American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012

I've been thinking about this very topic for some time now. It seems to me that the higher ranks should be reserved for officers who actively hold administrative positions in the club. Instead of permanent ranks, I would suggest 'brevet' ranks above Brigadier General, corresponding to the positions held. Once those positions are no longer held by an individual, that individual would revert to the rank the officer held before the brevet.

I believe this happened frequently in the War. The most famous example I can think of is George Custer, who was breveted General during the War but reverted to Colonel after hostilities ended.

Exceptions might be if an individual were to have earned a higher rank during the time the administrative position was held. For example, a Major might take on command of an army (at which point he would be breveted to a higher rank) and subsequently earned enough points for Lt. Colonel. He would be reverted to Major the immediately promoted (permanently) to Lt Colonel.

I haven't given any thought to what General rank (Major General, Lieutenant General, full General) would be breveted for any given administrative level (Division, Corps, Army). That is a detail that can be worked out. It's the 'brevet' option I would advocate for.

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General 'Dee Dubya' Mallory

The Issue at Hand:

I believe the current system is good and works well. I strongly propose that ranks beyond that of Brigadier General should continue to have the required points system in concert with a Club Admin role.

Alternate Pathways to Promotion:

I am open to consideration of new methods for the above, providing the requirement for Active Club involvement remains. I further propose that in order to attain a higher rank beyond BG that a minimum time period for holding an Admin Role be required. This will ensure, I believe, that those with a focus and interest in club involvement may attain the appropriate rank and not merely by those with only an interest in accruing points and a short term Admin Role involvement to achieve a specific rank sought or desired.

There are, as will be accepted and understood, those members with varying interests, focus and points of view regarding club involvement, gaming, opponent finder ect and I believe this will continue to be the case going forward. I therefore do not believe a change to the rules will therefore have any major impact on the ACWGC.

In conclusion I propose, as previously stated, that those seeking higher rank be prepared to put something into the Club, at some level, and demonstrate it on an ongoing basis. The current rules ensure this, generally.

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Karl McEntegart
General
2nd Brigade
2nd (Gator Alley) Division
Army of Tennessee





Make my enemy brave and strong, so that if defeated, I will not be ashamed.

The ACWGC Union Army instituted a rule that promotion beyond Brigadier General was based on service in the appropriate position.
Division - Major General
Corps - Lt. General
Army - General
Can't recall when this was instituted but I believe it was done to match the CSA ranks.
During the Civil War Grant and Scott were the only ones who held the rank of Lt. General.
General of the Army was not created until after the war.

As to Brevet Promotions, they were used when I originally joined the club in 2000 and used for Admin positions.
I may have been the last Brevet promotion having been brevetted from Brigadier in February 2001 when I was asked to form the VIII Corps/AotS.
I was then promoted to Lt. General in September 2001 so I guess Brevet promotions were dropped sometime in 2001.
That would have been during General Michael O'Conner's time as CoA.

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Gen. Ken Miller



The McKeesport Union Guard

1/1/I
AotP

I'm very glad that the Cabinet has sought input from Members prior to, yet more, Rule changes. I hope that many Members contribute their thoughts so ‘what the people want’ can be seen.

To me, the main thing to decide is what is the goal of changing/not changing the current process. I'm basically thinking along the lines that the Rules encourage, and discourage, certain behaviours.

The current promotion Rules encourage people to take on administrative roles by making them a prerequisite for higher ranks. Although earlier versions of the Rules imposed some work on DCs and CCs there is now nothing you must do while occupying such roles. There are several things you can do (e.g. provide additional training, office advice and assistance) but since the mustering system was changed there is essentially not much to do as a DC or CC.
I’m unaware of any shortage of Members wanting to take up other higher positions that would enable a Member to progress to full General.

I think having alternate pathways for promotion is interesting. Any such alternate pathway should exist to encourage certain actions and reward behaviours that are beneficial to the Club.
One could be complete ‘X’ number of turns in registered DoR games entitle a Member to be promoted to Major-General (currently requires service in, at least, a DC role). It is important that it should be ‘turns’ rather than ‘games’. There are currently 264 games listed in the DoR as ‘completed’ in 1 or 2 turns. [The Seven Days Campaign (407 turns) completed in one turn? I think not.]

Also, Members can contribute to the Club in ways other than actively gaming (training others, assisting other Members through gaming information on the Forum or elsewhere). On the CSA side the current Robert E. Lee medal “honors those members whose contributions make our lives more enjoyable in the ACWGC”. I see no reason why Members who contribute to the Club in ways other than gaming should not receive some recognition in promotion.

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

As for Me Brigadier General is High enough and it would be nice if more Players got involved with the Forums

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COL. R.T Coyne
7th Brigade 4th Division" Coyne's Cavalry Rangers"
1st Corp Army of Northern Virginia

I agree with what Karl McEntegart and Paul Swanson said; basically my opinion is best stated by quoting Karl,

"In conclusion I propose, as previously stated, that those seeking higher rank be prepared to put something into the Club, at some level, and demonstrate it on an ongoing basis. The current rules ensure this.."

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General Kyle FitzMaurice
Commander Army of the Tennessee
USA

I too. Blake & you have been posting some good topics lately.

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General Scott Ludwig
Ludwig's Light Division
Isgro's Corps
Army of Northern Virginia (ANV)

I guess to toss a couple of my pennies into the pot, there are certainly some different ways to look at this. First I'd say that brevet promotions may not be the best idea. They were a mess to manage years ago, though there were a lot more command changes that occurred back then. We also used to have a lot of staff positions. Chief of Staff at many levels, Adjutants, Theater Commanders, etc. At the time the admin workload warranted it and those had General Officer promotability. Things are streamlined now and these positions are no longer needed, but those avenues for promotions are gone. When in my first year or two as GinC, I had planned to use Theater Commands as a path up for some officers, by having them do the duties for several months to get the promotion and then rotating to another eligible officer. Unfortunately between the initial guys I asked not be able to commit for time reasons and me being taken off into the other tasks we needed to tackle then, the plan never took off.

How this relates to the topic being asked is looking for somewhat out of the box ideas. You have a couple of folks helping with the DoR, those equate to our old staff positions. It is important work & supports a key part of the club.....those positions should be General Officer eligible. If the Union has support staff in the armies, but are not in a CoS role, maybe those should be eligible. If the ATA has training instructors beyond the Academy staff, then maybe those should be eligible to Major General or something. If someone is involved in the development or continuous upkeep of the WDS' ACW series, then maybe they are eligible to Major General as well. Paul Swanson has some additional good ideas, similar to this. Just some different ways to look at how folks support the Club beyond the traditional admin/command structure, while also still upholding the requirements.

I will caution that increasing the points for ranks never goes over well, in any club.

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General Scott Ludwig
Ludwig's Light Division
Isgro's Corps
Army of Northern Virginia (ANV)

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Gen. Blake Strickler
Confederate General-in-Chief
El Presidente 2010 - 2012