American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I know we're a PC game club, but I figured I would see if there are any out there who have / play any of the ACW board games? Which ones do you like best/least?

I have River of Death by GMT Games and The Civil War by Victory Games. Looking for more games similar to River of Death, where the players are fighting a single battle. So far, what I've seen is "Pub Battles" Antietam (and maybe another one?) by Command Post Games, and some ACW games by Worthington Publishing that use blocks instead of counters (maybe one that still uses counters).

I'm definitely more into the ones that have counters / blocks that the players move tactically, rather than the ones that come with the cards where it becomes "luck of the draw".

Thoughts? With all the recent upheaval here in the States regarding racial tensions, it seems like a lot of ACW game publishing stopped...but I'm hoping I'm wrong and that it's just moving to different companies that I haven't found yet...

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BG David McWaters
ANV
7/2/II Corps
18th Alabama Infantry
Sharpshooters

I got The Civil War by Victory Games a while ago but have yet to play it. Same with a few others as I haven't met with my boardgaming opponent for quite some time now.

One I found enjoyable was Across 5 Aprils (also by Victory Games) because although the rules were simple I felt they simulated warfare of the time well.

I think you are correct that a lot of ACW wargame publishing has stopped. Ridiculous PC nonsense has affected wargaming in many areas: many flags are no longer shown on boardgames (esp. Nazi and Confederate ones); calls for SS units not to be black counters or use runic symbols (which was standard for decades); any colonial period wargaming is viewed as racist; calls to remove flags from wargaming miniatures (again Confederate and Nazi ones are the main targets); the removal of swastikas and similar decals from scale models; and a general opinion that wargaming in general is an offensive hobby.
However, I will continue to buy wargames that have period flags on them, my miniature Civil War armies will carry their Confederate and Union flags, and my WWII Germans will feature an occasional swastika on tanks while their Soviet opponents will sometimes have the 'hammer and sickle' on their tanks and their troops will even fly the occasional flag.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

Gentlemen, Sirs! <salute>

I belong to the SPI FaceBook group and with all the action there I don't think board gaming is dead! But for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone wants to board game anymore when we have all these JTS Campaign games with thousands of scenarios.

Back in the 80's I was board gaming with my best Friend the Gleam of Bayonets (Antietam) and all the time we took to set it up and then when we finished for the evening to record all the units in their hexes and then break it all down. Then in a couple of weeks we would do it all over again (we switched houses each time)! And then you have to count hexes for movement and calculate range of weapons for firing, whew so glad I don't have to do that anymore!

So does that mean I have gotten rid of all my board games? Not on your life, still got 'em collecting dust out in the garage!

PS: David, you owe me a turn in our Battle for Atlanta game!

Respectfully,

Your Obedient Servant,

General Nick Kunz
Commandant,
Vicksburg Military Institute

I've always been partial to the Avalon Hill games myself. The new Revolution game, Longstreet Attacks Is pretty amazing.
I'm still not sold on Guns Of Gettysburg, probably because it's my first introduction to Sector Movement.

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"

I see two of my favorite ACW boardgames, IMO VG's "The Civil War" was the best strategic level ACW ever produced.
For many years my friend and I spent the Friday after Thanksgiving playing it while the wives were shopping with their mothers.
We'd play all day and usually got far enough that Lincoln would win or lose re-election which would decide who won.

"A Gleam of Bayonets" was another game we played several times that I thought was a good system although Antietam is a hard battle to game.
This was on the same level as the JTS games, the combat result system was not as good as the pc allows but I think it had a better command/morale system.
The pin result in fire combat was a more historical result than the D'd results in the JTS games.

A third game that had what I think was a excellent command systems for an ACW game was "Chickamauga: The Confederacy's Last Hope".
It was a brigade level game that forced you to think and plan ahead resulting in a historical flow to the battle.
You had to save up command points to move units so there were bursts of fighting followed by several turns of not much going on while the next move was planned. It reduced the player control you see in so many games that allows movement every turn ending up with fighting from dawn till dark.

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Gen. Ken Miller



The McKeesport Union Guard

3/1/II
Chief of Staff
AotP

I remember when I first saw Terrible Swift Sword at the Avaloncon in Baltimore back in the 70's. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven, so to speak.

But since the advent of computer games the only Civil War board game I have played is House Divided. Only thing I miss about the board games is the social interaction.

Minimal rules arguments, no board disasters, no dining room table deadlines, no obscure rule details to remember or look up.

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

General Miller, Sir.
I'm a proud owner of that one.

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"

I also have Chickamauga as well as Mississippi Fortress (Clash of Arms Games) and The Battle of Shiloh (West End Games) - all given to me by my boardgaming opponent along with other boxed and magazine games. He has a large collection of over 1,000 games [not all wargames and his collection used to be much larger].



Sadly I have not played any of them although I hope to recommence games with him later this year [an operation last year rendered me fairly immobile]. Favourable comments above have given me a renewed interest to play the Chickamauga one. Our intention when we play The Civil War was to use the revised/clarified rules published by the Wargame Academy (WGA) found here http://www.wargameacademy.org/ARCHIVES/CVW/CVW-Rulebook-WGA-3rd-110427.pdf.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

That's an impressive collection, General Swanson! I wish I still had my few from high school. They were stolen in one of my many moves over the years. Your Shiloh reminded me of one that I owned that had Gettysburg on one side of the map (which was very large, I can't remember the dimensions) and on the back was 1st Manassas and...Pea Ridge I believe. I wish I could remember the title to that game. I forgot to mention!
The box was a navy blue and had the charge of the 1st Minnesota at Gettysburg as a picture on the front.

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"

My collection is fairly small with most ACW ones being gifts from my friend (who has the gigantic collection).

The only thing I could think "that had Gettysburg on one side of the map (which was very large, I can't remember the dimensions) and on the back was 1st Manassas and...Pea Ridge" would be the Across 5 Aprils I referred to above because I do not believe any other boxed boardgame has all those battles. It gets a good rating at BGG (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4047/across-5-aprils) and I think the activation system works well to simulate the warfare at the time.
The two different editions had different images on the front of the box.

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Paul Swanson
Lieutenant-General
First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia

Thats it! Thank you sir!!!!!

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"

Here is another Civil War board game soon to be added to the mix.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ma ... n=52d2952d

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MG Mike Mihalik
Forrest's Cavalry Corps
AoWest/CSA

Well... that looks promising! The map really resembles the one used in Revolution Games Longstreet Attacks.

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"

I have about 75% of all the SPI/S&T/GMT Great Battles of the American Civil War series, including the first addition of Terrible Swift Sword. The JTS system to a degree mimics the scale and play of TTS. I love the maps and counters, but I spent more time with my nose in a rule book or arguing over the LoS than actual play

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General Cam McOmish

Brigade Commander
Alabama State Volunteers
Cleburne's Division
Hardee's Corps
(1/1/1)
Army of Tennessee
Confederate States of America

Oh...wow!!!!! Terrible Swift Sword!!!!!
One of these days, I'm going to sell one of my kidneys and buy it!!!!

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Colonel Jason "Skeedaddle" Campbell
The Mahoning 4th Brigade
3rd Division
2nd Corp
AoT
"Let's fill up our canteens, boys. Some of us will be in hell before nightfall and we'll need the water"