We set out on the table a huge quantity of Bob Hurst's 30mm ACW forces to try Simon's ACW Gamery (SACWG) rules. Here, 4 stands comprised a regiment, and 3 regiments formed a brigade. Each side then took 150 points and divided them into two parameters: Rally (R) The percentage chance to return troops in the rally zone to their units on the field. Morale (M) After being targeted in the fire phase, this was the percentage chance to hold position. Fred Haub and I, as Yankee commanders, chose an R factor of 80 and an M of 70. In the firing and melee procedures, stands didn't "die"... instead all casualties, as accumulated, were sent to the off-table rally zone, where at the end of the bound, a rally phase took place. With our rally factor, R, of 80, we tested for each stand in the rally zone, which had an 80 percent chance to come back on the field. If the stand failed its rally test, it was then that it 'died', and was removed form the game. When traveling to Texas, I had placed in my bag a quantity of 30mm ACW casualty figures to be used in this game. Prior to the game, I tossed a handful of figures to the opposition and kept a few for our own use. When units were hit, they received a number of casualty figures depending upon the severity of the impact, and an accumulation of 3 figures sent one stand to the rally zone. About half-way through the game, I noted that Confederate Commander Fred Hubig was sorting through all the figures... it turned out that I had given both sides an assortment of Union and Confederate casualty figures. Whenever one of my own units was hit, I merely placed a figure beside it, with no thought as to whether or not the uniform was colored blue or gray. General Hubig, however, a devotee of realism, couldn't stomach this historical anomaly, and insisted that all his casualties have gray uniforms. One of the ploys used in the SACWG rules was a 'bidding phase', each bound, to determine the side with the initiative. Each turn, each side was given three cards out of deck of 20. The cards were numbered from 1 to 20, and the sides played one of their cards to win the initiative. The high numbered bidder won and moved and fired all of his troops. Then the lower bidder moved and fired all of his troops. This left each player with 2 of the original 3 cards, and another bid was made. Again the high bid won, and this time, only a single brigade could move and fire, while the lower bidder did nothing... this was, in essence, a bonus move for the high bidder, and the low bidder simply stood there. In this bidding sequence, it sometimes paid to lose the first bid, and let the other side win the initiative, and keep your really high card for the second bonus move.. About the only troublesome item with the rules concerned the actual sequence. When the high bidder won the initial initiative and moved up, I had permitted the other side, the low bidder, a round of defensive fire. But since the low bidder was to move and fire immediately thereafter, this turned out to be 'too much firing'. Too much of good thing is too much. More Buncha Games Introduction Bridge Crossing Haubilization Game Crossfires and Pop-Ups Command Control American Civil War Mighty Fortress Back to PW Review May 1998 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1998 Wally Simon 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