Altar of Freedom - Setting the scene

I got the game table set up over last weekend and, this being me, I promptly ignored the Dark Age and WW3 campaign games in favour of trialling the Altar of Freedom bidding spreadsheet. I chose to go with a fictional game but used the game OOB for First Manassas as that was the game I designed the random bidding spreadsheet around. The game was played on a 4x4 table as I don't yet have enough terrain for a larger table! I also used a fictional battle to allow me to concentrate on the game mechanics rather than being influenced by knowing what the actual tactics used were.

The key to Altar of Freedom (hereafter AOF) is that the two sides have a number of priority points to bid each turn.  The points are used to determine the order that divisions activate in and control of the turn time clock which determines how many activations there will be each turn.  After each round of Divisional activation is completed the turn clock is reduced by the result of a D6 dice throw.  The player with control of the clock has the choice of which of two dice to use for this.  The point being that the divisions with the higher priority points are more likely to activate then those with less as the turn clock may hit zero before the latter divisions get to activate.

Generals are represented at Army and Corps level.  These have traits based on the actual historical counterpart's performance at the actual battle being fought or random traits for a fictional action.  There are around twenty of these traits many of which have an impact upon priority point allocation or even the number of points available to them each turn.  This is something I have struggled to represent within the random bidding system and it means that some aspects of it will need to be redesigned before the next game.

The Federals
For this game the Federals are commanded by Irwin McDowell.  He has four divisions under his command:

• Tyler's of four Infantry Brigades and one Artillery Battery
• Hunter's of two Infantry. one Cavalry Brigades and an Artillery Battery
• Heintzelmann's with three Infantry Brigades and one Artillery Battery and
• Miles' Division of two Infantry Brigades and an Artillery Battery.

McDowell has the Inept and Quartermaster traits.  Inept means he cannot bid the same number of priority points for any divisions (other than a bid of zero which means no activation).  This prevents attack co-ordination between his Divisions.  The Quartermaster trait means that he has two HQ elements rather than the usual one and he can move these at the end of each turn by up to four inches.

The Confederates

The Confederacy is fielding two armies (as at First Manassas) although for game purposes these are treated as two grand Divisions.  There is are smaller subdivisions for point bidding purposes.  Pierre Beauregard is in overall command and also commands one grand division.  Joe Johnson has command of the other grand division.

• Beauregard has eight Infantry Brigades and three Artillery Batteries.
• Johnson has four Infantry brigades, a Cavalry Brigade and a single Artillery Battery.

In terms of traits Beauregard has Revered, Grandiose and Micromanager.  Revered allows an improved chance of rallying a broken brigade , Grandiose creates a variance in priority points upwards or (mostly) downwards each turn and Micromanager requires him to hold back half his points for end of turn adjustments.  Johnson has Disciplinarian and Shrewd Tactician.  Disciplinarian allows a reroll of one shooting dice result each turn and shrewd tactician allows him to reserve priority points for use in the following turn.

The Battlefield

I created a battlefield with a shallow creek crossing the Federal front  which turned out to have no impact on movement or combat (using a house rule for testing it's impact) a number of dense woods which had a variable effect on movement (using one of AoF's optional rules) a small town (rough terrain) and some minor hills which create an advantage for line of sight but no other effects.  Essentially I was keeping things simple(ish) for my first game.

The battlefield.  Federals will deploy to the left and Rebs to the right

The Battle

The game mirrored the First Manassas AoF scenario limits, eight turns duration or first army to break.  Both armies have a break point of five, that being the destruction of any five brigades, batteries, HQ units or generals.  I was controlling the Confederates with random bidding for the Federals but my playing them to the best of my abilities within the constraints of the bids.  Both sides deployed within the boundaries of the roads crossing their fronts and had the objective of destroying the other side.

The initial deployment

As you look at the image above Beauregard is on the Confederate left and Johnson on the right.  The federals have Heinzelmann on the left wing, then Hunter, Tyler and lastly Miles.  The basing is very basic for this trial run as I'm using home made match stick and card armies, apart from the artillery and HQ's which are Irregular Miniatures 2mm items.  As I'm posting this I have finished six of the eight turns and neither side has reached their break point, full details of the battle and some thoughts on the rules and my random bidding spreadsheet in the next post.