"which C19th wars do you wargame ?" Topic

I`m interested in members` views on the adapation of a ruleset to fit various wars in the mid-late C19th.

Do members here tend to game different wars in the C19th, or do they tend to stick to certain conflicts? Do they tend to prefer A.C.W. perhaps to the Austro-French or Austro-Prussian which were quite close in time period?

So within this period what are your preferences and tastes ?

Do Colonials count? I have a real interest in the exploration and scramble for Africa.

yes Prince Rupert , colonial gaming counts in the C19th also… anything more in particular?

Yeah I wasn't sure if you where just interested in the big European wars. In that case my go to rules are The Men Would be Kings which are great for small scale colonial games.

My main interest is the small wars in British Central Africa and Rhodesia. Armies are a few hundred men but the various native peoples, African Askari, Sikhs, Arab slavers and Europeans make for a colourful and eclectic mix.

At the moment there is more than enough ideas for armies and battles in that area alone but I could see myself tempted in to wars further south with Boers, Zulus and the British especially as their could be crossover with my current stuff for example a Matabele army could fight tribe like the Lozi and Ila further north but be just as comfortable fighting Zulus or Boers in the south.

I use my own variation of Warhammer Historical rules for the Crimean War, Italian Wars of Independence, the Schlesvig Holstein war, 1866 war and the Franco Prussian war.

I`m interested in different levels or sizes of conflict.

I was planning to adapt my own rules to mid-nineteenth to later nineteenth and this would be largely based on a set which has been extended to around 1850 but after that time the technology starts to make greater bounds, with rifled small arms breech-loading artillery and rapid firing guns.

I`m trying to gauge how people are interested in particular theatres or time periods… but yes, scale of conflict is important.
So, I guess you have a wide-ranging in interest in time period there within the colonial period?
I think that I would need to write a separate colonial variant.

I have also written a Zulu war set, which involves a mixed basing system for 1/72nd figures. This seems to work well enough as the scale of those conflicts is smaller.

Black Powder is very flexible in terms of adapting to various areas of 19th century conflict. It can easily accommodate Napoleonics to the Franco Prussian War and
beyond.

Hey David,
So your interests are within a twenty-odd year period of the mid-C19th?
As I`m interested in developing my own rules, my question would be; if you would be interested in a larger scale ruleset for those wars?
Would you like to see small company columns and skirmishing firing lines represented in the FPW for example?

Painted, I have forces for Napoleonics, ACW and European Wars 1864-1914. I have figures for 1848 and Crimea. I have some Colonials (Zulu War) as well.

I use Age of Eagles, Fire and Fury and Age of Valor rules (see a theme here?)

Napoleonics for 3 different rules sets; Mexican- American War; War of the Triple Alliance; British colonial NW frontier; imaginations for c. 1866 (like ACW, but not quite). I'm slowly working on Austro- Prussian figs, but not enough to be usable yet.

I have a bunch of colonials, and am busy painting an Egyptian army for the Sudan. These were planned out for The Sword and the Flame, or our local rules, but I could use them for The Men Who Would Be Kings, which is popular with the group I game with here.

I have a handful of ACW figures for Fire and Fury, because I was once part of a group that did this war and I wanted to contribute.

Finally, I have armies for the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 as a skirmish game using a modified version of TSATF. I have sometimes thought of using my companies (platoons weren't a thing in that war) as regiments, so I could fight out battles at the division level, but it hasn't gone beyond idle thought.

Grelber

Hi Sabre, I guess you`re into larger scale games then and those european and american wars will fit the rulesets, but
what will you use for the Zulu war though?

ACW, Franco-Prussian, Mexican-American, Austro-Prussian
and Colonial (British, mostly, but French in Indo-China).

Use TSATF, FnF and home rules depending upon size of game.

Hi Khanscom,
There`s quite a mix of weaponry in the War of the Triple Alliance – it must have been the hardest to adapt from a Napoleonic set?

hello Grelber,
I`m in two minds about a choice of scale… the tactics after 1860 got to be about firing line and supporting company columns… and it`s flavoursome to represent this but then again there are big battles to refight – i guess I`m always looking for some kind of compromise.

Hi Ed,
Some interesting conflicts to game there and I get the FnF starting point. I`d be interested to hear how you`ve adapated it to the FPW.

"Piquet: Field of Battle v3" for ACW (did it in 15mm and sold the 15mm so I can redo it in 28mm). I also have scads of 15mm FPW that have never really hit the table. I'd probably use Piquet:FOB 3 for them as well, with a chance of using Volley & Bayonet (both of these rules are generic sets that cover 'black powder' wars from 1700-1900 [and FOB3 covers ECW as well] ). I have many other rules I've dabbled with (ACW: Fire & Fury, A Glint of Bayonets, Black Powder, Rank & File; FPW: Chassepot & Needlegun, To The Last Gaiter Button, Black Powder, Rank & File, 1870, In The Age of Bismarck and Napoleon III, They Died for Glory) but FOB and V&B seem to "scratch my itch" although they are pretty much "opposites" in terms of mechanics (V&B: standard game turn sequence, command is deterministic (if you're in range of a leader you can do what you want – no randomization) while FOB has a variable turn sequence, randomized movement etc.). I've committed to FOB for ACW as I think it works well for this period and has a built-in campaign system (Seasons of Battle).

Zulu war period skirmishing, tho' we are expanding!

I have 20mm Zulus and British that can work for skirmish or medium sized games, and a fair number of 10mm FPW troops ready for the table, and some of each still to be painted. But I don't have a ruleset of choice for either, and several other projects I want to play more. I'll get back to them.

I have figures for 2nd Afghan War, the Boer Wars, naval Napoleonic wars, and American Civil War; I also game regularly with a friend who has vast numbers of troops for all sides in Crimea and who's now working on Franco-Prussians.

Napo+ 1870

ACW, of course. The Triple Alliance War using Fire and Fury and Regimental Fire and Fury. We tried Franco-Austrian and Risorgimento.

Napoleonic's, War of 1812, Fenian Raids (eventually expanding to ACW/BIF), Riel Rebellion, The Boshin War, "Darkest" Africa and (in progress) the 1885 Sudan war & 2nd Afghan War. I also have ancient 1970's Minifigs for the Zulu War I don't play anymore.

Zulu war
ACW
Colonials
Have some figs for 1812 but never played

Besides Victorian colonials using "The Sword and the Flame," our group games the Franco-German War ("Chassepot & Needlegun"), American Civil War (using several different rule sets depending of the 'level' of the battle), the Crimean War (using a variant of "C&N"), and the Mexican-American War (using two different rules sets for 15mm and 25mm).

Jim

I have 20mm Brits and Pathans, along with a handful of Russian colonials.

@MichaelCollinsHimself-- We didn't start from a Napoleonics set; rather from "Johnny Reb III". Most of the artillery can be easily represented, given the abundance of information in JR3, as can any of the small arms. Fiddle with morale ratings to account for Paraguayan fanaticism.

Other periods are usually played with more period- specific rules: "Grand Army", DSLB, and "Le Petit Empereur" for Napoleonics; "They Died for Glory" lightly modified for APW; "On to Richmond" for the imaginations; "Sharp Practice" for Mexican War; usually "Rencounter" skirmish rules for NW Frontier.

ACW with Brigade Fire and Fury and Regimental Fire and Fury. FPW using BFF with the Age of Valor adaption to Age of Eagles.

Thanks for the details Khanscombe !

"Hey David,
So your interests are within a twenty-odd year period of the mid-C19th?
As I`m interested in developing my own rules, my question would be; if you would be interested in a larger scale ruleset for those wars?
Would you like to see small company columns and skirmishing firing lines represented in the FPW for example?"

I tend to fight Division/Corps sized battles and use a 1:100 figure scale so battalions are usually the smallest sized unit that people use and even though I allow the Prussians in the FPW extra flexibility to split into companies nobody has ever done so.

Well, let's see. I've bought figures and am currently painting the following:

Norwegian War (1814) – part of the Napoleonic Wars but I haven't heard of anyone gaming it

Hungarian Rev. War (1848) – currently working on the Serbs but I've bought the Hungarians, Austrians, and Russians

1st Schleswig/Holstein War (1848) – added a Swedish Corps to help the Danes out and expanded the Germans. Once I hop back into this period, it'll be fun to game

I was thinking about the Sikh Wars but, I've got too much to paint as it is.

Zulu War and other colonial. In 15mm, and I have some unpainted 28mm.

MichaelCollins

Probably Soldiers of the Queen (GDW Space:1889) or Sword and the Flame or Fields of Honor

TSATF – British, Egyptian, Boers, Pathan, Zulus, Portuguese (in 25mm) and Spanish American war (28mm).

American Civil War 20mm homegrown rules.

I do 1859, 1866, 1870, ACW, dabbled in 1864, the Crimea and various Wars of Italian Unification outside of 1859 plus Russo Turkish (1877ish). Plus Colonial.

I generally go for Corps/Army level and I've used loads of different rules. Currently playing around with Belle Epoch (Brugade/Division sized units) but the periods are more than adequately covered by Bloody Big Battles and Neil Thomas.

Main thing for the last couple of years is sorting out conversion to grids as they are easier to manage for remote lockdown play.

Indian Mutiny and starting a club project for The Triple Alliance.

Second Afghan War… in an endless march towards completism. Occasionally other mid to late c.19th colonial campaigns and ACW.

Working on 1848 First Italian War of Independence. Been an enjoyable challenge to identify figures that'll work for the Italians.

Colonials, usually use "The Sword & The Flame" and variants. For the last five years mostly Spanish-American War and Banana Wars. Building Zulu War forces currently.

This is one of my favorite periods.

Just looking at Europe then 1859, 1864, 1866, and FPW all in 28mm.

I am also starting work on some armies for the Zulu War and I have a large collection of 20 mm ACW

American Civil War
Napoleonics
Victorian Era Colonialism
Franco-Prussian War
The Second Boer War which lasted into the very early 20th Century.

ACW, Sudan, Zulu, FFL, ECW, 30YW, late 17 century, 1793 Vendee all 15mm.

FPW 15mm at the corps level

ACW at around same level

mostly interested in Crimea thru FPW.

Naps is OK, but the Army variations in this timeframe are way more interesting.

1859 Risorgimento
1866 Prussian Campaign against the Federal and Bavarian armies
1866 Austrian – Prussian

All in 10mm

Late 19th Century British Colonial for me. I plan to be gaming the Zulu War, 1st Boer War, Sudan War, and the 2nd Boer War. I will be using TSATF rules but modifying them. My figures are all 15mm.

Cheers!

Gallo

If you are trying to develop the rules for most of 19th cent. It needs to work with large and small scale battles. It also needs to take account of the change in weapons technology. One example would be gatling guns to machine guns. Another would be muzzle loaded rifles to breech loaders.

I nearly answered this not realizing I already did back in October. Interesting that people respond to a 7 month old thread.

I have a broad range of 19th century interest with extensive 28mm collections in Napoleonic (French, British, Russian, Prussian, Bavarian, Swedish, Spanish and Ottoman) War of 1812, Carlist War (all armies), Crimean War (Russian, French, British, Piedmontese and Ottoman), American Civil War (USA and CSA), Austrian-Prussian War (Prussian, Austrian and Italian, plus Austrian and Italian fleets), Great Paraguayan War (all armies), Franco-Prussian War (Prussian and French) and have plans to collect the Danish army for 1864 and the armies of the Second Italian War of Independence (if someone ever makes a complete range). I like big games so all but one of those collections is at least of divisional strength and in some cases corps strength.

Rules are homegrown – haven't used a commercial set with any consistency since the late 1980s.

ACW

We game the Colonial Sudan in 15mm and 28mm. ACW in 15mm. Risorgimento, 1866 and FPW in 6mm. Indian Mutiny in 28mm. Various rulesets employed, BP, Neil Thomas, TMWWBK and soon hopefully BBB.