There is some concern among American Civil War wargamers as to which of the many sets of rules for this period to use. Of the two major "schools of thought" on the subject of wargame design, one proposes statistical methods of operational analyses; the other approaches the wargame as a subjective concept, or as a personal vision. These two extremes are crosscut and often confused by the amount of random factors or chance that is used in achieving design objectives. The end results range from complex and detailed simulations of human behavior in the historical past to simple games of pure chance with few details and little sophistication. Of the three usual categories of miniature wargames -- skirmish, tactical and grand tactical -- only the latter two have rulebooks devoted solely to the American Civil War period. While of interest to many, skirmishlevel games are not the best way to explore the tactics and battles of the ACW. Even so, a fantastic variety of game systems and rulebooks exist. Many gamers keep looking for "the perfect set of rules" or trying to design them. It might be wise to remember that in the search for perfection, "It is the mark of the instructed mind to rest satisfied with that degree of precision which the subject allows and not to seek exactness where only an approximation of the Truth is possible." -- Aristotle, Poetics. American Civil War Wargaming One of the most appealing of the tactical games is Terrance Wise's American Civil War Wargaming: Airfix Magazine Guide 24, the only hard-bound set of rules devoted solely to the American Civil War wargame. This book benefits from low cost and includes a wealth of background data on Civil War tactics and unit organization. The rules were written for the popular HO (20mm) scale Airfix figures although other scales could be used. A man:figure ratio of 25:1 was selected to enable a company of fifty men to be represented by a stand of two castings. Ten such stands represent an average (Confederate) regiment of 500 men. Game scale is 1 mm:1 yard. The compression of physical space in the horizontal dimension thus achieved means that terrain is condensed; a few trees become a forest, and a few buildings, a village. Base size is 1/2" per figure for infantry, and 1" per figure for cavalry. Artillery batteries are represented by a single gun casting on a triangular base 55mm wide for a four gun battery and 82mm wide for a sixgun battery. Time is scaled down to two-and-one-half minutes of battle action per turn. Movement rates are given as per the optimistic 1860 U.S. drill manual. An infantry formation of two ranks in open order in line can move 150mm per turn. Cavalry in the same formation can double that. Column and charge moves can extend that distance and so can skirmishers. There are negative modifiers applied to movement distances due to the effects of terrain. Troops are classified as to experience level into three groups; Veterans, Experienced, and Recruits for purposes of fire, melee and reaction tests. There are firing tables for the various small-arms including the better makes of rifle-muskets used by Zouaves and the short bows used by Native American allies. Firing is a simple process involving no dice rolling. The effective range to target in mms is cross-referenced to the firer and weapon type to give a number of casualties as a percentage of the number of firers. The indicated number of castings is automatically removed. Artillery fire doesn't require dicing either. Range is estimated by the firer who must also declare the type of ammunition being used. The estimated range is measured and deviation of shot and shell allowed for. Casualties are removed along the roll of shot or pattern of shell scatter. Mechanical devices are used to determine the above as well as the pattern of cannister for close-range fire. These devices must be constructed before play. Success with this system takes some practice or luck in judging distances on the game table. Casualties are highly predictable. Melees are handled as individual combats, just the same as in a skirmish game. Each pair of combatants is diced for, melee modifiers for experience -- morale level applied, and the high score wins. Melee continues until one side is eliminated or is able to disengage. Reforming is necessary after melee and takes one full turn. Melee phases can be long. Morale is not difficult but requires that the players keep accurate records of the morale situation for each unit in their commands. Every officer, NCO and man in a unit is given a point value, Os and NCOs are worth more than privates. As casualties are taken, the points they represent are deducted from the unit morale level until a given point is reached when the unit breaks. Order writing is necessary. Charges are declared before movement. Optional rules cover weather, fog of war, visibility, unit markers and dummy units. There is a surprising amount of detail for such a small rules book, enough to satisfy detail-oriented historical gainers. The mechanical devices work well and are interesting to gamers who have never used such things. The rules are quick and the only slow periods come in the man-to-man melees. Casualties mount up fast admittedly, these are bloody rules. The artillery deviations and melee procedures provide the only elements of chance in this game system. Rally 'Round the Flag By S. Craig Taylor is another tactical level simulation designed for brigade organizations. Man:figure ratio is an elastic 20 or 25:1. Gamescale is 1" equals 25 yards. Time scale is described as what can be done in two minutes of battle and twenty minutes of "waste time." Rally is written for 25mm figures, and the later editions include conversions to enable use of 15mm figures, but these are not much good. Base sizes for 25mm castings are derived from a frontage of about 1/2" per infantry figure and 5/8" per cavalry. One artillery gun casting equals a two gun section. Artillery sections have a stand frontage of 1 7/8", a standard size for the infantry and cavalry as well. Taylor runs into problems converting these sizes for 15mm figures. His solution of dividing base size by 50% just doesn't work for the 15mm figures I tried; especially such items as artillery pieces. Rally doesn't use written orders to control its simultaneous movement system, in fact there is no command control at all. General officers serve only for morale purposes. Units are free to wander the battlefield reacting to the opposition's moves or their own inclinations. What a lark for those that hate overly restrictive rules! Movement rates are given for the three arms by type of formation; line, column, and charge. The speeds for infantry are slow: 4, 6 and 10 inches for line, column and charge respectively. Cavalry travels 6, 12, and 24 inches under parallel conditions. A penalty is paid for moving in rough terrain. Infantry pays with 3 inches of movement for every two inches moved, cavalry spends an extra 3" to move one inch. Ridiculously enough, a typo in the rules seems to indicate that 15mm figures pay the same penalties although their movement speeds are only 50% of 25mm speeds, obviously the penalties are halved also. Firing is performed using range and fire tables. Firing is a two-step procedure for both small-arms and artillery. Range to target and weapon type is crossreferenced to a basic casualty table number. Modifiers can change this positively or negatively. A six-sided die is rolled and the number obtained gives the number of casualties on the proper table. There are special tables for specific targets such as artillery and charging enemies. Melee uses a similar procedure to determine casualties. Basic melee factors add up to a table number, a die is rolled to determine casualties. After melee casualties are removed, morale is checked until all contact between participating bases is broken, ending melee. Morale is checked by determining the morale value of the unit to be checked and rolling two six- sided dice. If the sum is greater than the numerical morale value, the unit fails, and routs. Morale is checked whenever a unit suffers a casualty, and following melee. There are four morale or experience grades; elite, crack, regular and green. Even green units are a fairly tough"6"grade. Rallying routed units requires no dicing. The unit is automatically rallied if it does nothing in the move after it routs. Facing changes are allowed in the following turn. The unit is rallied then if it is not forced to retreat again. Advanced and optional rules cover supply wagons and ammunition supply, sharpshooters, lancers, gunboats, point value army selection, communications, chain of command, entrenchment, duels, more morale rules, hidden units and movements, night moves, weather, strategic moves, railroads, balloons and more. There is much to be recommended here for the beginning player: basic rules with a low degree of complexity, and optional rules that can be added when experience is gained. For the experienced player interested in a higher degree of rules complexity or 15mm simulations, the search goes on. Rules for Wargames: The American Civil War A third set of rules for tactical level play is T.J. Halsall's Rules for Wargames: The American Civil War. Slightly more expensive than Rally 'Round the Flag and 15 pages longer, this game system apparently owes much to the popular WRG Ancients set of rules. Each rule is presented in highly detailed style with a higher level of complexity than either of the previously considered tactical games. Man:figure ratio is 20:1. Artillery castings represent a four-gun battery for either side. Game scale is 1" to 30 yards. Two minutes of battle are covered in each move. Individual dismounted figures would have a half inch of frontage per figure and 3/4 " base depth. Mounted figures are standed on bases with twice as much room. At the given game scale, Halsall's men have more frontage than either Wise or S. Craig Taylor assigned their formations The sequence of play is conventional with a few twists. Orders must be written prior to the game to fix game objectives and victory conditions. Move orders are required before each turn for every unit or sub- unit. Units may split into sub-units or reform as the tactical situation allows. The movement sequence begins with charge declarations and charge moves to cont~r movement follows. At this point Halsall deviates from previous basic steps to determine "disorganization factors'. A unit accumulates DFs by moving too far, too fast. DFs mount quickly and are also accumulated as a result of fire and melee. They add on quickly and affect a unit's ability to move, fire, and melee. DF levels of each unit must be recorded and kept close track of during the game. Fire follows movement and there are tables for small arms, machine guns and artillery. A casualty factor is found from appropriate tables and the number of firers cross-referenced to find the number of casualties. Dice rolling is not necessary to determine casualties. One casting is removed whenever the body count reaches 20. Odd casualties are carried forward (must be recorded) or diced for as a percentage of 20. Both artillery and small arms are considered to have unlimited ammunition during the game. Melee follows firing and is another two-step procedure. Casualties are determined by an appropriate table, again without the roll of dice. Units then check reaction. If casualties are equal, the melee is continued in the next turn; otherwise, the loser is the side with the most losses. Halsall's rules are very complete, with only a few rough spots, e.g., artillery representation. Overall, the rules are rather boring, with few illustrations or exciting new solutions to the old problems. But they are useful, except for 15mm gainers. JEB! The only other set of tactical rules you might want to try is Scotty Bowden's JEB! Although no longer available in game stores (Alas!), it presented some fresh rethinking of both game mechanics and theory. The end product is a game with a percentile combat resolution system that definitely emphasizes morale factors over casualties. Man: figure ratio is 20:1. Each artillery casting represents a two-gun section. Game scale is 1":20 yards. Each turn of play equals 15 minutes of battle. Infantry is mounted four figures to a base 5cm x 2cm. Cavalry is based two figures to a 4cm x 4cm stand. Artillery sections have a 3.33cm frontage. An unique percentile dice system uses two six-sided dice, of different colors. The dice roll is read as a percentage; 11-16, 21-26 . . . 61-66. To this basic percentage is added or subtracted various modifiers to give a final percentage from O to 100. It is a good idea, if one that has been superceded by the twenty-sided dice systems. The organization of the rules is relatively conventional. There are four morale or experience classes termed "eliteness" categories; namely, green, regular, elite and crack. A point value system is used to form up sides for the game. Sequence of play is the standard orders, move, fire, melee and morale. Movement distances are generous, well proportioned to a game turn representing 15 minutes of battle. Formed infantry can move 12" or charge 22" in open field. Cavalry has four speeds; walk, trot, gallop and charge. Units are treated as either full or half-units for purposes of fire combat, depending on the number of effectives in the unit. Since it is not necessary to count each firer, small arms firing can be done quickly. To determine casualties, the firers are grouped into one of three categories depending on their experience and weapons. These groups are cross-referenced with range to target on the small arms fire table and the dice are rolled, with appropriate modifiers, to determine casualties. The table is not very bloody, a full regiment of Sharpshooters firing at close range can only predictably take two casualties from a target and have a chance at a third by rolling 26 or more with the two dice. Under the same conditions, a regiment using the tables given by Wise would eliminate at least nine castings using Sharps'rifles. Artillery fire is similarly bloodless. Ammunition type is ignored, the firer is always considered to be using the most appropriate load for the circumstances. Yet, a 32 par. smoothbore would have to roll 16 or better to cause a single casualty, at close range. Moreover, each section of artillery is limited to ten rounds of fire in any one game. There is no provision for extra supply. The low casualty rate ensures that charges will have a very good chance of going home. Charge to melee is a nine step procedure beginning with order writing and charge declarations at the start of the turn. Supporting artillery fire may be declared by both attacker and defender. The attacker rolls on a charge results table to continue. The defender receives fire and checks morale, returning fire if still unbroken. The attacker may have to check morale if he's taken a casualty. If all goes well for him, melee is fought, losses determined and results applied. If neither side breaks as a result of melee, morale checks are continued until one does, terminating melee. There are two kinds of morale checks; a ten percent casualty loss causes one, the various stressful events of the battlefield cause order obedience checks. Morale modifiers are the usual plus and minuses for such things as secure flanks. JEB! plays fast and well, due in large part to the efficient game mechanics and the elimination of such tasks as counting firers. The charge-melee sequence is the most complex part of the rules. Casualties are on the low side for strict comparison with historical records, I just don't believe that a regiment could charge an entire section of artillery from 440 yards and not take more than 20 casualties except in the oddest of circumstances. Still, JEB! seems to work well and has more virtues than flaws. It is the favorite tactical level game of many ACW wargamers. It's a pity it's no longer available in retail stores. Maybe Empire Games is getting up a second edition, utilizing twenty-sided dice and other new ideas. Blue-Light Manual Edward Pauley's Blue-Light Manual is an anomaly. Its odd combination of game scales makes it difficult to fit into either tactical or grand tactical categories. The game scale of 1mm = 2 feet works out to the largest base and unit frontages of any tactical game, and is almost down to skirmish scale. The sheer size and complexity of the rules detail also make Blue-Light unique. No other set of rules even approaches its 95 pages in length. In terms of pages per dollar it's by far the best buy. The rules are written for the 20 or 25mm figure. Man to casting ratio is 30:1. Artillery sections of two guns are represented by one gun casting. Each turn represents one- half hour of battle time. These are grand tactical proportions, but if you're going to deploy corps or armies you're going to need a BIG table with the 1 " = 50' game scale. Base sizes are LARGE. Four infantry figures are on a 3" x 4/5" base. Cavalry is two-up on 2" x 1-4/5" stands; artillery are on 2" x 2" bases. The rules are divided into three parts; basic, optional and historical additions. The sequence of play is slightly different from the norm. Each turn begins with orders, called "MDOs", an acronym for "Movement and Disposition Orders." Orders are required each turn for every stand in play. Simultaneous movement follows, beginning with retreats, if any. Artillery can then fire cannister or counter- battery fire. Small arms fire follows by all dismounted troops and mounted cavalry. Artillery can then fire shot or shell if it hasn't already fired. Melee is resolved and the turn ends with a morale check and the removal of demoralized figures. Each of the three arms has three movement speeds. Only the slowest speed tan be used without restrictions. Much detail is given to formations, and certain formations can add bonuses to movement. There is a new movement category in Blue-Light, the movement adjustment. Movement adjustment is defined as minor facing or lateral movements to avoid obstacles. Such adjustments may be performed before, during or after regular movements. Additionally there are special adjustments; for example, back stepping, side stepping and the about face. Firing is overly complex for this level of tactical- grand tactical play. One die is rolled for each figure firing at the same target. Infantry and artillery may roll up to four dice in one "toss", cavalry two dice. The toss is summed, converted by chart into a "Casualty Code Number", modifiers applied and the result multiplied by two and divided by ten to give the number of casualties. Fractions are mercifully dropped. If only 100 castings fire per turn, that's 25 tosses and sets of calculations -- you've got to like to toss dice! Morale is simple in comparison. At the end of a turn in which the typical regiment suffers its eighth casualty, a die is rolled and the number obtained is referenced to a table to find the number of figures demoralized. These are removed. After that, morale is rechecked at the end of every turn in which even one casualty is suffered until twelve have been lost. Then morale is checked every turn until the unit is eliminated or retreats off board. The exact schedule varies by experience level and type of arm. Melee proceeds as follows: stands may be adjusted after contact; there is pre-melee fire; casualties are assessed for shock combat, the loser is determined and the melee results table is consulted to determine the loser's reaction. Fire, melee and morale are all affected by the caliber or experience of the troops involved. Three groups are specified, elite, standard and sub- standard. Elites receive bonus modifiers and sub- standard units are penalized. Command stands for brigade, division, corps and army may also add to morale and are also used to rally retreating troops. There are optional rules to cover just about every possible contingency from weather to siege artillery. Historical additions explain the use of militia, legions, and other special organizations and weapons. A couple of play aids are included to help with artillery fire and to keep a detailed record of units during the game. This a definitive attempt at ACW rules design. It has tried to include everything, however, there is no provisions for 15mm play. The amount of information, detail and complexities of play make it a kind of challenge to use. It works, but slowly. For the 15mm gamer, there are no ready-to-use rules in the tactical scale level of play. In fact, the only set of rules useable with 15s is also the only clearly grand tactical level simulation. Perhaps that's fitting. Stars 'n' Bars Stars 'n' Bars, Scotty Bowden's grand tactical ACW simulation proclaims to be more than a game; it is a "historical simulation". Overall, it's the longest book at 146 pages, but only 60 of those are rules. The rest is historical information, orders of battle, biographies of the generals of both sides & etc. The book is set Man:figure ratio is 40:1. The rules and the game scales are written for both 25mm and 15mm figures, but all information given here will be for the 25mms. Gamescale is 1~=32 yards. Each turn represents 15 to 20 minutes of battle. One artillery casting represents a section of two guns. Base size for infantry is a stand 11/4" wide x 1" deep, on which can be mounted from 3 to 5 castings at the whim of the player. Due to the depth of the stand size, this is adequate for even the bulkiest 25mms or 15mms. The first important concept introduced in this game system is that of command control. Every commander divisional and above has a "Command Control Rating" or "CCR". There are four such ratings from poor to superior to represent the leader's ability to control the troop formations under his command. Units not under control can only move or stop moving by following a dicing procedure and a response table. These CCRs need to be determined before beginning play. Commanders set up terrain and deploy troops before play begins. This is followed by a grand tactical planning session during which general battle objectives are set and the players have ten minutes in which to write grand tactical orders for their respective units. The sequence of play for each turn begins with a 3 minute order writing phase. Then facing or formation may be altered followed by charge declarations. Movement follows, followed in turn by artillery and small arms fire. A morale check is then made on each unit that took casualties from small arms or artillery. Close action is resolved and morale checks are made on units affected by broken or routed units. The final phase sees attempts at rallying routed units. The instructions for order writing seem somewhat ambiguous. There is instruction as to what cannot be written, but little about what exactly should be included. Apparently, all that need be noted down are indications of the basic mission each brigade and above is assigned. Orders can be changed at the beginning of every turn for units which are both under control and not committed to battle. Once committed, a unit must follow its orders unless they are changed. The normal delays met in changing a unit's orders after that unit is in combat can only be circumvented by the exposure of a high command stand to the dangers of combat. A front-line commander is going to run a lot of risks to change his orders. Movement is generous, as in JEB!, and extended moves are always possible, at the risk of disorder in the ranks. This is in addition to the usual non- combat move which can also be extended at the same increased risk of disorder. Disorder can come about through movement or morale loss. Disorder reduces the ability of a unit to move, pass morale checks, engage in fire combat or melee. Once disordered, a unit remains so affected for the rest of the turn, the unit may rally in the next turn if it does not engage in any other activity. Small arms fire is calculated in two steps by finding the unit's morale rating, the number of castings firing, and any modifiers. These determine a percentage cross-referenced with range for the percentage possibility of casualties and morale loss to the target. Two twenty sided dice are then rolled to determine casualties and morale loss. There is a small degree of predictability to the procedure, especially at close range with repeaters. Artillery fire is limited by ammunition supply. This is limited for each turn and for each game by "fire points" assigned to each section by weanOn tvue, and historical sides. A Union 12 par. Napoleon has 45 points to expend per game, and can expend up to 7 points per turn. Otherwise, artillery fire is conventional. The points to be used are announced, range to target is determined, percentage chance to hit figures and two twentysided dice rolled to finalize the procedure. Losses here cause morale checks which, if passed, are followed by close action, another two- step process. Both sides dice to determine morale losses to their opponent on the close action table. The side suffering the largest loss is the loser; or if the losses are equal, the winner is the side with the highest morale level. The winner rolls on a results table to determine casualties and the reaction of the loser. Optional rules cover brigade level morale, surprise, exploding Parrott guns, sniping at General officers with cannons and etc. There are no rules for gunboats, railroads or siege artillery. Stars 'n' Bars central point is the element of morale. Morale classifications here termed "training levels" are the same categories called "eliteness ratings" in JEB! These are assigned numerical ratings called "Unit Combat Morale Ratings" or "UCMs". This rating can be adjusted before play by a random dice roll. It is necessary to check morale whenever a unit suffers any UCM loss, except in close action. A unit checks morale by determining its current UCM after all loss and cross-referencing on a UCM table for a percentage number. Modifiers apply to the dice roll. If the dice roll, after modification, is the percentage indicated, or lower, the unit fails. Units that fail roll again on a severity table to determine the reaction from simple disorder to rout. Careful records keeping is necessary to keep track of current UCMs, artillery fire points and possibly, small arms ammunition. Aside from typos, a slight ambiguity, and a tendency towards over-complexity, Stars 'n' Bars is a remarkable work. Its challenging new applications of grand tactical game mechanics remain playable, if not as smooth as the earlier Bowden ACW effort, JEB! It is a delight for the player interested in historical simulations; it's also rather mind-boggling for the average schmoe. You can't really learn it all in one afternoon. In sum, all of the game systems we looked at shared a similar sequence of play; (orders), movement, fire, melee, morale. Some relied on chance factors to determine casualties and morale; others used cut and dried tables to give average losses with dicing. All of them tended to add a bit of complexity of detail to make the game reflect historical record, some more than others. They all have a lot to offer the ACW gamer. Fact is, there isn't much in the way of an alternative to the traditional sequenced wargame. At least, there aren't any published alternatives with the scope and sophistication of even the simplest game system examined. You might want to check out the "randommove-system" that L.V. Brom mentioned back in Courier VI-3. It was expanded into a playable, if unsophisticated game by Walter Simon and published in Wargamer's Digest for March and April, 1978. This system leads away from the predictable game systems and builds up to a level of "fog" that can upset careful expectations on the part of player-commanders. The experimental player could design his own game around an idea like this, and come up with a game utilizing the game design elements he likes best, or what seems to work best for his kind of game. That's where new rulebooks start. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bowden, Scott 1975 JEB! Arlington, Texas: Arlington Printers. 1979 Stars 'n' Bars. Arlington, Texas: Empire Games. Halsall, T.J. The American Civil War. Dallas, Texas: Heritage Models, 1976. Pauley, Edward. The Blue-Light Manual. Roslyn, New York: Fantasy Games Unlimited, 1977. Taylor, S. Craig. Rally 'Round the Flag. Dallas, Texas: Heritage Models, 1978. Wise, Terrance. American Civil War Wargaming. Cambridge, England: Patrick Stephens, 1977. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. 1 #6 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1980 by The Courier Publishing Company. 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