Touched with Fire
Miniature Rules

Review by James Morris


Yes, another set of Civil War rules with something "new". How many times have I heard this before? Well, this time it's true. Roy Ragsdill's Touched with Fire is one of those rare rules sets that seem so simple and yet encompass so much. While the concepts are complex, the mechanics are straight forward and they feel just right.

What I want from a wargame is a sense of historical validity and just enough complication to provide an absorbing competition with like-minded friends. Can you remember the close game that you won or lost because of how you handled your troops, and not through some glitch in the rules? With five years of playtesting, arguing, trying, and erring, I can say with all honesty that TWF gives me this blend. It is a game that plays well and gives a sense of the tone and spirit of Civil War battle.

Touched with Fire is a grand tactical rules system for the American Civil War, and it uses a ground scale of 1"/100 yards and a figure scale of 1 figure/70 men. Basic units are brigades and batteries with single figures division and corps commanders. Only ten pages of rules and a two-page quick sheet make the rules easy to learn. We chose TWF because of our group's frustration with the currently available sets of rules. But with TWF, whole new concepts start with basic ideas. Order writing is eliminated and command control problems are simulated through division commander activation tied to commander ratings. This gives the non-phasing player a limited ability to react during an opponent's move, avoiding some of the artificial feel of a move/countermove system. The ability to change formation becomes more difficult with the nearness of the enemy and the type of change desired.

A very short (2") command radius for division commanders forces a maneuvering division to remain fairly compact if units are not to drop by the wayside of an advance; yet, this is no problem for the division strung out in a defensive line. A favorite rule of mine is the "withdraw from close contact" option when the enemy closes to within a hundred yards (1"). Just as things look desperate, one can make a successful fighting withdrawal (both sides take a hit). Of course, if one fails to pull it off (from a bad die roll), one could witness the sorry sight of his troops streaming to the rear in disorder.

TWF makes its greatest conceptual leaps in two areas: it eliminates separate melee phase and systems, and it changes the way units anticipate flank threats, critically affecting tactics and morale. Melee, an unusual historical event in the Civil War anyway (especially at the brigade level), is handled abstractly by means of the increasingly dicey morale check when enemy units are within one hundred yards (1") of each other. Things become tense at that range and big things happen. The outcome depends heavily on one's tactical finesse in taking pains with flank support, terrain, and reserves.

TWF's flank threat and support rules were inspired largely by the excellent work of historian Peter Cozzins (No Better Place to Die: The Battle of Stones River and This Terrible Sound: The Battle of Chickamauga). Casualty rates are high and the subsequent morale effects are devastating; that is, things can become catastrophic in a hurry.

Wargaming is a hobby with many facets and pleasing everybody is tough. We must look at what we are trying to get out of a game from both intellectual and emotional standpoints. It can be agreed on by most historical gamers that we seek competition that pits people and teams against each other in a controlled historical "what if" context. Touched with Fire brings back the fun in gaming with a sense of balance between simplicity of play and historical appeal that I haven't seen in a long time. I think you'll like it.

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© Copyright 1995 The American Civil War Society

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