COLT ACTION (BOLT ACTION RULES FOR AMERICAN CIVIL WAR)

                                                                      

For a few years now I have been playing Bolt Action versions 1 and 2, and have really enjoyed the mechanism for activating units. Instead of using the usual IGO - UGO system, each player pulls a dice out of a bag for each unit on the table therefore the play goes back and forth during the turn. Also the combat rules with just a few modifiers are pretty easy to learn making a quick fun game. As many wargamers do, I have looked at other periods I play to see if I could make a variation of the rules to suit that era. I have used it for Pony Wars before (I shall write an article on using it to play Custer's last Stand and the Fetterman fight in another article) , and this summer a chain of events made it possible to take a look again on writing a variation for fighting the American Civil War.  

As part of a swap of 15mm American Civil war figures from a friend, I had agreed to pay by painting some 28mm ACW figures, so before I had handed them over we had agreed to play a game with them and the rest of our collections.

Below are the rules I had written, to play this you will need the  Bolt Action ver2 Rulebook, as I have tried to keep it as close as possible to the Main rulebook.

Rules are the same as normal Bolt Action ver2 apart from changes below;

TURN SEQUENCE: The same as Bolt Action

ORDERS: The same as Bolt Action apart from the Down order

Down order is only -1 protection modifier not -2 due to them not being as well camouflaged etc as WW2 troops.

 Mounted troops cannot go down as a reaction from firing, they may escape instead. 

FOG OF WAR CHART

If an order test roll comes up two sixes then not only is the order not given but the player must immediately roll on the chart below.

D6 Roll	Affect
1 or 2	Friendly Fire: The unit does not move but fires against a friendly unit, place a fire order by the unit. The opposing player chooses a target, and the target must be within 12" of an enemy unit. If no target is available it goes down instead.
3,4,5 or 6	Panic. The unit executes a run order directly away from the nearest visible enemy unit. If no enemies are visible the unit goes down instead.

TROOP QUALITY AND MORALE

Quality	Morale	Examples
Inexperienced	8	Militia, Green Horns
Regular	9	Normal training with some combat experience
Veteran	10	Extensive combat experience

OFFICER BONUSES

The units are companies not squads in Colt Action, so the units have a Lieutenant figure commanding them not a NCO as in Bolt Action. Therefore the HQ commanders have higher ranks as below

Rank	Morale Bonus	Extra Orders	Range
Captain	+1	1	6”
Major	+2	2	6”
Colonel	+3	3	12”
General	+4	4	12”

MOVEMENT

Type	Advance	Run
Foot	6"	9"
Foot limber	6”	9”
Cavalry	9"	18"
Horse limber	9”	18”
Wagon	6"	9"

VEHICLE MANOEUVRE

Unit Type	Advance	Pivot(90) while advancing	Run	Pivot (90) while running
Wagon	6”	1	12”	1
Foot Limber	6”	2	9”	1
Horse Limber	9”	2	18”	1

TERRAIN TABLE

Terrain Category	Foot	Mounted	Wheeled Vehicles
Open Ground	OK	OK	OK
Rough Ground	No run	No  run	No
Obstacle	No run	No	No
Building	OK	No	No

SHOOTING

SHOOTING PROCEDURE;  The same as Bolt Action 

HIT MODIFIERS

Basic hit factor of 3+

Hit Modifier
Shooting at point blank range(6" or less)	+1
Per pin marker on firer	-1
Shooter is mounted	-1
Long Range (over half  max range)	-1
Inexperienced	-1
Fire whilst advancing	-1
Target is down	-1
Target is a small unit	-1
Target is in Soft cover	-1
Target is in Hard cover	-2
Target is mounted	+1

DAMAGE VALUE  TABLE

TROOPS               RESULT  NEEDED

Inexperienced                3+

Regular                          4+

Veteran                          5+

-1 penetration. if shot at by pistol, revolver or repeating rifle due to their smaller calibre. Example, regular unit hit by enemy unit firing revolver count casualties on 5+ not 4+.

                   

WEAPONS CHART

Small Arms

Type	Range	Shots	Special rules
Percussion pistol	6”	1	Inaccurate
Revolver	6”	2	Inaccurate, Assault
Shotgun	12”	2	Buck and ball, Assault
Smoothbore musket	20”	1	Buck and ball, Inaccurate
Smoothbore carbine	18”	1	Buck and ball, Inaccurate
Breach loading rifle	24”	1	Rapid Fire
Breach loading carbine	24”	2	Inaccurate, Rapid Fire
Rifled musket	24”	1
Rifled carbine	20	1	Inaccurate
Repeater carbines	20”	2	Assault, Inaccurate
Sharps Rifle	28”	1	Accurate
Whitworth Rifle	36”	1	Accurate

Special Rules Notes

Assault:  Assault weapons mean that in close combat figure rerolls any successful hits, for additional hits.

Accurate: Weapons ignore the -1 long range modifier.

Buck and Ball:  If in close range, additional +1

Inaccurate: Revolvers were less accurate due to the short barrels , Muskets due to no rifling, Carbines were less accurate at longer distances. So -1 when shooting muskets and revolvers at any range and Carbines at long distance (therefore -2 at long range).

Rapid Fire: For every three men shooting throw 1 extra dice

Firing from horseback with carbine or shotgun is only allowed if the unit is regular or veteran with a fire or ambush  order. To fire a rifle, a cavalry unit needs to dismount.

Firing a revolver/pistol  from horseback is allowed with an advance, ambush or fire order.

Field Artillery

Type Range Shots Special Rules 6pdr Smoothbore 36” 1 Shot P1, Cannister3D6 Shell, Case (HE 1) 12pdr Napoleon 48” 1 Shot P2, Shell, Case, Cannister6D6 (HE 2) 3in Ordnance Rifle 60” 1 Bolt P3, Shell, Cannister 4d6 (HE 2) 10pdr Parrott 60” 1 Bolt P3, Shell, Case, Cannister3d6 (HE 2) 12pdr Howitzer 40” 1 Shell, Case, Cannister6d6 (HE 2) Gatling Gun 24” 6 Round

The player must declare which type of ammunition the weapon is firing as he declares the target.

Shot (Cannon ball)

Declare the degree point before placing the Firing arc template, within the firing arc of the cannon to show the direction the cannon is firing. Place the marker in front of the cannon, Measure a straight line with a string  from the barrel of the model through the degree length selected the full length of the range.. Any units (enemy or friendly) that the line intersects throw 1D6 to hit, if missed this means the shot has bounced over the heads of the unit. Each figure in a unit that is hit if it intersects the line (Throw on damage table). Penetration -1 if when in long range. If the shot hits any terrain then it stops when it reaches the end of the terrain.

             Firing arc template, use a protractor to mark out the degree lines on a piece of White card. As in Bolt action the firing arc is up to 45 degrees each side.

Place the string in a straight line from the centre of the front of the artillery piece through the degree line 

and up to the cannon's range. Taking note of any units enemy or friendly the line intersects.

Shell and Case

Throw D6 to hit, if firing shell at an unit in or behind cover, ignore any negative modifiers. If hit consult HE table for damage place selected diameter over any part of the unit, throw selected dice for pins. If the unit is in a building throw selected dice for casualties.

Bolt

Declare the degree point before placing the firing arc within the firing arc of the cannon to show the direction the cannon is firing. Place the marker in front of the cannon, Measure a straight line with a tape or string  from the barrel of the model through the degree length selected the full length of the range. Roll to hit the target. If hit, place the tape from the front of the barrel through the marker, roll for damage each figure that intersects the line of that unit only. Penetration -1 if when in long range  and no modifier to hit.

Cannister

Cannister can only be used up to 12” range (6” for 6pdr). They are automatic hits roll on damage table.

Howitzer

Howitzer may fire overhead units and obstacles with the same mechanics as mortars in bolt action. However if the target is within 12” it can only fire canister.

Gatling Gun

After firing a Gatling gun, throw 1D6, if the result is a 1 then the gatling gun becomes temporarily broken. The player in the next turns may attempt to repair the gun by rolling a dice 5.6 success the blockage has been cleared and it is able to fire this turn, however if another 1 is thrown the Gun is irreversibly damaged and is out of commission.

CLOSE QUARTERS

CLOSE QUARTERS PROCEDURE: The same as Bolt Action

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Additional Rules

Standard Bearers

Only one infantry company and one cavalry company with the same morale rating may have a Standard bearer in a force. The figure with the standard cannot fire, although he will fight in close combat as a tough fighter.

If a company has a standard bearer it may automatically lose 1pin at the start of its turn. 

 If a Standard bearer is shot, then the player may remove another figure from the same unit instead of the Standard bearer. (Another soldier picks up the fallen flag).

If a Company with a Standard bearer is in combat then they will fight as fanactics, at any time in the combat the standard bearer is lost by exceptional damage (the flag has been  temporarily captured.) The unit will continue to fight on to try to recapture the flag.   

If the Company is wiped out by close combat then it is assumed that the flag has been captured by the enemy. Any friendly unit of the same type (Infantry or Cavalry) with 24” and LOS of the combat, has D3 pins placed on them.

Musicians (Buglers or Drummers)

Only one infantry company and one cavalry company with the same morale rating may have a musician in his Company (Bugler for cavalry and bugler or drummer for infantry). The Musician helps the officers to give orders, therefore if taking a morale test add +1 modifier to help a unit to pass  an order test. They may shoot and fight as normal.

Sniper

A marksman with a high powered Whitworth rifle, when a sniper shoots using a fire or Ambush order, if the sniper has a scope and chooses to use it then the shot ignores negative to hit except , pins and last man standing. If the target is within 12” then it could not fire. If the sniper successfully rolls to hit and damage, this always counts as exceptional damage, so the firing player can pick any model in the target unit. Sniper may forward deploy.

Limber(Tows)

Each artillery unit chosen must have a limber to tow it around the battlefield.  Limbered guns cannot be shot at, only the limber itself. So when unlimbering , artillery units must be ordered to Run. Measure the range of this 6” move from the gun model itself at the back of the limber, as per normal Run move. To limber, the limber needs to be within 6” of the artillery unit, and give the artillery unit a run order.

Manhandling Artillery Units

Manhandling artillery units is extremely hard work. Any artillery piece defined as light or medium can be moved by the crew with a Run order and can only move 6”. If there is only 1 crewman left then the artillery cannot move but may still be rotated. Artillery units may rotate in any direction and fire with a -1 penalty for moving.

Arc of fire

Guns can only target an enemy unit that lies partially within their front arc, with a 45degree arc  to each side of their barrel..

Cover

When working out whether a target artillery unit is in cover or not, only consider the crew models the gun itself is ignored.

Damage on Artillery Units

Small arms fire cannot damage the gun itself. Casualties are always taken from the crew even when exceptional damage is caused. Artillery fire is also resolved against the crew however exceptional indicates that the gun itself is also destroyed. If the gun is destroyed its order dice is removed from the dice bag . However the surviving crew members may be redeployed to other guns. Abandoned guns can be re-crewed during the game, if not recrewed by the end of the game are treated as destroyed. If an enemy unit moves within 1” then the abandoned gun is either disabled or captured and is removed as destroyed.

Recrewing Guns

Artillerymen can make a dash up to 12” between guns to reinforce an existing crew or to man an abandoned gun. See page 96 Main rule book.

Cavalry

Cavalry rules are different than Bolt Action

A cavalry unit moves at 9” at an Advance and 18” at a Run, although mounted cavalry cannot enter or assault buildings.

Cavalry units cannot react to enemy attacks by going Down, However they can react by making an immediate escape move in same way as recce vehicle rule pg118 Main Rule book.

 A cavalry unit can dismount as part of an ADVANCE order. The  dismounted troopers may fire with a -1 penalty.
A cavalry unit can dismount as part of a RUN order and move on foot 6" but may not fire.

When Cavalry dismounts, place the dismounted models(one less than the total) in front of the mounted models  . One model remains mounted to act as a horse holder and may not fire. Remove the rest of the mounted models and place three rider-less horses.

The horses and horse holder cannot be targeted by enemy fire but can be los t(and removed from the table) if an enemy unit advances within 1” of them.

If the dismounted cavalry unit moves then the Horses and horse holders also move keeping within 6” of the main unit. If the dismounted unit is destroyed then the horse holder and horses are removed as well. Dismounted Cavalry may remount by being given a run order.

Mounted Cavalry charging infantry in open terrain have  +1 added to their combat dice if armed with pistol/revolver  and/or sabre.

Next Article will be some Army lists to build your forces.