Starting ACW

[Watto]

Hi there,

I'm thinking about getting into ACW with Black Powder. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to where to look for starting army lists ?

Also due to space limitations, and finiancial considerations as going for 6mm baccus figures on 40mm x 20mm bases, have tried with just counters to get the hang of the rules, and think the size/scale works well on a 6' 4' table (taking cm's fpr inches).

Just wondered if anyone else had any suggestions for basing/playing in this scale.

Any help gratefully accepted :-)

[NTM]

I'm doing ACW in 15mm with basing which is pretty much compatible with Fire & Fury, Johnny Reb & Guns at Gettysburg i.e. 1″ x 1″ with 3 or 4 figures on each base. In 6mm you could put 2 strips per base instead. Standard will be 5 bases with large at 7 and small at 3. Units will represent Regiments in the main but if fighting large battles I will quite happily call them brigades.

I don't know much about the ACW so I have been trawling through back issues of Wargames Illustrated for scenario ideas which has been very useful. There is also a lot of info on the net.

OOB's can be seen here

http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/regimental-level-orders-of-battle/

There are Johnny Reb scenarios here which could easily be converted

http://scottmingus.wordpress.com/scenarios/

I'm not one for army lists but the ACW is on the face of it quite simple divisions consisted of 2-5 brigades each of 2-5 regiments so it is possible to build generic armies which is how I am starting and then will add specific units (Zouaves etc) at a later date. As the basic uniforms are fairly simple I hope to get them done pretty quickly (quickly for me anyway). Initial forces will be of about 12 regiments in 3 brigades with 2 or 3 batteries and perhaps a regiment or 2 of cavalry each side.

[Last Hussar]

Have you considered 10mm - Pendraken do 30 for £3. I am going to rebase my 10mm ACW 'shortly' (this is a wargamers 'shortly') on 30mm bases- I expect to get 7-8 per base. 4 bases to a regiment, so about £3 ish per unit.

[Colonel White]

If it was me on a limited budget I would do ACW skirmishing using the Perrys Plastics . What I like about these figs is that each box will do the job for either side and therefore I box of plastics could do it . For example you could do a scenario were you are hunting for deserters etc.

[Stuart]

I'm also just getting into ACW and have just ordered the perry minis brigade deal, I see that NTM mentions a few rule sets but does anyone know which is the best for starting out on?Thanks

[Colonel White]

Depends on what level you are looking at.

For large games Black Powder

For small games Johny Reb rules appear to be popular but I ain't no expert on this era as I have not played ACW since the 70's. I would be tempted to have a look at other forums such as TMP to see what the "in Thing" is as regards ACW.

[Stuart]

It wouldn't be too big 3 boxes of perrys' per side plus skirmishers and a couple of cannon each, I'll see what TMP are saying thanks.

[NTM]

Stuart,

My view on what's out there at the moment, other than Black Powder, based on my extensive research (Ok I just put ACW Wargames in google, trawled various fora etc)

Brigade level - units represent brigades

Fire & Fury

Civil War Battles (Peter Pig RFCM)

Crisis of Allegiance (Polemos)

Regimental Level - units represent regiments/battalions

Johnny Reb 2&3

They Couldn't Hit an Elephant (Too Fat Lardies)

Napoleons Legacy

Guns at Gettysburg (General de Brigade)

On they Came (Polemos combined with Crisis of Allegiance)

Lower level/skirmish

Brother Against Brother

Sharp Practice (Too Fat Lardies)

You really need to decide what type of game you are looking for what size actions you want to depict etc.

But there is a way for you to get started before picking your ruleset. If you base your minis 3 or 4 to a 40x40 or 50x50 base they will be usuable for most of the above. I guess as you have over 100 figs each side you are not looking at skirmish anyway. Until you make your decision could you just use the simple rules that come with the Perrys?

For me I am looking at Black Powder as it can cover a number of periods which I want to game. It handles the level I want (regiment/battalion) for Divisional sized games (approx 12 units) I like a lot of the game mechanics including non-removal of casualties and by using the basing as per my previous post I can switch to another ruleset without rebasing (but I don't think that is going to happen)

Nigel

[Stuart]

Thanks Nigel, loads of info there to work with, plus I forgot the perrys stuff came with basic rules, probably a good starting point.Thanks again

[Watto]

Thanks everyone!

All the help is greatfully received.

If I collect a ACW army, it will be in 6mm, but the suggestions of larger scales do appeal, but table size is a limitation, and whilst I have time to paint a 6mm armies, I just don't think I have the time to collect and paint an army in a larger scale.

And I do really like the Baccus figures... and if not ACW I may go for an ancient army.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Watto