American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I tend to think that the sooner the update is issued to fix the Artillery Thing, the better.

However, I thank-you for giving us the opportunity to suggest some 'fixes'. Overall, I am impressed by the accuracy of research in the historical scenarios. Indeed, I purchased my first JTS title (after a long absence from the Talonsoft days) in order to short-cut research for a Shenandoah miniatures project. Then, after discovering this Club, I got hooked on playing the games against real opponents. While playing a variant of Gettysburg 007 you mentioned to me that several of the Union units remained 'fixed' on the map with no scheduled release time. I looked into it (results here - https://wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24075#p127324) and found that the designer knew exactly what he was doing when he chose to not release those particular units for duty.
I'm sure if I searched around I could find an issue or two but, given that records are not completely precise from that period, it would be a relatively minor thing in relation to the overall play of the scenarios. The only thing that immediately comes to mind is a map issue raised by [former CSA Member] Mike Terhune. It relates to the Battle of Fredericksburg and Mike provided some detail on the WDS forum a while ago (found here - https://forum.wargameds.com/viewtopic.php?t=1158). Mike expanded on that topic a little in Southern Raiders (see Resignation thread September 2023).

One thing I'd like to see changed (although it is not a mere tweak) has to do with range and casualties (discussed here https://wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24021 and here https://wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24023). In short, too many casualties are caused from small arms' fire at the longer ranges. I don't think the situation can be fixed by fiddling with supply. I think that the Parameter Data should reflect the historical situation by reducing the effectiveness of weapons beyond two hexes. The current Parameter Data for SB Musket [4 at 1 hex, 1 at 2 hexes] seems right. Rifles should probably stay as they are for 1 and 2 hexes but 3 hexes should probably be a quarter of the '1 hex effectiveness and reduced accordingly beyond that.
Artillery probably should also be looked at in a similar way, especially for smoothbore guns [sorry, fellow Confederates] as their effective battle range was about half of their theoretical range. Light rifled cannon are probably about right but most heavy rifled guns should probably have an effective battle range of about two-thirds of their theoretical range.
Note: Any of the above changes may effect Victory Conditions to some degree but as it should balance out across the two sides it should be minimal.

One other thing (unrelated to the above) is gunboats. It seems impossible to destroy them. In an MP game several years ago my partner and I hit them with everything we could. Even at three and four hexes most of the shots returned 'No effect' with an occasional 'Fatigue' result. The boys in those boats would have been rendered deaf from the shells hitting their vessel and greatly fatigued from the heavy bombardment, yet they carried on blasting away at our infantry with nary a care in the world. [Fortunately, we had more success away from the river, so we eventually won the day.]

I'll take a look at the map issue. As for the PDT, to make meaningful changes combined with uniformity, would require that "every" pdt file be changed throughout the entire series. Trying to tackle that and without the knowledge of why some are the way they are, does not really fit the scope of what I was trying to do with my offer. Also, I think WDS has some ideas on making PDT changes "en mass."

As for Gunboats, what scenario? I believe for the Forgotten Campaigns title, some significant changes were made to enhance gunboat representation. I do not know if that translated to the other titles. I know I had two scenarios from Campaign Shiloh that used gunboats. Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. When the games were released, I was reasonable satisfied with the results. But I haven't touched either in 20 years. So, game engine changes may have disrupted those results. At that time, boats were eliminated when the last of their guns was lost. That is no longer the case. Now boats can be sunk.

Yes, I appreciate that it would be a big job and 'one for down the track' which is why I said it's 'not a mere tweak'. I also understand that there has been a concern by many over 'casualties' so I didn't want to miss the opportunity to raise it.

I think it's something that should definitely be considered when an en masse PDT change is being addressed.


The game I referred to was a custom scenario, but based on the standard Parameter Data for Campaign Peninsula (an AAR of the game can be found here - https://blakeacwgc.wixsite.com/afteractionreports/peninsula). I think the issue also carries through in other titles as well. We know the effects for guns at different ranges (via the Parameter Data) but what we don't know is the 'defensive value' of gunboats.
The manual now says that they have an armour rating from 1 to 6 but doesn't explain what this means.

That AAR is dated (2021) prior to the release of Forgotten Campaigns. I would suggest someone try the Gunboat battles for that title and see how it plays. There was considerable effort made to improve it. As for the 1-6. It is merely a way to measure armor plate effectiveness. Perhaps as simple as meaning 1-6 inches of armor. But not 100%. Perhaps the design notes have a mention of it. They are free for each title.