"Rules for ACW clashes among brigades?" Topic

I have a lot of 6mm ACW figures. Stands with flags are about 1.5" across, and more generic stands of troops are 1" across. They ain't getting rebased.

I am interested in rules where I can play several regiments per side, up to a brigade per side; playable in an afternoon; and fairly straightforward. I don't mind some random events since I prize narrative over outcome.

I looked at the obvious, Regimental Fire and Fury. But it seems like much of the first part tells me all the reasons my basing is wrong, then just keeps getting way more involved than I want.

Any suggestions?

Fire and Fury will work

Just use your troops as you have mounted since all troops will have one flag stand it really won't make any significant difference.

A brigade is typically 4 to 6 regiments, so you will be playing some pretty small engagements anyway and should only take a couple hours.

A little improvising and the rules will work fine.

Kim

You might want to look at Live Free or Die. They are AWI rules & I have not played them but they are simple, use 1" square bases. Each base is 50-75 men based on historical troops. PDF is $13.00 USD @ LittleWars TV.

If your 6mm figures are mounted in two ranks on your bases, I second Regimental F&F, but my suggestion is to count each stand as two F&F stands (each nominally 40 men, so your "double" stand will count as 80). Use a marker to show a single stand loss, and remove a whole base with the second loss. This way the appearances are preserved and your regiments aren't four ranks deep (which corresponds to nothing in the ACW).

Longstreet works well

Black Powder with "This Hallowed Ground" supplement. They used five 40mm (approx. 1.5") square bases per regiment.

Piquet: Field of Battle v3 (aka "FOB"). Base size is very flexible. The author has played it using four 1.5" square stands per regiment.

Both have randomness to them (especially Piquet) in command\movement. You can get a good narrative out of them.

I would also call 1 of your stands 2 F&F stands.

Gettysburg Soldiers is a pretty simple set of rules that plays fairly fast.

On to Richmond. Nominal basing is 1x2 but if both sides are based the same it won't matter. A bit old school but very straight forward:

link

I have written detailed summaries of many ACW rule sets here:

link

If each player is commanding a Brigade then here are my recommendations:

Johnny Reb
Regimental Fire and Fury

Both of these do not require re-basing. For RF&F I'd just count the color stand as 2 (and that is the smallest a unit can be) and remove it last.

Nice thing is that using the same troops you can play Brigade Fire and Fury and command Divisions and Corps per player

On To Richmond: each group of 6 stands is a Brigade. Ech stand represents 300 soldiers.

Given the Brigade size forces you're looking at and the fact you don't mind random events Longstreet is a good option, plus you can download the basic rules and the cards you require for free so you won't be out of pocket trying it.