61-65 Marching on - one step closer

A while ago I got hold of 61-65 ACW rules by Ganesha Games, based on the fact I really liked playing Song of Drums and Shakos and I have always wanted to do ACW after visiting Gettysburg and looking down the hill of Cemetery Ridge and thinking to myself that there wasn’t an awful lot of room to manoeuvre or take cover when I visited.

I decided that I would budget myself for this project on what I was going to spend. I normally buy loads of stuff and don’t get round to using it. Not this time, I have given myself £50 to get this project moving and the additional goal of playing at least a 3 game campaign before buying any further lead for the table.

The 61-65 rules are pitched at company strength engagements which for some may seem a little on the small side and not very ‘grand tactical’ , but for me it fits the bill perfectly as I don’t have the time or the space anymore for games much over skirmish level or platoon level.
The rules being based on company level organisations mean that a company is made up of about 90 figures for all ranks; this is very achievable especially since I wanted to do this in 10mm.

The figures:

I did a fair bit of research on the different figures that are available for this period in 10mm and can across this most excellent blog by Bt Sherman – “On Campaign With General Bt Sherman  A blog devoted to Miniature Wargaming, Battlefielding and Reenactments.”

This blog has lots and lots of ACW related articles and one of the best articles on the site I found was a comparison picture of the most common 10 / 12mm ACW miniatures out there.

I have borrowed this image from the blog, but I heartily recommend that you check it out for yourself if you like the ACW period.

Armed with my information I began looking at what miniatures to buy, my initial thoughts where to go with Blaze Away miniatures, they look very good and I could get both sides as a skirmish pack for about £12 each, however the international postage was quite high, so I decided to go with The Baggage Train, 10 High range of ACW. Mainly because they are UK based but their brigade packs have 98 figures including command and flags for £11.52.
I added a pack of Infantry in Slouch hats and some artillery which when mixed with the brigade pack will give me two forces of 5 units, plus command and artillery.

Choosing this option left me some of my budget that I decided to spend on Pendraken’s ACW building pack and their Antietam chapel.

I am pretty happy with the initial cost layout for this project with all the items coming in to less that £36, which means I can in future expand a little and add maybe some cavalry and snake fencing.

Once the figures and buildings arrive I will post some photos and I will also remember to so some progress blogs as this project moves forward.