American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Sorry that this took so long but RL and the NWC occupied me.

We are now at version 1.3 which has the latest set of OR covered based on 4.04.1.
The OR screenshot as well as the descriptions have been updated.
If you see any error please point it out to me by posting or via PM.

Really new is only the older "Extreme Fog of War" OR and the very new "Limited Artillery Unlimber" OR, I guess the later may cause some discussions as this got standard in the Nappy series but here is only an OR.
Artillery was used differently and also units looked differently(more mixed) in the CW area compared to the Nappy area, so in the CW area we can have a range of historical situations and ways these situation are depicted in a scenario and I guess that may not always fit with my recommendation to turn this OR ON.
Simply said, generally the OR is to be tuned ON, but special situations may demand a different approach like turning it OFF and using house rules.

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."

Gentlemen,
I'm sorry for having neglected this thread for so long.
I just updated the first post to 1.4, that is patch level 4.05.1.
We didn't get any new ORs with patch level 4.05.1, but 5 ORs were removed and are now standard in game(just like I had them recommended), so overall there is no change in my recommendation.

I hope this thread is now helpful again like it was i the past.

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."

For those that a either rather new here or just generally unsure what to think of my recommendations I just wanted to point out that my OR set differs in just 4 points from the current default set(on purpose I left out those that work in turn gameplay only, because I suggest phased gameplay).

These are:
Manual Defensive Fire off by default
Seems to me that WDS still prefers turn gameplay instead of phased gameplay although phased gameplay seems to be more realistic and with automatic defensive fire the number of mails need to be exchange for a turn is also not higher compared to turn gameplay.
In the CW series it is even more strange because by default WDS suggest the use of "Optional Melee Resolution" basically an additional phase for melee, so they do see the benefit of phased gameplay, they just don't want to make it standard.
I suggest to turn this rule ON.


Optional Fire Results off by default
I still think that with the improvement in weapons generally and the longer turn length the results of a fire fight would be more predictable, and not like I see it for the Napoleonic series more extreme. Be aware that two calculations are done and the average taken so extreme results are still possible but just more unlikely.
I suggest to turn this rule ON.


Higher Fatigue Recovery Rates
This is maybe a bit hard to explain, the fatigue recover values are usually so low that one engagement may throw a regiment out of the entire battle. The higher fatigue recovery ensure that units with low combat intensity are rather quick back in action but units that are used without caution and by that likely take a lot fatigue still need much time to recover from the high fatigue terrain, such units will likely only be good again on the second day of the battle if there is one.
Another problem is that the low default recovery makes many battle degenerate into a slug fest of high fatigued units, more like boxers in the 12th round that just cling to each other, that is because the players know fatigue recovery is so low that it can be ignored, what leads to a strange behavior on the battlefield.
With the high fatigue recovery taking care of units becomes a factor again and will surely impact the overall course of the battle in a historical correct and realistic way.
I suggest to turn this rule ON.


Limited Artillery Unlimber off by default
Making sure that at least some(1 hex) free FoF exists and that artillery is not use in a rather ahistorical way just seems plausible to me. That OFF is still default may come from the fact that we have many different titles and with that designer, and so artillery is often depicted very differently and this rule may not always fit.
I suggest to turn this rule ON.

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."