American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)
Dispatches & Messages to the Front
Last Update: August 4, 2015
Messages from 2015
"Barksdale's Charge" by Don Troiani
August 4, 2015
Late Summer Greetings from the Chief of the Armies of the CSA
Officers of the Confederate States of America (CSA) Armies,
I wanted to take this moment to say a belated Happy Summer and I hope you are all doing well. I know summer is almost over and I meant to get this out in June, but have been on the road for almost a month and a half traveling. I hope many of you have been able to enjoy some good weather, outdoor picnics, good food & good people to share it all with.
Things are moving along in the Club, albeit rather slowly. A fair amount of us have a number of things going on and the summer has been the usual quiet period. I personally have had some real life issues this year so far and also some minor issues with my hands and arms, making it not exactly fun to use the computer a lot, which I have to at work. So that makes me not want to use it at home. Either way though we're still here.
I know the armies have been a bit quiet from time to time too. I am hoping for the second half of the year we can improve communication a bit with you all. That starts with me, at my level and down. First thing is first, I am almost done issuing the Chief of the Armies (CoA) Discretionary Points, for those who are active in registering games. I usually try to issue them more to newer members or to officers who are close to a promotion. This time around I issued them to people regardless of rank & length of service. Also the more someone plays games, the higher the amount of points I usually award. This will make us current on this item. It also should generate a few promotions too.
The good news is the websites have been doing fairly well. Lieutenat General Steve Kitchen has kept the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) up to date and looking very sharp as usual. Lieutenant General Alphonse de Meré & Major General Jaume Campderrós have been doing a great job keeping the I "Longstreet's" Corps, ANV looking splendid as they have for years. So thank you to them all for this!! I have been doing my best to keep the rest of the CSA websites up to date. The Vicksburg Military Institute (VMI) website has been the focus of website work I have been doing. Updating a number of the pages and some of the look to it. General Nick Kunz has done a great job for a very longtime on many of the CSA websites and he laid out a fantastic space for us at VMI. Speaking of VMI, we've had a couple of great new recruits this year and we've had some good returning officers too. Not a fantastic recruitment year so far, I hope we can change that as the year goes on. For what it is worth, it's been slow for the Union too.
The main focus since taking command in December was to get the core websites up & going again and then we'll work on some of the pages a bit further down and address things like outstanding awards, a set of ribbons & medals for the Army of the West (AotW) and other outlying issues.
No large tournaments are being planned right now, though there are some smaller actions between groups of units & members.
We had cancelled Muster in June for the summer months, as I felt a lot of people are busy with real life then and it isn't worth making the commanders try and get a hold of everyone. So we will resume muster in the fall, after most people are back from summer travels. All points will be awarded however to all officers.
Also in the fall, the Army of the West (AotW) officers will be taking one final vote on the name of their army, to certify the choice made late last year. Details will come later this year.
I hope folks are ready to campaign once the weather gets a bit cooler. I myself am looking forward to going to the Catoctin Mountain Orchard here in Maryland that is just south of Gettysburg, PA and north of Frederick, MD. If you're ever in the area, I strongly recommend a visit, their peaches are amazing!! Also, if you're ever in Gettysburg & want to go a neat non-Civil War site, you've got to head out Route 30 towards Chambersburg to Mister Ed's Elephant Museum, believe me, you won't regret it.
As always, I am open to all comments & suggestions from the membership at large. You can email me anytime at eric2900@aol.com or my other email address: sludwig2900@gmail.com (I prefer you use the AOL one, but the Gmail one is a backup, in case you can't get me at the AOL one).
Happy Soon to be End of Summer!
My Best,
-Scott
General Scott Ludwig
Commanding Officer & Chief of the Armies (CoA) of the Confederate States of America (CSA)
"Gray Commanches" by Don Troiani
January 1, 2015
Happy New Years from the Chief of the Armies of the CSA
Officers of the Confederate States of America (CSA) Armies,
I'd like to take this time to wish you & all your loved ones a very Happy & Healthy New Year!
I hope this year will be fun for all and also filled with some gaming too. So I guess I'll use this time to make a somewhat formal address to you all, though hopefully not too long. Most probably either know me or maybe saw my name in passing at least, if we have yet to meet, I look forward to the chance to. I have been a member of the ACWGC since 2003. I have served in every command level along those many years from Division Commander on up. The majority of my career has been spent as the Western Theater Commanding Officer, so my name might be slightly more familiar to guys out there. Either way I have gotten to know many other members of the CSA & folks who have served in commands in the past. I have enjoyed working with many people over the years. I don't actually mind doing the administrative work. I do it in other clubs too. I am still so terrible at the games, that I often cite the administrative work as what has kept me in the hobby, all the paper pushing, haha. Personally I am from the North of the United States and now currently live in the Greater Baltimore-Washington DC area, which has been great in terms of access to so many Civil War sites, especially the ones we play in the Club. I am less than two hours from both Antietam & Gettysburg and about two hours from all the Northern Virginia Battlefields. I am often stumbling on little road signs & placards in this area as I drive around. I hope to photograph some and share them with the Club. So that's just some small background context.
In terms of where we are and where we are going with the CSA, as I've alluded to in a number of forum posts and emails, General Cameron McOmish spent a lot of time taking a very beleaguered CSA and making us a much, much better organization and he deserves all the credit & praise he has gotten for it hands down. No one could have done as fine of a job as he has done. If you want to show your thanks for him, I have a forum topic recognizing him, that all are welcome to post in: http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20017
So my personal statement is simple, I am not looking to shake things up, we've been handed an excellent setup. Cam "righted the ship" with his work, so my philosophy is to "keep the ship afloat" now and also "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", is how we will operate.
I am not one who is looking to tinker, I rather tinker with websites & awards et al than with people & their commands. I am a very easy going person and am interested in running a fun and low key army, one that focuses on the members, games, fun, awards et al and not so much on policy & rules (as long as nothing against Club rules is going on). I am not one to stand on formality and prefer we do everything to keep folks interested and informed than to just cite regulations et al at them and then dismiss them from the ranks.
With that I have a very, very open door policy, any comments, suggestions, input, ideas, complaints, criticism, issues et al, feel free to email me anytime: eric2900@aol.com or my other email address: sludwig2900@gmail.com (I prefer you use the AOL one, but the Gmail one is a backup, in case you can't get me at the AOL one).
So it is that simple, keep it focused on the fun & the games, keep the members happy and make sure everyone gets the awards they deserve.
Some agenda things being worked on right now, well we are doing some cleanup work. Backlogged awards, especially awarding those officers who have recently served in commands in the past two years of the four former armies. So slowly I am working on awards certificates for them and compiling forum posts about it for us all to celebrate their service in.
Another thing is doing records checks. There had been some inconsistencies in how conduct points might of been applied to the two different Theaters in the last year or so. So I am seeing what the differences are and after we might very well apply a blanket awarding to those who were behind, so that everyone has a fair shake with them. I will also be working with my trusty Chief of Staff Fightin' General Tim Miller to work on looking into who needs to be awarded Beauregard, Joe Johnston & Purple Eagle Order medals across the whole army.
Also to note is I have started awarding Chief of the Armies (CoA) Discretionary Points, from a small pool of points I have, to award each month for members who do a fair amount of gaming in a month. It'll be used to recognize those who are active in game reporting and also help in small amounts, move an officer closer to a promotion. It'll be used in other ways too. But my goal is encourage members to play.
Website work is another key element. Making sure our sites are up to date and looking good, making sure info is updated, navigation is easy (something I often forget to make sure is easy). Have a good look to them too and are kept current. Thankfully with two armies it is a lot easier than four. Lieutenant General Steve Kitchen continues to do a great job with the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) page and we will work on getting a site for the Army of the West (AotW) as soon as we can. I have created a new central headquarters page for us, as I have highlighted a couple places prior to this message: http://www.wargame.ch/wc/acw/sub/CSA_Command/CSA_CoA/index.html
Websites are a big deal to me because they are how we present ourselves to each other, the Club at large and potential recruits. Another big thing for me is communication. Communication at the right level, just enough contact so that people are informed & engaged, but not overburdened. Likewise too little can be an issue too. Both armies will be the hub of communication. Both armies already have effective systems in place. I will simply use my spot to steer the CSA as we go along and send our wider messages & news, so that the work at Headquarters supports the two armies & doesn't overpower them or dictate to them. Again, we are a very easy going place and should be designed for the casual gamer and enthusiast of the period, not for those who seek to micromanage everything or try to make this hobby run like a real army. That is not why any of us are here.
Last point, as I have gone on long enough, is I hope we can find a way, via volunteers, to not only engage the Yankees, but to also get our own members, to engage and get to know each other better. So hopefully we can find those ways as we go along to do that too.
Again, always feel free to contact me with any issues, comments, suggestions etc. I am very easy to get along with and I value your time as a member of our Club.
Now as a New Year’s gift, MUSTER is CANCELED for JANUARY!! All members will be automatically considered mustered and awarded their points. :)
Happy New Year All!
My Best,
-Scott
General Scott Ludwig
Commanding Officer & Chief of the Armies (CoA) of the Confederate States of America (CSA)
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