New to historical gaming - interested in getting started with ACW

[Wayniac]

Hello all, like the title says I'm new to historical gaming (my area here in Florida is pretty much entirely Warhammer, and I haven't found any local wargame clubs that I can reach out to that do things like historical gaming).  I'm interested in the Civil War (US version) and have purchased some history books to start broadening my depth of the period.  I may have a friend who is also into history joining me at some point, but for a while, I think I have to go it solo.

I'm looking at 6mm or 10mm figures as my table space would be limited to at most 5x3 and more likely 48x30 or thereabouts, as I don't have a lot of space.  6mm seems like it would work better for this, as it would give me more space, but I'm not entirely certain yet and I'm looking at figure ranges (Baccus is currently looking really solid, minus the inevitable high shipping cost to the US) to get a better idea of cost.

As you may have guessed, I am a bit overwhelmed with the myriad of rules, figures, and basically everything as my only experience has been with Warhammer where everything is provided by one company.  I'm currently looking through some interesting campaigns to find something that might be good to get started.  Right now, from some reading about wargaming ACW, it seems like the Jackson's Shenandoah Valley campaign and the Peninsula Campaign of 1862 are good periods, especially with the former being what looks to be smaller actions (doesn't look like it's more than a couple of brigades at most a side?), and then it could lead into the latter anyway when Jackson's forces arrive for the Seven Days.  Which, if I am not mistaken, would give me the opportunity to start small and then expand?

I haven't settled on rules yet but I am trying to get information on Polemos' ACW rules (the fact there are two versions, one for smaller and one for larger, seems really good for what I want to do), Altar of Freedom (I've heard really good things about this one, but maybe not for the smaller games as it seems geared towards large battles), and Volley & Bayonet which seems to actually have a campaign supplement for the Shenandoah Valley/Peninsula with scenarios which might be something really good to look at.  Either way, I suspect that I will have to adjust movement rates and scale, as most of the rules seem to expect a 6x4 or even larger table which I won't have room for.

I would welcome any and all suggestions, advice, and even experiences as I am pretty lost

[olicana]

If you are going to be solo gaming you might want to look at Piquet (+ Hallowed Ground supplement) by Bob Jones and Brent Oman, or Piquet Field of Battle rules (stand alone) by Brent Oman. Both published and available in the US.

They are the best solo play rules you will ever find (IMHO) - they are full of tension, fog of war, etc. They are also the go to rules for group games played by my regular opponents and I (being ideal for up to three players a side).

Figure scale, numbers, stand size, etc. are unimportant. About 8 - 16 units (not including artillery) a side makes for great games played in an evening.

I think you can't go far wrong with 6mm (your table size dictates) and your outlay shouldn't be to much in that scale.

Back in the day, 40+ years ago, when I was starting out, I played a lot of games on a blackboard with the terrain chalked on (coloured chalks) and card counters (cut up artists mounting board). This allowed me to try many different periods and rules for a minimum outlay in money and, more importantly, in time. These days I guess a large white board and pens could be used and with magnetic counters you could play wall mounted games (more space?).

Hope that helps.

[Wayniac]

That does help!

I have heard the name piquet but nothing else. What is the difference between piquet+hallowed ground and piquet field of battle?

[Inkpaduta]

You could give a look at Irregular Miniatures 6mm. They are as pretty as Baccus but paint up well and I
have found their shipping costs have not risen all that much.

[olicana]

Piquet + Hallowed Ground is classic Piquet. Classic Piquet has random, asymmetric initiative phases and is more involved, especially in it's set up, than Field of Battle, which came later and is generally a faster flowing game with symmetrical initiative.

Both rule sets rely on cards to govern move sequencing (generally around 26 cards in a sequence deck which you turn over one at a time, using them or not using them as you please, and each side has its own deck) so that you can never be sure how many times, and when, the enemy units (or your own) will move, change formation, fire or melee, etc. This is what makes Piquet games very tense - E.g. You know that the enemy cavalry is three moves away but what if he turns three cavalry move cards back to back, followed by melee; E.g. Your infantry are better than his but what if turns two musket reload cards back to back and wins the firefight. Generally both sides use their initiative until one side has gone through its sequence deck, when the turn ends.

The initiative points 1 - 20 in a phase (classic) or 1 - 11 in a phase (FoB) are used to turn cards, and in classic Piquet also to perform action on the cards. Basically, in classic you both roll d20 and the winner gets the difference in the rolls - the loser gets zero and you can keep losing time and again. In FoB you both roll smaller dice (d8, d10, d12 or d12+1 depending on command quality) and both sides get the difference, the winner chooses to go first or second.

You can probably see straight away why this is a brilliant set of rules for solo play. There is no set move sequence, indeed within the turn (a sequence deck long) even time is elastic, E.g. you might turn all your infantry move cards (usually 3 in a deck) at the start then have to sit where you ended up until the turn ends, or you might turn them all as the last cards in the deck knowing exactly what the enemy has done in his 'turn time'. It all gets very exciting!

BTW: I suppose I should declare an interest of sorts. In the past I have written for Piquet Inc. but I gave up my rights to royalty payments several years ago (not worth the effort for accountancy / tax purposes, etc.). So, if you buy Piquet I will see absolutely no financial gain, even if my name is on the supplement.

[robh]

Most important thing to decide is what size of battle are you wanting to put on? If you hope to play Shiloh or Antietam, Chancelorsville or Gettysburg you will need different figures and rules than if you want ACW looking generic, equal sided encounter battles across a table.

There are some excellent options for rules and figures whatever size of game you want, but it is absolutely not a "one size fits all" thing.  The space you have is enough for some big games with small figures. This is a table I put together for Bentonville with my 3mm figures. It is 36x24 inches, my base sizes would work with true 6mm like Irregular or Heroics/Ros and would not need to be much bigger for the oversize 6mm like Baccus or Adler (the latter being probably the best option in the scale). Your table could accomodate battles this size.

If you are going to be solo gaming you might want to look at Piquet (+ Hallowed Ground supplement) by Bob Jones and Brent Oman, or Piquet Field of Battle rules (stand alone) by Brent Oman. Both published and available in the US.

I am looking at this at the moment with my 3mm ACW armies (usually played with 1st ed Fire & Fury, houseruled for basing differences).
How do you get around the "all units must be 4 bases each with 3 hits" restriction vs historical OOBs?  Does the Appendix D amendment actually work as I guess from BJs own comments it is a bit of a bodge.

[olicana]

The comment about unit size is valid, especially if you are playing at one unit equals 1 battalion / regiment and the rules place great value on the effect of numbers. Some rules, like Piquet, place greater value on morale and less emphasis on counting heads. From memory, in classic Piquet, a unit represents 450 - 750 men and strong units can be given a higher starting dice value to compensate. It also means you can buy units of a standard size (which helps me, at least).

Most of the time I generally find I end up bath-tubbing so that one unit equals 1000 men, or 1500 men or a brigade, or some such ratio. Here is how I did Salamanca 1812 (Napoleonic not ACW but, it's still big battle representation, and horse and musket, and typically bath-tubbed wargame style), albeit in 28mm not 6mm. Each unit was four stands on the table with a dice indicating nominal stands of 3-5. From memory, each nominal stand represented 400 men - divisions were the command grouping level.

http://olicanalad.blogspot.com/2022/11/battle-of-salamanca-scenario.html

[FierceKitty]

There's an excellent range of choices for the WNA in 10mm. I'd also recommend you look at Leven's 6mm buildings to go with them (the technique of going down a scale for buildings is derisively nicknamed "Wendyhousing").

[FifteensAway]

"Wendyhousing" is a name related to children's small playhouse - something I recently learned.  I guess not very common here in the US (I'm in California).  But 6 mm buildings with 10 mm figures works very well, I do that with my Seven Years War figures - one of my two 10 mm collections - the other being Vietnam using, mostly, Pendraken figures.

6 mm is workable but 10 mm is more identifiable on the table top.  Pendraken is a very popular brand out of UK - but I think 1:150 so smaller than other 10 mm ranges.  [seems every "scale" has multiple size points]

Had I not gotten so heavy into 15 mm, I would have travelled the 10 mm road if it was as broad as it is today - wasn't when I got going.

While a 'popular' set of rules, I find Fire and Fury too wonky for my tastes - and plays too slow.  My go to rules are Rank and File, try Old Glory 25s or Stone Mountain Miniatures - I think one of those companies still sells them.  Or Crusader Publishing where you can get them as a PDF (or could last I checked).  Of course, ask 10 wargamers which rules to use and expect 14 different answers.

If going solo, I'm sure you realize you will need the figures for both sides.  Whatever rules you use, I'd start by just collecting enough for a brigade of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, an artillery piece with a crew, and a general for each side (call the brigade 4 regiments - say 48 figures if 12 figure regiments).  That is enough to play a game.  See how you like it and if the appeal is still strong, then start building to larger formations.  One infantry division per side plus one brigade of cavalry and guns and generals as appropriate is a large enough collection to keep most gamers happy for a life time.  If the mood strikes, maybe add in some options like Zouaves for a bit of extra color, etc.

Most important?  Have fun and game with people, when you can, for the people experience not for the winning of the game.

[SJWi]

Wayniac, me and my mates game ACW in 6mm using Baccus figures and Altar of Freedom rules. Altar of Freedom is a decent set specifically aimed at 6mm, with some interesting mechanisms, but does assume a bigger table and troop numbers than you plan to have.  I highly recommend Baccus figures. I worried about my ability to paint figures that small to a decent standard but found the less complex ACW uniforms easy to paint, and the flags Baccus sell really set a unit off. 

[Wayniac]

Great tips thanks all!

I was very tempted by 10mm. But with very limited space, 6mm seems like it's the better choice (I won't go lower than that, IMHO lower than 6mm may as well play a board game with chits) overall.  I'll need to run the numbers and see price-wise what it might be.

Rules are definitely the main thing to consider in part, as I said before, there are just so many and they offer different things. While unfortunate I suppose one good part of not having anyone local is that I can pick for myself. I saw black powder suggested as a generic solution from watching some videos but I've also read it's a bit too generic, and seems to be set for 28mm so I'd need to adjust scales anyway, but is still a consideration.

[bluewillow]

I really like Picketts Charge rules, and would recommend the plastic Warlord miniatures they are around 12mm and look great painted up in masse.

There should be some historical wargames clubs around you, look at the ACW page on Facebook lots of great information there. I Wargame the western campaign’s predominantly.

Best of luck with you project

Cheers
Matt

[Wayniac]

The warlord epic miniatures look really cool but size-wise I think they would be too large for the small area I can fit?  I'm not sure but it's definitely something to consider

[bluewillow]

The warlord epic miniatures look really cool but size-wise I think they would be too large for the small area I can fit?  I'm not sure but it's definitely something to consider

With a 5x3 you can still have a great game, just ensure you have a lot of terrain, fences, thickets and trees plus the odd streams and hills to break up the battlefield.

6-10mm will give you large battles and looks like a battle, you can build an entire division or corps at this scale easily on your table. I have used Bloody Big Battles for this scale.

12-18mm more detail and you can start to do individual battalion identity, Fire and Fury is great to a division meeting engagement size game, any bigger starting to squeeze the game on. Play down the length, no maneuver though on a small table.

28mm imho really great for up to division, but on your table may be squeezed. Another option would be skirmish games with this scale. I regularly conducted participation games at convention on a 4x3 using 30-40 figures per side using Brother Against Brother rules, fast and brutal but produced a good game as long as there is lots of terrain. It can produce some nice narrative and rpg type gaming and add in alligators, marsh ground, Wild West gunfighters, Mexicans, Indians, civilians and raiders  etc.

All the best on your adventure

Cheers
Matt

[Redshank]

In case you haven't already come across it, you might like to take a look at the Little Wars TV YouTube channel, which has some videos of ACW games including one using Altar of Freedom, alongside a rules overview video. Good luck!