Had some of the ladz around for a game and made up a scenario.

A Union force is encamped and at dawn one brigade has marched off while a second brigade remain’s encamped. However, 2 smaller Condederate brigades launch an attack.

Keith has the encamped Union brigade while Goldie has the Union brigade marching away. Stephen has the Confederate brigade closest to Keith while Graeme’s Confederate brigade is closer to Goldie.

So below is start of game with Keiths troops encamped around a farm. This was the first appearance of Keiths wagons and limbers…hence he gets the encampment!

The rear half of Goldies brigade…rest are off table.

Keiths picket line….which got a dawn volley from the Confederate’s in the woods opposite them. The grey fencing is a welcome addition from Keith!!

In response the the gunfire, Goldie turns his brigade around…well the rear half…the front half kept on marching!

Graemes brigade marches on facing the flank of Goldies troops on the road.

Stevens troops facing the picket line.

Keiths picket line took a lot of damage and has retired back behind the rest of the brigade moving out. Steven’s brigade can be now seen on the field.

Keiths troops still trying to get to the fence line!!

Goldies off table troops have marched back…and one brave unit has rushed into this field to halt Graeme’s advance!

Yes…Steven has units at close range to artillery…the fence is NO help stopping what is coming!

This Union unit stopped an amazing number of shots from front and flank!

Meanwhile Keith has a unit on Steven’s flank…..not good for Steven.

Graeme has ‘Whupped’ the blocking unit which has retired…so he is closing in on the rest of the half brigade facing him.

On the opposite flank..Steven has pulled back behind the fence…..

The other half of Goldie brigade had crossed the bridge and moved up on Steven as well.

Graeme has now shot up the Union troops opposite him who have all been shaken or ‘Whupped’. The flank is his.

Keith has the advantage over Steven who has held off 1 and a half brigade’s…but with Graeme’s troops now open to sweeping around the Union rear and Goldies brigade now broken…we called it a Union defeat.

So there we have it, what I think was a fun game for the guys and we got a result in a couple of hours.

Perfect.

Now my partner Anita and I recently had a 4 day weekend in Christchurch as it was her birthday and we have 2 of our 3 children and their partners living there. I flew the other daughter up from Queenstown for the weekend as well and the weather obliged by being glorious and we had a wonderful catchup!

Now Christchurch is also where my FAVOURITE Online Whisky retailer is based in ‘Whisky Galore’. Anita obligingly drove me there and waited in the car while I walked into a ‘Temple of Whiskyness!!’ They have 560+ Whisky’s in store, fantastic staff and were offering tastings of ‘Speyside’ Whisky’s…one of which was on my buy list! PERFECT. So after tasting it(and one or 2 others), I had to buy a Cadenhead Glentauchers-Glenlivet.

The tasting notes are:

14 years old, this Glentauchers-Glenlivet bottled by Cadenhead has been matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. With pear drops, peaches, treacle and a touch of nutmeg on the nose, we’ve landed in Scotland for pudding on a winters night. Flavours of pouched pears and vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate flakes come alive on the palate. The finish is a wee glass of mulled wine, rich and warming with orange slices, crushed cloves and dark chocolate.

Until next time…Terry out.