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Hello all.

We're proud to announce that the Alternative Civil War Kickstarter will be live soon.

Alternative Civil War is a 28mm scale miniature wargame set in an alternate background where impossible science collides with ancient magicks and weird beings clash with courageous soldiers on the American Civil War battlegrounds.

If you find this an interesting project, you might check out more about us and our game, including background, art and miniatures at our website, where you can also find out the alpha version of our rules, fully free to download at our rules section.

You may notice we've set up the newsletter already, which will allow you to keep in direct touch with the progression of this upcoming game. This is a major waypoint for us, and we're soon launching a small raffle to commemorate it. Stay tuned!

Last but not least, we're really happy to hear any of your feedback. The opinions and comments of the community are really important to us.

Surely that should be 'Alternate Civil War'...? [/grammarnazi]

It could be either.

An alternate Civil War would be like a Civil War from a parallel dimension or something.

An alternative Civil War would just be an Civil War different from the "normal" Civil War.

There's a lot of overlap between the two though (The difference in the alternative Civil War could be that the Civil War is taking place in an alternate dimension!)

I'd need to see some designs before I make any kind of real judgement.

You can browse through our website. There are mostly greens now, but we're showing cast miniatures really soon, we're working on the photographies.

 insaniak wrote:
Surely that should be 'Alternate Civil War'...? [/grammarnazi]{/quote]

Well, if Alternative, it could be Grunge vs Speed Metal.

Or Grunge vs Cross-Dressers...

 Barzam wrote:
I'd need to see some designs before I make any kind of real judgement.

Ghost Train Games is doing some really cool stuff with ACW. The WIP models look very nice!

Thanks weeble

Do you know what factions you will be looking to fund in the Kickstarter? Just the Union and the Rebs, or will you have goals and rewards associated with some of the other factions?

As long as the North still wins.

Clicked wondering which "civil war" this was about.

Was disappointed.

Please update title to tell others it's the American one.

Interesting looking greens though.

The Infinite wrote:
Clicked wondering which "civil war" this was about.

Was disappointed.

Please update title to tell others it's the American one.

Interesting looking greens though.

"Alternate Civil War" is a bit of a pun, because the shorthand for the American Civil War is of course ACW. So even though it is an "alternate" American Civil War, it is still ACW. I'm personally a fan of that, and the name of the game is "Alternate Civil War," so I don't really see why the title of the thread should be changed. I think it would be misleading to change the thread title to specify the ACW, right, because it would either not be the name of the actual game or be an overly wordy thread title.

Was it really a terrible inconvenience to have to read the first four sentences of OP? And after all you got to see some interesting greens.

weeble1000 wrote:
Was it really a terrible inconvenience to have to read the first four sentences of OP? And after all you got to see some interesting greens.

I bet he was so perturbed he even spilled a little of his tea.

weeble1000 wrote:
Do you know what factions you will be looking to fund in the Kickstarter? Just the Union and the Rebs, or will you have goals and rewards associated with some of the other factions?

Four initials: North, South, Natives and Spanish.
New Aztlan Empire (formerl known as Mexico) could be unlocked in the campaign.
There also some mercs out there...

The Grammarnazis haven't noticed that the kickstarter begins on "March 22th"?

Looks interesting, though. I shall look forward to the twenty-secondth with enthusiasm.

The Infinite wrote:
Clicked wondering which "civil war" this was about.

Was disappointed.

Please update title to tell others it's the American one.

Interesting looking greens though.

Thank you about the greens. How knows maybe one day we could develop another alternative civil wars...

Davespil wrote:As long as the North still wins.

North players can do it on every game!

How are you going to handle slavery?

 th3eviltwin wrote:
How are you going to handle slavery?

This game presents an alternative version of a specific period in history. Albeit we will be narrating many historical facts, they are presented in a fictional scenario and we do not aim for historical accuracy (actually, we will generally prefer it for a more thrilling story). Also, we will be treating sensible topics, such as slavery and secession.
The inclusion of these historical topics is in no way an endorsement or approval of the activities associated with them.

Our only goal is to create and show you an awesome game, and this historical period is an awesome era, full of heroes and legends, which we will fuel even more!

“Look! Upon Henry’s Hill stands Jackson like a stone wall! Let us determine to fight and die here and we will conquer. Follow me! Rally men! Rally behind the Virginians!”


Hello all!

To commemorate that our newsletter is ready, we wanted to launch another raffle: March 15th we will draw a winning name that will get one copy of this miniature. You can visit our website for the full info.

Best of lucks!

Hi all,

I'll show you an explanation of model's SKILLS.

The Skill line shows the numeric value of the model’s abilities. We will call these values skills, and some will be
used as a measurement of the success of the impulses the model takes together with some dice rolls, while others
will be static target numbers used as difficulty for others' impulses affecting the model. The Skill line will look as
follows:

Personal Impulses Pool (PIP): The number of impulses the model can spend to perform impulses and
reactions. Impulses and reactions are the actions a model can take, and this pool will measure how
many it can make per turn by spending it.

Movement (MOV): The distance (in inches) the model displaces when it takes a movement impulse. This
value might be modified by the impulse itself or other circumstances, such as cross-country terrain.

Close Combat (CC): The model's skill in hand-to-hand combat and using melee weapons. This skill will
usually be assessed against Defense to test if the attack hits its target.

Ranged Combat (RC): The model's skill to hit properly with ranged weapons. This skill will usually be
assessed against Defense to test if the attack hits its target.

Channeling (CHN): The model's magical skill, used both as an offensive value for magical attacks and as
non-offensive value for the performing of rituals and spells.

Defense (DEF): This is a measurement of the models ability to dodge incoming physical attacks, given by
its natural speed of movement and reflexes, its size and other factors, such as being supernaturally
prone to evade or deflect attacks.

Will (WIL): The model's magical and mental resistance compromised of arcane warding, sheer
willpower and a no small part of stubbornness. While Defense is used to evade physical attacks, Will is
used to evade mental or spiritual attacks.

Resilience (RES): How resistant the model is to injury based on his natural toughness and any armor or
protective enchantments it wears. Will be used to determine if a successful attack manages to hurt its
target. Attack's damage will be assessed against this skill to see if it causes damage to its target
.
Command (COM): Measurement of the model's experience on the battlefield, its capacity to follow and
issue orders, its courage in combat and fighting spirit in general. Will be used to perform special
impulses, to measure how far can it give orders and keep tight the men and to check if it holds its
ground when facing fear.

Health (H): How many injuries may the model sustain before going KO. This will be 1 in most cases, but
some great heroes or dire monsters will have more.

Military Quality (MQ): Used only by leaders, determines their tactical knowledge, strategical instinct and
leadership, and will be used to determine battle initiative and deployment order.

An example:
BRIG. GEN. WILLIAM T. SHERMAN
PIP 2 MOV 5 CC 9 CD 9 CHA 0 DEF 23 RES 19 WILL 23 COM 14 H 4 MQ +5

You forgot Shermans special ability. Setting fire to board section he just left.

 HisDivineShadow wrote:
You forgot Shermans special ability. Setting fire to board section he just left.

Lol. Exalt for that. History joke.

 HisDivineShadow wrote:
You forgot Shermans special ability. Setting fire to board section he just left.

Haha, we didn't! Sherman has a special rule: Hard War: At the start of any Player Round, this model's controller can spend 1 tactical
impulses to bestow all foe models a -1 to all their test during the round.
With that rule we tried to represent the effect of his infamous Hard War.

Bonus:rest of Sherman's special rules:
- Great Tactical Mind: +1 Initiative tests.
- Foresight: +1 Deploy tests.
- Excelsior Commander: +1 TIP.
- Modern Warfare: 2 Union Blue friendly models receive Flank. A model with Flank can
deploy during the normal deployment up to 6” from any border in your half of the board instead of on your
Deploy Zone.
- Quick Decisions: After deployment but before starting the first Player Round you can
redeploy up to 2 non-Irregular friendly models. If they have used a special deployment rule such as Flank,
you can still use it in this redeploy.
- Devil's Own Day: After losing half the initial models on his army, this model's controller
may assign 1 personal impulse to a non-Irregular model in this model's C&C (can go over the model's
maximum).
- Courageous: This model is not affected by any fear effect or condition.

I still think it should be a literal trail of fire that he deploys across the board as he moves. Will have to keep an eye on this, as the ACW is one of my favorite historical periods. It'll be difficult, though. The potential is there to slip into very problematic territory very easily.

 Guildsman wrote:
I still think it should be a literal trail of fire that he deploys across the board as he moves. Will have to keep an eye on this, as the ACW is one of my favorite historical periods. It'll be difficult, though. The potential is there to slip into very problematic territory very easily.

Haha, he should! no worries this is 1861 book, wait for 1864 books...(yes, books)
Regarding problematic territory we know, it's not our intention bringing any trouble, we respect everybody ideas we make this game for players, we want them having fun playing!, nothing more and nothing less.

Extra! Extra! Do you want to give a proper look to the Sherman & Stonewall Jackson models? This is your chance!





And remember our giveaway is still going on: http://ghosttraingames.com/contest-on/

 Guildsman wrote:
I still think it should be a literal trail of fire that he deploys across the board as he moves. Will have to keep an eye on this, as the ACW is one of my favorite historical periods. It'll be difficult, though. The potential is there to slip into very problematic territory very easily.

To be fair, there are a great many WWII games out there - both serious and "Weird War II". There's more than a touch of potential problematic territory there as well.

 Azazelx wrote:

 Guildsman wrote:
I still think it should be a literal trail of fire that he deploys across the board as he moves. Will have to keep an eye on this, as the ACW is one of my favorite historical periods. It'll be difficult, though. The potential is there to slip into very problematic territory very easily.

To be fair, there are a great many WWII games out there - both serious and "Weird War II". There's more than a touch of potential problematic territory there as well.

Yea, seriously. I don't understand what the concern is. You know that in 40K they virus bomb planets of innocent people and murder babies to turn into cyborg-zombie fluffers, right?

Slavery is part of US history, a very important and very reprehensible part. Ignoring it does more harm than good, and addressing it in an alternate history Wargame is not inherently fraught with insensitivity.

Ghost Train games seem to have a deep appreciation for American history and fantasy. As a US historian myself, I appreciate the way their developing fluff appears to be a firm, factually supported, compelling, and creative "what if" which is a really tough thing to do well.

Zombiesmith is also ace at drawing on history to make their fantasy world live and breathe with a frank reality in spite of its otherwise utter alien nature. Games and stories like these encourage people to appreciate history and interact with it in a critical, thought provoking way. More so than a straight historical Wargame in my opinion, because the exercise of your imagination requires an appreciation for the subtleties of human decision-making, and the exercise of inference.

In a way, ACW may encourage people to think critically about tough issues like slavery, and come to a better understanding about what it means to be part of a culture in which everyone around you, regardless of skin color, is heir to the SAME history, has been shaped by that same cultural experience, and must inevitably integrate that into their own identity, preferably in a manner that builds social bonds.

@weeble 1000: thank you for your words, we apprecuite them.

More fun: today weapon profiles

-Weapon type: Ranged weapons are meant for far combat, Melee weapons for close combat and Assault weapons can perform as any of those. A Ranged weapon will generate a Ranged attack and can be used only if the model has no enemy models engaged. On the other hand, Melee weapons will generate Melee attacks and can be used only against enemy models in base contact. An Assault weapon will perform both ways,generating a Melee attack if used against a foe in base contact or a Ranged attack against a foe at distance.
While engaged an Assault weapon can't be used to make a Ranged attack.

-Weapon name: Standard equipment is hard to find during the Civil War and most regiments and battalions can count dozens of calibers and models in their muskets and guns. We're simplifying this by simply assigning one generic name although it can represent a wide range of weapons.

-Range Steps: Weapons are more or less effective depending on how far is the target, and this is represented by these range intervals. A Ranged or Assault weapon will usually have 3 range steps: short, efficient and extreme. When you perform an attack with the weapon on a model over a distance equal or less than the indicated number, the attack will be considered in that range step. Melee weapons won't usually have range steps, although there are exceptions.

In example, a Rifled Musket has range steps of 8”/16”/72”, so an attack against a model 8” or less away will be in the short step, within 8,1” and 16” away will be in the efficient step and any attack further than 16,1” up to 72” will be in the extreme range step

Accuracy (ACC) and Damage (DAM): To represent how different weapons perform on different ranges, each range step has associated two values separated by a slash. Left of the slash will be the Accuracy value, which modifies the attack roll. Right of the slash will be the Damage value, which will be used to determine if a successful attack manages to hurt its target. Melee weapons usually will have only one of these ACC/DAM entries, as they don't have range steps. A weapon with a DAM of “-” will never make damage tests, although it could have other effects.

On the Rifled Musket example, this will look like:
RIFLED MUSKET 8” 16” 72”
+2/14 +0/12 -4/10

A shot on the short range step will have a +2 modifier to its attack and will test a Damage of 14 against the target's Resilience. On the efficient range will have no modifier and a Damage of 12 and while attacking at extreme range it will grant a -4 penalty and do a Damage of 10.

Hope you like it!.

Hi all!

Here we come with Player Round and Model Turn sequence.

PLAYER ROUND:
1.- Maintenance phase: Set any activated model as available. You can mark if a model has activated by tapping his character card: untap all cards in this phase. Every model replenishes his PIP (replenish any tokens you are using).

2.- Initiative phase: Determines which player will take the first turn. Both players will do an Initiative test (this is a player-made roll), rolling one d20 + Force MQ + Leader MQ. Whoever gets the higher total chooses which player makes the first model turn.
Since we're open to hear player ideas, do you think should the winner choose who goes first or just take the first turn?[u]

3.- Activation Phase: The selected player will activate a model in his army of his choice and go though its Turn.

4.- His opponent will do the same returning to phase 3. Both players keep alternating model's turns until one of them is out of available models. His opponent finishes activating any remaining model until he is out of them too.

5.- Round ends. Go to phase 1 again.

MODEL TURN:
When a model activates, go through the following steps:
1.- Check any effect or situation that triggers on the beginning of the turn.

2.- Spend PIP to take impulses and resolve them until you decide it's good enough and reserve any remaining impulses to take reactions later. Model's turn will be over: mark it as activated (tap its card).

3.- Check any effect or situation that triggers at the end of the turn

Let us know your thoughts!
Bests