Yes…..we only played this last month…but I thought it is such a good game….would be ideal to take to a Saturday Game at The Hutt Club some of the us in the Group have joined.

So Saturday Goldie picked up Alan and then ventured out to get me…late…..I really hate being late……in his new car he has bought to get to and from his new job..a Toyota Yaris(for those unfamiliar with one..its..tiny)……somehow…the 3 of us and the troops…cloth and terrain managed to squeeze in….and headed off. I left messages for Reg and Rob saying running late so when we got there they had grabbed us a space and placed a 6 x 10 foot table…perfect. Doug was also joining us for the game so the Union players were Alan/Goldie/Doug and the Confederates Reg/Rob with yours truelly on rules and generally being an annoying git to all :).

Set….Union on the left….Alan has the closest Union 1st Brigade and Doug the far 2nd Brigade. Goldie off table. On the right Reg has the closest Confederates and Rob the far ones.

Union turn one and Goldie arrives marching through the centre wood with Brigade 3.

On the Union left Doug has troops in woods on hill as Rob closes in. Alan has made up some dinky counters on his 3D printer….so the cannons have 6pdr/12pdr…..regts with smoothbore muskets have an ‘M’ and BLR is ‘Breech Loading Rifle’. He’s a clever lad that Alan.

Now go forward a few turns and Rob is now on the Union left flank….and rather than shoot up this unit…Rob decided to charge it as another Union Brigade was marching to block Rob’s attack on this flank but also push him back. Rob’s attack did not go well…the unsupported Rebels got well beaten.

Rob’s attack on the front side of the wood went much better….this Union Regt got smashed.

The 2 Union batteries to the left of the Union Regt have popped….and another Union Regt is now engaged.

Reg has sent his 2 Regts closet to Rob forward to support Rob’s attack… the Union Regt in the farmhouse have suffered from cannon and musket fire over several turns and is shaken. On the Union right flank their 5th brigade has arrived while on the Union left the 4th Brigade has arrived and is now moving towards the Union left to counter attack Rob’s stalling attack.

And here is that 4th Union Brigade, with Goldie’s 3rd Brigade to their right.

A bit further along and Alans 5th Brigade is racing across the table.

Now…as I had been standing for about 4 hours….and was getting bored, I bought on another Confederate Brigade,,,,,,and I have just painted some more command stands for my Confederates with pretty pink edged flags and wanted to use them! So situation below is form Confederate right to left….Rob’s centre brigade has taken some damage and is spending several turns recovering morale and softening up the Union with his batteries(to right of tresses out of picture). Reg is attacking the Farmhouse which after a number of rounds of fighting he eventually does(HINT: it pays to shake the defenders before you go in!!) The lovely double rank of Rebels is my brigade facing a thin blue line with my battery blasting away down the road.

On the Union right flank…Alan has had 1st Brigade break and is having to retire. Reg was able to get a few rounds of good shooting off and then Alan advanced into the wood leaving a flank exposed. At this point I explained to Reg the first rule you learn when playing Black Powder…never expose a flank to the enemy….and it they expose theirs…use a ‘Follow Me’ order on a unit and hit that flank!! Carnage for the defender normally follows(and it did!)

Now this is Doug’s Brigade 4..that set off through the flank woods to get around Rob’s weakened flank…and then spent the rest of the game sitting their..refusing to obey ANY ORDER TO MOVE!

End of Game. We played a final Confederate move here to see if they could destroy some of the damaged Union units but alas they managed to survive…and the Union now withdrew under cover of darkness.

So that was the 2nd Battle of Barnetts Farm…… I think it went rather well. The players seemed to enjoy it….Doug had some appalling luck with his Union 4th Brigade, which coupled with the loss of the 2 central batteries I believe cost them the game. So in 2 games…poor dice rolls to move brigades have really thwarted the Union.

So that’s another good looking game at the Hutt Club and Doug’s going to come along to a Thursday night game here at the Garage Gamers Home base in a couple of weeks. Also a nice chap Sheridan was watching the game, has ACW figures so we will head back in a month for another game!

So onto Whisky of the Week!!

Friend Weakley is returning form Vanuatu in a couple of weeks for a visit and has booked in for a game, dinner and an evening of whisky consumption and really bad singalongs to music followed by a big breakfast featuring yummy black pudding cooked my Anita(providing we are up to it). So I decided to add another bottle..Bowmore 15.

Now the tasting notes for this wee beauty are:

Nose: Dark and punchy. Sherry notes, juicy Corinth raisins. Spices. Creamy, mochaccino, sweet dates.

Palate: Rich, woody, pine oil. Syrupy. Lovely, creamy toffee and malt. Smoky.

Finish: Spicy, toffee, sherry, barley.

But…as I sit in front of the fire sipping this glorious wee drop…..all I can say is.. for once I agree.

Til next time..a very relaxed happy Terry out.