Far West Battles rues for ACW

[Conquistador]

A fan of the battles in New Mexico, Indian Territory, Arizona, and "what if's" in the "far West" during the ACW.

I am thinking 1,000 to 3,000 per side.  That is a working model initially and may be adjusted in the future.   Research is still needed... 

The obvious alternative is skirmish for Missouri where pretty much everyday saw somebody burning, murdering, and skirmishing withsomebody else on "the other side."  See  Carolyn M. Bartels' book for a flavor of how pervasive that was!  But that changes the scale factor significantly to 15 mm to "evil" 25+ mm.

I have two wide open areas to think through.

Rules.  (Duh!) need to reflect the sizes of the armies whatever the final decision.  Ideas?

Scale.  I see benefit for 3 mm though 15 mm.  I really want to avoid anything around 20/25 mm tall.

Caveat - I hate painting and the key temptation to be had by this era is the simplicity of the uniforms.

Gracias,

Glenn