I linked up with Alex of “Commission & Regiment” and “Up the Blue” fame to game First Bull Run with my draft ACW rules (themselves a variant of NT’s ACW rules from his “Wargaming: An Introduction” book.). Ive always liked Bull Run due to the huge variation of units that fought there as well as the strange reinforcement schedule that favors the Union in the first half of the battle and then favors the Confederacy in the latter half. Using the scenario from “Forward the Colours” on Wargame Vault, I pieced together a scenario using my 20 x units per side (so brigade strengths are a little fudged).
The resulting game has so far been alot of fun. Much like the armies of both sides coming to grips with “modern” warfare, our recent battle saw us coming to grips with Neil Thomas’ ACW rules, as well as NT’s 19th Century rules – both of which were heavily discussed.
The turns are 20 minutes each. Units are regiments. The Union (Army of Northern Virginia) much seize the crossroads and the multiple portions of Henry House Hill by the end of Turn 23. The Confederates (Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Shenandoah) must prevent them from doing so.
We stopped around Turn 10 – there are still a bunch of Rebel reinforcements and yet ANOTHER Union Brigade scheduled to come on the table. I will let the pictures tell the story from here.
Burnside and Porter’s Brigades fanned out, assaulting Bee’s Brigade and cutting the Warrenton Turnpike (running across the pic). Franklin and Wilcox’s Brigades are coming up to continue the attack up Henry House Hill in the background. Bee is putting up stubborn resistance on his hill and the veteran Louisiana troopers are giving ground grudgingly.
Alex’s attack against Buck Hill is textbook and he forms a beautiful line across the battlefield. More importantly, the full firepower of his formations is being brought to bear and Alex is using the “Full Volley” rule to good effect. Bee eventually loses an Alabama regiment atop Buck Hill while his veterans slowly withdraw from their position
Bee facing combined elements of Burnside, Franklin and Wilcox’s BrigadesThe view from the Rebel side looking at Buck Hill and teh Warrenton Turnpike. Henry House Hill is to your right off-camera. Porter’s Brigade has crossed the Warrenton Turnpike in the foreground and is advancing towards the woods while elements of Franklin and Wilcox’s brigade relieve him along the fenceline. Note the Rebels (Bartow’s Brigade) have refused their left flank and are taking what meager cover they can. The Rebels are attempting to stave off the Union Army as best they can while Cocke’s Brigade and Jackson’s Brigade deploy.Burnside’s 2nd Rhode Island push Bee’s / Evans Louisiana Troops continue to move out of the woods on the hill. Bee’s men at the bottom to the left continue to make an orderly withdrawal to the fenceline along the Warrenton Turnpike (left). Bee will take up Bartow’s positions, while Bartow shifts left to handle the attack into the woods. The Union troops are right at the Confederates’ doorstep!
Alex’s line continues to strengthen and he continues to move his artillery up with him. Meanwhile, Rebel reinforcements are pouring in from Manassas as Cocke’s Brigade advances through the woods up Henry House Hill and Jackson’s Brigade moves up Henry House Hill moving around the woods. There is lots of combat power massing on Henry House Hill now but the Confederates need time to establish a second line. Alex does not intend to give me time to leisurely set up my defense!
Cocke’s Brigade moves into position by Henry House. They’re tagged to relieve Bartow so he can shift his Brigade along the Warrenton Turnpike Fenceline position. So far the battle is turning out eerily similar to history.Jackson’s men arrive up the backside of Henry House Hill. They will be instrumental in trying to blunt the Union attack materializing in the woodline to the southwest.The fight along the Warrenton Turnpike is tough. Heavy shooting from Union muskets and artillery has shredded a number of units from Bee and Bartow’s Brigades. Cocke’s reinforcements are deploying to your left (off camera) and Bartow is trying to shift up in the picture as Alex’s Union sledge-hammer comes down on the Confederate positions.Confederate Troops of Bee’s Brigade have given up the woods atop Buck Hill as Burnside’s men occupy their old positions. Note the horde of Rebel columns atop Henry House Hill upper-center. You can see Cocke’s Brigade next to the Henry House model moving at speed to support Bartow. Ominously, there is a horde of troops to the upper right attempting an assault on Henry House Hill from the west.Porter’s Brigade moving through the woods as Jackson’s Brigade moves to deploy to cover the objective (red bead)1st Minnesota taking cover at a stone wall at the base of Henry House Hill. Alex is fighting to gain a foothold on the south bank of the creek! There was a rebel regiment here a few turns ago who were driven back and fled the field.Sherman’s Brigade arrives onto the field now, further complicating my plan!The entire field at the bottom on turn 10 (1230pm roughly). A major attack is setting up from the woods and Sherman’s Brigade has arrived to continue the attack on my right. Jackson and Cocke’s Brigade are deploying to meet them both while Bartow and Bee trade more lives to buy time for the defense of the hill. I still have more reinforcements coming on in the form of JEB Stuart’s Cavalry, Kershaw and Early’s brigades in the afternoon portion of the battle.
Lessons Learned So Far
I am enjoying the rules but there are some kinks to work out still. The saves provided in my previous download version were much too generous, prolonging the game more than was necessary and so the saves have been reduced to 6 and 5 in cover (being dug-in allows a save 1 better than the terrain). The retreat rules brought up some questions such as what happens when a unit retreats through another unit that itself had 3 hits on it – if that unit loses a base, does it have to test to retreat now? I do like the retreat rules as units were driven off frequently from shooting, but came back just as frequently.
Additionally, Alex suggested that since units consist of 3 bases (vrs 4 in the NT rules) I should play the units with 3 bases (meaning they are done at 12 hits). Much to ponder there. We have not been physically removing any of the bases but rather using red dice as counters to track base loss and casualty figures as individual hits).
Otherwise, I think the game has certainly kept the spirit of NT’s ACW rules alive and well (buliding upon them with more chrome) I have really been enjoying the game so far and watching Alex’s attacks materialize brings about a sense of excitement and dread 🙂
If I can more intelligently deploy Cocke and Jackson’s brigade, perhaps I’ll have the opportunity to say “THERE STANDS JACKSON LIKE A STONE WALL! RALLY BEHIND THE VIRGINIANS!” but so far my deployment has been a bit foppish.
Future Plans
Concluding Bull Run may bring about the end of “ACW Month” (April) but since it’s still May and I’m still painting ACW stuff and playing ACW games, I’m not sure “ACW Month” will actually conclude… It has been immensely satisfying getting my 15mm ACW troopers on the table for some hard campaigning especially after repainting and rebasing so many of the troops.
They needed to stretch their legs out and it has been too long since an ACW game graced my table! So I kind of fouled up the schedule taking way too long to get ACW stuff onto the table and I completely missed May which was supposed to be 10mm Fantasy and 15mm Vietnam stuff. But since ACW has been on the table, the boys have fought in some tough brawls (including a 1st Manassas scenario fought with Ken using Valour & Fortitude and a bunch of test NT ACW games using the One Hour Wargame scenarios)
All this being said, it’s almost June and D-Day beckons! I plan on playing Bolt Action with Andy and his 20mm 101st Airborne and possibly more Kursk action using Bolt Action, preparing to reap a “bitter harvest” in July for Kursk month. Still have about 20 US paratroopers to finish painting and some German howitzers.
I’ve also been reminded that it’s going to be America’s 250th birthday soon, and so I should probably get an AWI game in. To be honest, that was not part of the 2026 agenda, but it just seems like the right thing to do 😀
I’ve been threatening to rebase my “elite” ACW units for weeks now and I am finally getting around to the effort. Here are some more interesting ACW units that I’ve either recently acquired or repainted to serve in different capacities (read: I didn’t like their original paint jobs).
The connundrum I’m facing is a complete “first world problem” in that I’ve already used 11% of my total blog storage space with pictures. I pay a small fortune to google so purchasing additional space from WP is out of the question. The solution? I’m working on it…
“Elite” ACW Units?
Characteristics of elite troops from the horse and musket era or the age of rifles are their ability to take punishment or their ability to rally back after what other units would consider a devastating loss. These troops either have a strong confidence in their abilities, have received exceptional training and equipment, or perhaps have seen their share of fighting and come out better from it – excelling at their trade and trusting in their officers. Some units have a mystique or exclusivity about them like the US Army’s Rangers or the US Marine Corps. It’s the same in other armies and in a battle, sticking around a few minutes longer than other troops or perhaps continuing to try when other units have long abandoned the attack is sometimes the difference in winning or losing a battle. Most of us have played games with elite units on the table, and like me, you’ve probably expected much from them. So much so that a failure to rally or failure to charge at an inopportune moment brings a blush or a snicker.
Neil Thomas chose to classify better quality ACW units as “Zouaves” in his One Hour Wargame rules and while Zouaves came in many different stripes, qualities, and capabilities (and uniforms!) that mystique of theirs is probably irresistable to the wargamer, figure collector and history enthusiast. NT’s “Wargaming: An Introduction” rules do not “bucket” elite troops simply as Zouaves, and so in my version I won’t either (but it’s fun to think of many of them in that regard). NT’s WAI ACW rules and my version have different morale grades, of which the highest is “elite”. The “elite” troops are the ones I want to showcase today.
Union Zouave troops purchased recently at a convention and awaiting their new bases. The leftovers will be used to represent units in skirmish orderA real rarity on any post 1861 or ’62 battlefield! Confederate Zouaves! These fellows are modeled after a unit I saw in a painting of the “Richmond Zouaves” with a dark blue/grey coat, and red or red-lined kepis. The officer jackets have a yellow trim which I think is really cool. These fellows are in a skirmish order now (note the spaces between bases)I asked “jetpack” to help make the image smaller and it blurred out the one of the NCOs of the second regiment!! Anyways these are “those black-hatted fellows” of the Iron Brigade. The heroes of Gettysburg’s first day and stalwart and stubborn infantry all-around.
I will be rebasing the Iron Brigade troopers this weekend in the hopes of getting them on the table soon (although not in my Bull Run game).
Another unit that needs no introduction. The US Cavalry – dismounted. More heroes of Gettysburg. These are also in “skirmish line” and will remain so when dismounted in my rules. Forgive the hack-job on the US Colors. They used to be a normal-sized flag with white stars and I chopped them up and painted yellow stars on it! Close enough for government work…but whose government!!!
That’s it for this unit showcase. I have more pictures but I’m trying to save space – which brings me to the “connundrum”. I’m already at 11% capacity in storage for my blog as stated above. This is probably due in no small part to my phone’s outstanding camera capabilities. The issue though is that wordpress is going to make me pay for additional storage and I’m not particularly keen on that – so I’m playing around with picture quality and size, as well as how the media is presented within the blog (all of which make a difference).
So come with me on this journey to more efficiently load blog images (I never had this problem with blogger because its storage was based on my Google storage which I have plenty of). On one hand, it’s making me more disciplined in terms of the images I load. On the other hand, it’s forcing me to compress pictures and adjust sizes of those pictures, which is extending the amount of time it takes to publish! I’ll be posting best practices as I go. Stay tuned!
I have not posted as much as I would have liked to this month but I’m happy to report the progress has been steady. All of my ACW units (about 20 infantry units for each side) have been rebased with some units receiving new uniforms and the artillery receiving new paint jobs. I have a few units still to rebase (some elite Union units picked up at a convention recently) and a few units to paint (Richmond Zouaves), but for the most part, the hard work is over.
Cool dug-in markers!
I also had a breakthrough recently with the rules solution after playing Alex’s inspiring Franco-Prussian war rules, themselves a modified version of Neil Thomas’ “19th Century Wargaming” book. Alex added some layers of chrome to those rules which introduced some very fun and meaningful decisions to the game and I immediately was struck that many of those ideas would port nicely over to the American Civil War.
I’ve been refining those ideas throughout the month so far and have played a few test games with the rules which are shaping out nicely. My hope is to use them for a large-ish game feauturing either Salem Church or Bull Run. (Bull Run would be more interesting, I think, with the large variation of units and qualities, and the assymetric reinforcement schedule).
an earlier playtest when trying out various formations – I ended up abandoning that and focusing on the various capabilities from the Line of Battle. Note the small replica house – based off of the “Henry House” from Bull Run.
Alex reconfigured the turn sequence of NT’s 19th Century Wargaming, and also added some options for command and control, enhanced the charge and melee sequence and made artillery a little more “scary” in my humble opinion. I’ve taken his changes and incorporated most of them into Neil Thomas’ American Civil War rules in his seminal classic “Wargaming: An Introduction“.
Playing the battle scenario from 19th Century Wargaming. I played the Prussians and Alex played the French.
Here is a link to where you can find a fan-produced and cleaned up version of those rules but I strongly suggest you acquire a copy for yourself. They cover most of the “big” eras that are popular with historical miniature wargamers and offer rules that are sophisticated enough to satisfy most wargaming tastes and deliver a practical game in a reasonable amount of time.
For the American Civil War rules, I’ve kept the troop types from the book but with a twist. Instead of fussing about with multiple formations offering different advantages for formations, it’s understood that the Regimental commanders are expanding and contracting the line and adopting the formations as they need to in order to overcome most terrain challenges. The primary fighting formation therefore is aptly (and doctrinally) called “Line of Battle.” Line of Battle allows a unit to fire a “Full Volley” with 2D6 per base but if a Full Volley is delivered, the unit must remain stationary. This is a nod to 19th Century Wargaming and Alex’s rules where the Infantry line really is the ‘queen of battle’ however when maximizing firepower forward, mobility is reduced to practically zero as the soldiers are focusing on firing and reloading, and the formation is more close, supporting delivering powerful volleys or receiving a charge.
Picture from the FPW game with Alex – Multiple Prussian units in Line and a unit in Column fighting against oncoming French columns! The red markers are base losses on the French units.Alex’s French artillery limbered and moving through a Continental European villagePrussian or Brunswick commander – “hanging out” at the Church until his number is rolled.Alex’s Cuirassiers slamming into my left flank and threatening the hil!Prussian column moving up to counter attack at the church!
Instead of fussing about with various formations, I’ve instead opted for a firing option called “partial volley” which allows a unit in Line of Battle formation to fire 1D6 per base and still move. This also makes charging units from the front very risky/deadly, especially if full strength!
Staring at the prospect of receiving 8D6 hitting on 3+ in the face before melee is enough to make even the stiffest upper lip grimace a bit.
ACW battle lines clash in scenario #4 from “One Hour Wargames” book. The markers are “hits” and the red dice are bases lost so far (each pip on the red die is 4 unsaved hits)
There is a dispersed formation called “skirmish line” for detachments of skirmishers and dismounted cavalry who cannot fire “Full Volley” but who also pay no penalties for movement into terrain.
Probably the biggest change Alex incorporated was the Turn Sequence Change with firing coming *before* movement. This is a big dpearture from all of NT’s rules but I think it rather nicely reflects military decision making and the concepts of fire then maneuver. The Turn Sequence I’m using for the ACW rules is as follows:
Command: Units attach/detach and replace Generals, Units check command radius, Lay guns, Change Formation, Dig In, Rally
Fire: Units fire artillery and small arms
Movement: Units in command move. Units out of command must pass a D6 throw (2+ or 3+ if 3 bases lost) to move. Conduct charges.
Close Combat: Units fight in melee. Alex has both units exchange a round of fire first, prior to going into melee and I really like that feature – units may naturally pull out or pull back if they lose a base prior to melee. It’s feels better than an arbirtrary morale check. Chargers still roll to close, though, just like in NT’s original ACW rules. I’ve added that a unit with an attached officer *automatically* passes its charge test.
Retreat Rules. One of the frustrating aspects of some of NT’s rules are some lack of clarity around procedures. Alex introduced some cool retreat rules which I’ve shamelessly stolen for use with the ACW. In NT”s ACW rules, when a unit loses a base, it must pass a morale check or retreat. In this instance, Alex has offered us 2 possibilities – that of an orderly withdrawl while facing the enemy and falling back a short distance (1″ + 1D3 inches facing the enemy) or more of a rout situation where the unit retreats 2″ + 1D6. This is based off a second morale check that occurs immediately after failing the first. If the unit must retreat, the owning player must determine how it retreats. The active player has the possibility of passing a morale check as well to rally, attempt a pursuit, or organize his unit. I really like this narrative-building approach and it adds an entirely new dimension to the NT rules.
I’ve put a ground scale into effect and developed range brackets for Small Arms and for Artillery. (Close-Deadly / Distance / Extreme). To hit at those ranges is always 3+, 4+ and 5+ regardless of weapon type. There is a save throw (sorry for those not so inclined) of 5+ in the open, and 4+ in cover.
Another neat feature allows a unit to forego its turn to “dig in” thus giving it 1 better save and also re-roll a morale check failure after losing a base to shooting (thus remaining in its position longer – think the 20th Maine at Little Round Top). This reflects the realities towards the end of the war where units stopping for any length of time immediately started to improve their position and move downed trees and rocks in front to enhance their cover.
The”refreshed” rules add alot of decision making a little more tactical nuance to the Neil Thomas rules and I have really enjoyed playtesting them so far. These would probably scale up/down and convert to hex easily enough. My thoughts are a variation of them could be used for higher echelons where units were in a more static “defensive” posture allowing maximum firepower forward, while other units were in a more maneuvering posture, allowing assaults and sweeping movements but with less firepower. Probably not enough time to think on that with April already 2/3 over but a divisional variation is something to consider for future projects.
I’ve been playtesting the rules with Scenario 4 from Neil Thomas’ “One Hour Wargames” and it’s been fun working my way through those problems. The last game I played, the Rebels (red player) fought the Union to a standstill but the games have mostly been ending in a draw, albeit with lots of interesting things happening.
On or about turn 5 when the Rebels are starting their counterattack of the hill. Note the Rebel unit on the hilltop has a “dug in” marker. This will make it really hard for the Yankees to remove them.Charging the Johnnies on the hill! Note the dug-in marker!
The troop quality makes elite units (3+) more dangerous and also more resilient with them rallying and also charging more easily than say average (4+) or militia (5+) troops. In fact I had a Union regiment during this game held in reserve to counter-attack the hill, and they never charged the entire game. Of course I had no general officer left to attach (killed) and his replacement had not yet arrived. Anyways, a fresh Union regiment simply sat there observing and shooting while the Rebels flooded the hill!
A general firefight along the entire brigade line. The losses would be mostly equal for the entire game with both sides losing 2 x full regiments.
The rules “chrome” has really breathed new life into the Neil Thomas ACW rules and I am having a blast so far. I think these would be great for a “big battle” with 20 Regiments or more on a side. The “Forward the Colours” scenario book from “Potomac Publications” has a Bull Run scenario with 25 regiments per side and that is just about perfect to be chopped down for a 6×4 table. You could probably play that in about 4 or 5 hours with the NT ACW rules (which I fully intend on doing :). Anyways back to snips from the playtesting!
The Union troops have pushed the “elite” Rebel unit almost off the hill, but at a high cost!But a Rebel counterattack against the hill stabilizes the situation! Both sides are keeping a healthy reserve in place, but the Rebels did not foolishly commit their commander elsewhere and get him killed! (note the Union unit in the foreground with 1 hit – They’d pretty much remain there the rest of the game.Saint Barbara Pray For Us! Note the red suspenders… The Union bring up cannon to try and dislodge the Confederates but they’re stubborn!Come on boys! We have them right where we want them!The Rebels counterattack along the line to stabilize their presence on the hill. I like how these rules allow for attacks, and counter attacks, and reward the wise committment of reserves. Note the red kepis retreating again! They just could not get their “elite” dice right this day!Turn 14, both sides are probably too weak to push the other off, ending in a draw.
The final playtest game was lots of fun. I’ll post a link to a PDF version of the rules so far and if you want to get it onto the table feel free. I think it adds alot (Command and Control, more decision making) to the Neil Thomas ACW rules and really elevates their playing.
Link to Updated NT ACW Rules from my Google drive – what you’ve read about here. (you won’t necessarily need the NT ACW rules but they might be helpful to have a copy nearby. If you’ve never seen them – see the link below) These are still very much a WIP and leave alot undefined. They build on what NT wrote originally, and what Alex devised for his excellent FPW version (much of the explanations are from Alex’s set). The last 2 x pages are the QRS.
Link to the Groups.IO Neil Thomas Rules page. Find the files from “Wargaming: An Introduction” and download the ACW rules. These are about as close as you can get to the book (but with better explanations and more parameters defined).
I’ll try to get a bigger game on the table as a culminating game for ACW month. Stay tuned!
Happy Easter from the Easter Dackel. (He digs up earthworms and dead rodents and varmints instead of bringing eggs). April kicks off American Civil War month for DWD and truth be told, we got a head start in March by painting up some ACW units already.
Just like during the real American Civil War, we’re having mobilization problems dealing with a rapid influx of recruits and units! I’ve basecoated the LAST of my ACW collection from the lead pile and we’re going to paint them all. That’s probably about 4 more infantry units, about a dozen cannon of various calibers, and the Blue Moon ACW Union and Confederate “personalities”. I’ve also had the good fortune to play Alex’s take on the Neil Thomas 19th Century rules and I’ve been working on an ACW variant, based heavily off of the rules from “Wargaming: An Introduction” and the 19th Century rules. More to follow on this and I plan on posting on Alex’s Franco Prussian Rules and a huge game we played last week and his excellent rules.
For now, a nice Easter treat for everyone – I’m posting pictures of some recent ACW progress. I’m ashamed to admit I’ve had these figures for many years and have just gotten to painting them. That is to say – my ACW collection has been sorely neglected for a long time but I’m finally giving them the attention they deserve.
Representing the Army of the Potomac HQs – From L to R – COL Biddle (ADC), MG Meade, and CPT Meade (Meade’s son)HQs, Army of Northern Virginia – from L to R: General Robert E Lee, COL Walter Taylor (ADC) and MAJ Venable (ADC)L to R: CPT Tom Goree (ADC) and General LongstreetThis guy’s square jaw and brawling demeanor makes him look like Hancock to me. Being a corps commander he should have some staff officer with him but oh well.I think this is supposed to be General William T Sherman but I’m using him as a generic Corps Commander (the first thing I thought of when I saw his face was John Reynolds but he’ll do)Some generic Union Brigade CommandersFinally – I think this is Confederate General McClaws or Jubayl Early. Can’t tell but he’s filling the role of a Division or Brigade commander for my Rebs. Union Light Rifled ArtilleryUnion field artillery!Rebel cannon!Rebel regiments.Newly rebased Union regiments. 24-30 figures on 3 bases each.
Just a sneak preview here. I sitll have to base my elite Union regiments (Iron Brigade and Zuoave troops) and finish a Confederate Zuoave regiment but otherwise besides the unpainted guys I have on painting sticks now, the ACW project is just about done.
Some rules discussions coming up, and hopefully some battle reports soon! Happy Easter! Hurrah!
Der Wütende Dackel 