Today we have back our favorite guest writer on Brushes & Bayonets Blog, WorleyBirds! We hope y’all enjoy his article.
Today, I will review a set of rules for large-scale battles during the American Civil War, Altar of Freedom. The main focus of the rules is on re-fighting specific battles during the war and trying to see if you can outperform your historical counterparts, while also having to deal with the many quirks and eccentricities of the battlefield commanders. There are ways to make your own scenarios or even points-based armies, although the rules make it clear that it was designed for scenarios and not pick up games. That being said, it is a fun set of rules to replay historically significant battles of the American Civil War.
I will be using the B&B rule review format which rates rules in five categories: Cost, Ease of play, Essence, Fun factor, and Bonus. In each category, a set of rules can score 1-3 points. 1 point being ok, 2 being good, and 3 being great. If there is one exceptionally good or bad category then that category can receive a score of either a -1 or a 4, but this can only be scored once per review. This means that a score of 10 is average. Let’s get right into it.
Cost: How much is it to get a decent game on the table?
This is a mixed bag for me because it depends on what you want to do in the game. The game could technically be played with any basing provided that all units are based the same. I built my collection using 6mm miniatures because that is the scale shown in the rulebook. If you want to try and play one of the scenarios, either in the base rulebook or one of the scenario rulebooks, then for most of those battles you will need a large amount of bases. There are some small-scale battles, such as First Manassas and Seven Pines, which you can play with about 15-20 bases per side, but if you want to try and run any middle to late-war battles, such as Fredericksburg or Spotsylvania, you will need more like 55-60 bases for the Union and 45-50 for the Confederates which is quite a few. You can have a points-based game and make a battle with what you have, but since the main focus of the rules is scenario-based, I have to somewhat discount that path.
Score: 2
Ease of Play: Is it easy to learn, teach, and remember?
The rulebook is pretty easy to follow through and learn the game with. The turn sequence is easy to follow and is never really an issue. There are modifying traits on each general that can often be annoying to remember, but if you have multiple players they each only have to remember one or two which makes it more manageable. Additionally, the way the modifiers impact the game can be a little hard to grasp for newer players sometimes, compounded with the tough to master priority point bidding turn system, but that usually gets worked out by the end of the first game. The only other issue is that the Quick Reference Sheet could have been rearranged to make things slightly easier to find; however, that is a minor detail and does not impact the game.
Score: 2
Essence: Do the rules capture the “feel” of the period?
If you use the scenarios in either the base rulebook or one of the scenario books each battle feels like the historical events they are portraying. The quirks given to each general can vary from scenario to scenario, although sometimes they remain constant (I’m looking at you Burnside), which allows for each battle to be tailored to how it occurred historically. Some people may not like that the scenarios are not “balanced” in terms of overall forces, but it reflect the fact that historically battles usually were not balanced. The goals of each army are also well designed for each of the scenarios, though sometimes it is impossible for you to outright win a battle, but the your goal may be to delay as much as possible and run out the clock (An actual tactic in the game because the rules surrounding the turn clock are important). There is also the possibility of units not being able to move in a turn, which I know some people dislike, however, I think it adds to the historical flavor of the game as sometimes units, whether intentionally or not, did not move when they needed to. This game is also not an IGOUGO turn order which is something I very much like. The way to determine who moves units first is based on a betting system where you place points into divisions, with the highest going first, and then you go down the line. It creates a cool dynamic where you could move one or two important divisions first and then have to wait for the entire enemy army to move or put a low value in all divisions and hope the turn clock does not run out before it gets to you. All things considered, I think it is very well done.
Score: 3
Fun Factor: Did I have a good time?
Every time I run this game it’s a great time. Once you get a turn or two into the game, everything will start flowing well as all the players have figured out any of the scenario-specific modifications and they really get into the game. It is also really fun to see if you could do better than Grant at Cold Harbor or whether you can hold back the waves of Yankee soldiers as Lee at Antietam. Overall fun will most certainly be had if you play this game.
Score: 3
Bonus: Is there anything else to say?
Overall, I think this ruleset is very well designed and put together. The production quality is great, and all of the scenarios I’ve played are well thought out and fun to play. While I do like that the game focused on scenarios, I would have liked to see more on the point-based side of things because not every battle in the war has a scenario for it, so adding in some help to create those would be nice. I also do like that the game does not remove bases all that often, and you just get pushed around the board more which, for the scale of units (every base is a brigade), makes it feel more accurate. A downside to the rules I have is with the turn clock system. It is not really that I disagree with the mechanics because I think it works well as a mechanic; it just feels too gamey. I know, an odd complaint since you know it is a game after all, but the historical feel of everything else seems to contrast a bit with that one part. It doesn’t detract from it enough to make me dislike the game at all.
Score: 2
Conclusion
Final Score: 12
The final score clocks in at 11, which is above average. The review may make it seem like I don’t enjoy this all that much, but I would highly recommend playing it if you get the chance. The main detractor from the score is mainly that some of the battles that people like me want to play take a lot of miniatures and therefore a lot of money to get set up. With that said, I now essentially have an army that can play any scenario, so it will be my go-to ruleset for the American Civil War.
Here is the link to the ruleset and scenario books as well as how you can support them.
https://www.littlewarstv.com/aof-product-range.html
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Until next time- Worleybirds
