 15mm scale rules/ranges. It would almost be in scale to the figures.

Sounds awe inspiring

I've painted (and sold 2mm armies on e-bay) and have been complemented on the level of detail on the figures, so I would agree that they are not the same as "blocks".
Irregular themselves are a very good supplier, but I believe Silver Eagle do not carry regular stock of the 6/2mm scales so I don't know what the order turn around time is. You might wish to contact Irregular direct and see what they can do for you (probably depending on how much you want).
I had large Napoleonic armies in 2mm and with appropriate terrain etc, they were a fine sight when laid out for a game. Don't let the doubters put you off the project! ;-))
Irregular themselves had sets of rules for the 6/2mm scales, but V&B/F&F regimental/"GA" would all suit the project as others have indicated.

GildasFacit: Love the balloon!!! :-)

There was a fellow who hosted a 2mm Gettysburg game at the Chicago area's Little Wars convention for several years in a row. I don't recall what rules he used, but he had functional and nice looking terrain boards that he set up on a single convention table.

I love my 2mm. If you want slightly larger figures Peter Pig do 1/600 (about 3mm) ACW Infantry, Mounted Generals, Artillery, Cavalry and Skirmishers to complement their ACW Hammerin' Iron 1/600 Ironclads.

As for rules, Command Piquet looks like it would work well. I am thinking of getting some 2mm ACW and AWI to use with CMDPK, Pocket games. And definitely 2mm are not blobs.

For some amazing Nappies check these out: link