John Martin has written a set of free wargames rules for the American Civil War based on Games Workshop's Warmaster. I think that things have come full circle here, because Warmaster obviously took much of its inspiration from the seminal ACW rules set, "Fire and Fury." Not that GW would ever admit that. After all, according to the Evil Empire, miniature wargaming is the "Games Workshop Hobby", which precludes the acknowledgement of any other rules set or miniatures.
The Jackson Gamers' have published the "Continuous Fire Fight Rules for the American Civil War. They write:
Robert Whitfield and Larry Brom developed these in 1984 after we refought the battle of Fredericksburg in 25mm scale, and the Confederates were unable to stop the Yankees by firepower. In these rules there is a “deadly ground” in front of an Infantry regiment (and to a lesser degree, in front of an artillery battery). Any enemy unit in that ground WILL be fired at until it is destroyed, or falls back voluntarily or involuntarily, or forces the units that are firing on it to withdraw.
Bob Bergman has written a set of free wargames rules for the American Civil War called Seeing The Elephant. Designed for two different regimental and a brigade scale, the rules use a card activation mechanism, combined with a Morale Check. Firing is done by adding Fire Factors and rolling a die; Melee by figuring odds and rolling a die. In all, a comprehensive, well-thought out set of rules.
The Revised Brom is a set of free wargames rules by Jay Ainsworth for wargames set in the American Civil War. They're based on an original set of Larry Brom rule (duh). It uses a typical Brom card activation system, a random movement distance mechanism, and simultaneous fire.
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
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Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
