Category Archives: ACW

ACW Campaign Game – 2nd Battle of Winchester

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It’s 9pm on Monday 15th June and General Ewell is holding a briefing with Brigadiers Stuert, Elzey, Taylor, Trimble and Burk.

Gentleman, well fought yesterday and today. At the first battle of Front Royal we broke Sullivan’s brigade and overran a battery.

Today General Banks retreated with Kimball’s brigade and the remaining two artillery batteries to Middletown. The three regiments of Tyler’s brigade fought a staunch rearguard action for several hours covering the retreat but we eventually overwhelmed them and they raised the white flag and put down their arms. The survivors have gone into the bag and we will march them off with the other prisoners to captivity in Staunton.

Stuert, you are to take the the captured 12 pounders and replace your 6 pounders. I want all of you to rearm your brigades with the rifles from these 10 Union regiments, strip the boots and any other equipment you can. Burk, you are to remain here in Front Royal, build bastions covering the road to Milltown for your guns and Stuert’s. The rest of us will board the trains to Strasburg at dawn. We march for Winchester to join Jackson!

Feed the men… let them rest as they have fought hard but time is short…. Jackson needs us.

Ewells 4 brigades have trained to Strasburg and marched to Kernstown.

Ewell looked from the tower of the church in Kernstown to the north at the camp fires of a large Union Army camped around Winchester. He had considered retiring on Strasburg but a courier from Jackson had found him. Jackson had attacked Winchester, found a much larger Union force there than he had anticipated and retired north west to Capon bridge. It had cost him a brigade. He had beaten off a Union attack and was marching to join our attack on Winchester as we had planned.

Ewell turns to his waiting brigadiers.

‘Gentleman…it is 2am….Jackson is marching to us…let us begin’.

So begins the final chapter in the Shenandoah Campaign…..

The 2nd Battle of Winchester.

The town of Winchester is in the center of the table with the table long edges being north on the right and south on the left. The road heading to the west is to Capon River, to the south is Kernstown, to the south east is Milltown.

Union forces at 2am!

Ewells brigades move out of Kernstown heading west to a wooded ridge. The brigades of Steuart and Elzey commanded by Stephen. The brigades of Trimble and Taylor follow under my command(Terry).

As the sky lightens we are moving along the ridgeline. Our plan is to hold the ridge, sweep through the valley behind it in cover and prepare for the arrival of Jackson and roll up the Union right flank. The open ground to the front of Winchester would be a graveyard to us when facing the Union artillery.

The Union pickets have spotted us and the various brigades are forming up in their encampments. There are a … few of them!

We decided to game this battle in ‘Epic’ scale, that is 13mm. We as a group have sufficient figures painted up now to start playing out the larger battles in this scale rather than the 28s.

Stephen’s 2 brigades have taken position on the wooded ridge extending back to Kernstown.

Rushing out of their encampments the Union move to block any intrusion down the Capon road.

A general advance from the many Union brigades.

The valley Trimble and Taylor were moving through turned out to be a wooded swamp….it supposedly had a track but it was a morass in disguise. Result being for the 11 turns played the 2 brigades didn’t move, or moved left or right…not really forward so a great opportunity was missed! I am blaming Goldie who the previous week had gifted me a new set of dice he received at the Valleycon convention. I suspect he knew they were cursed.

Union gunline facing the ridge and morass…I mean wooded valley.

View of Trimbles troops who have manfully advanced in the swamp…..while Taylor’s Louisiana’s who you would thought would have felt at home in a swamp are still getting lost.

There is quite a few blue bellies in front of them by now.

But…. Jackson’s cavalry have arrived! Hopefully the infantry are close behind.

Union troops attack the hinge…..should have taken them out of the trays for photo…but…you get the picture.

Attack goes in on Kernstown!

Trimble’s troops has managed to move through the morass into lightly wooded terrain and can start some shooting!

Oh dear……Union columns arrive down road from Milltown!!

The attack on the hinge continues.

Jackson arrives with Winder’s brigade leading the way.

And straight into the exposed flank, sadly its an attack on flank of 3 regts, but when I charge in with a unit to the now pinned unit we should win this one…..yep….failed roll…failed reroll as well.

Meanwhile…still stuck in the morass……

The attack on Kernstown has failed and the attacking brigade has broken.

And that was the end of 11 turns of the 2nd battle of Winchester. There are 6 turns left so we agreed to continue in 2 saturday’s. Below is the game ready to carry on. We set up Friday night so could roll first dice at 9am.

The combat on the Union right flank was resolved to the Confederate advantage. Goldie has taken over command in this sector after being unwell for the first game.

I decided to do silly things and pin Union units to allow Jackson to consolidate his flank attack and get his second brigade on. Elsewhere SteveT had also been AWOL for the first game…some tropical island so he was well rested and I gave him the morass dwelling Louisiana’s…who promptly stared obeying orders…..its just embarrassing.

Jackson is rolling up the flank.

The hinge has held…somehow…..the troops there were the best we had and that really helped.

The Milltown arrivals are advancing… the blue dots differentiated them from the surviving brigade there. This had blundered earlier on and took some time to get its back together.

Several small Union brigades have popped and my brigade is getting close to joining them….the 6 turns Russ(Umpire) has turned into 7….I am hoping that doesn’t cost me.

Union line is a bit beaten up……..

10 Union regts advancing towards the ridgeline.

Jackson sent in a wave if attacks….Union line broke.

Game over……. Union flank is in tatters.

Confederates still have 6 regts and 2 batteries holding Kernstown/ridge line with Taylors 5 regts moving to support.

The hinge has held until the end!!

So that was the end of the 2nd Battle of Winchester.

18 turns and 1 and a half days of gaming.

This is the conclusion of the Shenandoah campaign with the Union retiring on Harpers Ferry and the Umpire announcing a Confederate Victory.

I have asked Russ to write up a small article on his thoughtson the running of the campaign which I hope to bring to you in the future.

That’s it for now… Terry out.

ACW Campaign Game # 5 – Front Royal

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Last weekend Game # 4, the battle of Winchester was fought …I was not there, it was fought at the club. I believe at the end of it the survivors of 3 Confederate Brigades had retired over a river and 6 or 7 Union Brigades were coming for them. Best not mention it again!

So yesterday we fought game #5 of the Campaign in the Garage for control of Front Royal.

The map for the game is within the Yellow zone. The Union have 2 large brigades(15 regiments) 3 large batteries in emplacements to the East of South Fork. They are deployed from just north of North Fork joining the river to the woods south of Front Royal.

Three Confederate brigades arrive from Strasburg(13 regiments, 3 batteries by train and advance from south of the North Fork. On Turn 4, 2 more brigades(each of 4 regiments and a battery) arrive in the south from Luray. The The 2nd Virginia Cavalry arrived on turn 1.

Set up is below. Players are Robert and Alan on left(Union), Russ in center(Umpire) and the 2 Confederate players on the right, Steve and Rob. The Game is 8 turns long.

Center of battlelines.

Large batteries in emplacements are quite devastating!

The only cavalry at the battle was the 2nd Virginia who set off around the Union left flank. They succeeded in drawing off Union Regiments!

Rear Union battery, the infantry unit beside it has turned to prepare for the cavalry arriving.

The Union battery in the center had a charmed life. It passed 4 or 5 break tests during the battle while continuing to inflict considerable damage each turn.

Rob’s brigades took hits all game, shook them off and kept firing!

The combined firepower of 3 batteries could not silence that Union battery. They are 6 pounder guns so were out ranged but hung in there.

These gallant ladz took 3 hits from a battery…needed 6’s to avoid casualties….made of stern stuff!

Turn 4 and I finally get to arrive on a Battlefield in the campaign! The Church is a 20mm I commissioned Alan to print for me.

Down the other end Steve and Robert continue to trade fire.

And that darn battery is still holding on!

The Union left where Alan has moved his second line onto the woods to cover the arrivals from the South.

The second brigade arrived which I invited Russ to take command of and join in.

The Cavalry were destroyed….but they pulled Union regiments out of position…Robert was very keen to place these dead horses…..

Hmmmmm… 2 Union brigades apparently are arriving down the road from Middletown…how many brigades do the Union have!

My brigade is pining Union while Russ attempts to get around the ridge to their rear. Running out of turns!

Steve has reacted to the new arrivals by pulling back his brigade…he was winning the fire so a frustrating moment.

Center of lines….a number of units have taken heavy damage….

Lunch break…it was Steve’s Birthday so he bought a long a luvly cake! We found some candles for him to blow out.

The last 2 turns flew by…as often happens once in action I forget to take photos….doh.

So below… Russ managed to get his artillery onto table and helped to destroy the Union battery. I shot up a Union regiment who retired allowing me to charge flank of another in last turn…..then hit it in the front with another…they lost the combat but stayed! Another Union regiment in south end of ridge was flank charged by Russ and lost the combat…and a follow me by the brigade commander carried another regiment into the rear of a Union regiment who had retired from woods. Then another failed a break test so in all 3 Union regiments popped…another retired whipped from shooting and the battery popped. What a great last couple of turns!!!

So the Union left flank is now gone, we have 2 Fresh brigades ready to roll up the Union lines as Darkness Falls.

Advancing Union brigade down Middletown road. A rife bttn of Louisiana Tigers is skirmishing in the woods.

And the award for Unit of the day goes too that Union Artillery battery on that hill!

Well that was great fun…….and was nice to finally roll some dice in the campaign. We will leave it to the Umpire to determine if there is a day 2 to this battle.

The Whisky of the week this week is the Ardbeg 8 ‘For Discussion’.

Review found is:

Ardbeg 8 Year Old “For Discussion” (originally an Ardbeg Committee Release) is an intensely smoky, cask-strength Islay single malt. Matured in ex-sherry casks and bottled at 50.8% ABV without chill-filtration, it offers a bolder, more savoury, and traditional profile compared to the distillery’s standard 10-year-old.

Ardbeg are an acquired taste as they are powerful tasting drops that are like drinking cigars. I found this one extremely easy to sip while watching F1 last night by the fire. Its definitely a winter drink! Recommended.

Until next time.. Terry out.

ACW Campaign Game # 3 – Kernstown

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So its Game # 3 – I am still not in combat…..and found myself on lunch duty as Anita deserted me for the day……so took pictures of game when could.

Below is view of campaign map for Confederates on Turn 5.

I was in Front Royal until 6 Union Brigades advanced from Strasburg so I retired to Lurray…hastily. Its a 2 Brigade a turn road so I have dug in. After Strasburg Confederate units retired on Wardens and Woodstock. The crazed individual that is Stonewall Jackson has decided to advance on Winchester via Kernstown, while Confederate forces from the battle of Moorefield have been advancing to meet him there. The Union have the interior lines and hold Strasburg, Front Royal, Kernstown and Winchester with troops marching to Kernstown as well.

Start of game, the masses of Union troops are on the eastern side of table with 2 Confederate brigades plus cavalry have arrived from the East planning to exit in the North towards Winchester.

Confederates seem to have thrown their plan out the window and advance on the Union troops(you will note the Confederate artillery is awol…they are elsewhere).

The Union are looking at a lovely exposed flank.

Union artillery starts inflicting pain.

Union start the move around the exposed flank.

Dear oh dear… Goldie is fielding units with out command bases and flags!(I have given him the figures and flags….shame on him).

Union troops advance to pin enemy while flank forces move up.

Union cavalry skirmishing behind Confederate line.

The ‘Role up the flank’ order kicks in.

A successful role up….Confederate brigades attempt to exit to the North

Its not a pretty picture is it.

Confederate troops managed to exit the table heading towards Winchester. The next day will show what is left…and what is pursuing them….so looks like next battle is Winchester.

I am considering moving my troops to Richmond……

Whisky of the week is a wee beauty.

GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch10.

I can’t recall if its Whisky Club or Whisky Society supplied.

Tasting notes are :

Colour: Chesnut Brown

Nose: Mocha. apricot and baked orange chocolate cake, with roasted almond, walnut and raisin on a base of aromatic toasted oak.

Palate: Richly spiced fruitcake with nectarine, dark cherry and honeyed sultana.

Finish: Lingering ripe apricot layered with ginger jam indulgent caramelised date.

Wow….that’s a long list of attributes. I have sampled a number of GlenDronach expressions, have 3 others on the whisky trolley as well and this would be my favorite after the GlenDronach 21 Parliament…. a truly awesome whisky.

That’s it for now….happy days…Terry

April 2026 – ACW Campaign Game # 2 Strasburg

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So a 2nd battle has been generated in the campaign.

On a sunny Autumn Saturday the group gathered in my garage to play it. My better half deserted me for the day so I was on catering duty.

Thankfully….I have a large driveway to accomodate my guests!

The crew are below, Steve T was late and missed the photo session.

The battle was fought at Strasburg. The Union held the town, the Confederates launched an attack from Woodstock with troops marching from Wardens having moved there from the victory at Moorefield in battle # 1. A Confederate force had been at Front Royal but had retired to Lurray when attacked by 6 Union brigades who are presumably still at Front Royal.

The movement limitations are:

Confederate battery sets up on low hill facing Strasburg. It is a light smoothbore battery… 4 barrels..range 36 inches….beside town is a Union 3 inch battery… 6 barrels…..60 inch range…do the math(more than 36 inches apart).

The terrain has low hills…river…streams….open areas and… trees……most Union troops have rifles…24 inch range….Confederates … muskets….18 inches…..you can move once and still shoot….movement is 12 inches in open. Again, do the math.

Goldie in his gaming shirt of many year’s..it’s designed to ruin your concentration……more Union troops have arrived……

Lunch…….there had been quite a feast…..lovely warm day…..

Jackson has arrived on left flank from Wardens after forced march from Moorefield/Wardens.

Confederates have decided as it is a campaign….and odds of getting serious casualties are high…..with drawl is the best option……so below Union are moving after the retiring Confederates….

So that was that…….Confederates have retired from abortive advance on Strasburg….and both sides live to fight another day…..

Interesting result as in a normal one day game both sides would have just ‘gone at it’. But, its a campaign……and so pragmatic approach taken by Confederates.

April 2026 – Epic ACW Game # 1

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In a change from ACW being played in 28mm , some of the group have been squireling away painting(or printing and painting in Alans case)at the Epic(13mm) scale.

With enough now painted for a game Alan hosted our first game.

So 3 Union and 4 Confederate Commanders gathers for a 1st game. Alan had procured some new cloths from Temu as base cloths…looked good. All terrain printed/made by Alan.

Rebel force used by Rob (All Printed/painted by Alan).

We made the brigades all 4 regts. Each regt we have were 3 bases rather than the 5 in the Warlord Games boxes. Will will use 2 or 4 as required in games but 5 just take up to much space for the games we want to play in this scale.

Some of my ladz. I have enjoyed painting these.

Alans cheating…printing greatcoated chaps!

Robert and Russ fought at one end with the cavalry that has been painted. Lots more to come!

More China sourced add on’s…casualty counters and some yellow triangles with ! on them…we used as disorders.

The cavalry seemed to fight all game…….

I do like the feel this this size for bigger battles.

Alan has added lots of buildings he has printed/painted and woods(Temu).

In foreground Stephens troops…has painted butternut coloured Florida units for some variety….looked great. Alan has also made some small casualty counter similar to the Hail Caesar ones….. he ordered red dice…..got orange……Temu.

More Union advancing.

End of game(Thursday night…some of us are still working so finished 10ish).

So that was the first game in Epic scale. We got to move some troops around…were some combats…shooting…and play around with moving/shooting ranges etc. I enjoyed it…looked very good!!

February 2026 ACW Campaign Game #1 – Moorefield

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After several turns of maneuvering we have our first battle of the Campaign!

The Union are holding the town of Moorefield with the Confederates attacking it.

The Union force in Moorefield is commanded by BG Louis Blenker and has the following forces:

  • BG Schencks(Alan) Brigade: 4 regts + Rigbys battery Indiana light artillery
  • Col Cluserets Brigade(Goldie)- 2 Regts + Battery G West Virgina light artillery
  • Col Dickels(Goldie) Cavalry attachment – 2 Regts cavalry, all Tiny units

On Turn 2 BG Milroy’s(Keith) brigade of 4 Regts + 12th battery, Ohio light artillery will march in on the road from Wardens.

The Union briefing and set up instructions is below.

The Confederate’s are attacking from Upper Tract where part of Jacksons Division with the Brigades of Fulkerson and Conner with SteveC in charge.

  • 3rd Fulkersons Brigade – 4 regts + Carpenters battery
  • 4th Conners Brigade – 3 Regts + Carringtons Virginia battery

Ashby’s 7th Cavalry Brigade with 3 small Regts and Chews Virginia battery of Horse Artillery commanded by Rob.

On turn 2 PaulW would arrive on the battlefield from Woodstock with not only the 1st Brigade of the Stonewall Division but the man himself!

The Confederate briefing and set up is below. Ashby’s troopers had been scouting the area and the Confederates were aware of the Union positions and the troops marching from Wardens.

The table is set up below from South to North.

Schenck’s Brigade below.

Cluseret’s Brigade is in Moorefield with a battery in a redoubt beside it, with skirmishing cavalry linking to the 2nd battery in a redoubt elevated commanding the center of the table.

Confederates march onto the battlefield. Ashby’s cavalry are on the left flank, then Conner and Fulkerson on the right.

Milroy’s brigade marches onto battlefield.

Jackson marches on…..much to the Union players surprise!! It’s like the French Imperial Guard appearing on your flank……

They flood forward……..

Schencks troops retire to consolidate position.

2 Tiny Union cavalry units stayed in front of the Confederate lines and were extremely difficult to move.

Lunch time and although we had all bought food along, Alans wife Joni prepared a feast for us!

The large Union batteries were effective…..the Union players didn’t agree but they were consistently disordering units and inflicting casualties….and being redoubts was difficult to inflict casualties on. The redoubts are 3 sided…we just didn’t bring them along(as we didn’t know about them).

Troops in buildings with artillery in cover makes for a difficult target to get to.

Over on the flank the dismounted cavalry were fighting it out. Thankfully….this distracted Milroy as planned so he was unable to support Schenck.

Jacksons troops in combat with Schencks. This combat went on for a number of turns.

The join point of Fulkerson and Winders brigades where the Union cavalry has finally been driven off.

Schenck is holding on and a regt from Milroy has arrived to assist.

The dismounted cavalry fight is over and the surviving troops of Ashby have been driven off, but without Ashby who was captured in a combat.

Schenk’s brigade has fled the field.

The brave 25th Ohio regt of Milroy’s brigade that rushed to their assistance is about to suffer the cost…..

The flank of redoubts were now open….

and both batteries were destroyed.

The death of the 25th Ohio…..

The remaining Union forces withdrew from the field of battle.

So a decisive Confederate Victory. I must say if was harder for the Confederates than I expected with Winders flank attack stalling against dismounted Union cavalry…the guns in the redoubts kept the Confederates at bay and Schenck held on longer than I though he would. The sacrifice of Ashby and his cavalry tying up Milroy worked perfectly however.

Great game for first one of the campaign and big call out for Russell of organizing and running a superb campaign.

Now, Summer has been a non event for us with the weather being generally awful. However, this month I had a 2 week break and Anita and I went and stayed up north in Whangamata which as expected was sunny, warm and the water was great! Anita had also accepted a new position so I celebrated with a Whisky purchase while I was there.

Below is the Tomatin 18.

Reviews say:

An 18 year old finished in Oloroso sherry butts…..Nose….rich and sherried…citrus and died fruit….palate……sweet…..fruit cake….chocolate….Finish…llloonngggg and warming spice and I will add…Oily …..in a pleasant way……an inspired purchase.

Sigh…will pop upstairs and enjoy one now….. happy days… Terry out!

February 2025 – ACW Game

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Friend Brian who lives a good 3 hour drive away has been adding more units to his ACW armies and requested a game so we had one at the Club for him.

Union players were Brian, Robert and Goldie with the Reb’s being Russ, Mike and I(Dave arrived from up country later in morning for a few hours so gave him command).

Scenario had Confederate cavalry defending a town….a larger Union cavalry force is to attack them and then both sides have an infantry division marching on from each corner. Again, the Union had superior numbers but the counter to that was they were commanded by Slocum, so I gave them a possible movement penalty on the first two turns.

Russ commanded the 2 Confederate cavalry brigades in/around the town along with their light artillery batteries…and a battery of 3 rifled batteries on a hill behind the town. Brian also had 2 larges cavalry brigades, with 1 light battery. Russ and Brian were the Army commanders and they the ability to pinch a brigade of infantry frm their sub commanders it the so desire…they did of course1. View below is South to North.

Turn 1 and Union went first…all except the Cavalry who didn’t move…for 2 turns(Brian has corrected me…was 4 turns)!! There goes the plan of Union charging into the town!

Robert arrived on NW road…he placed his 3 batteries on a low hill on edge of table.

My command opposite Robert a couple of turns in…..joining up with dismounted cavalry… I have 2 brigades to Roberts 3…. but my guns will be going into front lines to maximize hits!

Robert moving up to the still stalled Cavalry regts.

In NE Goldie quickly advanced towards the Town and farmhouse in SE comer. Mike coming on from the SE corner had Goldie in his face before he got ready for him….thankfully Russ used the 3 batteries on the rear hill to bludgeon the advancing Union…… oh…and getting cavalry unit in to the flank was fun……this inflicted casualties and stalled the Union advance.

Mike holding Goldie at bay while his 2nd and 3rd brigades advance onto table behind them.

Woohoo…Brian finally got the Union cavalry to move…..and they charged some dismounted cavalry.

Roberts Union and my Reb’s start their firefight.

Robert has beaten up the dismounted cavalry but got shaken and has retired.

Rush of blood..Robert charged across the road!

Beside the charge…….the Reb artillery firing at close/medium range was doing the damage.

The casualty makers and disorder marker tell the story……a charge on an undamaged unit is…fraught with peril.

Brian is fighting in the town….it had 4 modules and as only thin skinned buildings……attacker has the advantage.

Union cavalry on the charge……buildings are all Alans printing/painting efforts….lovely.

Over in the NE…Goldie has had his high water mark and is getting pushed back.

Robert also is getting pushed back……

Mike’s recalcitrant brigades are now in position and ready to clear Goldie from the table.

And there we called the game…Confederate Victory. Was clubs AGM so we lost some playing time……but enabled us to sit downstairs in bar and chat……had forgotten was AGM…..focused on the game!

Scenario kind of worked…..the Union cavalry not moving for 2 turns really threw it out sadly……I probably overdid the number of Confederate batteries….but Union could have used their batteries better….but everyone seemed to enjoy it…and other club members do seem to like our games.

Bonus for day is one of those attending was selling 20+ lots of figures at great prices. Goldie picked up an Epic ACW army box for NZD$100…, retails here for NZD$190+. I was tempted by several offerings but held off and was staunch until leaving when looked at a Warlord Games Macedonian Pike offering, 48 painted figures(not great paint job) and 24 on sprues. ….this elicited an offer to me I could not refuse! Had a play inking with one figure…..came up okay….so another unit for Pyrrhus is on its way.

Thankfully…Goldie getting the ACW box saved me having to take one for the team and buy it… so StephenC has been painting up an Army Box…Goldie now has one…and we noticed Alan that sneaky chap has been printing and painting some as well……so another favorite period in a different scale beckons!

Until next time…Terry out.

April 2024 American Civil War , The Wilderness 1864

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One of our local Wargaming clubs, Hutt Miniature Wargames Club runs an annual convention which we have been attending and putting on a one day Demonstration Game. Last year was Waterloo, this year was ‘The Wilderness’.

There were 170 gamers in a number of competitions over the 2 day weekend which was spread over 2 venues. We were in the main venue which has parking, an onsite cafe ….but only 2 toilets!

So there were 11 of us playing this year, 6 Union and 5 Confederate players. Each player had 2 brigades of 5 regiments each, 1 battery, 2 brigade commanders and a division commander. Each division commander had personalized attributes to add a bit of flavor.

The game was on a 18ish foot long x 6 foot wide table and as one would expect for the Wilderness…there were a lot of trees. We had some designated clear areas where artillery could be deployed…somehow that morphed into you could unlimber and use guns on the tracks and shoot into the woods…..GGGRRRR. The Confederate side deployed up to 24 inches in from the table edge while the Union were marching on from their table edge. The Union had first move.

The Commands of Grant and Lee meet!

We played the brigades in woods had to order units individually to move, while a brigade order could be used if in open terrain. Below a Union regt blundered(rolled 2 D6 and then a further D6) and advanced in column of march. Sadly the Rebel troops when charging did not quite make it into contact!

Down one end of the table Sheridan(Rebel) and Keith (Union) both advanced quickly and by turn 2 they were already charging into combat.

Below we have the start of an endless number of combats between these 2 all day.

Grant advancing on Lee with Confederate guns in the distance, left behind in the open ground as they cannot move into the woods.

Rebels advance on disordered/shaken Union unit with a battery facing into the woods…grr. The rebels failed the charge order on this juicy target.

Units getting into it in the middle of the table.

A perfect opportunity presents itself to one of my units. 2 shaken Union units face it….if I can get a charge in….with average dice may make a breakthough.

Goldie and I designed the game and we have 3 dismounted cavalry units arrive on turn 3 and move towards 3 division commander’s per side. Each had a different dice….one represented a reserve brigade arriving, the other 2 stragglers that recovered a casualty. The base I tagged as the Union brigade arrived in Keith’s space….while the Confederate brigade arrived….opposite them with Sheridan! Just as well as they were churning through regiments.

One of the Confederate players sadly had to leave early so Mike and Sheridan took over a neighboring brigade. Above is the center of the table where an outnumbered Confederate Mike is having a masterful game.

So my earlier charge had gone off and defeated a regt…forced others to break or flee…..below is Goldie trying to hide the evidence behind a screen of large trees so no one will notice!

And they are still charging….here is another one!

This awesome unit is the 18th Virginia!!

They need a statue.

Keith’s reserve brigade have made a difference and he is driving Sheridan back.

Elsewhere the commander of the 18th Virginia has grabbed another regiment and thrown them into the flank of a Union regiment.

Lee joined in the fun to assist a flank attack.

Mikes defense of the center was now reaping rewards as we started to roll up the Union center.

The bloody fighting in the center had left both sides with many shaken or close to shaken units.

Keith pressing forward on the Union left flank.

Close up of the advance.

So we called twilight and by agreement it was deemed a Confederate Victory. Both sides voted for the opposition player of the day. Keith was adjudged Union player and Mike Confederate. The Club had given all players a pack of anniversary dice as part of the registration and I had a couple of extra packs which these 2 outstanding generals received!

We then adjourned the Brewtown, a local watering hole a minute away to recover!

Above are the pensive Union commanders…..’Oh what could have been!’.

Next year we are thinking of bringing the Borodino Game to ValleyCon and playing for 2 days…will be great fun!!

So it was my partners birthday in April so we popped down to Christchurch for a weekend to celebrate as 2 of our children and their partners live there. It is also where my favorite shop, ‘Whisky Galore’ is……so I picked up a bottle of ‘Infrequent Flyers Release 211’ which is a Glentauchers Distillery. Now this wonderful chap, Alistair Walker takes barrels from Distillery’s and works his magic on them…and I do enjoy sampling his efforts.

This particular bottle is from the same Distillery as the Cadenhead 14 friend Weakley and I rated the best of the 14 we tasted on my bday tasting….. so I had to get it…and I am not disappointed…its is a wonderful drop…not to be shared!!

Notes on it are:

Splendid Speyside single malt from Glentauchers, distilled in 2012 and matured for 11 years, including a finish in a Pedro Ximénez sherry puncheon. The cask was opened by Alistair Walker in 2023, releasing a total of 682 bottles for the Infrequent Flyers collection.

Its a beauty.

Til next time, Terry Out.

March 2024 – American Civil War Game, Wilderness 1864(Practice Game)

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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.

February 2024 – American Civil War Game

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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.