American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Many years ago, one of the club members organized a wonderful multi-player game. He served as 'Game Master' and took all the moves. Players were assigned the role of one officer in the game, but no players ever knew who the other players were: All messages had to be sent addressed to the officer (not the player) and had to be sent through the Game Master. Each player was allowed a certain number of 'courier messengers' (usually one for each subordinate plus one or two additional, if I remember correctly). Messages via courier were limited (to 20 characters, I think). Officers in the same hex with other officers could communicate freely (that is, no messenger was required, and no limit to the number of characters - the only limit was the time limit between turns). The Game Master would determine how long it should take a courier on horseback to reach the intended target. Then he rolled a die to determine whether the courier made it. Usually the courier arrived (although there was no guarantee that the recipient understood the limited message as intended, just as in the real war) on time. Sometimes (base on the die roll), the courier would be delayed, or get lost/killed and never show up. There was even a possibility the courier would be intercepted by the other side - who would receive the message!

The Game Master would take the turns, using the instructions provided by players of both sides, one day a week. Replays would be sent to all players of each side. Each player had one week to send his next batch of couriers.

I was able to be a player in two such games and loved them. Of course, the Game Master was the one who did most of the work. (I think the Cabinet awarded special points to the Game Master for all of his efforts.)

Does anyone else remember this? And, if so, who was the Game Master? The name Ken Miller comes to mind, but I can't locate a club member by that name on either roster in the DoR. (I think he was a Yank.)

I would like to get involved with a game like this again. If the guy who organized it is interested in being Game Master again that would be great. If not, I'd like to procure a copy of his notes and offer my services as Game Master.

_________________
General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

If it was Ken Miller, you can find him here:
http://wargame.ch/board/acwgc/memberlis ... ofile&u=32

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."

Gen. Mallory,

Sorry but right now I do not have the time to get involved in running another MP game.
At the time I did the other two I was working shifts and unless the line went down I often had 2-3 hours a night to kill
and access to a pc which allowed me to do most of the game record keeping at work, especially on graveyard shift.
Currently retired but between helping take care of things at home as the wife is still working, the problem when you rob the cradle ,
and keeping up with grandkids and my local gaming I find myself with little gaming time, even went on the Reserve/Retired List back in 2018.

If you would like to look over the tables I used as a guide you can still find the websites at
http://srmp.thealleghenyblues.com/
and
http://mp2.thealleghenyblues.com/

I have also maintained the Engineering site, which contains a lot of info on the HPS/JTS ACW game system at
http://acwgc-engineering.com/


Regards,

_________________
Gen. Ken Miller



The McKeesport Union Guard

3/1/II
Chief of Staff
AotP

Gen. Mallory,

I also built a couple multiplayer scenarios were members of your current army division played against another group of members from the opposite army division in the ACWGC.

The commander only instructed his subordance the moves and he also controlled the reserve foces and supplies. The player would process their moves and the commanding officer would finish the turn and foward it on to the opposing army. We customised the forces to match the officers playing and added custom units to the game.

We played 3 separate battles and all 3 were GREAT fun. The key here was to build some comradery with our own army group and meet some of the forces from the other side. Each battle was 20 turns and took a while to complete, due too multiple players. Rule was each side had 1 week to complete their turn or the CO had to step in and finish the move. Worked pretty good but games could run a total of 40 weeks; in theory.

I can foward you the game link if your interested?

_________________
Union War Dog!
MG. Derek Hampel
Cmdr. Second Div., XV Corps
Army of the Tennessee

There were a few variations toMP play.

In one, the side commander could only communicate with other players every 5th or 10th turn.
Another one had a leader had to be within x hexes of the next level commander to receive orders.
Another had the side commander issue orders at the start and THAT was it. Such as, move your corps toward Big Pike Creek and engage. How and what route were the sub-commanders views.
All were fun and required a high level on commitment.

_________________
General Ernie Sands
President ACWGC -Sept 2015- Dec 2020
7th Brigade, 1st Division, XVI Corps, AoT
ACWGC Records Site Admin

"If you do not know where you are going, any road will take you there."

Gentlemen <salute>

Multi-Play is a wonderful way to play these simulations. This type of format fosters team comradery, lots of the unexpected, and loads of fun. Please count me in. How about others? We need some interested folks to get this thing off the ground.

_________________
Lt. General Tim Reneau
2nd Corps
Army of Tennessee
Commanding

ACWGC Academy Training Instructor

General Miller,

Thank you again for that effort - those were some of the best games I've ever engaged in. With only the barest control of my own units and absolutely no control over anything else, I felt very much like a division commander in an actual battle must have felt.

It seemed like the biggest problem was players dropping out before the battle finished. Since one of the battles took 18 months to complete, I can understand!

I wouldn't mind running something like this, but I would prefer to serve as a Chief of Staff to you on a short battle first, as an apprentice. Have you considered doing something like this on a much smaller scale? Say, only 4-6 officers on each side and about 18-20 turns?

Your humble servant,
Gen 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

_________________
General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

Gen. Mallory,

If you really want to do this I will consider taking part and helping you learn how to handle such a game.

Understand this is a lot of work and you need to be ready to put in the time.
My normal routine for the two games I ran was checking my email daily for messages from the players and confirming receipt.
Cutoff for messages was midnite EST/EDT Friday as I normally played the turn on Saturday and sent it out to both sides with any replies to messages.
In person verbal messages/orders were sent on to the receiving player and any reply forwarded to the sender.
Players received their replay but were not aware of what occurred during the other sides move when issuing orders for their next turn.

I do not have time to set up a scenario right now, although retired, my grandson is currently out of school and with no daycare operating I have him all day.
My daughter works in a manufacturing plant and is still working, often 12 hours, at least for now.
If you can come up with a suitable scenario I am willing to handle the union side and you can handle the rebel.
This will split the workload and give you an idea of what is involved, might actually be a better way to handle such a game.
You can email me through the forum and we can discuss changes I think should be made to the Tables and
other things that may need to be adjusted as well as any questions you might have.

_________________
Gen. Ken Miller



The McKeesport Union Guard

3/1/II
Chief of Staff
AotP