Army of the Potomac
Field Manual

Army of the Potomac Field Manual

Welcome to the Army of the Potomac!  The Field Manual is intended to help you understand how the Army works within the Club, and to give you an overview of what goes on here at the AoP. 

If you find items that aren’t referenced here, but you think they should be, please send a note to the Army Commander, General Ken Miller .

 Huzzah! 

 Welcome Aboard Package

Each new recruit to the Army of the Potomac is sent a Welcome Aboard letter from Headquarters.  It is intended to help familiarize them with our Army and broader Club, and ease their transition from West Point.

An example of the letter:

Lt. Billy Yank,

Let me be the first to welcome you to the Army of the Potomac http://home.comcast.net/~AoS_USA/. You have been assigned to the 1st Brigade in Gen Oakford's Militia Division. Gen Oakford will be contacting you directly, he will provide you with any assistance you may require in becoming acquainted with the AoP procedures and is available to assist you in any further training you would need either personally or by referring you to the Academy Instructors. Once he feels you are ready you will be transferred to a regular division. Should you at any time have a question or a problem and Gen Oakford is not available you can contact me directly.

Your records at the DoR Site have been updated and I will be adding you to the AoP website at my first oportunity. If you have a name or motto you wish to use for your brigade let me know and I can add that also.

 Getting Around the Club web pages

Web pages are the primary structure for the Club, and contain plenty of good information.  Becoming familiar with where information is available, or how to look for information on the various web sites is a key to enjoying the Club and exploring its depths.  The following are some highlights that are essential for you to know.

American Civil War Game Club, or ACWGC - http://www.wargame.ch/wc/acw/ACWmainpage.htm

This is the main Club page, and has links to the Mason-Dixon Tavern, the Club Rules, Links Express page, and both Army HQ’s.

Links Express - http://garyned.tripod.com/

This is a website that you can access from the main ACWGC page.  It is a repository of the various websites for the Club, including the individual Corps and Army sites, as well as their Forums, or Taverns.

Union Army HQ - http://www.acwgc-usa.org/

  This website deals with the Union Army command structure, regulations, and awards.

  War College - http://www.acwgc.org/wc/  

The War College is an institution that houses articles on strategy and tactics as well as collects intelligence on Rebel Officers.   This is a great resource, and one you should become intimately familiar with.  

Department of Records - http://acwgcrecords.org/ACWGC/login.cfm  

The ACWGC Department of Records, or Game Registrations page, is a web database that tracks game starts, game ends, and your OBD records.   You should have received a logon and password as part of your training but if you have any problems let me know and I will get in touch with the Eastern Theater Commander who has access to that part of the site.  

The basic instructions for using the site are located at the clubs message board, the Mason-Dixon Tavern, and also as a link once you have entered the site itself.  

http://www.wargame.ch/board/acw/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7994  

This site is key to your promotions and records, so take the time to familiarize yourself with it.  

            Army of the Potomac - http://www.acwgc.org/AoP/index.cfm 

This is our Army’s home page.  You can also link to Rosies, any Army of the Potomac tournaments, the Field Manual, Monthly Reports, and the AoP Hospital and GAR pages. 

Monthly Reports 

Each month, Headquarters publishes the Army of the Potomac Monthly Report.  The report contains a summary of the previous month’s activities, including saying hello to new officers, tracking game progress and results, promotions and awards.  You can view the current monthly report at the main AoP page. 

Muster 

Each month, the Corps and Division Commanders conduct the muster for our Army.  The requirements are very simple, you need to correspond via email with your Division CO, letting him know you are still here, and what games you started and ended in the past month. 

Promotions 

Currently, once you have enough OBD points for promotion to the next senior rank, you need to go to the Game Registration page, and click on the Reports link.  Once there, click on the Field Promotions link to update your rank in the database, and it will send an email to your Corps and Army Commanders.  At that point, we’ll be buying drinks at Rosies to celebrate!

Army Awards           

            Sharpshooter 

The Army of the Potomac has a recurring monthly contest called the Sharpshooter Contest.  You can link to the contest page from the main AoP web page. 

Leadership Guidelines

The staff positions primary job is to make sure the average member gets the most from the club. Whether that means helping him get better at the games, learn about using the editor, playing MP games, whatever the member wants our job is to help him find out how to do it.
 
Division Command
The idea behind the OOB formula of the club is to keep the work managable so no one gets overwhelmed with the admin duties. Division commanders are the first line. They normally will have 3-5 officers to look after, their job is to help their brigade commanders get what they want from the club. If they don't know the answer to a question they send it on to their Corps Commander. Currently the AoP is using an Email Muster so the Division Commander is expected to remind his brigade officers to muster on or about the 20th of each month asking them to check in with him. Just a short email reply is expected, minimum reply, present, although a note on their battles both ongoing and completed is better. On the 1st of the month he is expected to send an email to the corps commander with the results of the muster, indicating the names of the officer who mustered, the number of battles the division is currently engaged in and a note on any division member who has missed two or more musters and the results of his attempt to contact them. Something along the lines of
Reported in
Lt.Billy Yank
Capt. John Union
Major Dundee
The Division is engaged in 8 actions against the rebels
Major Disaster's email bounced.
Thus the DC has 10 days for replies to come in and to put together his email to the Corps Commander. They are expected to check with those officers they don't hear from for two months and report those who fail to muster for 3 consecutive months or if an email bounces. For this they receive 5 OBD per month.
 
Corps Command
The Corps Commander is the next step in the chain of command, he should be familar enough with the club to know who to contact to help a club member get to the right person to help him get the most out of the club. In addition he is responsible for keeping in touch with his Division Commanders. If they fail to report in on the 1st of the month it is up to him to attempt to contact them. He should compile his report and forward the results to the Army Commander by the 10th of the month for use in his monthly report to the CoA, He should also make recommendations for awards to officers of his corps for both battlefield and service contributions. He should check the forums regularly congratulating his officers on their accomplishments and report to the Army Commander on officers he feels would be good candidates for Staff positions.
 
Standard practice for Staff positions is a 1 year tour unless real life issues force you to step down beforehand. Just prior to the end of a tour the officer will normally be contacted and asked if he wishes to sign up for another tour or not so that the Army Commander has some time to find a replacement if he decides to step down.

Officer Conduct Expectations

There are 4 classes of members in the ACWGC.
 
Active Members
There are no dues in the ACWGC although occasionally you will see requests at some of the forums for donations to cover the costs of the forums or website costs, contributions to these are purely voluntary. The only requirement to be considered an Active member is that you have at least one ongoing game and occasionally let someone know you're here and you want to continue as a member. Here in the AoP we use an email muster so every month your Division Commander should send an email reminder to you requesting you report in to him. We realize that real life goes on and we don't expect everyone to be able to report in every month. So members are considered in good standing as long as they report in at least once every quarter. If an officer fails to report in for 3 consecutive months he is placed in the
 
Hospital
Once in the Hospital a member will receive no further Muster reminders as he no longer has a brigade and is not assigned to a Division. Should he re-establish communications he can request return to Active status but there is no guarantee he will return to his previous assigned brigade. After a member has been in the Hospital for 3 months one last attempt to contact him will be made by the Army Commander. Failure to reply to this final attempt will result in the officer being
 
Discharged
A member can be Discharged by vote of the Cabinet for violating club rules or for being inactive for 6 months. If a member who has been Discharged decides to return to the club at a future date he must apply to the Cabinet for reinstatement.
 
Retired
If for some reason a member finds himself unable to continue in an Active status he can request placement on the Retired/Reseve Officer's list. An officer who has been placed on the Retired list may request reinstatement by applying to the CoA of the Union Army.

Forums           

The main club forums are all linked to from the main ACWGC page.  Each forum has a brief description on the main forum page, and many have permanent posts discussing any special requirements for that forum.  You can set up a profile and a signature once you’ve joined the forum.  To join the forum, read this first: 

            http://www.wargame.ch/board/acw/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7760  

Once you have joined, set up your signature so that people know your name, rank, and unit assignment (Brigade/Division/Corps/Army format) with each of your posts. 

            Mason Dixon Tavern 

This is the entire Club’s Tavern, although it’s much more business like than the army taverns tend to be.  You should check in here often to see what the discussions are and to get an idea of who’s who in the club.  Often, valuable information is posted here, so it’s up to you to stay as current as your time schedule allows. 

            PBEM Opponent Finder

Please use this board to post all of your challenges.  You can edit your post when you no longer need any responses.

A successful way to post a challenge is to identify the game or scenario you want to play, the file exchange rate per week if it matters, identify any house or optional rules you would want to play with/without, and any desires on only facing a new Reb, etc.

            Smoking Room 

This forum is for discussing non-Club related topics.  Common discussions include sports, politics, religion, you name it.  It’s there if you want it, but you need not frequent there if you don’t want to.           

Quartermasters Depot -  

The Union Army has a Forum called Quartermasters Depot, on the same webpage as the main club board, Mason-Dixon Tavern.  This forum is password protected, and for members of the Union Army only.  It’s a great place to ask tactics questions or get advice on your specific battle situation without the prying eyes of the Rebels being able to see.

The password is available from your Corps or Army Commander, just send an email to both and they’ll get it to you. 

            Rosie’s 

Rosie’s is the Tavern for the Army of the Potomac.  It is open to all, including Rebs, so keep your strategic questions to the Quartermasters Depot.  It’s a good spot to brag about your wins or promotions, share stories, and give grief to senior officers.  We have fun, and anything is fair game so long as it stays respectfully decent. 

Tavern Raids 

From time to time, our Army conducts a Tavern Raid on some other Army’s tavern.  Sometimes this is to pick a fight and issue a challenge for a tournament, other times it’s to celebrate a particular occasion. 

The Tavern Raid consists of posting in the target Army’s forum and slinging jokes and friendly insults at them, and in general starting a bar room brawl.  Usually a start and end time will be given for the raid, and participation can earn you OBD points.