Skipping a Period

American Civil War

by Ian Barstow

Whilst the Napoleonic Wars offer a multitude of gaming options many people still crave a good "Second Period" which they can regularly go to as a change and which is worth expending the time and money on building up troops. Ironically the most suitable (arguably) is a war which lasted a quarter of the length of the Short One's campaigns and had only two sides. Which one? Needless to say those streetwise amongst you have already spotted that I am writing about that most currently in vogue period, The American Civil War. There has not been a better time in the last 10 years to be interested in this conflict. Books galore, manufacturers in all three major scales and a general interest within the ranks of the hobby. Plenty of people have written about straight ACW gaming but what is there in it for us Napoleonic buffs? As a back-up period I would suggest plenty. Ask yourself what you require of a secondary period. Easy to research, different from your main period but with enough of a similarity to attract you in the first place, plenty of top hole figures and a limited number of sides. The ACW comes out in front on all counts. Being as it's the only really good war the Americans have had on their own they have not surprisingly covered it in very great detail. Practically all of these works are available here and for the most part they are written very well and very intelligently. I would particularly recommend Shelby Foote's trilogy The Civil War, although I will admit to skipping the political bits, as an excellent and readable account of the campaigns. The major difference between the troop types of the two periods is the European conscript is replaced by the American volunteer. This in itself is enough to alter the whole outlook of the troops, but when you combine this with the difference in weaponry, the whole nature of the conflict changes. At the base of the war however, is a strong enough similarity to attract the column-and-line fan who can then branch out into the period if that is his want. The best thing for me in the ACW is the fact that there are two sides. It is easily definable. Most Napoleonic wargamers (except for Bonaparte look-alike Kevin Morgan in my group) are quite happy to turn their hand to one of the numerous armies of the period. However go to ACW and everybody appears to be either a Reb or a Yank with an instantaneous loyalty to one or t'other. The good thing is that even if you are a solo gamer then there are only two sides to collect. True, on the surface the uniforms are not as spectacular, but who amongst us fields our Napoleonics in proper campaign dress? Not many, that's for sure. Anyway, with a bit of research you can soon find plenty of novelty zouave and militia uniforms. The resurgence of the period has also led to a real windfall on the figure front. Companies like First Corps in 25mm and Peter Pig and Polly Oliver in 15mm not to mention Adler's cracking ?mm castings are just a handful of what is now available in the period. Old Glory from the USA are now available over here and Minifigs have just redesigned their 15mm ACW range. This is a good time to be into this period. Assuming that as a Napoleonic wallah you fancy giving the ACW a bit of a bash it is worth looking at the comparative troop types. Starting with the infantry everything changed after First Bull Run and Shiloh. The lack of training plus a desire on the part of the average volunteer not to be killed soon meant that column assaults were reserved for desperate situations or pillocks. So you may be in for a shock trying out mass assault columns. The order of the day tends to be Battle Line which is a strung out version of Wellington's old favourite. Combine that with a multitude of skirmishers and that's what your looking at. With the cavalry, everybody has a different theory. The most commonly held belief was that ACW cavalry were not at all up to the calibre of European horse. This may indeed be true in comparison to Cuirassiers and their ilk, but I suspect the early war Confederate cavalry, certainly in the Eastern theatre could have held their own in a light cavalry melee (although the shotguns might have upset the Hussars). Also because generals like Bedford Forrest believed in fighting on foot as a preferred tactic does not mean that cavalry did not charge infantry. On occasion they can and did and there is no reason why on the table a cavalry buff should not use his mounted arm to terrorise the opposition infantry. The problem on a decent ACW battlefield should be the terrain. Woods and fences and hedges should be everywhere, and that as much as anything will limit your tactics. The final arm is of course artillery, which underwent the most dramatic changes simply because of the advancement in technology. The ranges, like with infantry rifles, were as much as quadrupled, but whilst this meant 800 yards for infantry, it could mean 3500 yards for cannon. These two statistics, however, can counter-balance, for whilst your heavy guns can now engage the enemy at an enormous range, close up the infantry can take on gunners from outside effective canister range, making life very unpleasant for unsupported or too aggressively deployed artillery. It can certainly take a few battles to discover and remember to implement all these things but this is as it should be and as it indeed was for the generals themselves. I have already mentioned that battlefield terrain should be a lot more condensed than for the average Napoleonic encounter. This terrain will get amended further by what your volunteers will do to it given half a chance. In the latter half of the ACW you were nobody if you did not have a redoubt. The first thing the defenders, and often the attackers, did was to get out the shovels or whatever and dig in. This is something on the face of it that will put off many gamers, making the latter half of the war seem like part of the Somme (and we all know how popular WWI is) but it should not be so. There is much to challenge you in correctly picking out good defensive terrain and making use of it, particularly in campaign scenarios (what do you mean "I don't like campaigns" - only ONE person I know doesn't like campaigns) whilst attacking such positions can be heart-rending unless you are the sort of general who is prepared to fire through his own troops in order to inflict damaging bounce-through casualties on his kindly opponent. A wargaming period is only as good as the rules available to play it, and unless you like creating your own this is important. The ACW is well off here also. Those who know me will be aware that I am a born-again programmer who solemnly believes that unless it comes out of a computer then it is somehow unplayable. To that end I can wholeheartedly recommend Blood & Iron II from English Computer Wargames (our editor can be currently pictured rolling about on the floor in a combination of anger and gout at me mentioning a rival firm), but truth be told these are simply the best ACW rules in the world - no I'm not kidding - and make those of you who think Fire and Fury is advanced look like Buster Keaton. Not that I am knocking F&F as from what I've seen they are jolly good, but for me it is a case of comparing Dr Who to Star Wars. To save me from the unmitigated wrath of the editors enormity (and I've seen it) I would like to point out that the Eagle Software ACW system is being revamped and will be released soon, although also coming is Blood & Iron III. AAAARRGGHHH..... So, are your brains working by now? Are you thinking that you fancy donning Rebel Grey and giving the Yankees a good hiding? Hopefully this article will have stimulated you to thinking about what could be the best alternative period is for the Napoleonic fan. If you have an opinion then write to the magazine's letters page. Try it, you might like it. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #8 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com