Bonnie blue flag ACW rules

[obriendavid]

Glad you managed to eventually get back into the forum Kev.
What I especially like about the rules is that they are so easy to adapt for any unusual situation. So far I haven't actually tried them for ACW but they have worked well for Crimean War and the Russo-Japanese War which was our latest outing. I might be trying them soon for the Franco-Prussian War.

Personally I thing Confederate cavalry should be heavily penalised for dismounting as historically they seemed to be very reluctant to do so.

Dave

[General Schnapps]

Steve
Advantage of firing in line rather than in supported line is the addition of a fired on from line modifier for the target unit and the fact that with its longer frontage it has potentially more enemy units to fire at.
As you say 2 supported lines cover the same frontage as a single unit in line but then again 2 units in line cover twice the frontage of those units.

In answer to your question about a unit being attacked and surviving a flank attack it's only option is to continue in melee. Because it is engaged it can not realign to face the attack and must suffer the attacked in flank modifier for as long as the melee continues. Lesson here is cover your flanks.

Again I hope this helps
Kev

[General Schnapps]

Dave,
Glad you are enjoying the rules and experimenting with them. Although they are written for ACW they have been easily adapted for a number of 19th conflicts from Napoleonics to Indian Mutiny and Crimea, our game at Carronade this year used a variant for Wars of the Roses and we have staged a game set during the Roman invasion of Britain, the last two mentioned did require a fair bit of reworking but the mechanisms are essentially the same.
Dismounted confederate cavalry don't really appear in our games to be honest but I decided to let them keep the modifier when dismounted for use in cavalry raid type scenarios where they might decide to dismount to fight.
Kev

[Rohan Wilmott]

Hello, Kev, Dave & Steve.

I have just found this thread while googling "Bonnie Blue Flag", having just ordered a copy from Caliver.

I am looking for a fun simple set of Napoleonic rules (no disrespect to RtE that I also have, but I'm afraid I seek simpler fare, Barry, with the possibility of smaller games). I saw Charles Grant's review in "Wargames Illustrated"

Charles Grant has mentioned to me on the now closed AMG forum that he has used them for Napoleonics. I just wonder if you have a set of modification notes "just lying around" to speed up the process for me, please, Kev??

If they are online, I'd be happy for a link or please PM me if it suits.

Cheers, Rohan.

[General Schnapps]

Hi Rohan,
Firstly an apology for taking so long to reply to your inquiry. I am currently working on the Napoleonic version of Bonnie Blue Flag for future publication along with a Sudan version. Both are well under way and I am about to write up the draft manuscripts.
The Napoleonic rules in particular follow the same pattern as Bonnie Blue Flag with the same style of mechanisms and the same style of play and cater for both small and large scale battles. They do however require additional troop types and certain changes to reflect the period. As a temporary measure Bonnie Blue Flag could be used as written for Napoleonics by tinkering with some of the modifiers and introducing melee modifiers for Heavy cavalry and lancers for instance, if you have received a copy of the rules you will see that this can done quite easily.
The ethos of my rules is firmly on playability and period feel, hope you have found this to be the case with Bonnie Blue Flag.
regards
Kevin