1/300 ACW Rules Recommendation(s)

[SJWi]

Several years ago my mates and I decided to give ACW a go in 6mm using Baccus figures,. We found an interesting ruleset called "Altar of Freedom" but after several games found it too slow for our limited clubnight sessions. Does anyone have any basing-agnostic recommendations?  Most of our figures are based as battalions/ regiments on 60 x 30mm bases.  None of us are "experts" on the ACW so are more after a fun set of rules that play well rather than an in-depth reconstruction.

Getting this on the table again is one of my "projects" for 2023!

Thanks., 

[ChrisBBB]

A whole day gone by, and nobody has offered you a single suggestion? OK, let me, then. There are so many options, I suggest you look at the ACW and C19 rules review pages on "Deep Fried Happy Mice":
https://www.deepfriedhappymice.com/html/rd_acw.html

Naturally I encourage you to look particularly at my own "Bloody Big BATTLES!" (BBB), as reviewed on DFHM here:
https://www.deepfriedhappymice.com/html/rd_bloody_big_battles.html
and collected reviews here:
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2016/10/collected-reviews-of-bbb-bloody-big.html

BBB was designed specifically to make entire big battles manageable in "limited clubnight sessions" per your spec. In our case, this means Monday night games playable between 6:30 and 9:30. We actually managed the whole three days of Gettysburg on a club night (OK, we stretched it to 4 hours including set-up and take-down, we had four players who were fluent with the rules, and I cracked the whip a bit to get it done - but we were still finished and in the pub for a post-battle pint). You can find a bunch of ACW scenarios in the files of the BBB group on groups.io:
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles

Although BBB is designed for use with units made up of 1" square bases, you could easily adapt by treating your 60x30s as double bases.

Good luck with finding a ruleset that suits your group's tastes.
Chris

[vtsaogames]

I wrote the first review listed in 2016 and still like BBB. Haven't played it since the plague struck but that's no fault of the rules.

I designed a couple ACW scenarios that are in the BBB Group IO files; First Bull Run (a good starter) and Stones River. My group took two days to play the entire battle of Gettysburg but some of our players were on a tight schedule and had to head home after 3 hours. And the Fencibles don't respond to whip cracking.
The Shiloh scneario in the group files is great. We've played it 5 or 6 times over the years.

Edit: a note on scale - rifled artillery range is 2 feet, giving you plenty of room on most tables to have reserves outside of artillery range. The generous movement means troops will usually get into action early. None of those games that run out of time before things get going, the old "we'll deploy closer next time".

[black hat miniatures]

Why not use Warlord's Epic ACW rules - which are a version of Black Powder?.

They are designed for smaller troops and the Black Powder family of rules always give us a good fast game at the club...

Mike

[SJWi]

Chaps, thanks for the suggestions. I may well look at BBB. I can't see the Warlord "Epic ACW" rules for sale on their website except as part of a set including figures. Are they available separately and I'm just looking in the wrong place?

 

[Roo]

One Hour Wargames ACW couple of tweaks and it gives a good fun game in a short time allowing for chat, laughs and serious 😉 rule debate.  There are plenty of good mod suggestions online such as 5 casualty points and rolling 1/2/3 dice depending on type../don’t get hung up on the use of the term ‘Zouave’ to describe veteran troops.  Not for everyone but you can play more ‘realistic’ simulations and either bog down or achieve a broadly similar result.  Try it you may, like many including me, find the stripped back simplicity fun and easy to remember ( which in a modern world so demanding of time is no bad thing).

[vtsaogames]

One Hour Wargames will indeed give you a result in an hour or less when using the scenarios in the rules, or something of similar size. Yes, treat the "zouaves" as any crack troops.

I've played both. OHW when in the mood for something light, like a burger, BBB when the itch is for something more substantial.

[SJWi]

Thanks. I've heard of "One Hour Wargames".  A quick read this morning shows that they are aimed at small numbers of units on a  3 x 3' table. I'm after something a bit bigger, so my question is "are they scaleable upwards"? I'm sure the answer will be "yes" but thought I would check. My normal Thursday games evening sees 4 like-minded souls using a 6 x 6' table and having about 2.5-3 hours gaming time. I've also seen the various rules modifications online .

I will still check out BBB! Are there any more scenarios available for this period?

[ChrisBBB]

9 FPW scenarios in the rulebook and another 8 or 10 in the group files.

16 scenarios in the "Bloody Big European Battles!" companion volume covering Crimean War, 1859, 1864, 1866, Russo-Turkish War, and others.

16 for the Balkan Wars in "Bloody Big Balkan Battles!".

16 in "Bloody Big Battles in India!" covering 2nd Maratha War (Wellington), Sikh Wars, Mutiny etc.

16 for the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848-1849 in "Bloody Big Hungary '48 Battles!"

More books in preparation.

About 100+ scenarios freely available in the group files. 13 or so ACW, and also:
- Marlburian
- Napoleonic
- more Crimean, Risorgimento, Austro-Prussian, FPW, RTW
- Mexican Adventure, War of the Pacific, Paraguay
- Boer War
- Russo-Japanese
etc etc etc!

[Roo]

Yes OHW is scaleable chap, regularly double it up for an evening game played with a like minded chap over video link.  Have plans to go even bigger next year.

[vtsaogames]

Let's see, BBB ACW scenarios that I recall:
Shiloh, Gettysburg, Wilderness, Nashville, Spotsylvania, Antietam, Chickamauga, Brandy Station, Second Manassas, and my own First Bull Run, Stones River and Champion Hill. Can't recall a few more.

We played Shiloh a lot, had to scratch-build a side wheel gunboat. Widlerness and Chickamauga at least twice each, Gettysburg, Nashville and of course had to playtest my own scenarios multiple times.

Here's an AAR of a Bull Run game played in 2-18 http://corlearshookfencibles.blogspot.com/2018/10/first-bull-run-bbb.html

[SteveBurt]

Longstreet is a great set for small actions, or of course Fire and Fury would work fine with your figures. Brigade scale would work as they are, the regimental scale you would treat 1 of your bases as 2 and mark half bases.

[Frostie]

Chaps, thanks for the suggestions. I may well look at BBB. I can't see the Warlord "Epic ACW" rules for sale on their website except as part of a set including figures. Are they available separately and I'm just looking in the wrong place?

 

They are not seperate rules you would need Black Powder v2 and the ACW supplement, which is a good book in it's own right