Wednesday 25 March 2020

Alternative Gaming

Off the painting table this weekend  has come the first of what will be four dismounted Union cavalry units. Following the other experimental Civil War units finished a little earlier this year these are based on a single unit base. This particular unit of 9 figures plus a horse holder set (it seems odd to me that the Perrys only included two held horses in this set whereas other sets have three) will represent what I will call a small unit. I know that the horse holders would not be that close to the troopers, but I wanted them all on the one base so I am exercising some artistic license.







The inclusion of this unit in this post creates the perfect segue into the real subject of this post. As the impact of COVID-19 begins to be felt around the world it has sadly intruded into my wargaming space with the suspension of hostilities amongst our gaming groups. And now that we are in lockdown the thought of a total suspension is almost unbearable, especially since I have missed a couple games that has meant that I have only played three games this year, so I have resurrected an campaign idea I had way back in 2013.

The game is based broadly on the Stategy and Tactics game “The American Civil War”. I remember purchasing this some time back in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s and I still have the map and the magazine (somewhere) but the counters are lost and the rules long since disintegrated.


Back in 2013 I was thinking about running an ACW campaign and around that time I had started playing the game Lux DUX on the iPad and the simplicity of their maps appealed to me. I figured with a simplified map and with the basic rule mechanisms that I could recall from the S&T game I could make a pretty good game that would provide a strategic background to tabletop games. So I quickly drew up this map:


I then set about writing the rules, loosely based on the S&T game, the object of which was for a game where the United States player sets out to destroy the Confederate military forces either by destruction of their field armies in battle or by destroying the supply grid. The result of that work can be found here.

The idea of just how to play this as an alternative to table gaming while we try to avoid this insidious virus is to use the strategic component as a play by email campaign. The table top battles give way to a combat resolution system that balances the differences between opposing forces with a die roll. This required a cut down set of rules which are here.

Hopefully I can get this up and running in the next few days and our group members can play a game of sorts. I will provide reports on these pages.

18 comments:

  1. Lovely work on the ACW figures, and a great idea with regard to the email campaign. We have also suspended hostilities for the time being. It's strange as it's only been a week and a half since the last game, but I'm missing it already. As the old adage says, you never fully appreciate what you have got until it's gone.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. Are you guys in lockdown?

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    2. Not fully yet. Schools are still open, but pubs, restaurants and cafes are shut. People are still allowed to go to work, but "encouraged" to work from home. The State borders have been closed. I just wish they would go the whole way now, rather than drip-feeding it.

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    3. We go into lockdown at midnight. We had 48 hours to prepare which was just enough for the Government to actually figure out what is actually required. Into the unknown we plunge!

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  2. Mark, your Federal cavalry vignette is brilliant! Great artistry in the composition. I look forward to seeing reports from your ACW campaign.
    Stay well!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. The next couple of units will be a little larger. You keep safe too. We go into lockdown at midnight.

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  3. Lovely use of pose and animation on those bases.

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  4. Looking forward to participating in this game Mark ...I tried the link to the rules but it said I needed permission to proceed, so I pulled out...do you grant the permission is it some Google Bollox? Amy is off to Sydney tomorrow...first work she has had for a while. She has to PAX over, stay the night, then work SYD -WLG. Stays a night in WLG too then home in a couple of days...

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    1. I changed the link permissions. Good to hear that Amy has a TOD.

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    2. Looks like it will be her last flying for some time, with domestic travel ceasing at 2359 tonight....

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    3. It will be. A sad day for many.

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  5. A fantastic looking cavalry stand Mark...
    I think you have the composition just right...
    I look forward to following your campaign...
    Our current ACW campaign has had to be paused for the moment...though some map moves will continue...
    I am also trying to work out a little skirmish game with my daughter using photos ,photoshop and email ... it should be an interesting little experiment...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly. There are another 24 figures waiting in the wings.

      The Photoshop experiment sounds interesting.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks Mark. Two more units will be based over the weekend.

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  7. Mark,

    In case you are interested, below is a link to the original rules from Consimworld:

    http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@@.ee6f1c7/208

    Here is a link to the 2018 version of the rules from S&T issue 310:

    http://strategyandtacticsmagazine.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/S310-ACW-Rules-v8FUpdated.pdf

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