Polemos: American Civil War

Polemos - American Civil War

The American Civil War was fought between two fledgling armies with little experience, over a vast area and with little knowledge of the technologies that would be brought to bear over the course of the war.

Inexperienced armies and generals, state driven mobilization and a belief that with one battle it would be over added, to the mixed and muddled beginning to the war. However with the emerging use of mass production for weapons, ammunition and supply there were some compelling reasons why this would not be so. With both the Union and Confederate governments aiming to mobilize, train and arm the volunteers and militias to the field within a few months gives us the opportunity to re-construct battles that were, in the main, very unpredictable.

This mixture of inexperience and technology would directly affect the course and length of the war. Both forces involved were made up of Regulars, Volunteers, and Militias that varied in size, experience and term of service. The protagonists also relied on conscription to add more troops to their armies as the war progressed and the volunteers began to dry up.

With Polemos, American Civil War (ACW), the opportunity to produce two sets of rules in one book is irresistible. This set of rules will allow the war gamer to re-fight the larger battles of the period such as: Lee versus Meade at Gettysburg or Bragg versus Rosecrans at Chickamauga fighting with armies of well over 50,000 men each.

The other allows the war gamer to fight Division or Corps sized actions and re-create smaller engagements within larger battles like Breckinridge’s final assault on the high ground at the Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro) in January 1863, or the battle that lost Arkansas to the Confederates, Prairie Grove in 1862.

Polemos ACW is therefore produced as two sets of rules in one book. The first set, On They Came will allow the wargamer to fight battles with armies of up to corps size. The second set, Crisis of Allegiance will allow the wargamer to refight the BIG battles of the period.

The same wargames figures may be used in both sets of rules, as the basing system is universal - only the nominal scale will differ.

Polemos ACW aimed at enabling the wargamer to fight large scale actions; actual battles, rather than small scale skirmishes. Systems for firing, melee and morale are straightforward and easy to learn, but allow your troops to emulate the tactics used by their historical counterparts.

Basing and Representation: The basic unit of manoeuvre in Polemos ACW is the Base - a group of wargames figures mounted permanently on a single base of a given size. The actual position and number of the figures on the base is not important, nor is it important that the base sizes given below are adhered to. So long as both armies use the same basing system, the rules should not be affected.

A 60mm x 30mm base of infantry represents an infantry regiment - about 300-500 men. A 60mm x 30mm base of cavalry represents a regiment of 300-500 men and horses. A 30mm x 30mm artillery base represents two batteries each of 4 to 6 guns. A 30mm x 30mm Officer base is use for Generals, Corps and Divisional commanders

In Crisis of Allegiance, 60mm square bases are used. These can be formed by using two OTC bases, butted up one behind the other or a single larger base which allows a more creative and dioramic approach.

A 60mm square base of infantry represents an infantry formation of between 1200 and 2000 men. This may represent a brigade or division, depending on the size of the army being modeled. A 60mm square base of cavalry represents between 1200 and 2000 men. This may represent a brigade or division. A 30mm x 30mm artillery base represents 16 to 24 guns,

All distances in Polemos games are expressed in Base Widths (BW) and Base Depths (BD) in order to allow the use of differing base sizes. A BD is half a BW. This system means that any size can be used for bases, so no rebasing is required so long as both sides are consistent. We believe that a 60mm x 30mm base gives the best results in terms of both practical use and visual impact. All Baccus 6mm Polemos army and booster packs are organised on this basis.