ACW Rules. Which do you prefer?

I'm resisting the temptation to actually count the pile of shame (or as Jeffrey Knudsen puts it, the Cabinet of Temporal Insufficiency), but I have just done the maths on the two ACW starter sets - that's 12 Union and 12 Confederate sprues in each box, each of which has one commander, 4 gun crew and a gun and ten stands of 10 infantry (which double ranks 2 to a base) That's not counting the box of metal cavalry, ditto of zouaves and dismounted cavalry. That's over 5000 figures, by my reckoning. 

Eep!

I console myself with the thought that a smallish action probably needs about 150-200 on a side, and they are easy to block paint - after all they come in blocks! It's less scary if you call it 500 stands of infantry, I suppose :D

Anyway. A question for my readers: what are your preferred ACW rules? Particularly looking for things around Black Powder scale, so 3 bases per unit (they're 60x20mm bases), and with some measure of friction. I know Epic ACW is intended for 5 bases/regiment, but that gets kind of big on a 6' x 4'.

Currently I have:

• Black Powder
• Altar of Freedom (on its way)
• Pickett's Charge (just arrived)
• On to Richmond

I know there's Fire and Fury, and Longstreet, out there. Any other thoughts?

Back from the Royal Armouries

I don't think I've ever seen so many Napoleonic games in one place: there were over a dozen, in scales from 28mm down to 6mm and map based, tables ranging from 6'x4' to 15'x6'. We fitted Quatre Bras on a somewhat cramped 8'x6' with two 4'x'2' side tables to store impending reinforcements (which, being Quatre Bras. there were a lot of!), despite a little organisational kerfuffle of our own making (mostly due to me not being clear who was actually keeping track of whether we were coming or not!).

We made it to Leeds a bit before 10, and after some setup and chasing up tables, I took the French, under Ney, Carl the Allies under Orange and Wellington, and Gary umpired (using Black Powder). Things went pretty much as per history, as far as it went: if anything, the Dutch/Belgians were more resilient than I expected, probably not helped by a couple of unwise unsupported attacks on my part early on.

Huge thanks to Kirsty and Lisa from the Armoury, Dave and the gang from Warlord, and everyone who came along and variously said hi and made us feel welcome. Sadly we won't be back tomorrow. as we can't raise enough warm bodies to man the table (Gary's off to Waterloo for real this week) but if you're free tomorrow, the event's still on, and there are lots of very nice looking Napoleonic games to ogle at, lots and lots of lovely historical items including one of the Siborne models of the battle, and even an onsite coffee shop. Stuck for something to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon? You know it makes sense!

Battle Report - 27 April 2015 - Black Powder

"Battle" might be a bit generous, as this was a somewhat onesided encounter in our 100 days campaign at Quatre Bras between a couple of French Divisions and a considerably smaller force of Nassauers.

Yes. This was as one-sided as it looks, even given the late arrival of the Prince of Orange and another group of Dutch-Belgians.

Hopefully, things will go better next month :D

Battle Report - 16-Mar-2015 - Black Powder/100 Days Campaign

The next round of the club's Hundred Days campaign saw the Dutch-Belgian forces fight a delaying action at Fayt against the French 1st Corps under Ney, as well as some of Kellerman's heavy cavalry.

The DBs deployed covering the road into Fayt, anchored between woods and the river. The aim was (much as previously) to give the French a bloody nose then pull back, and it... mostly worked. The battle started around 6pm, leaving about 3 hours of daylight for the French to press home an advantage.

The French right did what it was supposed to do and advanced cautiously - the left, on the other hand, after a brief cavalry skirmish, rolled a double six on a mass order to advance carefully... and then proceeded to roll a six again - mass advance three moves. This led to one unit smacking into a column of militia, which latter surprisingly won, and another in a line of regulars which almost won.

Things could have gone very different there, given a different roll for the command blunder - not the least of which could have been most of the French right deciding to vacate the scene.

The French right continued to advance carefully, despite tempts from some over-keen DB cavalry. Meanwhile, on their left, some DB militia deployed to get a shot at the attacking infantry columns, and -- well.. my dice suck as usual. Not a solitary hit where it mattered. And the next round of melée proved pretty conclusive, not helped by the arrival of Kellerman's heavies, who did a decent job of cleaning up the DB right.

Fortunately for us, almost all the results were retreats, rather than destruction, so most of the DBs will live to fight another day. We lasted toll about 7.30 game time, giving us about an hour and a half to fall back, screened by the surviving cavalry, before it got dark.

Next up, I suspect, more on  the Prussians' flank.

Battle Report - 16-Feb-2015 - Black Powder 1815 Campaign

The first set of orders in the club generated a battle between French forces under Napoleon himself (Grahame, assisted by Dan, RichN and AndyM2 ) and a Prussian force under von Zeiten (Carl, assisted by AndyM, Ash and Pippa). Battle (on a fairly densely populated 8' x 6' table) commenced (at around 3pm, 15th June, 1815) .... The Prussian brief - to give Napoleon a bloody nose, delay him and then fall back.

The French left (top right corner, nearest camera) charged and drove off a bunch of Uhlans, then advanced a brigade against the Landwehr in the village (bottom right). And were repulsed - no casualties on either side, but the defence factor of the village outdid their supports, and AndyM2 rolled dreadfully for the unit doing the attacking... and for their supports. (They were my temporary command, so I was somewhat proud of the Landwehr.)

Meanwhile over on the French left/Prussian right, the Polish Lancers and another infantry brigade got well stuck in, and started slowly forcing units back/off table.

In response on the right, I threatened the remaining French infantry that were attacking the village with my heavy dragoons, and in the best tradition of Napoleonic combined arms, swung the cavalry away and had a lot of infantry unload on them. Rubbish dice, unfortunately - they didn't break.

On the Prussian left, the Lancers kept up the pressure, aided and abetted by yet more cavalry. Back over on our right, the French made yet another attempt to take the vlllage, this time by offloading the fire of most of an infantry brigade and some horse artillery on it, coupled with a cavalry charge on the centre right. Once again, the brave Landwehr... ok, let's be fair, hid behind every available bit of timber and masonry and emerged unscathed. The French cavalry charge was met with a countercharge, which drove off the French, but sadly left my heavy Dragoons shaken, spoiling my cunning plan to force the French infantry advancing on the Prussian centre into square.

About here, Napoleon was buttonholed by his subcommanders, who apparently had a better plan than the one which had one battalion of Landwehr holding up his entire left flank (I shouldn't rub it in, but they were amazing - two entire brigades broke against the Prussian extreme right!). Sadly for us, and for his reputation, they were right. Two whole brigades of infantry smacked into the Prussian centre, and while we managed to survive for the most part, it was clear that now was the time for the Prussians to fall back.

We'll move on next month (it's a third Monday campaign).

But in the meantime, if you'll excuse me, I have the Duchess of Richmond's ball to attend.

Black Powder - teaser pics

Just got in from club from the first proper night of our 1815 narrative campaign, using Black Powder/Albion Triumphant and Gary's massive collection of 28mm Napoleonics. Me? I'm Wellington. I don't have time to do a write up tonight, but here's a couple of teasers:

Most of the French forces. About half of Gary's collection of French.

View from the Prussian left flank, or what's left after the Polish Lancers'
first attack.

The French columns pile in on the Prussian right.

Battle Report - 18 Feb 2013 - Black Powder

For once, a night down the club where I didn't have to bring anything (bar the usual pint of milk for the tea drinkers!). Gary ran (and supplied all the 28mm figures for) a Napoleonic Black Powder scenario (an encounter from the Albion Triumphant book), which pitted AndyH and my French against his and Dewi's Anglo-Portuguese.

We did fairly well at the start - my left flank got laid into the British (who'd adopted their customary spot atop a hill), while Andy's right advanced to face off against Dewi's cavalry... unfortunately (for him) Dewi's Portuguese decided their nice spot in the back of the British lines was right where they wanted to stay, thank you very much.

As I've said before, my one problem with Black Powder and its relatives is that it is possible to wind up not doing anything with a unit for several turns if your dice suck. (Before you ask, I love the rest of the system!) The counter-argument, of course, that gets trotted out is that with the Lardies' 'Tea Break' mechanic, it's equally possible not to move. But:

1. It happens on a neutral draw of a card, not your own dice roll. To me, this makes it better (and yes, some people I know disagree). Part of it is that it feels less your fault, and part of it is that activation in IABSM and similar games is a positive act: you draw a card to see who activates, rather than rolling a dice for every commander to see if they fail to activate;
2. Messing up a command roll in BP basically kills any more actions from that command, or (if you louse up with your general) the whole army;
3. The density of Big Men in games like IABSM is considerably greater, so the odds on getting someone to give key orders is higher.

Anyway. By the time Dewi's Portuguese eventually got off their duffs and activated, it was all looking a bit close: and then, as they say, it wasn't. One British turn saw Andy and I lose about five battalions to failed morale checks (for entirely good reasons), and that was pretty much all she wrote. We even managed to rout one of Dewi's cavalry, get stuck in with a follow through charge and get routed.... Gary says he's never actually seen one succeed. Pity he didn't mention that beforehand! 

My views on the activation aside, though? I love Black Powder, just for the sheer scale and feel of it, and the fact that we got through a complete and fun battle in 4 turns on an 8'x'6' table with about 15 units a side in 2 1/2 hours (a fair bit of which was us being rusty with the rules). 

Thanks (as ever) to Andy, Dewi and Gary for the game, especially the latter for his awesome collection of figures. Next month? An all day refight of Quatre Bras.

Battle report - 9 Apr 2012 #2

Some rather tasty French Hussars,
part of my command

Catching up slowly with a backlog of battle reports!

Gary at the club arranged (and umpired) a Napoleonic encounter under the Black Powder rules, using his own rather extensive and very nice collection of largely plastic 28mm Napoleonics. We had 6 players, so myself, Carl and Chris took the French, and Gavin, Reuben and Grahame the Allies (I hope I remembered this right, it was nearly 3 weeks ago!).

Initial set up, viewed from the French
right wing (mine!)

The French got to go first, and with a disgustingly good set of command rolls, managed to basically charge across the table in both flanks and the centre, and get well and truly stuck in.

With hindsight, and I'm sure Gary won't mind me saying, Black Powder at full scale doesn't lent itself to 4' wide tables - after all, it was play tested in the Perry's palatial wargames room - and next time we'll play on at least 12'x6', I think.

Having said that, the ensuing scrap was pretty close, although Carl's punch right through the Allied centre did ultimately break that division. I held my own on the right (oh look, a British force on the reverse slope of a hill - never seen that before), and Chris got a bit of a pounding from Reuben's forces on our left flank.

The Allied centre, garrisoning a lovely farm model.

It was, all in all, great fun, and much kudos and thanks to Gary for organising it. I suspect we'll do it again sometime soon.