Paul Koch's "On to Richmond" rules set for A.C.W. miniatures ranked second on the Society's applications as the most used rules set among our members. Paul states in his introduction to the rules that he was inspired to write OTR because of his personal frustration with the tedious and complicated rules sets then available for the ACW gamer. OTR was published in 1983 and has withstood the test of time to become a very popular rules set indeed. I might add that I have corresponded both by letter and telephone with Paul concerning rules interpretations and clarifications and have been very happy with his timely replies and helpfulness.
The OTR rules are perfect for those of us who like to be nothing less than a corps commander. The basic unit is the brigade for infantry or cavalry and each artillery unit represents 12 guns. Each brigade is composed of a number of stands, each stand representing 300 men. The ground scale is one inch equals fifty yards and each turn simulates about thirty minutes of action. Each step of casualties causes a unit to lose a stand of figures, which is nice because you don't have to have your figures mounted specifically for OTR to use it.
The movement system utilizes a random card draw system to determine the order in which the Divisions of the combatant armies are moved and fired during each turn, each Division being represented in the deck by a card. Any or all of the units of a particular Division can move, fire, or do whatever else is allowed as stipulated in the rules when its card is drawn from the deck. The cards are re-shuffled at the end of each turn to provide a different movement order for the upcoming turn. This is obviously quite a bit different from the simultaneous movement systems commonly used by other miniatures rules sets and is probably the most controversial aspect of the rules. Players will either hate it because it is so different or love it for its simplicity. I am fond of it and particularly like to use the card system for my solitaire games.
Fire onto an enemy unit will cause one of the following three results: no effect; a morale marker and disorder; or a kill, a morale marker and disorder. A unit is disordered as long as it carries a morale marker with it and this makes it more vulnerable to additional enemy fire. A morale marker can be removed by two different methods: by a commander's use of one of his morale passes or by the unit rolling on the morale table. A morale marker must be removed prior to the unit moving or doing anything else. If the morale table is used, the results can vary from rout, withdraw one or two moves, advance 45 degrees to the right or left of the unit's current facing, to an uncontrolled advance called a "revenge move". Units in cover can ignore any mandatory forward movement results. Once the battle has been joined, a commander can find himself losing control of his forces as he runs out of free morale passes and his units are forced to roll on the often disasterous morale table. The better a leader's quality, the more free morale passes he is allowed, but even the best quickly deplete their supply and are forced to the morale table as a consequence.
Troops can be Green, Regular, Veteran or Elite and each type is assigned a combat value (CV) accordingly, which is used in determining whether or not it can successfully carry its charge home against a defending unit and also in determining its melee strength. The rules contain charts which can be used to determine the morale grades and CV of all the units in the respective armies randomly and with reasonable historical accuracy.
Smoothbore artillery is often quite deadly at canister range, but not otherwise a great killer. Rifled guns have the same killing potential at 1500 yards as at canister range, which seems suspect. Small arms fire effectiveness does not vary with range, a simplistic approach that many gamers will be unable to accept, but this can be easily corrected with the addition of a few modifiers. Fire effect is modified by a number of logical conditions and repeaters are handled simply and realistically.
One strange procedure contained in the rules is that a unit which has suffered casualties can withdraw from enemy fire range and attempt to rebuild its strength back to that at which it began the battle. This is not consistent with the lethality of the weapons of the period and should be given some additional thought and revised accordingly.
Let me say that OTR is a very flexible rules set and if the gamer doesn't like something about the modifiers, etc., it can be easily altered to suit his personal tastes. I'm sure that there are many modified versions of OTR in use around the country today. Several articles in "The Courier" have contained new ideas and optional rules for OTR. Also, Paul Koch has agreed to provide answers to any OTR questions that our members may have, and these will appear in future issues of "The Zouave".
In conclusion, I found OTR to be very playable and enjoyable, and the rules set definitely accomplishes its goal of allowing gamers to refight large ACW battles to a conclusion in a reasonable amount of time. In my opinion, any brigade level rules set loses some of the feel and flavor that we have come to know and love about "Johnny Reb" and other regimental level rules sets, and this, then, is the sacrifice that the gamer must decide if he is willing to make in order to adequately enjoy a brigade level rules set. For any gamer who is willing to make this slight sacrifice, however, I heartily recommend OTR.
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© Copyright 1987 The American Civil War Society
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