"Overwhelmed getting started and need some suggestions" Topic

For getting started with ACW, I'm debating between 10mm or 6mm, leaning toward 6mm since my table space will be very limited (likely no more than 48" x 30") so 6mm seems like it will allow me to make the most out of the small space to have decently sized battles, especially if I end up halving movement rates or using cm instead of inches. For figures, I'm looking at Baccus or Irregular for 6mm, but need to see how much it is with shipping costs as both are in the UK; if I do end up going 10mm I would look at Old Glory, but 6mm is winning currently. I may have a friend who I can get into ACW but chances are for a while I will have to go solo until I can press-gang someone :)

For a specific theater, I'm leaning toward Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley, since from what I've been researching the battles there seem to be relatively small (~2-3 brigades or so per side) so easier to get started with, and there is the potential of expanding into the Seven Days Battles of the Peninsula Campaign when Jackson's forces turned up for larger battles.

The choice of rules is the issue (at least the *initial* choice, as I totally see myself getting some or all of these at some point in time), in part because there are about as many as there are players. So far I am looking into:

* Volley & Bayonet Road to Glory – I've heard really good things about this set, although actual reviews that go into detail seem a bit hard to find. There also seems to be a supplement with battles for the theater I'm interested in ("A Storm in the Valley: 1862"), including a Shenandoah mini-campaign, which is really tempting to give me some guidelines for setting up.

* Altar of Freedom – Another rule set that was highly recommended, and I've watched LittleWars TV channel on Youtube with some of their games. It seems a bit larger scale than Shenandoah Valley though (brigade level?) but could be worth looking at when I "upgrade" the battles.

* Polemos ACW – I like that this set of rules is actually designed for 6mm (and Baccus' figures look really good) and that it has two sets of rules, one for smaller scale and one for larger scale. They also don't seem to expect huge tables, at least from the example battles shown, which means less fiddling with the measurements.

* Black Powder – This one I'm ambivalent about, but it seems to be fairly popular. I can't say I'm a fan of what I've read but it seems out of all the rules to be the most "mainstream" because of Warlord Games so it has that going for it. I'd have to do some big conversions I think of the scale to fit with 6mm and a small table, as even the Epic version they have seems to just be the normal size game with smaller figures, not actually scaled down, and they seem to think everyone is the Perry brothers with 12 foot+ tables in a dedicated game room…

* Piquet Field of Battle – This was actually recommended to me by someone simply because it has a card system so would be solo-friendly. I don't know anything about it beyond that, however, and can't find any videos showing or reviewing it.

Any suggestions? I'm not really committed to anything, but I'd like to also not pick something that has its own proprietary type of basing (if that's even a thing) to allow for swapping to a different set of rules later if I want to when I become more experienced.

Thanks,

Wayne

I went with Volley and Bayonet and 6mm figures from Baccus in the UK. There is also an older scenario book for ACW specifically for VnB called Battles of the ACW. OMM have it for sale:
link
Gives loads of scenarios for you to play the large battles on a single table

If you want to give the period a try without spending a lot of money and time, you might consider paper figures. link
(Scroll down to the bottom of the page for 6mm).

I have some of the Baccus Napoleonic figs and they are nice. One of the things to consider for your basing is you could always use sabots if you want to use different rulesets. Personally I have used top downs and cut them to the different base sizes and ran out various rules to see what I enjoy.
I must have about 8 different ACW rulesets in my basement and grab different bits out of them i.e. Longstreet has cards and a campaign system which might be of interest. One set I prefer for smaller battles such as Regimental Fire N fury or Picketts Charge. Maybe go to Brigade Fire n Fury for larger battles.

I'd also advice a gogle search to see youtube playthroughs or AARs from people using the different rulesets.

David

I really like volley and bayonet, and scenario book is good. Get it even if you decide to use other rules for this campaign. If you're going 6mm, I'd suggest using cm instead of inches. No math to convert and a 3x3 card table will play like it's 7 1/2 feet square.

> No math to convert and a 3x3 card table will play like it's 7 1/2 feet square.

Now that's something I can get behind!

My usual table is 48" x 30" and has been for many years. I happily use 15mm figures for ACW on that table. It rather depends on what rules you use as to what size figures will be best. Given your stated choices I'd say you should go for 10mm. Our eyes don't improve with age …

With 15mm, wouldn't it be too large to do any battles of significance, without some really crazy abstraction (e.g. 3 figures is an entire brigade) that kind of ruins the spectacle?

If I was starting over in a small scale I would go with GHQ. They are more expensive but the castings are excellent.

Another vote for Regimental Fire and Fury.

What to the people play in your neck of the woods?

Regimental F&F. H

A lot of people game VnB at half scale. If you are playing with 2-3 brigades per side, you will want to play at a stand is a regiment as opposed to a stand is a brigade.

DBACW is another set to look at.

With 15mm, wouldn't it be too large to do any battles of significance, without some really crazy abstraction (e.g. 3 figures is an entire brigade) that kind of ruins the spectacle?

Like I said, depends on the rules in use and your acceptance of a given level of abstraction. Crumbs, some people use small squares of cardboard to represent entire units!

> What do the people play in your neck of the woods?

There isn't anyone in my neck of the woods, at least that I've seen or met. I haven't been able to go to the conventions they have here to try and met people, sadly, but there isn't any sort of group for anything other than Warhammer within at least a 60-mile radius as far as I'm aware. Definitely not anything within 30 miles, since all the game stores are Warhammer only, and the regulars seem hostile to historical gaming. And, while I've joined my local HMGS (South) group on Facebook, I've not seen anything that's within a reasonable distance.

I know for Napoleonics and similar eras there's a group like ~2.5 hours away (I haven't been there, that's a bit more than I want to drive) but I think they use Black Powder in 28mm. But I couldn't do 28mm anyway even if I wanted to due to space.

You could try using the member locater on tmp for Florida and see who is in your county. You can then post a contact request and see who responds.

Slso, since you maybe solo gaming, post a rules request on the solo gaming board and see what other solo gamers say.

Consider Longstreet (Honor Series)

It's played in base widths which could be 1" or even 20mm

Field of Battle (and the new, similar Battle Command)….take a look at this blog. Lots of AARs and a complete FOB play through. My favorite set. I also use it for solo, and I play in the blog owners great convention games.

link

Ideally for ACW you want basing which works with different rules or representation levels to reflect the difference between, say, First Winchester and Antietam.

At 6mm, I'd say V&B at reduced size. cm/inches, 1/2 or 2/3 all work. 2/3 probably works best with Baccus 20mm frontages, but GHQ, H&R and Irregular are a little more flexible. (I do 6mm at 2/3.) This can also work for AoF when you want to fight larger battles. Remember any basing system using a constant frontage can be adapted if you convert distances.

At 10mm, I'd say base for F&F, so that you can flip back and forth between F&F Regiment and F&F Brigade depending on the size of the battle. (I do 10mm with On To Richmond basing, which is similar.)

I'm only so-so familiar with BP, but I feel confident you can use small bases and halve the distances. Just be sure in any of this you don't get bases too small to handle. For most people 3/4" or 20mm square is smallest practical.

My gut feeling is pro-6mm, but my last "campaigning season" was Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign using 10mm, four castings on a 20mm square stand representing 100 infantry and fighting on a 3'x3' card table. Kernstown was the only one which had to be trimmed to fit.

Remember you have a choice, but there are no wrong answers at this level. Either scale can give you a decent battle on a small table if you're careful about frontages and distances.

Might mention On to Richmond as another card-draw rule set, but it's intended for larger battles. I use my own "Stonewall Brigade" with OTR basingfor the Valley Campaign.

I game in 15mm – but some nice 10mm figures and terrain out there.

When I first started – built troops for one battle and expanded from there – did the Battle of New Market – a small battle in the Shenandoah Campaign.

In 10mm

Ground Ground Miniatures for Western and Plank Road Miniatures for the Eastern Theaters are some decent figures

link
or Facebook link

Echo ability to grow and shirk with Fire and Fury Brigade and Regimental

A comparison of the size of various 10mm manufactures for the ACW

I would suggest that you decide what size of battles you want to fight (Brigade level with 3-4 regiments per side, Division level with 3-4 brigade per side). This will determine possible rule sets.

For example, Altar of Freedom is designed to fight large battles on a single table – each side is one or more corps, so not suitable for a Shenandoah Vallay campaign battle.

I would recommend Regimental Fire and Fury – have a look at the scenarios on their website (http://www.fireandfury.com/rffscenarios.shtml) and see if that is the sort of battle you want to fight.

On figures, if you go with 6mm, have a look at Adler's range. They sell packs with enough figures to field an infantry corps level army for Brigade Fire and Fury, which would translate to a division at Regimental Fire and Fury level.

Thanks! I am looking at F&F now, I've heard good things about it (mainly that it's like the "standard" for ACW, as much as there is one). It shouldn't be hard to scale a bit on the measurements to make things fit on a smaller table either, as I was planning on doing that either.

Another vote for Fire 'n Fury. We use them and Black Powder – if you have some people new to ACW BP plays nicely but I think F & F gives a very ACW period flavour – I have 15mm because I started a loooonnnggg time ago but would probably opt for 10 mm if I was starting now

FnF looks interesting from what I've found, but seems like it wants a LOT of figures and space? Doing more research but I like how it has the regimental and brigade variants to "upscale".

I went with Fire and Fury because you can use the same figures for regimental or brigade level games. I have a friend who doesn't like them because they are too beer and pretzel for him. But this past Saturday we did a regimental game with 3 union brigades and 2 confederate brigades and played to a conclusion in 3 hours.

Fire and Fury for me as well, but I also like "Bloody Big Battles".
My Confederate army was originally Heroics and Ros 1/300 as I acquired a large number at a car boot sale for £5.00 GBP, since then I have added Baccus, Adler and Rapier to make a Union force These are all significantly bigger than my original H+R figures, (scaled at about 1/250 I reckon) but it doesn't bother me when playing. I really like the Rapier range, but all makes have their plus and minus points.

link

Thanks all. Funnily enough someone at one of my local stores said they were getting interested in historical and asked if anyone was interested in it, and from initially talking about Napoleonic they also mentioned ACW. So it could be that I've gotten someone else to join me on this, however they only have experience with GW games (while I'm not experienced I've played two Black Powder games a couple years ago, which makes me an 'expert' in my circle).

I'm going to talk to them soon about it, as they don't quite know what they're getting into :) They mentioned 15mm but I may still consider talking to them about 10mm or 6mm for reasons I said above, although I think I should reconsider Black Powder if only because it's fairly easily accessible due to Warlord, even if it's not the best set of rules it's not BAD.

More forthcoming but waking up to this news was pretty fortuitous.

Fire and Fury or Volley and Bayonet. Both are good choices.

I based my armies for FnF, but have 'sabot' bases to load up for V&B (15mm so 3" squares).

Nice about FnF is that Brigade and Regimnetal use the same bases.

Be careful with Baccus ACW range as they tend to have the musket on the wrong shoulder

Do they? I would never have known. That's… good to know.

As BBB has had positive mention here and in the other places you've been asking (thanks, chaps), let me point you towards collected reviews of BBB so you can make your own mind up:
link
As others have noted, there are plenty of ACW scenarios in the BBB group files:
groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles
Ed Mueller has done good things with BBB at half scale that would fit your limited table requirement:
link

Good luck with finding the ruleset to suit your taste.