1. Command Radius Fire & Fury assumes that all Corps and Divisional leaders have the same radius, i.e. 18". To reflect a decreasing range of command, a general rule is to have the Corpa leader's radius remain at 18", but the Divisional leaders radius to be 12". Another more random approach is to use the above radius range but then roll a D6 and apply the following resu1ts: 1 take off 12" radius 2 take off 6" radius 3-5 leave as is 6 add 6" This can help to create a range of leaders found in the ACW, ranging from Earl Van Dorn or Fraz Sigel as an (E) Corps commander but only with a 6" command radiua, to a Stonewall Jackson as an (E) Divisional leader with 18" command radius. 2. Initial volley. Quite often the first volley fired by a unit was the most effective. This was due to a number of factors but the most important was that after the first controlled volley, most fire fights became a mass of individuals loading and firing as fast as they could. An example of this is that after Gettysburg, almost half of the musekets retrieved by the Union had two or more rounds in the muzzle. To reflect the greater weight of fire of the first volley, when a unit fires for the first time it receives a + 1 modifier to the dice roll. 3. Effective range. In the ACW a lot of fighting took place at close distances. In Paddy Griffith's book, Rally Once Again he tabulates a number of ranges at which the fire fights happened. Out of 113 references the average range was 127 yards, or just under 2 inches in Fire & Fury. To encourage (diacourage?) people from getting into close quarters, units at ranges of under 2 inches receive a + 1 modifier. 4. Hand Hauling Artillery One aspect Fire & Fury does not cover is moving artillery once unlimbered (i.e. hand hauling). To hand haul artillery costs 2 actions, that is, the gun can be moved 2 inches and have free facing change. Another option is to have a gun which is attached to an infantry or dismounted cavalry unit be able to move up to 3 inches. Normal positioning rules still apply, so a gun cannot hand-haul itself outside its commanders' command radius. 5. Hasty Works The movie Red Badge of Courage has some good scenes of a unit moving up to the battle, (even when there were no enemy units in sight). As soon as the regiment stopped, they would start digging pits and dragging logs and such up to their position. If a unit wants to build itself some hasty works, it cannot move or fire that turn. To see if the unit was suecessful, roll a D10, on a roll of 9+. If it builds enough works to cover its frontage, the die roll is modified by +1 for each consecutive attempt and +1 for crack troops. This counts as -1 modifier when fired upon. Back to The Zouave Vol VII No. 4 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 The American Civil War Society 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