Author and wargaming expert Rich Hasenauer, a member of the HMGS Legion of Honor, has produced the first in what we at the Johnny Reb Gaming Society hope will be a long series of fantastic, full-color scenario books for his popular rules set, Regimental Fire & Fury. If the quality of this first offering is a hint of what is to come, we are in for a real treat as this series progresses through the war.
Regimental Fire & Fury Civil War Battles Scenarios, Volume 1: 1861-1862 is a welcome addition to my library of scenario books for regimental-level ACW gaming. Rich presents 11 different battles, some of which have multiple scenarios to depict portions of the larger fighting on a manageable scale. These range in chronological order from Big Bethel in 1861 to Prairie Grove in 1862, and represent both the Eastern and Western Theaters of the war. He also presents some optional rules which the gamer may incorporate into these scenarios, or into any other RFF game. The most interesting of these is his take on deploying and using skirmish lines in an RFF game, as well as the use of extended lines and twilight/night game turns. These are elements which have evolved from the wider usage of RFF and extensive playtesting among a variety of gaming groups.
As with the original Regimental Fire & Fury rules book, this new supplement is printed on glossy coated-two side enamel paper, enabling crisp reproduction of the photographs, maps, and images. The images show several of Rich’s fantastic miniature wargames in progress, and help visualize how to layout the gaming table for each scenario. Having retired in 2011, he now has more time to devote to his hobbies, and with more than 2,000 copies of RFF sold, he has a devoted following who will look forward to his continued efforts in the years to come.
The above list of scenarios is extensive and nicely represents the variety of actions in the first two years of the Civil War, giving the wargamer plenty of options to choose from. Each scenario presents a brief synopsis of the historical background for the battle, the terrain and its impact on the wargame, any special scenario-specific considerations, a complete order of battle listing units and their ratings for the game, and victory conditions.
These scenarios are adaptable and usable for many different wargaming rules sets. For example, a JR I, II or III gamer can convert the RF&F scenarios to JR by “reverse engineering” the JR to RF&F article which Lowell Hamilton wrote. This conversion appeared in Charge! magazine and can also be downloaded from the Regimental Fire & Fury Support website.
Here is a typical layout for a scenario in Rich’s new book, in this case the Western Theater 1862 Battle of Elkhorn Tavern. Note the excellent map, which exemplifies the quality of this publication. Elkhorn Tavern looks to be a very interesting scenario to try out.
Regimental Fire & Fury, as well as this new scenario book, can be obtain directly from Rich at:
Fire and Fury Games
P.O. Box 6998
Columbia, Maryland 21045
or visit his website at www.fireandfurygames.com
Rich, my congratulations on a job very well done! We look forward to future volumes in this series!
CHARGE! Civil War miniature wargaming and dioramas 
I have a copy of this (thanks to Lowell Hamilton) and it is excellent!