With Hot Lead and Cold Steel: A Dutchman's American Civil War Game

Mark interviews Arthur van der Ster, the author of the rules "With Hot Lead and Cold Steel" to discuss his take on war gaming the American Civil War. Enjoy this great interview where you'll find out what inspired a Dutchman to work on a rules set about an American war and how it just feels better to fire a volley by rolling more dice. How do these rules work for the Battle of Gettysburg or the Battle of Chancellorsville....Arthur gives us his thoughts!
If you're intrigued, you can give these rules a shot! Hard copies of Hot Lead and Cold Steel will be available on January 23rd and you can purchase the digital rules now at this link.
www.ospreypublishing.com/us/w...
Download a Quick Reference Sheet and Arthur's Battle of the Wilderness scenario here:
www.fireballforward.com/free-s...
00:00 Intro
00:44 Interview Begins
01:20 What makes this game unique?
02:35 Why would a European explore the American civil war?
03:25 Is the game received differently by historical / fantasy gamers?
05:30 Why use regimental scale?
07:30 How customizable is this game?
08:28 Stonewall Jackson's attack at Chancellorsville.
10:00 How many figures would a new player need to start?
12:14 Why use a hit point system?
14:39 Aide de Camp rules.
15:55 What's your favorite battle for these rules?
17:30 What are you working on now?
18:10 When do the hardcopy rules come out?

[@WithHotLeadandColdSteel]

Thank you Mark for the interview, it was great chatting with you! Really looking forward to the battle report.

[@currybr]

Thumbs up on the designer interviews. A very nice feature of this channel.

[@joehudgens7330]

Very intriguing. Regimental level really brings out the era’s tactics.

[@hoosieryank6731]

As a die-hard JR and ADF player, I'm rather used to it. Never did care for F&F.

[@StatsScott]

Really liking the range of videos on a given battle: an on the ground walkthrough, a batrep, a rules overview/review (sometimes with the author) and sometimes with an intriguing what-if exploration of what might have happened if some key decision had been different. All very interesting.

[@bigbattleslittleworlds]

Couldn't have said it better myself. I really enjoy the battlefield tour videos.

[@gmlogan4889]

Well that interview made a Kindle purchase of the rules for me. Seems like a great guy who legitimately appreciates the ACW. I’m a FnF fan, but always like to see what else is around.

[@jamesforrest8993]

I bought these rules the day they came out in the UK. Arthur has packed a lot in to the Osprey Blue Book format, I look forward to playing them.

[@bigbattleslittleworlds]

Another great video, really enjoyed it a lot. As someone who is also a rules designer, I love to hear about how other people develop rules and what the goal is. Looking forward to the battle report.

[@leonleese4919]

The first ACW rules that I played was in 1976 were for competition. 4 infantry battalions of up to 40 figures 2 cavalry regiments and 1. Artillery battery of up to 4 model guns and yo selected an army of 1,000 points. So that armies were widely different. But I used 24 figure battalions rifled cannon and 2 regiments of artillery of 15 figures each. All the infantry guns and cavalry were all the most expensive in points values because less troops meant less painting. And no I lost both games as there were loads of fences to cross and a bridge,a farm and a river which meant small regiments can’t stand casualties cavalry were useless and the better gun on a 4 feet wide table was the Napoleon 12pdr. I was practice for the competition entrant an I played napoleonic. But it was good fun , which is a good reason for playing the game. Also all the mistakes I made were my own fault. The thing is not too much painting means a new comer doesn’t have to spend much more than £160-00 on figures to buy an army of Perry miniatures. If you look at Black Powder rules you need a 5 or 6foot wide table and 8 to 10 feet long. They were aimed at younger players but 28mm figures always loo great for demo games in a Wargames show. It’s only the player of the game who knows it’s a game to win and not to look at how good d&d looks ..

[@BillsWargameWorld]

I have made conversions to 54mm scale and they are very good!

[@jeroenkoopman3368]

Another Dutch gamer like me who enjoys the American Civil War! Good job. I own about 2,000 15mm miniatures.

[@hoosieryank6731]

About the same amount here. All of mine are metal.

[@WithHotLeadandColdSteel]

Perhaps we should get in touch Jeroen!

[@briansimmons1838]

I’ve had these rules on preorder from Amazon since they were first announced! Glad y’all covered them! I hope to see some videos!

[@bigsarge2085]

Interesting! And these interviews are great.

[@markewald6995]

Thanks for the video; you've got me intrigued about this new rule set. I perked up when you highlighted that there were no saving throws in this game which is a major plus. I feel that rolling dice to determine an effect on the table, then rolling more dice to negate the first rolls is a waste of time. Just give me an accurate results table for the initial rolls and move on. Looking forward to your Antietam game so I can see these rules in action.

[@waltleach8880]

Thanks for posting this. Great interview I have the rules but haven’t played them yet so I am looking forward to your game using them

[@davidbenton8775]

Always good to see another ACW feature and when I venture into the bigger figures, smaller battles business (6mm guy here) I'll be casting my net over them, as well as the usual suspects. Also nice to hear reaffirmed something I have come to realise...recreating Chancellorsville is a bitch! A little explanation, I returned to the hobby after decades away and started up from scratch. I decided I needed a goal...a big, medium term goal. After doing due diligence I picked one. I would aim, within three years from my ground zero start, to put on the Battle of Chancellorsville in 6mm using the Altar Of Freedom rules at the Joy of Six show in Sheffield. Furthermore, I would do the build single handed and scratchbuild the entire table...all on a tight deadline and tighter budget. To put a cherry on the cake, I wanted my brigades to be able to manoeuvre, shoot and fight UNDER a full canopy of treetops! Almost halfway into the project, everything is on schedule, the armies are well on the way to completion, terrain stocks (especially the woodland modules) are building up and experience with the ruleset is being gained. Greg's excellent scenario book is invaluable as I am putting on increasingly larger battles for the guys at the local club. A long way to go, but so far, so good. So when you mentioned Chancellorsville's comparative rarity as a wargame, it struck completely true...and I know exactly why...all those bloody trees! Back to the video, looking forward to seeing the other parts of this miniseries on Antietam...it'll distract me from modelling the Chickahominy river and swamp for the Seven Pines game I'm putting on at the club next month. 😂

[@Thebluefox815]

Huge fan of Pickett’s charge. So far tried Glory halleluja and fire & fury. Black powder feels really bad with me.

[@liberalhyena9760]

Why another set of ACW rules? Good question, but you seem to have missed at least one: Helion’s Muskets and Springfields, published in April 2023 and apparently sunk without trace.

[@gollumisnotdead3420]

A lot of dices are rolling; like in the GW games 😅.

[@leonleese4919]

What is the scale of the game? For 1 base = X men, and 1 cm = X metres? Also using a 6feet x 4feet table will this be a division size game or less?