Longstreet on its way.

After much anticipation Sam Mustafa's new rules for ACW gaming have been released. I placed my order with Northstar this morning. They have a free p&p offer and bundle deal for the first week  which helped me a little as I splashed out big time.

The rules are £25 which is about par for the course. The extra expense came in ordering the cards needed to play the game which are another £12 for a pack of 151 cards (bundle deal saves you £2). As you need a pack for each player I ordered a second pack so I can try and get some locals interested in playing. That brought my total order to £47, ouch! I think it's time to sell some more stuff on eBay.

Now all I have to do is paint up 300 infantry, about 40 cavalry and 6 guns with crew before the rules arrive!

P.S. I've also just pre-ordered Dropzone Commander so that's another £54!

"Lite" version of the new 'Longstreet' ACW rules now available

Sam Mustapha has just made the "lite" version of his upcoming ACW rules 'Longstreet' available for free download on his site.

"For those who would like to try a very basic, “bare-bones” version of the Longstreet game, the free “Lite” version is now available on the HONOUR downloads page. You can sample a very simplified version of the game’s basic structure and mechanics, using the free basic action cards that are also available. “Longstreet Lite” is a complete game; everything you need to play is included. However it is not the “full” game that you will find in the Longstreet book or PDF. In fact, it is not even the Basic game from that book. But it is a great and easy way to dip your toes into the Longstreet system, in anticipation of the complete game.

Coming in the second half of 2013, the third HONOUR game will take a unique perspective on the American Civil War. Rather than refighting the same dozen famous battles for the umpteenth time, Longstreet will ask you to create a “character” – historical or fictional. He begins the war in 1861 commanding a small brigade of volunteers.

You will create his personality from a variety of characteristics. For example: does he have prior military experience in Mexico, or against the Indians? Does he have a background in engineering or one of the other branches of the service? Is he politically well-connected, and thus likely to have the ear of a state governor who might be in a position to send replacements? Is he wealthy, with friends in the media who can inflate his exploits on the battlefield, thus putting pressure on the War Department to promote him?

The war grows in intensity. Your responsibilities increase, as does the number of men under your command. Changes over which you have no control – sometimes good and sometimes bad – affect your force. A Federal officer in the early war might despair at the departure of his 90-day volunteers, but patiently awaits the great industrial superiority of the northern economy. A Confederate officer might enjoy many early advantages, to see them gradually slip away as shortages and attrition strangle the southern war effort.

Like its predecessor, Maurice, the new game will include a full, boxed set of 108 playing cards, which are used not only for game action, but also to keep track of morale and fatigue, to manage the game’s system of objectives and the fate of personalities like officers and regimental heroes. The cards are also used to represent scouting and to set up the battlefield.

Longstreet can be played as a small 1-vs-1 game for two players. But it is infinitely expandable. The game keeps track of the ranks of players (even the seniority of officers at the same rank). When you gather your friends for a big game, each player brings his force, his pack of cards, and his “character.” If you have enough people, figures, and space, you can easily recreate large battles (or invent your own.) The most senior player will command on each side."

I've been looking forward to this for a while and it may give me the shove I need to get my ACW figures painted. It's going to be available in the UK from NorthStar so hopefully there'll be a pre-order deal soon.

Photographs from the American Civil War 2

Here are the next batch of photos. Again click on the pictures to get the full size image.

I wonder if the slope actually deflected enemy shot?

That's a nasty pile of grape shot!

Are they dead or just sleeping?

Clearing up after the battle

Those are some serious dents in the armour!

Photographs from the American Civil War

This isn't my usual type of post but I felt many of you might appreciate it. I received these photos from a friend and was surprised at how powerful the images were and how they made me think. There were over 120 photos in total and these are just a few of them, I'll post some more later this week. To get the full effect you need to click on the pictures to make them full size to see the detail.

I never really appreciated the size of these ships till I saw this photo

I wonder how the barrel got broken?

Hard to read but the shop sign says 'Price, Birch & Co. Dealers in Slaves'

I think this is Washington with the Capitol being built in the background.

Without the clothes to give it away this could be a WW2 scene

The American Civil War Is Calling Me.

One of the many periods I used to play before I quit gaming was the American Civil War. Lately I've been thinking about getting back into it but it wasn't a priority. Mainly because I still have all my War of Spanish Succession stuff to paint up for 'Maurice'. But a few weeks ago I picked up a cheap copy of the 'Johnny Reb III' rules on eBay. I was just going to leave it on the shelf until I got round to buying some ACW figures but then Pendraken announced a revised range of ACW figures.

They look great as you can see from the photos below. I was still going to wait but Pendraken announced their prices were going up on the 1st of August from £3.50 for a pack of 30 figures to £4.00 a pack. Now I'm thinking I should buy them before the price goes up even though they're probably going to sit in a box for months before I get round to painting them. If it was only a few figures I'd probably wait, but as usual I'm going to have to buy two armies as no one plays ACW locally. Buying now will probably only save me about £8.00 but being tight-fisted I prefer to buy things as cheaply as I can.

So it's going to be a battle between being sensible and not adding to the massive pile of stuff still awaiting paint and being unable to pass up a good deal and it's not looking good for common sense right now!

Anyway on with the pictures.