As you know, I play a lot of All Quiet on the Martian Front, and am relatively active in their
online community. Through this
connection, I connected with Slave2Gaming. They are an online miniature maker from
Australia, who made a range of Dark World War 18mm figures that were useful
during the gap between Alien Dungeon closing and Ironclad picking up the AQMF
product line. Their cavalry is very
cool. The models themselves are sculpted
by Mike Broadbent and he is the primary sculptor for Slave2Gaming. Drew from Slave2Gaming reached out and asked me
to take a look at and review one of their upcoming releases and I agreed.
The game is called: AmericanCivil Paw: The Battle of Teddysburg.
It is a set of American Civil War rules with a bit of a twist. The combatants are all teddy bears
re-enacting the “War between the States”.
Therefore, some of the conventions of that era are adhered to, but it is
a bit more whimsical take on the subject.
The objectives were to create a relatively quick, streamlined set of
rules less than 25 pages that would allow the Teddy’s to take to the table top. The rules were intended to be a “Mass Battle”
game using 18mm figures formed into multi-based regiments. At the moment, the rules are in PDF download format
only, with a more official book potentially being released with the range.
Before printing the booklet, the designer would like to get
feedback and make changes. Therefore,
the PDF version of the rules is currently in BETA. Hopefully, some of you with a lot of
experience in ACW games will be able to give them some insight before they pay
to print the book. He is especially
interested in adding more unique Fantasy traits to the game but still keep the
ACW theme.
Of course, besides the rules they are releasing an adorable
range of miniatures that Mike sculpted.
They are up to his usually standards of high quality and they should be
great for Horse and Musket players looking for something a bit different,
gamers who play other generic fantasy settings such as Dragon Rampant or Kings of
War, and also gamers introducing the concept of wargaming to the next
generation. The range by Mike will be a
great bridge between fantasy and historical gamers and also act as a gateway
for newer gamers. Teddy Bears don’t need
to worry about their uniforms as much as real ACW toy soldiers!
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| Too cute! They also have other hat variants. Wargamers love fancy hats!. |
You can find the BETA rules here at the moment: American Civil Paw: The Battle of Teddysburg
Once more into the fluffy breach then?
Things I Liked
The game follows many standard staples of a Horse and
Musket ruleset. You have different formations such as line and
column. You have forward 180 degree fire arc. You have movement
based on a leader base. You have firepower based on the number of bases
that can shoot/combat. So, if you have played Horse and Musket games many
of the core mechanics are there for you. It will be easy to pick-up and
play.
There is no casualty removal. All bases are left on
the table until the unit flees off the board or is completely wiped out.
That way, all those nice Teddy Bear figures you spent time painting will be in
the thick of it for most of the battle. No one likes to buy and paint
troops to have them removed before they even do anything. Instead, it
uses a “hit Point” style system where each Base in the unit provides a “hit”.
Infantry units are a bit more resilient with 10, while cavalry has 8, and Artillery
only 2.
Units can always move and Shoot/charge without any test
so your lads will always have something to do. More complicated actions
require command tests. Units that have taken a certain level of injury
MUST have commands to act.
The system uses a Target Number system on a d10.
All units pretty much use the same target numbers, and there are very few
modifiers. This is good as it reduces the memorization needed to
play. Most modifiers are relatively intuitive for the period. The
game tends to avoid a lot of the “If This/Then That” type rules you can find in
this periods games.
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| The stick horses for cavalry.... too cute! |
The game uses the Bolt Action Grab Bag approach to
activation. This is a solid and tried and true mechanic however I tend to
prefer to play games with less passive activation systems. When a unit
has its chit pulled from the bag it is placed by the unit as a reminder that it
has activated.
Perhaps due to the streamlined nature of the rules, the
game did not have any rules about flank attacks or enfilading fire. I
think such rules would help increase the desire to maneuver before engaging and
add more tactical choices/depth to the game. There are also no rules to
cover if more than one unit engages another in combat/assault or the ability to
support an assault. Again, I feel these elements would help add to the
tactical possibilities of the rules.
The game is intended to be played on a standard wargames
table that is trying to represent forests, creeks, small towns, etc. I
actually see this as a missed opportunity and a chance to differentiate the
rules form standard Horse and Musket games. Considering this is a game
about Teddy Bear warfare, I feel it should use 1:1 scale terrain of household
items so you could actually walk into any room and start a game on the floor
with whatever is on it. Carpets are your flat, open terrain with rugs
acting as fields, and mismatched slippers as impassable terrain. Now you
have a unique and interesting gaming experience not found in most other
wargames. There are a lot of American Civil War games out there and I
think this is the “gimmick” to help differentiate the game as opposed relying
only on Mike Broadbent’s miniature line.
Meh and Other Uncertainties
The game play is pretty straight forward and easy.
It would be kind of fun to add some variable leadership
qualities to the rules as well. The personalities of the American Civil
War commanders played a large role in the outcomes on the battlefields.
This might expand the scope greater than what Slave2Gaming were trying to achieve, but it would allow them
to add more to the Teddy Bear theme and some silly puns. Everyone loves
silly puns…. well…. everyone who wants to play Teddy Bear ACW anyway.
Okay, maybe just me then….
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| Rocking horses for officers.... too cute! |
For morale, it is interesting that panicked units are very
hard to use with a base Target Number of 9 to activate on an order. Some
of the modifiers would make it impossible to steady/rally them. However I
maybe misreading the rules on this segment, since being in Open Ground adds a
+1 to the Target Number, making it a 10 required. I am unsure how I feel
about this as it makes sense in the context of the American Civil War game
where units would sometimes just stop, but not completely break. However,
maybe it would just be easier to remove them?
The rules have a few diagrams and illustrations to help
demonstrate the rules. This is a good thing. I feel some examples
of play would also help but the rules are clean and simple enough that it may
not be needed. Some fun pictures of Mike’s painted Teddy Bears in the
field would be cool too.
Army creation is straight forward and basic. They have a couple of unique traits for each
side, but I know they want to expand this part of the rules.
Final Thoughts
The rules are a solid, simple way to get into the period
and they are the right price at less than $5. They will do the job of
supporting the miniature range. Plus, they will be a good base to build
on for future additions to the game.
The game itself has an interesting hook or gimmick; cute
and cuddly Teddy Bears re-fighting the Civil War. However, the rules
themselves do not have that same hook or gimmick. They are perfectly
solid and serviceable set of rules that will allow you to play Teddy Bear Civil
War battles but there just isn’t enough here to really differentiate them from
a game like Blackpowder or Longstreet. To me, there are a
lot of ACW rulesets out there and it takes a little something special to make
them stand-out rule wise. I am not sure Slave2Gaming’s American Civil Paw: The Battle of Teddysburg currently
has that something to stand out as a rules system.
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