Looking to get into ACW, any help ?

[FifteensAway]

Just a note on volume of ACW books (north of 50,000 twenty years ago and the flow continues), while impressive, is dwarfed by the volume of material on World War II. 

With the political climate here in the US, I wonder how long the ACW remains a tenable gaming period - at least at public conventions.  I do think it will always maintain its presence in gaming but might be a bit "sub rosa" for a while.  Then again, wargamers being wargamers, probably won't really care and game away.

I think I'm north of 1,500 painted figures for the period with well over that number available to paint if I get back to it.

If you like a more irregular look to your units and larger figures, don't overlook the Bluemoon range from Old Glory 25s in 15/18 mm.  They added their surgeon set years ago.  And if you go with that range be sure and get an Army Card - it will pay for itself several times over.

[delbruck]

I think Gettysburg (Killer Angels) was originally planned as a TV miniseries.

[robh]

"Blue and Grey" was the miniseries from 1982, Based on Bruce Catton's books.  A bit "Waltons go to war" but has some nice moments. All episodes are available on Youtube.




Gettysburg and the prequel, Gods and Generals, are pretty much required viewing for ACW game fans.

[Leman]

God’s and Generals didn’t really live up to Gettysburg - in fact some of the ‘emotional’ moments were rather toe-curlingly embarrassing. Not surprised they never got round to making To the Last Dregs, or whatever it was called. Incidentally, only recently seen the extract on Antietam, on You Tube, which looked rather good, but didn’t make the final cut of the film. Best bit in the actual film was Fredericksburg, sliced in half by the back-to-back DVD that I had.

[FifteensAway]

Well, maybe I will have to try to watch G&G, tried and couldn't get into it even a tiny bit but if there is a good Battle of Fredericksburg I might fast forward to that.

[FierceKitty]

For really big battles, I'd recommend 6mm.
15mm for medium sized
28mm for skirmish.

Having said that, all my ACW stuff is 20mm, and I play large, medium and small battles with them.
Fire & Fury, Longstreet, Sharp Practice are all good set of rules, and all at different levels.

Don't overlook 10mm (and I speak as one who has done a lot of different scales). Pendraken have an excellent range, and Newline, though they have fewer types, have occasional four-for-the-price-of-three specials which were what launched me into the period.

[traveller]

If I would do it all over again I would start with the fantastic book ”Don Troiani’s Civil War” for uniforms and inspiration. For 28mm miniatures Perry and Wargames Foundry is my choice

[armchairgeneral]

The film might be what you are thinking of. Its four hours long, so long enough to be a TV series!

I remember seeing it at the cinema when it first came out around 1993/4. It is the only film I have seen where there was an interval halfway through.

[Leman]

If I was starting anew I would definitely go with 10mm - several excellent manufacturers and some fantastic 10mm and 6mm terrain (I do 10mm SYW and FPW and frequently use 6mm buildings in larger actions). Quicker to paint than 15s and take up less space whilst still looking good:

A 10mm SYW game with 6mm buildings

[FifteensAway]

Leman: whose 10 mm figures do you use for the SYW, please?

[Leman]

I use a mix of mainly Pendraken and Old Glory Grand Scale. The troops on the far ridge are Old Glory Prussian infantry. These come in strips of five, which neatly fit a 25mm frontage (I use square bases with two ranks of infantry). The nearer infantry are Pendraken Austrians. These are individual figures and initially I did some in two ranks of three, but changed to two ranks of four as it looks more like close order. Most of the Prussian cavalry and field artillery are Old Glory, but their battalion guns, grenadiers and fusiliers are Pendraken - Pendraken come in packs of thirty but OG line infantry in packs of 100. All the rest of the Austrian troops are Pendraken, apart from the unit of Grenzers, which are made up from Irregular 10mm, as they gave some variety by not wearing the red cloak. I have also used some Irregular limbers and wagons, although Pendraken also do some excellent wagons, civilians, pioneers, a general’s coach and a range of personalities.

[Norm]

A good looking table.

[Leman]

Cheers Norm - mind you it does look as though a bit more S and A river is needed.

[jetengine]

Just a note on volume of ACW books (north of 50,000 twenty years ago and the flow continues), while impressive, is dwarfed by the volume of material on World War II. 

With the political climate here in the US, I wonder how long the ACW remains a tenable gaming period - at least at public conventions.  I do think it will always maintain its presence in gaming but might be a bit "sub rosa" for a while.  Then again, wargamers being wargamers, probably won't really care and game away.

I think I'm north of 1,500 painted figures for the period with well over that number available to paint if I get back to it.

If you like a more irregular look to your units and larger figures, don't overlook the Bluemoon range from Old Glory 25s in 15/18 mm.  They added their surgeon set years ago.  And if you go with that range be sure and get an Army Card - it will pay for itself several times over.

I think the big issue is that it was never definitively ended. The rich landowners werent dealt with, the enslaved african americans were screwed over still and the toxic myth of "The war of northern agression" wasnt stomped out and now its mutated into "Heritage not hate" so now there's legit Neo-confederates walking about.

[huevans]

AB figures does a great 18mm range. With ACW, it depends how deep you want to dive. It's all out there: From 20 page booklets that sort of let you know some of the names to multi volume sets on Gettysburg that virtually map out every tiny rail fence and clump of trees and tell you what the captain's grandma had for breakfast the day before.

That makes it a great era to game.

It stripped of its politics and simply games as mid Victorian tactics and firepower, there's no reason why you should find it embarrassing. Just don't sing "Dixie" too loud or say that Jeff Davis might have had a point!