Monday, June 2, 2025

Brigade Fire and Fury

It can't be Quar all the time.  
So what else could it be?
The best CW.

Sing it! 

OOOHHHHH
The ACW, is the Best CW!
Come on, and think it through,
with the glory and the history
and uniforms of grey and blue.

Oh Yes, 
the ACW, is the Best CW,
nothing else will do!
for horse and musket battles,
There is no better view.

Ha!
The ACW is the best CW,
step-up, right-on cue!
It's that time again, 
time for ACW with Stew.

---Thats Me.


Brigade Fire and Fury

Recall, several years ago...Holy Crap!  Has it been that long?  Yes, the original post was 2021 (Here).  Then I doubt very much that you recall as why would you remember a post of mine several years back about a game that didn't happen?  You wouldn't of course.  I mean you might because every post I write is a certified GOLD MINE of content.  Written in a style that is both relatable and transcendent.

Well, the hard work of placing that scenario into On-Line Blog Storage has paid off.  For last weekend I made a rare club appearance and hosted some good ACW action and had this scenario all prepped and ready to go.  Yay Me.  

Quick refresher from the 2021 post: The Wilderness Battle starts off like:


There are Clearings shown in yellow. Every else is the tangling-snarling-pant leg ripping-Wilderness.
The idea is that there is a big fight in the middle for the big clearing and then some bonus points for each side at the crossroads.  Go read the old blog page if interested.  Just skip my ranting about the sun because you hate entertainment.  

The day of the game there were 4 players all set to go, but the scenario plays best with 5 players (each controlling 2 divisions).  Hmm. what is a GM supposed to do?.... Oh I have a radical and interesting idea. Maybe I could play as well?  So that worked out nicely.

Game set up was an easy affair.  Just set out the clearings.  Add in some fences and buildings and many trees (even though they all just get piled in the corner during game play) just to have something else to look at, and play on. 


That's me in the pizza pac-man shirt.  
I'm obviously explaining something very important.  


table shot.




GMing and playing is lots of fun, but you do get kinda busy.  And I don't like AARs anyway so what you get are a bunch of random table shots taken throughout the day.  






I was a little unsure about the scenario.  It's kinda just a giant fire fight in the middle, like this:

Union Blue on the left,
Confederate Grey (and Butternut) on the right.


But turns out players like Big fire fights.  so that worked out.

This was my second outing with Brigade Fire and Fury.  While I do love the Regimental version, I was really feeling the Bridge level rules as they are a tad simpler.  And therefore quicker.  because time is always a factor. 

In the end the Confederates won.  But it was close.  there's something about the ACW.  When playing the Union players automatically become more cautious; and when playing the Confederates get more aggressive.  

I was really overdue for an ACW game.  Glad my troops made it out on the table again.

I do love the way the miniatures look.


Thanks for reading
Double thanks for writing a comment.
Till next time.

41 comments:

  1. Great to see some Brigade level fire and fury, still my go to set for ACW and the FPW. Now the best civil war, a bit debatable. I think the ECW shades it for me

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    1. Thanks Neil. Though I am debating deleting you comment because you doubt the ACW is the best CW. 😁

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  2. The table and game looks great Stew. I still have to get started on my Brigade Fire and Fury ACW project at some stage.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence. You won't regret it. 😁

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  3. I feel like most ACW rules give a bonus to the union cannons, and a bonus to the confeds charges. Wouldn't that naturally affect players strategies to take advantage of the bonuses they have?

    What did you use for the yellow sprinkle to make the fields?

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    1. Thanks Dave. Yes that's true, but something goes even deeper than that.
      The yellow sprinkle is just some bright yellow flock.

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  4. What scale are the minis Stew? They look very nice!

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  5. Very nice Stew - obviously a select club judging by all the space in your hall....☺
    Is "Brigade Fire & Fury" the same as the original Fire & Fury before there was a regimental version? 🤔
    If so, I used to play it many years ago; we played the historical battle scenarios - always knife edge, came down to last turn. The only bad game I had with them was a scenario from a magazine that was unbalanced and nothing like the historical battle!
    You now have a new title - "Plumpire" - which while it sounds like a fat vampire means "player- umpire". Trust me it's a real thing....
    BTW everyone knows the Spanish have the best civil war....☺
    Neil

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    1. BFF was the original F&F before Regimental came on the scene. Later 2nd Edition BFF appeared showing some influences from RFF.

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    2. yeah, and Jonathan say Fire and Fury are the original brigade rules and then later on there was Regimental Fire and Fury and now Fire and Fury is called Brigade Fire and Fury 2ed. I've never played the original.

      "plumpire" shall not be catching on. and the Spanish civil war SUCKS compared to the ACW. I should delete your comment for spreading misinformation. 😁

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  6. Good to see you got your fix of ACW.

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  7. Outstanding table presentation, Stew! BFF is on of the first rulesets that we played regularly back in the 90s. Great game. Are you playing the 1st or 2nd edition?

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    1. thanks JF. I wouldn't go so far to say outstanding... but nice.
      It's the second edition. I've never played the first.

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  8. A beautiful table, very nicely executed and the close ending couldn’t be better for the players.

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    1. Thanks Norm. Turn on comments on your blog already. 😁

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  9. Fantastic looking game Stew.
    Great post, a combination of Taylor Swift and Shakespeare 😁
    Good Gamesmanship with the shirt too, get the opponent thinking about pizza.

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    1. thanks Ben. You know me so well. 😁
      that exactly the combo I was going for.

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  10. Lovely looking game, great fences , I like the yellow scatter, I did buy 175 ACW figures the other day but I'm going to use them for Napoleonic Spanish ad Prussian, I vote for the Spanish civil war as the best too!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. You get 3 points for liking my fences and scatter but minus a million for voting for the Spanish civil war. 😁

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  11. You must be very happy to get in a game with your ACW Stuart, looked great as did all the models.

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    1. Thanks Dave. Yes I was. As happy as a dog with two tails. 😁

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  12. An excellent game there Stew and great to see all involved really enjoyed themselves. The table and figures look brilliant:).

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    1. Thanks Steve. I wouldn't go as far as brilliant but very much adequate. 😁

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  13. Very nice-looking game Stew, table and figures are very eye catching - I can see why you love the way your collection looks!

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    1. thanks Kieth. It's a nice thing where you like the look of your collection. Just like when you like the way that your wife looks. 😁

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  14. I was beginning to think that you only talked about the ACW.
    Wonderful looking game. Marvellous that you were able to play as well.
    Those old Quar fences work just as well for American Civil War too.
    Best wishes, James

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    1. Thanks James! you win the comments because you are hi-larious. 😁

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  15. Good looking game (unless already on the edge of the table, trees always start out as window dressing and wind up in a corner during play, it seems). I'm told Bloody Big Battles (which I am versed in) is basically a Fire and Fury Knock off, so I could imagine how your game went: a slugfest. Interesting gaming space: is that owned by a club or a rented venue?

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    1. thanks Ed. Yeah, I was gonna take a picture of all the trees just shoved into the corners but didn't. It's the same for fences and houses and all the terrain that doesn't matter.

      The space was an apartment complex's recreation center. A guy who lives in the complex is able to book it. 😁

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  16. Always great to see those ACW figs getting a roll out. I remember those old days when I was more available and able to play ACW games, and paint ACW figs.... Pretty much do ANYTHING more than sit here during my work breaks and look at other people enjoying the hobby.

    That game looked pretty frikken cool though - epic with all those massed infantry running at eachother.

    I still need to paint those zouaves I promised you like 10 years ago...

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    1. thanks Dai. I know what you mean, there's always someone doing more games and doing the hobby better, longer, more often. Time will free up eventually. 😁

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  17. What a weird Quar game....
    But the models do look good, I always love seeing the blue vs grey, very iconic combo!

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    1. thanks Space. now Har-de-har-har with the Quar joke. Just for that I'm gonna go back to posting Quar. You'll see. 😁

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  18. I'm glad to hear you got a game in even if it was a hybrid GM/player role. The table looks magnificent as well. I'm looking forward to more Quar in the near future as well (though its always nice to hear what you're up to, regardless of the minis/terrain you're working on)!

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    1. Thanks Jeff. It's always fun to the be the GM and play. More Quar next post! 😁

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  19. Nice report Stew, and nice to see a refight of part of the Wilderness...such a difficult terrain to set up with those dense woods.

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    1. I thanks Mark. I don’t think the Wilderness is hard to set up, just put out lots and lots of trees. But of course, all the trees just get moved to the corner during game play. 😀

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