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.
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!!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!!
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.
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!
terrysgaragegaming 