Critical Hits WWI & ACW modules

[hayman]

I've played the ATS version of the WWI modules. I find them way off the mark for what I would consider the flavor of a WWI game.

Thanks tmanmerlin.

 

[footsteps]

How many ASL hexes would an ACW company occupy when in battle formation?

 

[kynken]

Time and period don't mix with ASL. Just like the Vietnam components he is pushing now. I don't see strategy of that time period making good gaming with the rules. Unless you want fork over gobs of coin, that is your prerogative. For me, I'll pass.

 

[larrymarak]

Both the ACW and the GW transition rules needed second editions, which they now have. The black powder version of ASL is now about to enter the French and Indian War.

 

[61Davedumbass]

Talk about getting scalped...

 

[Michael Dorosh]

How many ASL hexes would an ACW company occupy when in battle formation?

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/length-diagrams-of-battle-formations.72404/

A regiment of 300 to 400 men formed into line over a space of about 2.5 hexes. An entire division would march in a column about 20 hexes long. A corps of 25,000 men would march in a column about 2.5 ASL boards long. Even the Red Barricades map doesn't see such 'piece density'.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Time and period don't mix with ASL. .

They could, given a decent set of rules (which I suspect these aren't) and some imagination. John Hill would probably think so - the game system at its core doesn't model small arms ballistics, it models morale. A cursory reading of The Red Badge of Courage (fiction, you say? So was a lot of Enemy at the Gates, the inspiration for Squad Leader) suggests that the basics of Squad Leader (and later ASL) apply equally - leadership, morale, routing. One review of the original Squad Leader actually suggested the leadership model in SL/ASL is *more* suited to the American Civil War than to World War II.

A squad counter is an undefined number of men - sometimes 5 or 6 men, sometimes as many as 15, depending on nationality. During the game, individuals die, get wounded, panic, etc. in an abstract way. It would be relatively trivial to change the scale of the counters from squads to entire companies, given the tactics of the day. The IFT acts exactly the same regardless if it is matchlocks, flintlocks, muzzle loaders, or assault rifles - you will either drive the enemy from the field entirely with a volley, discomfit them, or have no effect. You might not have Point Blank Fire in ACW rules (no hand grenades) but then again given the very short effective range of aimed fire, perhaps you would.

Nothing on the face of it rules ACW combat out of a modified ASL rules set; the original SL was purposefully designed to be abstract and capture the very basics of infantry combat.