Recommend me a set of ACW rules

[Melnibonean]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to start ACW gaming but I'd like some direction.
Black Powder has bee recommended but I'm not 100% sure. I've played Pike and Shotte and understand that they're similar and I do like the basing as it's all-round useful and looks good. But I'd like some other recommendations.

As a starter, I'm looking to divisional level games with several regiments/battalions each side. But I am fond of the "Big Game" and would like a set of rules that can be used for both. 28mm are preferred but I'm not dismissing 15's.

Cheers.

[fastolfrus]

Locally we like Peter Pig "Civil War Battles".
Written for 15mm but you could up-scale.
Units are organised in bases - so you can use basing from other systems provided all yout units are consistent.
Our figures were originally based for Fire & Fury, so we have left them that way. Gives us the option of playing either rules set.

http://www.peterpig.co.uk/rules.htm
number 18 on the list

[airbornegrove26]

I have used Fire and Fury brigade level since I was 10.  It is one of my favorite rule sets.  Fast simple and easy to teach.  

[Trooper]

I can recommend either "Guns at Gettysburg" or "Bull Run to Gettysburg" as good Divisional level rules. Both have some useful extra info in them too.

[Glitzer]

The best Rules system for 28 mm is IMHO Brother against Brother, but that's at company level (everything else would be SPARTA,... err madness). Setting up regiments with 100 minis per Company is difficult in 28mm so you have propably will have to scale down in representation (1 miniature equals 40 Soldiers or something like this  ) if you want to retain divisional scale.

You could also try WH-ACW which is based on an old magazine article and Warhammer Fantasy Battles 4th edition and use four 15mm Minis per 20mm squared base (who said a base has to be only one  mini?), but for the real massed combat look I'd recommend you to even go down to 10mm or even 6mm.

[surdu]

Hi folks,

I'm looking to start ACW gaming but I'd like some direction.
Black Powder has bee recommended but I'm not 100% sure. I've played Pike and Shotte and understand that they're similar and I do like the basing as it's all-round useful and looks good. But I'd like some other recommendations.

As a starter, I'm looking to divisional level games with several regiments/battalions each side. But I am fond of the "Big Game" and would like a set of rules that can be used for both. 28mm are preferred but I'm not dismissing 15's.

Cheers.

I'd recommend one of three sets of rules:

Rally 'Round the Flag:  This is an oldie, but a goodie.  The rules are clean and effective.  It's long out of print, but I'm sure you can find a copy on the Internet.  These come with charts for 25mm and 15mm figures.

Fire and Fury:  This is a tremendous game, but units represent brigades, not regiments.  Figure size doesn't matter.

A Union So Tested: Look, Sarge, No Charts: American Civil War:  We wrote the rules a couple of years ago.  See http://www.bucksurdu.com/Buck_Surdu/LSNC__ACW.html for more information.  They are made for 10mm or 15mm figures, so you may not like them if you really want to use 25mm/28mm figures.

Buck Surdu

[General]

I'm a fan of They Couldn't Hit an Elephant from Too Fat Lardies.  These rules have a strong emphasis on fog of war.  http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=51

[ffrum]

[quote ]The best Rules system for 28 mm is IMHO Brother against Brother, but that's at company level.  [/quote]
I agree with this statement from another user.
I have used B vs. B for years and find it very suitable both for the F&IW and ACW games.  The basic unit is the squad (10 men including a squad leader).  The rules are set up with variants and tables and special rules for both periods, or any conflict through that period in history.  Up to three squads can be combined into companies with a Company Officer to Squad Leader chain of command.

These rules use a card based movement initiation, so the movment during a turn is by unit (squad, company).  This causes a player to need to deal with uneven movement and unit activation not occurring in the planned order, oops!  There are many "modifications" possible to add even more period flavor to these simple quick playing rules.

[swordman]

rank & file acw version. has sharts that helps to generate troops and armament as well moral.

[Mindenbrush]

Brother against Brother for 10 man squad level skirmishes.

Fire & Fury Brigade for the larger battles in 15mm.

Fire & Fury Regimental for smaller battles in 15mm or 25/28mm.

Tod Kershner has a new set of ACW rules coming out that are gaining popularity.

[Axebreaker]

Actually Black Powder is great as you can manipulate the rules to play at whatever level you want and is currently what I'm playing for ACW among other things . That said, Brigade Fire and Fury has been my go to ACW rules since the very early 90's and the more recent Regimental Fire and Fury is also just as good if not better. Guns at Gettysburg is also good if you want to have a stronger command presence in your games.

Christopher

[Elk101]

What do you look for in your rules? Do you like complete control or less control of each unit? How important is fog of war? Do you like IGOUGO or random activation, etc.? As has been said Too Fat Lardies' rules are very keen on fog of war and generally quite good for 'playing the period'. The thing that put me off Black Powder was that I was concerned that it tried to cover too wide a period (supplements aside) and it wouldn't have been an ACW game.

[Axebreaker]

The thing that put me off Black Powder was that I was concerned that it tried to cover too wide a period (supplements aside) and it wouldn't have been an ACW game.

I disagree here   Black Powder is like "play doh" in which you can manipulate it to fit easily into whatever period you wish within the scope it claims. You can by just adding more details from the book and/or of your own ideas until you find the flavour that suits you.

Christopher

[Elk101]

I disagree here  Black Powder is like "play doh" in which you can manipulate it to fit easily into whatever period you wish within the scope it claims. You can by just adding more details from the book and/or of your own ideas until you find the flavour that suits you.

Christopher

Fair enough. Perhaps I was too swayed by what I'd read and should have given it a chance. As it was we ended up writing our own. Maybe we're just tight though

[Axebreaker]

Fair enough. Perhaps I was to swayed by what I'd read and should have given it a chance. As it was we ended up writing our own. Maybe we're just tight though Cheesy

If you do try it I recommend the 66% version on movement and ranges.

Christopher