One of our local Clubs, Hutt Miniature Wargames Club is holding its annual convention on the weekend of April 27-28 2024. A group of 10 of us will be playing a Demonstration Game, another American Civil War Game. This time, we are replaying ‘The Battle of the Wilderness’, in particular Day 2 on 6th May 1864.

To get the ladz a feel for it, I staged a practice game based on the fighting around the ‘Orange Turnpike’. The Map is below.

We were practicing playing in woods…lots of thick woods…so movement was 6 inches, shooting in woods was 6 inches. There was no tinkering with the command ranges or artillery being in the woods…just to see how it went.

Looking from the Turnpike down the battlefield we have an open area known as Saunders Field and then woods…everywhere!

The Confederates left flank extended beyond the Union line and the Confederates had more troops on this flank.

The Union advance on the enemy who left a number of units behind….which they would pay for.

Back on the Turnpike the Union started with some of the best artillery fire I have seen in a while causing extensive damage to the Reb’s in the first couple of turns.

On Turn 2 a flanking Confederate brigade appears on the Union right flank. Sadly one of our players had to pull out and he was providing a Reb contingent. So I subbed in Franco Prussian War French!

The Union line awaits the Reb’s moving through the woods.

Sadly after moving to shooting range…the flanking French fluffed all their shots. It really was turning out not to be the Confederates day!!

View of Confederate left flank where they have turned the Union right flank, but sadly have suffered major casualties and their right flank is in real trouble.

End of game and a picture of a shaken Reb unit facing an onslaught of Blue Coats was an apt summary!

Final picture..I do like these games…troops are so pretty!

So that was that.

Following this game we have made changes for the game on the 27th April. Among them is reducing the amount of artillery and it cannot go into woods. Command ranges will be reduced, failed command rolls can result in troops suffering special rolls for getting lost etc in the woods. Should be a hoot.

Until next time, Terry out.

The first game in February 2024 is an ACW game between Russ(Confederates) and Keith(Union) using the Borodino Game boards with Keith providing the fences.

Keith was defending with 3 brigades and Russ was attacking with 4 brigades. The woods were light woods, fences gave a -1 to hit from rifle fire advantage and the hills effected line of sight. The building also gave a -1 to hit advantage against rifle fire only.

Russ advanced 2 brigades across the open terrain largely protected by the hills until you crested them. Keith failed to get into the house before Russ made it in.

Typical ACW battle now occurred with rifle attrition determining outcomes.

The other 2 Confederate brigades moved up the road through the woods and prepared to attack. This was a bit tardy!

Further along in game and Russ has taken heavy casualties on his right.

Nice shot of Reb’s on the ridgeline. Whipped Union regt in the backgroud.

The terrain board has a nice gun emplacement in it which these Union troops were using to their advantage.

The game finished with the Confederates running out of steam…or rather troops on their right.

So Saturday 18th November 2023 was the annual convention of one of the wargames Clubs here in Wellington NZ, the Warlords. We had been asked if we wanted to put one of our demo games on so we agreed and decided as we were on an ACW kick to play Antietam. I asked Alan seeing he works on a fancy graphics Mac to design a poster which is below. Its pretty cool.

Now as Goldie enjoys writing up scenarios and preparing Orbats etc, he designed the game.(Goldie and I as usual then debated it for several weeks) The game map is below. The table was 16 foot long and 6 foot wide. The Confederates would set up first and then the Union would march on(having written up orders of arrival). The entry points for the Union were the Hagerstown Pike, Smoketown Pike, Pry Ford, Boonsboro Pike and Rohrbach Rd. The Antietam Stream was only passable on the bridge on the Rohrbach Bridge Rd and at the Snavely Ford.

The Confederates set up from the edge of the West Wood, the hill in front of the Dunker Church, along the sunken road , then along the Bridge Rd to the bridge and then on the southern side of the stream.

There were 5 players aside with the Union being Goldie, Robert, Brian, SteveT and Keith. The Confederates were Terry(me!), Mike, Alan, Sheridan and StephenC. Scenario rules allowed both sides to not follow a historical set up.

The Union force was 56 regts, 5 small cavalry regts and 17 batteries. The batteries were assigned to Divisions.

The Confederate force was 42 regts, 2 small cavalry regts and 11 batteries. The batteries were in 5 bttns of 2 batteries and a horse artillery battery assigned to JEB Stuart.

The table set up before troop deployment is below. Brian., Robert and Goldie are in picture.

Mike played on the Confederate side as he is the descendent of a British Army Officer who served on the Staff of Henry Heth. He commanded the right flank. Alan commanded the forces to the front of Sharpsburg and the first section of the sunken road.

Sheridan commanded the rest of the sunken road and the area to the Dunker Church.

2 bttns of rifled guns on the hill. The Union artillery were all rifled with a range of 30 inches, the Confederates were meant to be 24 inch only(100% 6pounders apparently) but I nagged Goldie so much on this he relented and we were allowed 2 bttns of 30inch guns.

StephenC had the Confederate right flank on the Hagerstown/West Wood with our 2 largest brigades and a bttn of guns.

Turn 1 and on the Bridge Rd, one of Goldie batteries got his order wrong and decided to charge at the bridge(a Blunder which is roll 2 dice…get a 12, roll another dice…get a 6…roll another dice, and he rolled a 4 which means you charged 24 inches down the road) Personally I though it was a splendid start to a game. A limbered gun in front of 2 of our batteries…and if we moved a regt to the bridge edge…get another 3 shots at it…..one lost battery coming up!

The local media were so impressed, a cease fire was called while they took some photos.

Union troops pouring down the Boonsboro Pike….an impressive sight.

Brian managed to get most of his troops across the Pry Ford.

The Union guns while attached to brigades could not be ordered as part of the brigade move but must be ordered individually. Infantry fire had been reduced to 12inches for everyone except the Irish Brigade who were still using Smoothbores. They do get an extra shot at close range.

Now over on the Confederate left flank several turns have gone by. Robert had a Union battery blunder and ride into the cornfield all by its self. Then he had failed move orders for brigades moving on so StephenC decided to move out from his position and attack them. Sadly his scouts failed to report the approaching Union Force of George Greene who some fool had rated as a Command 9 for the battle!(Okay..it was me). What a juicy target.

Keith’s forces stream towards Sharpsburg. Thankfully they were facing the Stonewall brigade!!

Union troops queuing up the attack with a massed battery forming up to support them.

OMG! Another Union battery decided to blunder and charge!

Sadly the first Charging Artillery battery survived the inept shooting that went their way. I suspect no one could actually believe what they saw. Goldie has moved up supporting infantry and yet another battery.

Stonewall brigade are a thin gray line defending the way to Sharpsburg. Stuart has sent his artillery battery to assist.

Union 3rd Corps arrives!(Okay..Okay…they weren’t there…but my Command bases are for Gettysburg!!)

Brian’s troops facing off the sunken road…I do like the way he does his flags. Will need to pop up to Whanganui and get a lesson.

Union troops moving through the cornfield.

At last…..my troops arrive! This is A P Hills command moving through Sharpsburg….with Lee himself helping with dice re rolls to get them up the road.

Union right where the diminished Confederate force is in hold out mode.

On the Confederate right Mike lost his artillery bttn early on and has been forced back from the bridge. On the hill my dismounted cavalry are attempting to take out the battery that has been causing all the casualties. I felt it was a worthy sacrifice. They failed.

The battle at Snavely Ford played out all game. Mike had reinforced the initial 2 regts here with the 2 who had been defending the bridge(one actually blundered and headed over their by its self). Both forces and taking heavy casualties.

Having failed to take out the artillery my foot cavalry stayed to allow Mikes brigade time to defend the field behind. Goldie has more troops over the bridge and Keith has moved troops up to the trees lining the road.

On the union right Roberts tardy troops have finally arrived and are advancing up the Smoketown Dd.

The other side of the Smoketown Rd as Robert and Goldies troops tighten the noose on the Confederate force.

Yet another Blunder…this time a good one!(If you are Union that is) Getting infantry to attack other infantry frontally is not easy, unless of course you do as SteveT did…blunder and the result is a charge. So 3 regts went in. One succeeded in winning the combat…the Confederate die rolls for shooting had been appalling all game on this road fence.

Having arrived A P Hill prepares to replace Alans 2 damaged brigades in the front line

Mission achieved. Alan withdrew back through my line on initiative moves, which now allowed my units to step forward, still under initiative moves and take up their positions. Alan could now start to rally casualties back with Lees Command 9 rating helping him out.

A bit further along and the Confederates are retiring. The massed Union guns at medium range were dishing out to much damage. The target priority rules meant out guns could not take counter battery action but had to shoot at the nearest formed unit. I have discussed this with Goldie already and we will change that.

Over by the bridge Goldies troops advancing, Mikes Confederates in the field are retiring.

On the Sharpsburg Rd Keith is still pressing and with the massed batteries destroying anything on the Sunken Road a general retirement has been ordered.

Over on the Confederate left…..well their really isn’t one now…so Sheridan’s force will join A P Hills and act as rearguard and the Confederates retire.

A Union Victory.

I thought the game played quite well. It is a rather attractive period to game with the differing uniforms, flags etc plus the terrain was certainly attractive.. We had 2 practice games before the main event to work on the shooting changes Goldie wanted to use which helped with the flow of the game. We need to look at the rules around the artillery so far as being able to target them and also the scenario restrictions. I had argued for the batteries facing the Sunken Road to be restricted to long range fire( from my reading of the battle seemed appropriate) as was concerned about the mass firepower if they moved to medium or close range.

The next Convention is in April where will look to run a Gettysburg game. Just need to paint a few more Confederate Units!

This weeks Whisky of The Week s the Glenrothes 18.

When friend Weakley came back home in August he bought me one of these for my birthday.

Tasting notes are below.

Nose Decadent vanilla and orange, with hints of cherry and almond developing.

Palate Still packing plenty of dried fruit notes, alongside crisp pear and a spicy touch of stem ginger.

Finish Lasting sweetness of vanilla and pear, with peppery flourishes.

My comment would be its a mighty fine whisky and one I selfishly prefer not to share!!

Until next time…Terry out.

Now one of our local Wargame Clubs, Warlords holds an annual convention which most years we attend and run a game or a small competition of some kind. This year we decided not to. Which was fortuitous as due a colossal CLUSTER****, the hall got double booked and on the Friday before the weekend involved, this was discovered. Not Good. So a new day has been set and we were asked if we wanted to come along and run one of our demo games on the new date of November 18th. So the ladz have chosen an ACW game, and Goldie has selected Antietam.

So a practice game was played to test some rule changes Goldie wants to use which are basically changes to shooting ranges where they are halved. Being the sceptic I can be, I was a wee bit doubtful. Comments at end of report!

The game will have 9 players, 5 Union and 4 Confederate. battle report after the actual game will provide Orbat/Map etc.

Turn 1 and Russ Advances his troops on Goldie’s blue bellies.

Goldies Blue bellies skulking in a field behind trees! Note the unit in column of march on the right.

View in the centre from Union lines.

Russ noticed the unit in column as well and managed to reach it.

Graeme’s Reb’s faced a lot of blue coats in the centre.

The Confederate left flank where Alan faced off with Keith.

Stephen’s Union facing Graeme. Graeme plays quite aggressively as a rule so close range shooting quickly occurred. Goldie had reduced rifle/musket range to 12 inches, Confederate guns to 24inches and Union to 30 inches. Real in your face action.

Now Sheridan is providing 19 Confederate regts for the game , however he games on weekends not mid week so I subbed in a brigade of newly completed Franco-Prussian French(why not!).

Russell’s early charge on the Union column has eventually resulted in a lot of Union units popping and stalling Union advance in this sector.

However, Robert had now arrived and was pushing forward towards Russ and Graeme lines. I had also arrived with the French brigade heading towards Confederate flank and a second brigade to support Graeme and Russ.

Union troops closing in on Alan with French marching up road in distance.

Confederate right where Russ troops taking a bit of damage with my fresh units moving up to allow them to retire through me and recover. Quit a blob of Union troops opposite!

The curse of newly painted troops in their first battle hits. Plan was to move them up and then change formation to line facing Union….howeverrrrr…even with Command 9 Corps commander for rerolls they failed successive orders…and sat there with flank facing Keith. But…I still felt they looked AWESOME. The others were to busy laughing to notice.

Thankfully photos did not come out well…but Keith charged….the flank…we lost…but retired only! Yeehaa. Photo below is after ordered actually were acted on(and I was wee bit naughty with distance moved, but hey…its my Garage! They do look good on the hill!!

So that was a practice game…was fun..was very noisy…rule changes seemed to work okay and we will try again in 2 weeks so we are fully prepped for the 18th of November.

Now the 1st Brigade of French is finished will do some work on my ACW armies for a couple of weeks. First up below are 2 more Corps commands for the Union. I want to run a large Gettysburg game so am generating Corp/Division/Brigade command stands with the correct flags… for effect!

We are lacking in Confederate cavalry so will slip in regular painting of 4 at a time until have a sizeable force.

There is a backlog of reports to be posted so will work through them as quick as I can.

Its been awhile but back to the ‘Whisky of the Week!’

Here we have a Caol Ila(pronounced Cull Ee-la) Distillers Edition 43% a single malt from the Isle of Islay.

This whisky from Caol Ila has first been matured in refill American oak and European oak casks. It has then had a second maturation in Moscatel – seasoned, re-charred American Oak casks. The nose has smokey and spicy notes, with a subtle fruity note. The palate has notes of smoke, sweetness and a gentle wood spice. The finish is long and spicy with big smoky notes.

It is very pleasant, not overly peaty and I strongly recommend it for newbies to peaty whisky who do not want to be over powered. It has been my go to for past month when want to relax of an evening, at the moment am spoiled for choices but this one I have really taken a liking to.

Until next time, Terry out.

The ACW game this month was a small game with 4 players.

A Union command were holding a position unaware the Confederates were advancing to destroy them before they could be reinforced.

The Union had 3 brigades with 2 deployed on their left and one in the centre right. They had no Division commander, and one of the 3 brigades was a rating 7. A fourth would arrive if certain conditions were met. (they didn’t in time)

The Confederates had 4 brigades and had first move where they march onto the table.

I was on Union right. Rebs opposite me.

Goldie was on my left with a forward cavalry brigade supported by an infantry brigade. Russ is setting up his arriving infantry and cavalry brigade.

Dismounted cavalry doing their thing.

Russ quickly ganged up on a skirmishing Union cavalry unit.

This is me responding to the Confederates to my front….partial realignment so would not be outflanked. I was the Command Rating 7….so not many orders were obeyed.

What the……the Rebs were a mirage….they were there as were off table and actually arriving behind Russells troops…so my partial realignment has only taken me further away. Grrr. A small Reb brigade has taken residence in the farm to my front though. The backing off regt is because of the Reb cavalry unit in the woods on my left….proximity rule applied so cannot just turn towards them.

Stephen’s Rebel Guard march on!

Goldies infantry are taking a whipping.

Russell has got cavalry into Goldies rear.

Look…I actually got a unit to CHANGE FACING!

Charging cavalry in your rear….NEVER A GOOD THING!

And it wasn’t, Union regt is no more.

In turn Goldie hits the cavalry in the rear…who had dismounted.

End of game …..Goldie has gotten smacked badly.

Russ has now got his arriving artillery into action against my troops in centre.

I was sending 2 regts over to help Goldie… but as no one wanted to move had been a slow process…..and they never really got close.

They large 4th Union brigade never arrived……..trigger was me getting forced off my hill or Union losing a brigade….which would have been the cavalry if Goldie had sacrificed them quicker…..I kept reminding him about it!

So sound Confederate Victory.

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.

So this year has kind of been a series of games playtesting Valour and Fortitude rules….. so time for a change and a game of ACW.

The Battle of Cross Keys and Port Republic the following day were pre cursors to the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond which we have played in the past.

So for the game Goldie and Alan played Union with Robert and Russ playing Confederates and with Steve a no show…I made the drinks!

Scenario has Confederates holding a creek line, with a bluff in the centre with 2 artillery batteries on it which has a view over entire battlefield and cannot be frontally assaulted. They have a cavalry regt on each flank and a reserve brigade of Louisiana troops off table. Robert is on the left and Russ on the right.

The Union are deploying from the north west with Goldie on the western side and Alan the eastern. Each has a flanking cavalry regt , 2 batteries are in the open in their centre and some more attached to brigades.

The terrain has the Confederates on a wooded ridge with the Mill Creek to their front. The woods extend on both flanks deep into Union deployment with a few buildings and abridge on the western edge of table. The Creek is a 6 inch penalty to cross with the the woods half speed to move in and 12-inch visibility for shooting.

The confusing map below was how actual battle went.

Initial set up below…..Goldie has Union commands west of centre road….Robert opposite with Alan on east side of road with Russ opposite.

Robert’s batteries on the Bluff with Goldies troops in distance.

Union troops advancing in centre towards bridge.

Schenck’s brigade on Union right.

Trimbles brigade awaiting Alans advance.

Schenck advances into Stuert’s gray lines firing range!

Goldie charged his cavalry at Roberts…didn’t make it…so Robert then charged and they met in the river.

Union left flank…cavalry dismount and skirmish towards creek. Russ’s troops appearing in treeline.

I was dragged to other flank by an aggrieved Goldie over his dice rolling. He insisted I take picture of the 3 x 1 dice rolls. These are saving throws from shooting…and 1 is not good.

Particularly when 3 casualties make a unit shaken and the rest of the brigade looks as below. Robert rolled high..Goldie went low……and that is one seriously in trouble brigade.

The cavalry fight after several more attacks resulted in Rebel victory.

Now in the real battle the Confederates used a ravine to sneak into Union flank….so here is Colonel James Walker with the 13th and 5th Virginia Regts! Alan was not impressed with me.

The long line of Goldies shot up brigades.

Taylors Louisiana Brigade has arrived and is moving to support Walkers flanking attack.

An ‘Oh Dear’ moment…..one would have expected the skirmishing Union cavalry to ‘Pop’ easily..alas these lads are made of stern stuff…and held!

But….. Walkers 2 regts have supports lining up behind them…..in distance another Union brigade is advancing.

And the next turn we have the Union cavalry gone….Russ has got a unit across the creek into Union flank and Alan has a number of damaged units…..so advantage definitely to Russ.

On the other flank Robert has held which combined with Russ winning position gives game to Confederates.

So there we are, another pleasant evening’s gaming.

ACW is really quite a chill period to game…colourful…the rules are period suitable ,,,you get to roll lots of dice…and laugh a lot at them!

No Whisky of the week……..but am enjoying a Good George ale at the moment!!

The mixed 6 can pack below is just delicious.

Until next time…happy gaming.

Terry