The American Civil War Project..

..a long (long) time ago I read "Wargames" by Donald Featherstone and was captivated by the pictures of plucky Rebels charging up plasticine hills, to attack doughty Yankee's sheltered behind the cemetery walls of the plastic (Bellona?) church...

...later I read his "Battles for Model Soldiers", and the one chapter I most remember was his description of a wargame where to demonstrate the rules he played the same game three times, adding different units to the mix in each game and thereby adding to the complexity - I remember to this day that 'dog leg' stone wall in the map....

...from such small beginnings are projects born - and this particular one has been festering in the back of my mind for almost 30 years now! 😏

Sections:

Go To “Rules” – what rules I have tried, and what I’m using…
Go To ”Armies and Regiments”…
Go To “Game Reports” – what it says on the tin… 
Go To “Figures” – figures and model ranges I use…
Go To “Books” – fiction and non-fiction
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Rules

The project started with the purchase of a set of rules called "Mr Lincoln's War" written by Steve Phenow and Terry Gore..

I bought them on the basis of two different decisions - but the basic requirement has remained the same throughout the search:

1/. I wanted a set that played tactically, and at the regimental level - at the time I was only aware of two sets that would do this - these, and Johnny Reb (either v2 or v3)

2/. Recommendations by the guys on the old 'Old School Wargaming' Yahoo group (RIP) - which was good enough for me..

..but in the meanwhile I've read and tested a number of other sets -

• the first ones "Rebel Yell" are reviewed here [click]
  


• The next set I reviewed were a set published by Too Fat Lardies called "They Couldn't Hit an Elephant" which I reviewed here [click]


• There's a review of "Mr. Lincoln's War" here [click]


• At some point I was going check out "Guns at Gettysburg" which is part of the General de Brigade family of rules..but too be honest I was diverted from this as DG and I were are quite happily into the 14th move of a play test of the beta version of the next bullet...


• "Regimental Fire and Fury".. an early review can be read here [click]. I would also recommend a read through of the solo game I played using them - details in the "Games" section..up until recently these have been my rules of choice for this period, but yet again I'm now thinking that it might be time for a change as I find them increasingly un-intuitive, and having played them for getting on for two years now I still can't remember the core basics ...

Which leaves me with a couple of options - I never did try Johnny Reb (I must find a copy!), but I was reading Ross McFarlane's [clicky] blog and my interest was piqued by his mention of the rules he has written called "Hearts of Tin" [clicky]... So I set the table up for a small set-to in order to try the rules and I have to say I quite enjoyed it - more games will follow and on a purely selfish basis they seem to be a good choice for solo games....

DG and I have also tried "Rank and File" - only one game (Signal Tower Hill [clicky] (see Games page for link to the Setup) but impressions were favourable..

DG and I have also tinkered with the rules in the One Hour Wargames book.. latest version here [clicky]..  the original version of the rules these are vaguely brigade level as the way the rules treat terrain is pretty abstract, and basically models what your brigadier would be worried about rather than your average platoon sergeant..  so "walls" don't exist either as a terrain modifier, or a firing/combat modifier - they are assumed to be too small a terrain feature to be worried about and are just factored into the movement/firing/combat by assumption...

So taking the rules as is....

Basing - any way you like, there isn't really even a requirement for both sides to be the same, but similar is more aesthetically pleasing. I have used the basing/organisation that is now standard for my projects - in my mind I just imagine them as brigades rather than regiments...  all casualties counts are by roster and there is no base removal...

Sequence of play: is abandoned/ignored and replaced by a dice driven initiative - 

• throw a number of dice equal to the number of units, it is better to have a specific colour for each side, then assign the dice to each unit - the bigger the number the sooner they activate. Each unit is then activated according to the assigned dice - this gives a pleasing friction to the game, the commander is forced to decide where his tactical pain points are, and also where he needs to defend and assign the dice accordingly.
• Optional rule #1: dice to see which side has the initiative, and the loser assigns their dice first so that the winner has a view as to where and what dice have been assigned. 
• Optional rule #2: throw a number of dice equal to the number of units and each commander takes it in turn to take a dice from the pile until they are all used. 
• Optional rule #3: good commanders can add a dice (or more), allowing the worst one (or more) to be discarded..  
• .. etc etc
• If two opposed units have the same activation dice, and the order in which they activate is important (ie. one wants to fire before the other, or withdraw out of range before the other fires, or whatever...)  the two units take their dice and throw again with the higher number going first
• When the unit is activated it can either move or fire or charge or do nothing. 

Movement: as per the rules except:

• We added a march column value for each troop type that is 33%/third greater
• We split cavalry into mounted and dismounted - dismounted movement is the same as infantry
• Formation changes - because we added the column speed there has to be a cost for changing between line and column (limbered/unlimbered for artillery) and that is movement less 2" for all troops types except cavalry dismounting and artillery limbering/unlimbering which is movement less 4"
• Interpenetration we allowed for all troop types but at a cost equal to a formation change to represent the disruption, and only if both units have an activation dice unused..
• Terrain:
• Woods : because we have a dismounted cavalry type they are also allowed, and we added a one third movement penalty for all
• Towns: because we have a dismounted cavalry type they are also allowed, we also added a formation change cost to enter/leave a town for all.. 
• Marsh/Lakes unchanged
• Rivers unchanged but fords/bridges can be crossed "in march column only"

Charging:  Thomas doesn't allow for melee, but while we agree it was rare, DG and I also believed that we needed to model it if only to given a reason for the "Rebel Yell"..     So the following section is largely ours, but in the spirit of the rules...

• Artillery cannot Charge full stop - seems obvious, but hey...
• A unit cannot charge if it is in march column
• Mounted Cavalry can Charge any unit
• Infantry, Zouaves, Dismounted Cavalry must have an “advantage” over the Target in order to Charge; which is either 
• attacking vs Flank or Rear, or 
• 5+ strength points advantage over the defender
• Target of the charge is permitted to fire first if it hasn't activated already - rules are as per normal firing - remove the activation dice after firing
• A target in march column is automatically eliminated on contact
• An Artillery target is automatically eliminated on contact 
• Charge movement is as per normal line movement, and has to end in contact
• Turning is as per the movement rules but with the exception it can only happen at the beginning of the move..
• No changing formation can be done as part of the Charge
• No Interpenetration when Charging - and if there is any retreat and you have to interpenetrate to do it then each unit takes a 1pt damage
• Terrain effects as per normal movement

Melee

• Only the Charging unit inflicts casualties 
• It rolls a D6 and modifies the result as follows, and incrementally 

• Charging +2
• Zouaves +1
• Dismounted Cavalry - 1
• Defender outnumbered by <= 15 points +2; <= 10 points +1;<= 05 points +0
• Then, halve the end result if the defender is either uphill, or mounted cavalry, or in towns/woods
• Then, if the attack is in flank or rear multiply that result by 2
• Round fractions down
• If Defender is not eliminated the Attacker retreats straight back [facing defender] - Mounted Cavalry retreats 6”; others 3”

Firing: as per the rules with the addition/exception of

• March columns cannot fire
• Units must be on the edge of cover to fire out of it
• Units firing within cover have a range of 3”
• We added a short/medium/long range with relevant modifiers
• We added a section for handling firing when the target of a charge (basically you add/subtract the difference of the activation dice)
• We added some modifiers to reflect the remaining strength of the unit

Casualties: once you get to 15 the unit is removed..

Senior officers: Brigade commanders if you will... senior officers can (as an option) be fielded with the proviso they have 4 strength points they can allocate to whomever they want throughout the game..

In summary then, a bit more detail, a new section to cover melee, and the activation dice...   

Link to the consolidated set is here : One Hour Wargame ACW v2 (2).DOCX | Powered by Box [clicky] 

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Armies and Regiments

I've decided, as with all my projects, that I need a clear idea of what I'm painting - just so that I have an idea of when I've reached a target. In this case, for my start point I'm going to use the orders of battle for the Battle of Kernstown (see here [clicky] for my review of the battle) which was fought on March 23, 1862.

This battle was the opening battle of "Stonewall" Jackson's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. For me it has the advantage of being set early in the war (uniforms and regiments were more varied and colourful), and being a relatively small engagement painting both sides is not insurmountable... there will be other regiments dragged into the project as well, purely because I want some Zouaves, but the battle also has the advantage of being all arms, and nicely balanced..

I have settled on 30mm square bases (same size base as I use for my War of the Spanish Succession troops) but because the figures are bigger, only four infantry per base. Cavalry will be two figures to a base. Artillery I'll decide when I get there! For the first time the bases are also made of MDF to give additional thickness and strength..

Click on the link to go to the painted unit, with potted history etc.

UNION ARMY

Brigadier-General James Shields (wounded), Colonel Nathan Kimball [clicky]

First Brigade: Colonel Nathan Kimball (also commanded the division on the field) 14th Indiana: Lieutenant Colonel William Harrow [clicky] 8th Ohio: Colonel Samuel S. Carroll [clicky] and part 2 here [clicky] 67th Ohio: Lieutenant-Colonel Alvin C. Viris [clicky] 84th Pennsylvania: Colonel William G. Murrey (killed) [clicky]

Second Brigade: Colonel Jeremiah C. Sullivan 39th Illinois: Colonel Thomas O. Osborn [clicky] 13th Indiana: Lieutenant-Colonel Robert S. Foster [clicky] 5th Ohio: Lieutenant-Colonel John H. Patrick [clicky] 62nd Ohio: Colonel Francis B. Pond [clicky]

Third Brigade: Colonel Erastus B. Tyler 7th Indiana: Lieutenant-Colonel John F. Creek 7th Ohio: Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel William R. Creighton 29th Ohio: Colonel Lewis P. Buckley 110th Pennsylvania: Colonel William D. Lewis, Jr. 1st West Virginia: Colonel Thomas Thoburn

Cavalry: Colonel Thornton F. Brodhead 1st Squadron Pennsylvania: Captain John Keys Independent Companies, Maryland: Captains Henry A. Cole, William Firey and John Horner 1st West Virginia (Battalion): Major B. F. Chamberlain 1st Ohio (Company's A and C): Captain Nathan D. Menken 1st Michigan (Battalion): Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph T. Copeland [clicky]

Artillery: Lieutenant-Colonel Philip Daum A, West Virginia: Captain John Jenks B, West Virginia H, 1st Ohio: Captain James F. Huntington L, 1st Ohio: Captain Lucius N. Robinson [clicky] E, 4th U.S.: Captain Joseph C. Clark, jr.

CONFEDERATE ARMY

Major-General Thomas J. Jackson [clicky]

Garnett's Brigade: Brigadier-General R. B. Garnet 2nd Virginia: Colonel J. W. Allen [clicky] 4th Virginia: Lieutenant-Colonel Charles A. Ronald, Major A. G. Pendleton [clicky] 5th Virginia: Colonel William H. Harman [clicky] 27th Virginia: Colonel John Echols (wounded), Lieutenant-Colonel A. J. Grigsby [clicky] 33rd Virginia: Colonel Arthur C. Cummings [clicky] Virginia Battery (Rockbridge Artillery): Captain James H. Wateres Virginia Battery: Captain Joseph Carpenter [clicky] and also here [clicky]

Burks's Brigade: Colonel Jesse S. Burks's 21st Virginia: Lieutenant-Colonel John M. Patton, Jr. [clicky] 42nd Virginia: Lieutenant-Colonel D. A. Langhorne [clicky] 1st Virginia (Irish) Battalion: Captain D. B. Bridgford Virginia Battery: Lieutenant James Pleasants

Fulkerson's Brigade: Colonel Samuel V. Fulkerson 23rd Virginia: Lieutenant-Colonel Alex. G. Taliaferro 37th Virginia: Lieutenant-Colonel R. P. Carson Virginia Battery (Danville Artilley): Lieutenant A. C. Lanier

Cavalry 7th Virginia: Colonel Turner Ashby [clicky] Virginia Battery: Captain. R. P. Chew

Extra's:

Zouave's

One of the main drivers for my interest in the American Civil War was to be able to have a couple of zouave regiments but there were none at Kernstown so these are extra to the Orbat above..

• 5th New York Volunteer Infantry, "Duryée's Zouaves"[clicky]
• The First Louisiana Special Battalion: Wheat's Tigers [clicky]

Baggage

I like "clutter" to add colour so I've added some transport wagons [clicky] to the project..

...and some more here [clicky] all of these are from Britannia Miniatures (click here for the range) and in their German WW2 range..  recommended

Signalling tower

Originally, I'd planned to scratch build it, but the primary issue was finding figures suitable to man the tower as I needed signal men - then I discovered that SHQ had a signal tower listed in their 20mm American Civil War range...  no pictures (why oh why oh why do on-line sellers not realise how important a photo is????!), but at only £5.50 (price correct as of 2013) I felt I could take a bit of a gamble and how pleased I was that I did...eventually...!

Apparently SHQ had had to recast the tower especially for me... service above and beyond I think...

Anyway - the normal thing to have done would probably be to use either of the towers on their own - but in a rush of blood to the head (there's that cycle ride to work to blame again) I decided to combine them - with the second on top of the first....  figures are as delivered by SHQ, the horses are Newline Designs from my spares pile, all figures 20mm.....

Both sides used much the same equipment for these towers, albeit with different signalling books/codes. The towers were used for passing battlefield commands, directing artillery etc..

The flags most often used were 4-foot (in order to be seen) mounted on 12 foot poles, but 2-foot flags were also used when the flagman wanted to avoid enemy attention (as is the case here!).

...apart from being an interesting scenic feature, I have an idea that this would make an excellent objective for a scenario..

...and this is a real one.. I think SHQ did a good job modelling it..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Signal_station_Elk_Mountain.jpg

Loads more information here: http://www.civilwarsignals.org/pages/signal/signal.html

 

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Games

• Mini-battle based round the "The destruction of 5th New York Zouaves" at Second Manassas (or Second Bull Run according to your leanings)
• The game [clicky]

• Scenario 21 - "Twin Objectives"
• Set Up and Game [clicky]

• "Battles with Model Soldiers" - "Game 2"
• Setup and Game [clicky]

• Scenario 19  - "Blow from the Rear" - 
• Set Up and Game(s - we played twice) [clicky]

• "One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 11 - "Surprise Attack"- scenario loosely based on Quatre Bras, with one player acting as defender, and deploying with just two elements on the table, and the other attacking and hopefully taking a cross roads before the full defending force arrives on the table.. we used the rules from the book for this game with our modifications...
• Set up [clicky]
• The Game [clicky] 

• "One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 11 - "Surprise Attack" - Redux [clicky] - a solo re-fight as I had mis-read the scenario the first time round..

• Skirmish at Signal Tower Hill - DG and I's first game using the Rank and File rules following a certain disenchantment with Regimental Fire and Fury
• Set up [clicky]
• The Game [clicky]

• "One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 7 - "Flank Attack (2) - the scenario posits the situation that a Union force (me for this game) has deployed on a large hill waiting for an attack from their front, but are attacked by a Confederate force (DG) from their left flank (four units), while also being pinned frontally (remaining two units). Good game - and the game write up has the mod's we use for the One Hour Wargame rules
• Set up [clicky]
• The Game [clicky]

•  "One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 5 - "Bridgehead" - Set up & Game [clicky] - a contested river crossing where both sides are trying to consolidate a hold on one edge of the river

• "One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 4 - "Take the High Ground" - we used Hearts of Tin for this game..
  
• Set up [clicky]
• The Game [clicky]

• "One Hour Wargames" - Scenario 4 - "Take the High Ground" - revisited [clicky]... just a little go at trying to see if i could turn the course of the previous game!

• "A demo game of "Hearts of Tin"

I was reading Ross McFarlane's [clicky] blog recently and my interest was piqued by his mention of the rules he has written called "Hearts of Tin" [clicky]... So I set the table up for a small set-to in order to try the rules...


• Encounter Battle [clicky] - DG and I played a game where I put all of the completed units to date onto the table....
  
  
• Waynes Junction - a battle that DG and I fought in our ongoing American Civil War campaign [click here]..
• Part 1 [clicky]
• Part 2 [clicky]
• Part 3 [clicky]


• I've just completed a small, solo, re-fight of the first of the three demonstration games that Don used in "Battles with Model Soldiers" to describe how his rules played in reality... I used the troops I have painted, and the "Regimental Fire and Fury" rules...
  
  It was a lot of fun - far more fun than I expected given there were only a couple of regiments one each side! You can read the outcomes here:
  • Setup [click here]
  • Move 1 [click here]
  • Move 2 [click here]
  • Move 3 [click here]
  • Move 4 [click here]
  • Post match analysis [click here]


• Follow the link to a game report based around the Union and Confederate attempts to capture a supply depot, and a number of other key strategic terrain features - The Depot.. [click here]


• Another solo game - based around the Charles Grant "Teaser"; The Dawn Attack [Click here]
  
  
  • Setup #1
  • Setup #2
  • Move 1 & 2
  • Move 3 to 5
  • Move 6 to 9
  • Move 10
  • Move 11
  • End Game and Post Match Analysis


• Battle of Rogersburg [clicky] - Read here for the first game in the American Civil War campaign that my regular opponent DG and I are playing - no figures, we used Battle Chronicler, but definitely a good game!

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Figures

(Caveat - all prices following are correct as of July '24 unless otherwise stated, but check the websites for latest)

After much rumination, thinking, perusing, and examining I decided on 20mm figures for this project..

I knew I wanted metals rather than plastics - in spite of the Perry's doing 25mm plastic ACW figures, metal figures have always been aspirational for me - I started with plastics, I don't want to go back to them...

I originally (!) wanted it to be 15mm as I also wanted a goodly proportion of both armies to be Peter Pig - they make some of the finest 15mm figures on the market in my opinion so that was a no-brainer, but then I thought of all the terrain I had in 25mm for my AWI project - the terrain could in most cases be re-used in the later American Civil War period...

The list goes on (and on), but the clincher was when I spotted these guys from Newline Designs:

Pic copyright Newline Designs

..and the decision was made after I finished painting up a sample I bought at Colours in 2009.

Fantastic figures, fantastic price..  20mm - and if that isn't an Old School scale I don't know what is!!

I cemented that initial decision with a large purchase of Newline Design figures at Warfare in November ('09) - four regimental bags (about 24 figures to the bag for £9.80) plus additional artillery and limbers... so about 41p a figure, and I've made many further purchases since!

There are a surprising number of other 20mm ranges to also check out at some time...

• I had a comment from Fraxinus [click here] who said... "Tumbling Dice [clicky] do 1/72nd SCALE C1861AMERICAN CIVIL WAR RANGE. UNION, CONFEDERATE.Infantry packs contain 8 assorted poses". No pictures on the website unfortunately... but £5.60 a pack so 70p a figure...


• I spotted these at Warfare (2009) they are by the Sergeants Mess [clicky]
  
  
  
  
  Prices at the time were 4 for £2 - 75p each - expensive, but much cheaper in a unit pack of 40 for £18 (45p each)..  can't check current prices as the website is down
  
  
• There is the Jaclex range [clicky] - 59p each for infantry...
  
  


• Kennington Miniatures: One of my purchases at Warfare '10 was a pair of American Civil War staff officers from Kennington Miniatures (marketed by SHQ in the UK) which I bought in order to be able to compare them with my more usual Newline Design figure as a possible alternative sources of figures.. not that I'm unhappy with the Newline Designs figures (far from it!!), but variety is the spice of life as they say!
  
  In the following then we have the two officers either side of a Newline Designs marching trooper..
  
  The Newline figure is smaller (as I'd heard elsewhere), but not to my mind significantly so.....
  
  Kennington figures are/were £3 for four (I believe... it's not specifically stated on the website and the website is currently down! ), Newline are £2.40 for four... so Kennington are significantly more per figure ..
  
  
  Nice figures, but am I seeing a X%+ nicer figure?? 😏
  
  Unlike Newline, Kennington don't seem to do battalion packs for their ACW range which might bring those prices down; they do have an army pack but it's too rich and too big for my blood... shame - looks like I'll not be investigating further, but they are nice figures, and as I subsequently found out, were sculpted by the Sean from Newline Designs in an earlier job!

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Books

..
"Mississippi River Gunboats of the American Civil War" - a review [clicky]...
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