Baccus 6mm ACW “Fire & Fury in the Grand Manner” Project

Andy Robinson

Project Diary No.1 (March 2007)

Background

I have been a great fan of Peter’s 6mm figures since the early days of Baccus. I started with WSS, but have also dabbled, to a lesser or greater extent, with ECW, GNW, SYW, Napoleonics and the old ACW ranges. In fact, every time Peter releases a new range I find it hard to resist the impulse to buy!

I have always liked the ACW and the popular Fire & Fury rules, particularly the game scale and the “to-and-fro” of battles which I feel gives a pretty realistic impression of what a real ACW battle must have been like. The only drawback for me is that in 15mm a unit of 20-50 figures just doesn’t look like a brigade at all. It looks more like a small regiment. And this spoilt my enjoyment of the rules. Consequently my 15mm collection found its way onto a Bring & Buy in 2001.

My “Eureka Moment”

After some years in the wargaming equivalent of the Wilderness, my interest in the war was rekindled by the first pictures of Peter’s new ACW figures on the Baccus website – great figures and lovely diorama bases. When a few months later I saw them in the flesh at Colours I was instantly hooked. I had read forum posts discussing some possible ways to use Baccus figures for ACW “F&F” gaming: use the same number of figures as 15mm but use a smaller table and tiny bases; or use 15mm base sizes and cram more figures on. The use of 2 Baccus bases (8 figures) to replace each 15mm base would indeed give a much-improved look.

But as I talked to Peter about the possibilities, I had what some friends have called my moment of insanity, but which I prefer to call my “Eureka moment”. Those diorama bases of Peter’s looked so splendid, why not replace each 15mm scale “F&F” base with a 60mm square diorama loaded with fine Baccus figures – a 24 figure line, 6 skirmishers, assorted hangers-on and realistic terrain. Then it surely would begin to look like a unit in the ACW. Forget about doubling the number of figures on a base, what about multiplying it by a factor of 7 or 8! This must be the way to get the best out of Baccus figures, or to shamelessly steal/slaughter a number of great strap-lines: “the one true way to wargame the ACW in the grand manner”

By now you will understand that “the look” is probably the most important element in my gaming projects. The use of diorama bases brings the figures to life and with a game scale of 200 men to a base 6mm regiments and brigades really start to look like the real thing.

The First Tentative Steps

I went away, my head buzzing with ideas, with enough figures to do an 8-base infantry brigade for each side to start the ball rolling, and a promise to Peter that I would try and get them completed by Warfare in November. When I mentioned my new project to the guys at TimeCast they encouraged my obsession and before I knew it I had commissioned some farms, town sectors, a Dunker church and woods to start the terrain I will need for the project. I wouldn’t be disappointed. Remarkably for me I actually finished the 2 brigades with a day to spare.

You Can’t Get Rid of Me That Easily!

Peter has (possibly unwisely!) encouraged me to write a kind of diary as the project develops, to share (probably in equal measures) the pain and excitement of planning and building a civil war collection Robert E. Lee would have been proud of. Hopefully it might inspire others with a similar infliction, or at least act as a warning to the more sane wargamers amongst us!

I will post further instalments, probably on a fairly erratic basis if this first one is anything to go by. I already have some ideas for the next few diary entries including: painting and basing techniques; research into OOB’s, unit sizes, scenarios and uniforms; implications for modelling and actually wargaming this scale with “Fire& Fury”; and related issues of terrain building. And lots more photos as stuff is finished!

Until next time I hope that the attached pictures inspire some of you to use Baccus figures “in the grand manner”! If anybody wishes to discuss specific aspects of the project I would be more than happy to do so in the forum.

Cheers for now

Andy Robinson