Those with long memories (or too much time on their hands - I'm not here to judge!) may recall that a few months ago I completed a pair of ACW armies and promised to soon post pics of the based results. Well, what has happened with it all? For one thing, after the frantic speed of painting them all I was so overdosed on ACW Union infantry I just wanted a complete break from them all. After that however, there came the realisation from me that I could be about to completely change the basing system.
This last point came from me joining the Falkirk District Wargames Club (FDWC) over the last few weeks, and learning about the upcoming 'Longstreet' rules for ACW that were coming out. They favour multi-based units with roughly 6-8 bases as the typical norm, and in the 60x30mm bases of 4 figures each, it all looked like a skirmishing line to me - I was not happy!
At club however, a trial game was held to see how the 'Lite' version of the rules played (ironically we wound up trying them out on Monday, the very day the full set came out!) I joined in to play a game with another members' 15mm collection, hoping to get a bit of inspiration. Some pics of the game are below.
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| The battlefield at the start. Nice fences, made of matchsticks! |
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| Rebel infantry in its natural form - streaming ahead towards a Union line! |
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| The basing system here uses 3 figures a base, in a slightly offset line. It can look a bit odd on a solitary base, but actually looks quite good by the unit. |
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| Two regiments together. I think I'll go for the same with my 1/72 figures, possibly on a 30mm or 40mm square base. |
I played the Union, and although my brigade nearly broke it managed to steal a win at the very last turn by the use of the 'Withering Fire' card, cutting down scores of Rebels in a hail of fire and a series of lucky rolls, which saw their morale break just ahead of mine.
And yes, I have the full set of rules now on order...
