"essential ACW rules suggestions here now please!" Topic

Some great ideas had on the original thread and I made notes, so quite a few people mentioned troops running away but rallying again in certain situations…. But my stupid vPN has locked me out of it… can we continue the subject here please?

Posted on the original thread… and in answer to Scott Washburn`s post; a tactical level might include battalions with skirmishers, where column and line formations are possible, but perhaps not to become as detailed as to go down to company level, or to differentiate between varieties of column.
No armies functioned without drill, and Scott`s right to point this out, but tactical detail is not needed at a level of gaming which is perhaps between the typical, battalion level and brigade manouevre elements.

Extracrispy just made a good point on the original thread – time scale of game, and the scale of the game itself are important points to consider………

I like brigade level, or grand tactical because it is less complex and abstracts some of the tactical elements coming up in this discussion. All this is fine if that is your interest, but finding the line between grand tactical and regimental is a matter of personal preference. What command position does the player want to assume? The rules flow from there, I think.

I agree with Tortorella. What position is the player supposed to assume? Too often, the units under that level don't need to have issues like when and if to fire, formation changes, local use of terrain do not and should not have to be ordered from the brigade commander. Let the player go ahead and move, act with those subordinate units as the unit commander would have made those directions and hopefully with regards to the Brigade's orders/postures which were ordered by the Division Commander. New orders are never issued every 15 minutes from above! For me, I am not interested in the details of low level tactics. I would rather play Patton than Sgt. Rock. But if you are into those lower level command functions then go for it. Playing the 1970's Tractics level of detail for ACW would take a long time. I enjoy playing a game to completion without having to "guess" how it might be ended. My gaming time is very limited to I gravitate to those rules sets that allow me to finish a game to the end.