American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

House Rules are an agreement entered into by players prior to the start of a game. House Rules reflect a more realistic and historical way to play the game, but they are not written in the game manual. House Rules modify what is allowed at night and how melees are performed.
This is a controversial subject. It has been discussed before, but I never saw a consensus because most players will play by either set of rules. I have played many games abiding by either of these rules. The difference between the two is this.
Under House Rules, units are not allowed to melee in column, Napoleonic style. Melees in column are only allowed in towns and when crossing bridges and creeks. Melees are allowed in line by infantry. Cavalry are allowed to melee in column (charge) or in line. This reflects the more historical way that melees were conducted during the Civil War.
Nighttime has its own set of restrictions under House Rules. Units are not allowed to conduct offensive fire or melee during the night. The computer controls defensive fire. Units cannot advance beyond their own lines toward the enemy during the night. The reasons for this are many. Armies didn't dare risk a Pickett's Charge when it was pitch dark out. Friendly units could easily mistakenly fire on their own men. Units would easily get disoriented and lose cohesion. Men would get fatigued and be useless for any combat during the next day. Command control would be jeopardized. There are a few additional minor details. The manual has no such restrictions. I would like to hear your comments and opinions. Lt. Gen. Joe Medeiros, I corps

I have played many battles with many of the rules you described. I even made the bold attempt to come up with some myself.

All in all..........I think its a pain to have to remember this house rule and that house rule. There were times when I had quite a few games going with each with their own rules.

As of this post.........I prefer to play the game with the rules as designed by the designer. Its allot easier for me and if nothing else.........its consistent.

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Lt. Gen. C. N. Matthews
Pickett's Infantry Division, I Corps,
Army of Northern Virginia, CSA

Gentlemen <salute>

As a reminder, the following are dictated by the ACWGC rules:

5.1.1 Wagons will not be used to cut off enemy retreat.

5.1.2 Lone officers (that is, any number of officers not stacked with at least one cavalry, infantry, or artillery unit) will not be used in front of your lines as scouts to determine the position of enemy forces. Positioning any officers on high ground behind your lines to better view the battlefield, however, is perfectly acceptable.

5.1.3 Lone officers (that is, any number of officers not stacked with at least one cavalry, infantry, or artillery unit) will never be used to cut off an enemy retreat. (Sometimes it may seem your opponent has done this, but there may be an unseen enemy unit exerting a ZOC on the hex.)

5.1.4 Withdrawal of all (or a substantial portion of) forces from the battlefield, unless specified in the scenario as a victory condition, will cost the withdrawing player a 2-step reduction in the level of victory. Removal from the map of individual units, routed behind enemy lines by the game engine, is allowed. (This rule is waived in the case of campaign scenarios.)

5.1.5 Routed units will not be moved in such a manner as to cut off an enemy retreat deliberately by the player. Units moved by the computer are exempt from this restriction.

5.1.6 If conducive to a routed unit’s survival, the unit should be moved towards their own lines (except when such a move would violate item 5.1.5 above).

Anything beyond that must be considered in play unless agreed upon by each member/team prior to beginning play; don't assume that other "house rules" apply automatically. For example, there is no prohibition to infantry melee in column, night attacks, etc.

Personally, I have no particular likes or dislikes as far as "house rules" go unless implemetation would be confusing. Examples of this might be not advancing toward the enemy during the night; how do I know he hasn't moved to a location where he wasn't previously or perhaps was unobserved? I don't believe I would agree to that. The same with offensive fires at night.

One thing I'd like to try sometime is no mass offensive fires. The automated defensive fires are hit-and-miss with regards to whether a unit fires or not, it's never a mass fire by all units in the hex, and I believe also loses 40% of its effectiveness (or something along those lines). If on the offensive, however, you fire at maximum effectiveness if you haven't moved and can fire as many as 1000 troops at once into your opponent's formation. Just curious how that would play out, although it would extend the amount of time to complete a turn.

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General Neal Hebert
Edward C. Walthall Division (2nd aka "Gator Alley")
II Corps, Army of the West
CSA Cabinet Secretary

General Herbert,

Sir,

I could be very wrong, But when playing in a Phased game, doesn't that fix the defensive firepower problem when playing in turns? In the couple or so phased games I have played I have noticed that defensive fire is extremely effective.

This is why, although more comfortable with a turn game, I would be open to any set of rules. I would be in an agreement to the less "house" rules I have to remember the better, but usually I will agree to the column melee rule when asked.

On a side note, I have noticed in some of my Napoleonic games that we will agree to the "embedded melee" house rule, but a couple of times this rule seems to get ignored, I don't know if I, or my opponent, do not fully understand the rule, or the person usually forgets, and I end up just playing along. I will point out to the opponent to the agreed rules, but after a couple turns it will be back to the same thing.

I only mention because I think it only supports my decision of the less house rules the better.

Just some of my thoughts

Regards,

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Brigadier General Kevin Koch
2/2/VI
AotS