American Civil War - The Beginning
29 November 2021
I have begun to think about the American Civil War and whether I can create a set of rules using the the Building Rules for Gaming Battle. I also want to back up our claim that it is all about the base sizes and not the amount of figures on them that count.
After doing Blore Heath, a Wars of the Roses battle in 10mm, I bought some more WOTR troops to round out the armies. I needed to undercoat them and get them ready for my next set of rules, currently in the proof-reading process.
At the same time, I wanted to take the opportunity to undercoat my American Civil War troops as well. I thought I might do a 15mm scale game but I needed to check out what was on offer - and there were plenty to choose from.
With my waning painting skills, the troops I would buy needed to be easy to paint, and good solid figures with a reasonable price per base.
In the end, I chose the Peter Pig range 15mm ACW figures - Union and Confederate (peterpig.co.uk).
I had also done my basing work by using blu-tack (strangely appearing white in the photos below) and performed some pre-gluing setups that gave me 12 Infantry per base and four per base for Cavalry.
At £3.50 for 8 infantry or 4 Cavalry, that gave me a cost per base (not including the base) of £5.25 for Infantry and £3.50 for Cavalry.
This was a good level of price per base for me and for the rules I have planned in my head. This works out to a grand total of £28, where I have roughly a Brigade at Regimental scale or a Division at Brigade scale (Rules dependant) with attendant Cavalry Regiments or Brigades.
This is my Union Cavalry base with 2 bases of Infantry.
And this is my two bases of Confederate Infantry with a base of Cavalry.
Having gone and purchased some more troops to give me a working army I based them as per my plan.
I now have enough troops to model the following troops:
The Confederates
Divisional Scale - Magruder’s Corps
McLaw’s Division - 2 Bases
Artillery - 1 Field Artillery Base
DR Jones Division - 3 Bases, 1 Field Artillery Base
Cavalry Division - 2 Bases
Brigade Scale - Ewells Division
Forno’s Brigade - 3 Bases
Trimble’s Brigade - 2 Bases
Divisional Artillery - 1 Light Art Base, 1 SB Heavy
Cavalry Brigade - 2 Bases
The Union
Divisional Scale - 8th Corp Crooks “AoWV”
1st Division (Thoburn) - 2 Bases
3rd Division (Custer) - 2 Bases
Artillery - 2 Field Artillery Bases
Cavalry Division - 2 Bases
Brigade Scale - Augers Division
Princes Brigade - 2 Bases
Greene’s Brigade - 2 Bases
Artillery - 1 Rifle Heavy Base, 1 SB Heavy
Cavalry Brigade - 2 Bases
This will give me a good spread of scales and troops to playtest with.