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My dad is really interested in American Civil War wargaming, but only playing 40k, I don't know where to look.

Can anyone direct/advise me on this subject?

I would prefer something about the scale of 40k; no paper squares counting-as entire regiments stuff, or "sort of like risk" games. I have found a few free rulesets (even the 40k varient), but would also like advice on the best types in your opinion(s). I have found paper soldier templates, but again, it would be nice to get (decently) priced plastics, but have had trouble finding any; I don't want to throw down the $ like I do for 40k, but I also don't want to use plastic "army men" either.

Any tips, advice, etc would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Plastics are rather rare in the scale you are asking for, however rules wise Games Workshop has Civil War rules that you might want to look into. Just look up Warhammer Battles Historical.

http://theminiaturespage.com/acw.mv

http://www.thewarstore.com/PerryBros28mmAmericanCivilWar.html

The Perry Brothers minis that Malfred posted are probably right up your alley.

Around here, the guys I've talked to mostly play either Johnny Reb III, or Fire and Fury. Both seem like interesting rulesets, although there is certainly a lot out there. The Miniatures Page is your best bet for more info. Johnny Reb III has a more regimental focus, while I think Fire and Fury is more brigade-based. So if you want regimental, Johnny Reb III is probably what you want.

You could probably figure out a mod for Legends of the Old West/Blood on the Plains to do skirmish level ACW stuff, especially Western War action.

Look for Brother Against Brother. Prolly the 'squad' type of level you're looking for. And go with Perry plastics. 36 figs in a box.

If your pops ever want to play bigger battles, and you don't mind painting at a slightly smaller scale (10-20mm) a fellow I know has a reasonably solid system available at http://www.hwcn.org/~ao421/fbg.html . It's deliberately simplified and easily digestible - it takes about the same ammount of time and energy to learn the entire game as it does to understand what powerfists do in 5th edition 40k. Unfortunately he does not yet have rules for river boats.

I'd also look into getting some Indians and civilians, since if you want to start out playing skirmish, a "raid" or "western" setting will probably have a lot more resonance to your dad.

As far as dirt cheap plastics go, 1/72 is extremely common in soft plastic. This will mean any masterclass painting efforts you put into them will tend to break off easily, and the sculpting is usually done out of Taiwan, but at typically ten bucks for fifty infantry, who's complaining? White glue and pennies work decently for a skirmish basing system - poker chips for horsemen - and the figures will appear to have only slightly more space around them than GW-style sculpts. (think old-school vs new school terminator bases)

For your models perry miniatures do a good selection of 28mm men ranging from Cavalry to Infantry to Cannons (mmmmm.... cannons, snap out off it!!)

The models are not too expensive with 48 infantry priced at 12 pounds (around $24), and cavalry is the same price.

The website is Perryminiatures.com,

Bye!