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ACW

Page history last edited by Jef 11 years, 1 month ago

Introduction

 

Objective: refight battles of the American Civil War with 25mm figures.

 

Based either on real battles or short fictional campaigns/linked games, the latter appealing most.

 

NOTE: I used to have units of 16 figures, but have recently 'upgraded' to 24 figures and reduced the overall number of units by about a third.  This was because my collecting mania took over from what we as a group could handle.  The result looks superb and takes up little extra space on the table. Also 24 figures are as much as any sane person can paint at a sitting!


Key players

 

Jef


Armies

 

 

Infantry Regiment

Union: officer, 2 sergeants, 2 standards, drummer & 18 privates.

Confederate: officer, 2 sergeants, standard, drummer & 19 privates.

 

Sharpshooters

Officer, sergeant & 6 privates.

 

Cavalry Regiment

Officer, sergeant & 10 privates: dismount to a sharpshooter unit of 8 figures.

 

Artillery

2 x guns & crews with a command base.  Horse artillery is a single gun and crew with a limber.

 

Union Corps Commanders or Confederate Divisional Commanders

1 x figure on a single base.

 

Union Army Generals or Confederate Corps Commanders

1 x figure with one or more ADCs on a single base.

 

Limbers

2 horses and rider on a single base.

 

Suggest Perry Plastics for the bulk with Perry metal, Old Glory 2 and Sash & Sabre for extras.  All are good quality and fit well together.


Rules

Current choice is Howlin' Mobs, a revised set of free rules from Wargames Illustrated.

 

Howlin Mobs v2.1.pdf

 

Howlin Orders.pdf


Basing

 

Infantry: 4 bases of 60mm x 30mm with 4 figures per base and 4 bases of 30mm x 30mm with 2 figures per base.

Sharpshooters and dismounted cavalry: currently individually on pennies, but will rebase soon.

Mounted Cavalry: individually, 20mm wide.  Will be rebased to 60mm x 60mm with 3 figures per base.

Guns: one gun and crew on 60mm x 60mm base.  The command base is 2 figures mounted on a 30x30 base.

Generals: what looks nicest!  I use round bases.

 


Background info

 

Armies, Flags and Uniforms


Notes on Figure Purchase

 

To keep costs down I suggest using Perry plastic figures as much as possible, augmenting with the similar-sized Old Glory 2 or Sash & Sabre (Perry metals too - very nice command sets).  To give some idea of what is involved here is a guide.

 

Perry Plastic - around 50p each

Theoretically, you can use the figures for both sides but I am somewhat anal and like my Yanks in sack coats and Rebs in roundabouts.  I do suggest you dispense with the suggestions for the drummer/standard figure and use metal command figures instead.  The pack gives 33 useable infantry (the officer is rather poor) which breaks down to:

  • 9 marching (sack)
  • 6 firing/loading (sack)
  • 9 marching (roundabout)
  • 9 firing/loading (roundabout)

I tend to take 3 of each of the roundabouts and convert them to sacks with Duro.  It's very easy and gives me more Yanks. Perry are about to release a box of Rebs in Right Shoulder Shift/charging poses as per the Zouaves.

 

Perry Metal - a bit pricey at £1.09 each

But nice! If you want to do some of the more unusual units, these are worth a punt.

 

Old Glory 2 - between 79p and £1 each

Buy a 38-figure regiment pack and fill out gaps with the individual packs. These are the best metal figures for quality and price, in my opinion.

 

Sash & Sabre - between 75 and 80p each

These are a tad smaller than the others, but the cheapest in metal using the regiment packs as above.  The artillery is superb and better than Perry, as is the dismounted cavalry.

 

Limbers

This is the cheapest option and uses the best figures.  Buy the complete Perry limber set and split up the team. Ignore the actual limber, but it does come with a gun which can be employed with Sash & Sabre crews!

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