Craig, hope you can join in come July.
Huron, 79th, and my buddy Fitz – TY guys!
79th, we were playing with regiments no larger than 12 figs in the games I hosted before. Now I've increased the units to between 15 to 20 figures each, so not a big increase in size by some rule standards, but the game mechanic I'm using still allots dice by active figures present within a unit, so that's typically 20 dice to roll coming from a fresh regiment in a volley – I had to make this work, without literally blowing out the game play – it works good here, and the guys still get to enjoy their buckets of dice too.
Part of the motivation for the unit size increase was aesthetic – the longer unit frontages look better on the table I think, but another goal was to get more staying power out of each regiment also. This was an on-going desire, but also became more important when I essentially reduced the number of maneuver elements available for each side, as a result of increasing the stand numbers in a regiment (so fixing on fewer but bigger units instead).
After making this ready, the single Brigade vs. another Brigade format needed to work, and prove competitive and challenging even though the game fights out across just some limited patch of landscape (on a 4ft. X 4ft. area – and for that 4 hour game limit that seems in play today).
Final reveal – I'm not painting up more ACW 28s!
Sure, big figures look great, but you need the game space, and transportation outside of home requires practical means to get it all to and from other venues (a brigade of big figs each is where I make my stand).
The Reb troops in the scenario (oh yeah, some skirmishing infantry and cavalry too, but basically a Brigade size force) -
Here's the Yankee troops (these ought to be enough for a good afternoon of gaming, right!….I think so)