Altar of Freedom Rule Review

Did you watch our massive Antietam wargame last week and wonder how the rules work? This week, the guys at Little Wars TV review "Altar of Freedom," a 2013 set of grand tactical rules, designed for large battles of the American Civil War. We score rules based on five categories, then offer a final total score at the end.
Visit us at www.LittleWarsTV.com to see how other members of our club scored the rules. We also encourage anyone who has played this rule set to leave your own review here in the comments.
For more information about "Altar of Freedom" you can also visit their home page at 6mmACW.com
If you haven't seen our Antietam wargame yet, what are you waiting for? Check out the battle here: • Massive Antietam Wargame

[@nateadams6459]

As a Civil War Historian I love the ability to play games like this. I have hundreds of hours logged into Ultimate General Civil War on the computer which allows you to play the whole war in this style controlling large armies and their composition and organization. I was wondering if your club has ever played the game or would be willing to do a "how to" kind of video for getting into games like this/learning the basics. I would love to get into physical games like this but it seems like a daunting task if there is not a local organization to guide you.

[@fiasco_games4131]

Hey Nate! I'm a huge fan of Ultimate General as well. If you want to check out some tutorials, check out... My channel, Pandakraut and Something Compass. These are some of the more prolific content producers for this game. I've done a complete Major General Union series and I'm in the middle of a Legendary CSA one now. The other guys have already finished both of their series. Hope they help

[@alexpeterson849]

Have you heard of Grand Tactician The Civil War it comes out on steam this summer you’ll love it? I’ll be binge playing that game for weeks on end.

[@CombatRulesCom]

The answer is yes for those asking if the rules are in print. Because they are "printed on demand" by Lulu. An issue is whether there is a printing point in every country. Currently,, it appears there are for Australia, Canada, UK & USA. This could save on shipping over having a single publisher location. I think that for other countries, one gets the ruleset in the mail from one of the four listed. I asked where I live, Uruguay, and the shipping cost was $7.94 for regular mail or up to $40.94 for Express Mail. One caveat is that the time noted was 18-19 business days. I usually prefer to buy the PDF and have it printed at a local print shop. For curiosity I switched my address to the USA, and shipping dropped to $4.94 and the time to 10-11 days (with Express Mail of $20.94 and 4-5 days).

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

I was impressed with the number of scenario books

[@AmericanoNYC]

I commend your honesty. Games with meta currencies are not my cup of tea. I find that people play the mechanics above the tactics too heavily. You were honest in your review. Thank you.

[@HillsgroveMike]

It would make a fantastic napoleonic set.

[@lacrauzorro]

Could watch your rule reviews all day long. Keep'em coming.

[@thewarroom9028]

Great review. I liked the sound of them so much I bought a set and am working on 6mm Gettysburg game for the next convention I go to (hopefully next year).

[@gordonyork6638]

i want to hear more on your ideas for command and control within Feudal Japan!

[@TheAbleBodiedSoldier]

I’d like to make a war game where instead of using the traits of the generals of the war, you pretend that the person you’re playing against was a general in the war. Where you try to predict the moves of your friend. You know your friend the best, what do you think your friend would do? Is he aggressive or passive? That I think would be a cool war game that would differentiate it from others where you’re thinking what the generals from the time period would do.

[@thomasbeach7307]

I wonder, how does one represent column, line, skirmish, reserve, general order detachment etc. formations/actions with this rules set given each stand is a brigade? Are these considerations simply abstracted? What about the strengths and weaknesses of each of these formations? Abstracted as well? Baked into the C&T's? These rules look well done, well presented and good fast-play rules. And while this absolutely appeals to convention/club play, on the surface it would appear that these rules are definitely tilted to cater to that kind of player exclusively and are not designed to deliver the intricacies and severe difficulties of either managing divisions and corps under duress or recovering from unfolding mistakes and debacles.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Formation changes are NOT represented in this rule. As you said, that's not possible in a system where a base represents an entire brigade. The value of a reserve (and critically, pulling worn formations back into reserve) are reflected in AoF by the way the units degrade from fatigue. Having a fresh division to throw into the line is pretty important. AoF is definitely geared toward army-level play where the players are operating a high level and not shaking out regiments to formation. Rules like Fire and Fury would be the next step down in abstraction, while a division level set like Pickett's Charge would be another step in detail from FnF.

[@michaelflynn9264]

Has Greg thought about a supplement for the Franco Prussian War and other European Wars.

[@jonathanowen9917]

Excellent review! I'm looking into Warlord Games Epic Battles American Civil War miniatures, which I believe are 13.5mm with twenty figures on a 20x60mm base. Can you play Altar of Freedom using that scale, or is it specifically for 6mm? How many bases does the average scenario require? How many bases does the largest scenario require?

[@warbandusa891]

i picked this up recently and found that it works well with black powder sets, where you can get an absurd amount of models for about 100$

[@jerrymail]

I'm interested in buying a copy of your rules for my ACW 6mm miniatures, but i wonder if it is possible to use them for rather small battles also, like "First Kernstown" for example. Thank you ^_^

[@buddymc]

History. Wargames. Scotch. Yeah that's a great motto. Good review! Hope you do more reviews. Do a review on GHQ's MicroArmor: The Game. The price is right, free for the download from GHQ and the Wargame Vault. Like to hear ya'll's take on it.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Not sure about everyone in our club, but I personally haven't tried GHQ's rules. That said...you can't beat the price! We do a lot of microarmor so I'll have to look into them. Thanks!

[@matthewsobolewski5707]

I ordered a copy of alter of freedom and it came all black and white and not glossy pages as said in review. Not sure why?

[@kartchner7]

Curious as to any recommendations you have for terrain sizes for a 15mm size force? I get the game works better for 6mm but I don’t want to buy and paint a whole other size. Since the compression of horizontal scale is so great, should it still be the 3mm building abstract or does 6mm work ok? How about rivers and roads?

[@sagebrother]

Thanks and about to go off and purchase the PDF.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@shockerck4465]

What are the best Civil War rules out there , for this scale? (if not Altar) Large battles like Gettysburg, Antietam.

[@AmericanoNYC]

I prefer Black Powder by Warlord.

[@dukesix3080]

Excellent set of rules, enjoy playing them very much. Only thing I would say though is time to play - Antietam in 3 hours? Not with our group of players.

[@LittleWarsTV]

It's certainly one of the larger scenarios, no question. All of the guys who played in our game were quite experienced with the rules, and that always helps speed play in any system. Lots of the rules we review coming up we may only play 4-6 times a year, unlike AoF.

[@TheEriegpman]

We have noticed that with each extra player, the amount of chit-chat increases the time to play.

[@shockerck4465]

Will the scenario books be available in print?

[@LittleWarsTV]

No, they are too long and unwieldy to be affordable in print copy. They are 180+ pages for the scenario books. The PDF allows players to just print the specific scenario they need.

[@johnskibajr5691]

I have a copy of the rules. I heard that two sets of scenarios are available for sale as PDFs. Where can they be purchased?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Wargames Vault!

[@mikehillsgrove1612]

This would also be suitable for Napoleonic's if someone wants to develop them for that.

[@GunAssassinx29]

I've been wanting to get involved in this hobby and this ACW game in particular. Unfortunately, due to the quarantine, I cannot seem to order any Baccus 6mm. That and trying to match the army strengths for any of these battles is going to be very expensive.

[@LittleWarsTV]

The lower cost was definitely a factor in encouraging our club to paint large 6mm armies. It's so much cheaper than doing full army in 15mm. But there's no doubt Baccus has been bottle-necked in production due to the COVID restrictions. Their shopping cart isn't open often! Hopefully they will be back to full speed soon....

[@GunAssassinx29]

@@LittleWarsTV I guess all I can do is wait patiently. Love your content though! Hope you all have been fairing this virus well!

[@sheridanfalkenberry5611]

Adler miniatures are really very nice 6mm minis; it's not quite as easy to order from them, but they seem to be much more easy to obtain than Baccus! Rapier minis are also very nice, and you'll get them pretty quick too, even if you live in the states like me!

[@reddsaxxmike2865]

Are these rules back in print?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Yes, they are back in print again: www.lulu.com/shop/greg-wagman/altar-of-freedom/paperback/product-22946217.html?GeniusMonkey_VT

[@TheEriegpman]

I know these rules are a bit old, but I can't seem to find a printed copy. Any suggestions where to find a copy or who might print it?

[@LittleWarsTV]

They are available as a PDF from Wargames Vault or for print through Lulu!

[@TheEriegpman]

@@LittleWarsTV thank you! Someone tell Greg to check his links on 6mmACW website, the link to the printed version is broken for me. Searched on Lulu (after your response) and found it

[@stevenhombrados1530]

Hello, good gentlemen. I just subscribe to your channel a week ago. I once played tabletop Napoleonics in the late 80´s, and still have civil war armies. I dream to play again, thou problem is to find friends to play with and time to paint armies. What rule sets would you guys suggest for me, especially if I want to start 6mm figs. Also what you guys think about the tool game General Staff? Cheers.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Depends on what kind of game you want to play in 6mm--do you want to be an army commander and do all of Gettysburg, or are you interested in being a division commander, with the main tactical unit being a regiment? There are lots of rules pitched at the lower to mid levels of command and relatively fewer available for something at the army level. But some names to consider would include Fire & Fury, Altar of Freedom, Big Bloody Battles, and Pickett's Charge. I've been following along the updates and progress with the General Staff system but haven't used it.

[@stevenhombrados1530]

Little Wars TV Thank you for your kind, reply. I’m looking for army command. For now. Why not play test General Staff on your next vid? Cheers.

[@LittleWarsTV]

@@stevenhombrados1530 Army command--you don't have quite as many good options there as with some lower levels of command. Altar of Freedom, Big Bloody Battles, and an old school game called Volley and Bayonet would be three options to investigate!

[@stevenhombrados1530]

Little Wars TV Yeah, yeah, I heard of volley and bayonet! I think that was popular during the 80´s. Now the thing is finding friends to play or some club up in Montreal! Any ways, you guys are doing an amazing show, always coming with new historical scenarios and history facts. Bravo pour job bien fait!

[@kalrich4163]

I like the simplicity of the rules and the scale they operate at. My big complaint about them is that it's pretty much impossible to play a solo game, and let's face it -- almost all gamers play a significant amount of solo games.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Very true--not well suited for solo play at all.

[@jasontemple6140]

That's just not true. Most gamers do not play solo.

[@WARdROBEPlaysWWII]

I hope you show some feudal Japanese games.

[@LittleWarsTV]

Spoiler alert: yes. We have an episode coming later this season dedicated to a famous battle in feudal Japan! It's one of our best.

[@gvdeutekom]

Ares these printed rules available in Europe?

[@LittleWarsTV]

They are! On Military Matters sells US print copies and Caliver Books carries it in Europe.

[@gvdeutekom]

@@LittleWarsTV Thank you. I have ordered the book, received it and am now learning to play this system.

[@EryxUK]

So did he actually publish these rules or are they club only?

[@LittleWarsTV]

Altar of Freedom was published and printed five years ago, so they have been out there for awhile.

[@maximegonnet9617]

Where can i buy this Book?

[@maximegonnet9617]

Where IS my answer? Please please...

[@obxsocom]

@@maximegonnet9617 they address it in the comments here