Toxicpixie - I did say "smaller", not "small" - important difference!

Getagrip: understood. I consider BBB to be simple and fast, but there are undoubtedly simpler and faster games available that may suit you better. But there are BBB players who have created points systems to use BBB for generic games as well - no historical research required. For instance, see here:
http://www.greathallgamers.org/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2052&posts=1#M14097

Anyway, whatever you decide to do with your ACW boys, good luck and happy gaming.

Chris

PS - gotta have zouaves - they look cool!

Thanks Chris, that's a big help.

Zouaves do look cool but I also want to get an army on the table reasonably quickly too.

Bear in mind that some zouave units wore all dark blue (eg 9th NY) or all light blue (eg 146th NY) uniforms.

Quote from: Leman on 30 March 2015, 03:50:11 PM
Bear in mind that some zouave units wore all dark blue (eg 9th NY) or all light blue (eg 146th NY) uniforms.

Yeah but I think if you're doing that you might as well use standard foot.

Want to use them as a splash of colour.

Heh, that's an important caveat, Chris

Although tbh that whole "Americas thing" was pretty Mickey Mouse, I can't see it catching on.

Quote from: getagrip on 30 March 2015, 03:51:15 PM
Yeah but I think if you're doing that you might as well use standard foot.

Want to use them as a splash of colour.

A damn fine approach 

Quote from: getagrip on 30 March 2015, 09:18:40 AM
I think I'm looking for the impossible ; rules which can handle small to large battles. 

My suggestion would be Volley & Bayonet 

An older set of rules while not specifically for ACW it does have good mods that cover the period. There are of lots of ACW V&B players with plenty of support on the Yahoo group and Keith McNelly's V&B pages.

You can use the various scales to play games with a few battalions a side up to Gettysburg 

There are also various campaign books if you can find them. Rate as rocking horse pooh...

Beyond another endorsement for Big Bloody Battles, an other option I find attractive though had not the chance to play yet is Altar of Freedom. Base is a brigade, and commanders play a big  role having characteristics that impact the battle. They have done a very good job with providing a massive amount of scenarios, and an attractive package. I have not had the chance to play them yet (working on finishing painting two small forces), but they sure read and look nice.

As Polemos ACW appears to be getting the elbow and other rules are being recommended, just to mess with your mind further, Grip (but not deliberately).

If you find you like gaming the ACW and decide to game other historical periods (e.g., Napoleonic, 18th Century, Crimean War, FPW, etc.), you could do what I did and buy period / conflict specific rules and end up with something like 30 different rule sets   

OR

buy yourself more generic rules (with period / conflict adjustments) like Black Powder or Field of Battle. These cover a period of roughly 200 years up to the end of the 19th century, it will be cheaper in the long run and you only have to worry about the nuances of one or two rule sets and not a couple of dozen (most of which you'll probably never play anyway).

Makes for an easier life. If you really get into a period, that may then be the time to start to buy period specific rules(?).

Another problem with period specific rules is basing, eg. Johnny Reb and the F&F stable have completely different basing systems so are incompatible with one another as the former is organised as the number of figures on a fixed number of variable sized bases and the latter on a variable number of same-sized bases. Every Johnny Reb unit has four bases, but some units have thirty figures and some units only eight, or sometimes only four figures. Great game, but opt for it and you're a bit stuck. BP, BBB and FOB2 all have regular sized bases. Altar of Freedom uses the same size bases as Polemos.

Quote from: Westmarcher on 31 March 2015, 07:44:55 AM
As Polemos ACW appears to be getting the elbow and other rules are being recommended, just to mess with your mind further, Grip (but not deliberately).

If you find you like gaming the ACW and decide to game other historical periods (e.g., Napoleonic, 18th Century, Crimean War, FPW, etc.), you could do what I did and buy period / conflict specific rules and end up with something like 30 different rule sets   

OR

buy yourself more generic rules (with period / conflict adjustments) like Black Powder or Field of Battle. These cover a period of roughly 200 years up to the end of the 19th century, it will be cheaper in the long run and you only have to worry about the nuances of one or two rule sets and not a couple of dozen (most of which you'll probably never play anyway).

Makes for an easier life. If you really get into a period, that may then be the time to start to buy period specific rules(?).

That's worth considering, thanks West.

I'm also considering writing my own.

I play Warmaster and BKC, so ACWarmaster doesn't seem too big a leap does it?

Actually, if you're happy with the *Master series, try Black Powder/Pike & Shotte, they're both using the same basic system...

Quote from: toxicpixie on 31 March 2015, 08:38:55 AM
Actually, if you're happy with the *Master series, try Black Powder/Pike & Shotte, they're both using the same basic system...

And these are ACW?

Black Powder is specifically for C18/19th warfare, so covers ACW

They're rather a "toolset" of rules, as whilst you use the same framework for any period within them, the conflict specific flavour comes from the bucket of potential special rules and tweaks you can apply.

They're not to everyone's taste, but if you like the *Master series you'll probably like them, and certainly find them simple to pick up!