"ACW Rule Reviews for ACWrary!" Topic

Hello TMP!

To close out the celebration of ACWrary (you knew that was thing right?), I posted a bunch of brief rule reviews for ACW rulesets. I love gaming the ACW, so I've collected juuuust a few over the years.

These aren't detailed reviews, but just how I think the rules embody the ACW.

The rules reviewed are:
Alter of Freedom
Pickett's Charge
Sharp Practice 2
Longstreet
Rank and File
Regimental Fire and Fury and Brigade Fire and Fury 2ed.

Spoiler: RFF is the best.

If interested, please follow this link over to the blog:
link

What's your favorite ACW ruleset?

-Stew

Excellent reviews. Kudos for only reviewing rules you have played! RF&F forever!

My favorite set is the original "Rally 'Round the Flag" but have played mostly F and F variants in recent years. The guys in this area like base removal games, alas.

thanks Guys! RFF forever!

I've never played Rally round the Flag or read it, so it didn't make my list.

-Stew

On to Richmond! FAst, fun, and give a good feel for the period.

A second vote for On To Richmond.

Eric

my favorite is an unpublished set by Chris Hughes
(Sash and Saber Miniatures), Bob Eldridge (RIP),
Steve Raynor and others in our TSS group.

Fantastic set of rules ! If any of you ever participated
in a Hughes-run game at H'con titled 'Longstreet's
Assault' it was run using those rules (titled Butternut
and Bucktail).

OTR is another fave of mine for running games where time
is a consideration.

Regimental Fire and Fury, though I'm fond of the original brigade rules too.

Carnage and Glory ACW rules, which have now been enhanced with the addition of a complete campaign system.

I still think Johnny Reb III is the best.

I'm another RF&F player.

In the early 2000s I played the original F&F quite a bit, and I still think it's a really good game, but I fell into a prejudice against rules that depict a brigade as a single mass of miniatures (esp.: when that mass appears to behave mechanically the same as a regiment or battalion). I would like to get back to playing with ACW brigades as the primary maneuver element, but including brigade-level formation/maneuver concerns, and preferably depicting regiments/battalions as separate entities. This same quirk keeps me from playing Volley & Bayonet, which I like for several reasons (esp. pacing).

I did try OTR and liked that there was a bit of brigade-level self-support built in, but other than that I thought F&F was already a much better realization of the same basic mechanics, so I wasn't impressed enough to play OTR more.

I would like someday to try Fields of Blue and Grey (sic) and Rifle Wars, Part I, but I discovered both of these after I had already been distracted completely out of the ACW genre. OTOH, I've played a few games of Bruce Weigle's FPW rules 1872, and I'm not all that keen on a single stand of 3 figures representing an entire battalion. Silly failures of imagination like these have twisted my gaming life into knots. I may have to switch to 6mm or 10mm scale to straighten out.

I should also add that I also like Rank & File as much as Stew, but keep rejecting it for various reasons:

• I want there to be some C3, and R&F just doesn't have any. Like… at all. Generals would be more appropriately dressed in white-and-black striped jerseys like sports referees, given their actual role on the R&F battlefield.
  
• I think the units need more than 3 hits-per-stand to have historically appropriate endurance. On the bright side, this is a really easy house rule.
  
• Every time I sit down to add house rules, I wind up recapitulating Regimental Fire & Fury. I guess I feel like there's a lot missing.
  

I've been playing Gordon & Hague's 'Severed Union' from 2012. They also sold pre-painted 15mm minis. Relatively simple, with a nice boardgame feel.
The Phases of a Complete Turn:
1. Measure of Resolve Phase
2. Movement Phase
3. Reactionary Artillery Phase
4. Offensive Firing Phase
5. Close Quarters Combat Phase

A Full Turn Sequence:
Example: Player A's First Turn
• Player A conducts the Measure of Resolve Phase
• Player A conducts the Movement Phase
• Player B conducts the Reactionary Artillery Phase
• Player A conducts the Offensive Firing Phase
• Player A conducts the Close Quarters Combat Phase

The rules are free to download, along with a cheat sheet.
The rules are also missing some parts, which gives me the freedom to add extras as I see fit. For instance; command stands are important, but the section that shows it is missing. Also, woods sighting is missing.
I changed the artillery stands from 3 guns to 2 guns.
Each base is supposed to represent 60 soldiers, with a max regiment of 6 bases.
This needs adjusting. Don't know whether to add more bases (more bases can start getting awkward while maneuvering) or simply up the scale (1 base equals, say, 100 men).

Oh. I'm using Old Glory's 10mm ACW troops where there are 5 guys shoulder to shoulder. I put them in 2 ranks on a 1" x 1" base. 3 cavalry and 4 artillerists w/ gun complete the line-up.

PS: That picture in the OP looks very familiar. This is exactly what the Union perspective of my Confederate command on the left flank at Pacificon 2017 (or 2016…?) would have looked.

PPS: If I enjoy Rocky Road ice cream about once every 5 years, does that mean I "like" it?

Altar of Freedom is what I play. Little Wars TV has a video about it.

Thanks everyone for contributing to the discussion. No rule set is really a bad one if you enjoy the games. I've never played OTR so couldn't comment. Maybe I should try to piit up.

And Ix, having rocky road every five years is just you forgetting that you don't like it. Or at least like everything else much better. 😀
And it was 2018. I have a post about it but few pics from that actual game since I was busy running it. 😀

+1 Stonemntminis
On To Richmond is a great set of rules.
Borrowing a few concepts from other rules and incorporating them doesn't hurt either.