A quick report on an ACW Game. This time is a battle from the ‘Glory, Hallelujah’ supplement of Black Powder.
So on the 19th September 1862, the Union Army in Mississippi commanded by General Grant dispatched a force commanded by General Rosecrans to destroy a smaller Confederate force commanded by General Price. Thanks to superior scouting, Price was aware of Rosecrans advance and determined to pounce on one of his columns.
So on table below we have 2 Union brigades on the left of the table along a road. These are the brigades of Mower and Sullivan. A third brigade, Sanborn’s will arrive on turn 3 close to the measuring tape in the left corner. The Rebel forces are 2 brigades with Herbert’s in the front and Martins in the rear.
Below are Union troops along the road.
The Rebels try to advance against a very strong Union line.
Some very busy Union artillerymen.
The Rebel attack really stalls trying to get through the woods in the centre.
So all 3 Union brigades are now in play and the superior numbers are pushing the Rebels back.
Now at the end the Union Army had the Confederates on the back pedal with a number of Rebel units being ‘Whipped’ and retiring as the Union troops approached. A clear victory would have been if the Union had taken the crossroads just to their front. Alas, I hadn’t reminded them of this……so they didn’t launch their attack in time….. perhaps next time!
But I think the guys enjoyed the game…. lots of insults were traded which is always a good sign.
Now the whisky of the week is a favourite of mine. I seem to have a particular liking for offerings from Glenmorangie and this is certainly true of The Quinta Rubin 14.
The tasting notes are below.
Nose: Summer fruit tart with a sprinkling of icing sugar, aromatic cedar, milky coffee and almond pastries.
Palate: Chocolate mousse, Bourbon biscuits, orange oil, more almond notes (now toasted), blackcurrant and raisin.
Finish: Lasting richness of stewed berries and dark chocolate.
Which to me means it is rather smooth and a delight to savour as I watch Liverpool in action once again.
I would like to thank my daughters for getting this for the recent birthday. We had to do a rush to our local Bottle O shop to get it on the night the latest Lockdown was enforced by Kommissar Redcinta. We just beat the slavering hordes to the door as they sought to sate their thirsts in the coming days of lockdown. Thankfully, I knew it was in stock and at a very good price!
Til next time, which seeing we are locked down again, will be a Lockdown report.
So carrying on the ACW theme currently on I put on a Battle of Monocacy game which was fought on the 9th July 1964, This was part of the Confederate General Jubal Early’s raid down the Shenandoah Valley into Maryland.
On the 3rd July the Union area Commander, Major General Lew Wallace who was based in Baltimore with a command of 2-3,000 men reacted to news of Early’s march towards Baltimore and Washington by moving his force to Monocacy Junction to block the Confederate advance while requesting reinforcements to protect the unguarded Washington. Wallace gathered additional troops from Annapolis, Baltimore and a field artillery unit and a small cavalry force. On July the 8th Wallace stopped the advance units of the Union VI Corps commanded by Ricketts and convinced him to remain at Monocacy Junction to hold off Early and his estimated force of between 14-28,000 veteran troops.
So dawn on Saturday July 9 had a Union force of about 6,800 men positioned an the bridges and fords over the Monocacy River. A battery was on a bluff overlooking the main bridge and Ricketts men below them guarding the fences and riverbank. The cavalry brigade of Clendenin was downstream watching the river.
There were further forces facing each other but I decided to just fight the main battle.
So the aim of Union General Wallace is to hold on and delay as long as possible to give reinforcements time to get to Washington. The Confederates was to get to Washington!
So for the scenario I have kept fairly much too the actual battle but changed some aspects a wee bit for play playability and fun factors.
Below we have the initial set up Ricketts 2nd Brigade commanded by Steve. This was 4 regts plus the battery on the bluff behind them. Opposite across the river was Ramseur’s Lilley brigade with 5 Virginia regts with 2 batteries from Nelsons battn with a 3rd battery arriving later. Alan commanded here.
To the south the Union cavalry of Clendenin commanded by Rob had 2 dismounted regts covering the ford with 2 more on there way. Across the ford can be seen the lead regts of McClauslands cavalry brigade of 4 regts commanded by Keith.
And Alan is straight into it and managed to get 4 units across the bridge and a 5th on it(they are not actually crossing the river…..Alan got a wee bit excited.
Keith rushes his cavalry regts across the ford, dismounts and prepares to pepper Robs 2 regts in the farms. I had reduced the Union regts to 2/3 size of the Rebel ones. Picture below is after several turns of firing from both sides. There is a dinky rule in the ACW supplement of Black Powder where units that fail morale tests from shooting do not pop but instead are ‘whupped’ and basically keep 12 inches away from the enemy with reduced factors….and are just …annoying…but…it feels right! The final 2 Union cavalry units have dismounted and joined the fighting.
Here we have the Union battery on the bluff behind fortification. Union needed 6’s to hit them and they got an enhanced save.
Keith added his cute ambulance to the photo…nice.
The Union cavalry have been beaten after several rounds of hand to hand and mount up and ride away….those that could. Just to the left of the field the Confederate Division of John Gordon has commenced crossing the ford. Goldie had arrived and took the brigade of Evans and his 7 Georgia regts. Keith retired the cavalry and took command of the 2nd brigade of Hays 5 Louisiana regts.
As Gordons regts marched across the fields towards the Junction and the road to Washington, up popped Emersons brigade of 5 regts who had been lying down behind a fence! A withering blast was delivered on the surprised Confederates by these veteran units troops…to…well…almost no effect…..
The other end of Emersons line….flank fire on Evans brigade…Goldie giggled…it was really bad shooting.
I quite liked this picture of the flags.
So we have Evans brigade to the left, Hays to the right, Alan in the distance who has bought guns up to close range and is dealing to Steve’s troops. Keith’s surviving cavalry and a battery that appeared are holding the fence line to centre and I have the Emerson brigade.
Game end. I declared a Union victory, if only because the road was not clear and so Early’s Army would now not make Washington before Union reinforcements made it.
So that was fun and now the whisky of the week!
Well… I do have a love affair with Glenmorangie so this weeks offering is the ‘Nectar D’or’.
With tasting notes of:
Sumptuous and warming, the Glenmorangie Nectar D’Or has spent ten years in American white oak casks before spending its final two years in Sauternes casks from France. It is here, in hand selected wine barriques from Sauternes: the most famous and ancient sweet wine growing region of France, that this whisky develops its rich, spicy and dessert-like flavours. Non chill-filtered for additional aroma and mouthfeel.
Aroma; Lime and orange rind, sultanas and dates give a rich fruity flavour laced with tantalising spices of coconut and nutmeg.
Taste; Ginger, nutmeg and toasted almonds bring a deep, warming taste interwoven with a syrupy lemon meringue and honeycomb middle.
Finish; Long and lusciously sweet finish with lemon zest, white chocolate, vanilla and traces of ginger and nutmeg.
Awards; WWA 2008 Category – Scottish IWSC 2009 Silver Category – Single Malt Highland IWSC 2009 Silver Category – Single Malt Highland ISC 2009 Silver Category – Scotch Single Malts
Alcohol Vol 46%
Some may not like a sweet whisky, but tonight we have a southerly storm howling outside, it is VERY windy…and cold….and the coffee machine has died…so will shortly be sipping this beauty in front of the fire watching our Queen of Canoeing win her Gold medals again.
So post Borodino refight there has been a wee break in gaming to recharge, and then the laptop has been decommissioned and replacement finally been supplied(its my partners work from home machine!)
So there are a few bloggings to do…so here is the start.
As a break from Napoleonic Battles, a dive into ACW(American Civil War) will happen for a while. The first game I started with is a scenario from Gettysburg, Peach Orchard. We used Black Powder ‘Glory , Hallelujah’ supplement rules for the game(as we will for those to follow) and we were all a bit rusty on the rules!
Below is the set up positions with the Confederates on the right and the Union on the left. On the Rebel right was Russ and Alan on the left. Opposite Russ was Keith and then Goldie on the Union right opposite Alan. Rebels get to move turn first.
Turn 1 and Russ throws Barksdale’s Veterans forward.
Keith’s line of Union troops in the Peach Orchard
On the rebel left Alan advances past the Bliss Farm heading for the Rogers Farm.
Russell is rolling up the Union flank with Barksdales troops.
Somehow Flashman and his entourage have managed to take command of the Rebel massed guns!
The thin blue line of newly arrived regiments face the rebel attack.
On the Rebel left Alans troops attempt to hold back the Union advance to allow the rebel right to win the day.
And I think this picture fittingly shows the End of Game….massed rebel guns supporting foot regiments rolling up the Union line.
So in the end it was a Rebel victory. The Barksdale brigade of French Imperial Guard(well…they were that good!) repeated history and rolled up the Union line. I did allow to many batteries for the game , so my bad, but will rectify that in future games and also need to reduce the number of troops per player so we can get a game completed in a an evening.
But well done to Russ and Alan, well played and am sure Keith and Goldie will get revenge!
Now the Whisky of the Week this week is the Balvenie Doublewood 12 year old.
Now here is the tasting notes….
Balvenie DoubleWood 12yo Bottling Note
Balvenie DoubleWood is aged in two kinds of oak casks! It was firstly matured in refill American oak casks before it was treated to a finish in first fill European oak Oloroso sherry butts for an additional nine months. The expression was launched in 1993, and has become a somewhat iconic whisky over the years. Even at 12 years old, this rich and complex dram is an excellent example of what the Balvenie distillery can craft.
And I am quite enjoying it as I write this post, fire on, watching Rugby League on TV.
I found a nice scenario on line so organised a game.
Goldie would play the Union(he has blue bellies) and Russ would be the Confederates(he has rebels).
The game was played down the table(was 12 feet) with the map below.
Deployment:
Union begin game in column heading south from Sudley Springs Ford, with Burnside’s brigade in the lead. The head of the column should be at point A. All units in march column directly behind. This is the spearhead of an attempt to turn the Conferate flank.
The Confederates are trying to form a defence on Buck Hill at point B with Evan’s demi brigade. They are to hold as long as they can to allow for reinforcements to rush to hold the flank.
Troops:
Union: Commander Colonel D Porter.
1st Brigade Colonel A Porter with 5 infantry regts, 1 cavalry regt and large battery.
2nd Brigade Colonel A E Burnside with 3 infantry with large battery attached to 3rd regt. There is also a howitzer battery.
Confederates: Evans Demi brigade with 2 infantry and a battery
Bees Brigade: 5 infantry, Hamptons Legion and Waltons battery
The Union player has first turn.
Confederates roll a die on each turn from turn 2 onwards. Result:
1-4 no reinforcements
5-6 1st time: 2 regts arrive on south end of Sudley Rd
2nd time: remainng regts of Bee brigade
3rd time: Hamptons legion
4th time: Waltons battery
Turn one and Burnside marches down Sudley Rd. Russ has painted up some dinky diorama pieces, here we have a photographer in the foreground.
The long blue column marches down the road. In distance the rebel road block on Buck Hill can be seen.
Russell’s blocking force on Buck Hill.
Goldie has sent his cavalry ahead on his right flank and lead column has formed into line on road…Russ has responded by moving a unit toward to fences to secure flank.
Goldie’s forces flow forward, Burnside to centre and Porter to the right.
Perry horse batteries are quite cool, here is one entering table and heading right.
Russell has managed to some Mississipi boyz to arrive!
Goldie continues to advance
Overview of Buck Hill where Russ still holds it.
Goldie’s forces moving closer to Bucks Hill. Russell’s unit by fences not in an envious position really.
Rebel unit is disordered, taking casualties, has dismounted cavalry and infantry shooting at it and units advancing on its exposed flank.
Goldie takes Buck Hill. On right Union units are flowing forward.
Those Mississipi boyz moving to cover the Unions flank march. Evans demi brigade retiring on the farmhouse.
More rebels arrive!
Russ takes up position
Goldie’s view of the attack.
End game. Union are pressing along the whole line. A lot of shooting was going on, the Union benefiting from the longer ranges and Goldie had achieved his objective marker.
Union victory called.
Next report is the same scenario…moved to 1813 and my Russians are the Union and Goldies Austrians are the Confederates.
Latest game was scenario from Black Powder supplement ‘Glory, Hallelujah!’
The Union players were Alan and Keith while Robert and Moi(Terry) were the Confederates.
The game was played down the table with the following terrain rules:
Terrain largely wooded, but only lightly so effect is visibility reduced to 24 inches. The effect was that small arms fire now hit on a 5 and not a 4.
No effect on artillery fire.
Skeggs creek ran across the battlefield and was a 6 inch movement penalty
The fences offered a -1 to hit advantage if you were directly behind them
Scenario:
The 3 Union brigades set up to North of Skeggs stream. On turn 2 brigade 4 is ordered on from south edge of table.
The 5 Confederate brigades are set up south of Skeggs stream. On turn 4 the Confederate cavalry brigade can be ordered on from behind Union right flank board edge. Cannot charge on turn 1.
Troops:
Union:
1st Brigade – 3 x regts rifled muskets plus 6 pdr smoothbore battery(6 guns)
2nd Brigade – 3 x regst rifled muskets plus 6pdr smoothbore battery(4 guns)
Cavalry brigade – 2 regts cavalry, 1 with rifled muskets and 1 with shotgun/revolver
Below is the set up as viewed from Confederate rear.
Confederate set up with briagdes 1 and 2 in forefront(both rifled muskets). Terry commanded these and the cavalry. Robert had brigade 3-5.
Turn 2 and Keith appears in Confederate rear.
Confederate left flank where large unit surges forward…no one else wanted to join him. This cowardice continued for a number of turns.
On right flank, Robert lined up in cover of trees and fences.
My large unit all alone! I was trying to press forward to pin the Union flank for when my cavalry arrives in their rear.
Robert surges his troops forward, well one anyway!
Keith’s attack form the rear, 2 confederate brigades have turned to punish him for his impudence.
Union advancing.
Alan’s left flank……many failed ordered…blunders backwards…all highly amusing.
Oops… here come the cavalry!
I found this more exciting than infantry….Keith failed orders to turn troops to face…so in my turn I dismounted the cavalry with the rifles and charged 2nd unit into rear. POP go the infantry…the guns POPPPED as well…..
And still can’t get rest Confederates to attack!
Guilty…the measuring tape is mine. So much for 2 Confederate brigades taking care of Keith’s attack from rear. His tiny dismounted cavalry would not die…..he shot me to bits with his infantry and guns…I couldn’t hit the side of a barn….
But more fun was Ala rolling a blunder and charging across the table! Robert got very excited.
Sigh… the tapes still there…..was distracted by my cavalry charge!
Last turn….Union right flank is gone…..cavalry in in their rear and a brigade in lining up a charge down the line of the flank(I played a pretend turn as we packed up..it was glorious!)
Another shot……Alan and Robert hard at t on other flank but Alan has no managed get any supports up so his bluebellies are not going to last much longer.
And that was it….Union right flank gone…holding in centre but that’s about to get steam rolled and on Union left things not looking good. Conversely…the Union attack in the Confederate rear is going well…but am sure they will retire!
So Goldie and I decided to play an ACW game for a change over the Xmas break. I picked the ACW scenario on the Battle of Kernstown from the Black Powder 2 book.
Goldie would of course be the Union and I the rebels.
The stated Victory conditions are:
Jackson’s aim was simply to inflict as much damage as possible upon Shield’s Division and he would probably have attacked regardless of where he’d found him. As such the game is all about casualties.
To achieve victory the Union must break both Burk’s and Garnetts brigades – Faulkerson’s and Ashby’s brigades are to small to be conted towards the destruction of Jackson’s force. Similarly, for a Confederate victory any two of Kimball’s, Sullivan’s or Tyler’s brigade must be broken.
The Union force was:
Kimball – 4 regts and 2 batteries
Sullivan – 3 regts and 1 battery
Tyler – 5 regts and 2 batteries
Brodhead – 5 cavalry regts of varying tiny/small size
Confedrate force was:
Garnett – 5 regts and 3 batteries
Burk – 3 regts and 2 batteries
Faulkerson – 2 regts and 1 battery
Ashby – 2 tiny cavalry regts and a horse artillery battery
The set up map is below.
The Union infantry were large units armed with rifled muskets and their artillery and mix of 12 pdr and 3″ rifled guns. The Confederates were regular units with rifled muskets or smooth bores. Their artillery were 6pdr smooth bores.
Below we have the set up on rebel right flank with the small cavalry brigade with the Union cavalry across stream in woods. Union infantry occupy farmhouse and fields in front of hill in centre with Union guns on the hill.
Rebel right where the Union in the centre can be seen and the Rebels not yet on battlefield.
Close up of the Rebel cavalry. They were a major let down, would not dismount…
Rebel left and in a rush the troops and guns arrive.
Combined Rebel artillery and musketry start to punch holes in the Union line. The Union guns on the hill are doing damage, but I started retiring the damaged units and recover morale on them rather than risk them being destroyed.
On Rebel left brigade heads for the stonewall…where it would win its famous note in history, the ‘Stonewall brigade’.
In centre Rebel units are taking some damage from the Union batteries on hill and unit in the farmhouse.
On left brigade almost at Stonewall. They weren’t moving very fast! In centre Union infantry have broken and retired.
Union reserves appear behind hill. Unit in farmhouse not retired as in cover….so have to blast them out! Guns on hill damaged and retired.
On left flank…cavalry still will not dismount…Union skirmishing cavalry are closing in.
Finally…at the Stonewall……fresh Union brigade approaching.
Union regt forced out of farmhouse…part of broken brigade so now has to retire.
Stonewall brigade not advances towards flank of hill. The Union guns would not get concentrated fire from both cannons and musket…..they would break.
After several attempts a Rebel regt finally managed to follow orders and take possession of the town. The combined firepower from them, the battery and the unit in foreground broke the Union cavalry.
It was at this time the game was called. The Union had lost their artillery(its actually broken…photo not good enough)…they had 2 broken brigades and did not hold the hill. They would be obliterated if tried to take hill with largely intact rebel gun line supported by quality infantry, which they were not.
I chose this one to be Blochers Knoll, which is Gettysburg Day 1, around 3.30pm.
At around 3.30pm, Early’s Division launced his attack on Blochers Knoll which was occupied by Barlow’s1st Division of XI Division.
In the picture below is the initial set up.
The Union troops from bottom right are skirmishing behind fences on both sides of the road. They have support from Dilger’s battery and an arriving regt. On the base line Kryzanowski’s brigade is marching on. Von Gilsa’s brigade is on the knoll supported by several batteries with Ames brigade to his left.
The Confederates from the bottom right have skirmishers, then Doles brigade, across the stream in the woods are Gordon’s brigade with Jones artillery battalion to there rear. Hays brigade is moving through them to support Gordon’s attack.
Below the 157th NY with Dilger’s battery.The 68th NY is skirmishing on other side of the road.
The Rebel rear with Gordon’s brigade advancing to attack the knoll, with Jones artillery battalion providing support and Hay’s brigade arriving in support.
View of Dole’s brigade advancing through the orchard and fields towards flank of the knoll.
Von Gilsa’s brigade defending the knoll with Wilkeson’s battery in support. This brigade started the battle with all units having only stamina 2 instead of 3 due to not having recovered from previous battle. The left hand brigade is that of Ames.
The 68th NY now having a skirmishing shoot out with the 21st Ga, supported by Merkle’s battery.
Gordon’s brigade pours through the woods and stream towards Union lines.
The 4th and 12th Ga regts get to grips with Ames 107th Ohio.
Hay’s brigade moves up onto flank of Gordons’s to support attack through woods.
Back on Union right, Dole’s advance to middle continues.
Stray Union regt turns up, marching to sound of guns…..straight into a wall of rebel musketry and takes 2 casualties. The Union lines are bending and sustaining high casualties.
Gordon and Hays brigades are surging forward, Von Gilsa’s brigade is whupped and falling back.
Rebel lines advanced for flank, things not going well for Union.
54th NY not in an envious position, shot at from front and rear.
Hay’s troops surge around flank.
Confederate artillery continue to pound the knoll.
Union units pulling back whupped, they can only take 2 casualties to be shaken and brigade not broken.
Over on Union right both sides have taken loses and pulled back.
The Confederates are in control when game ended, Union brigades are broken and falling back. The battle weary troops of Von Gilsa’s brigade were not able to hold on against Early’s veterans.
Following on from the Battle for the Peach Orchard, we gamed the neighbouring wheatfield as well. This game was played in the Garage.
A map of the set up is below.
The Union players were Alan and PaulG while Russ and Terry would be Rebs.
The battle is an engagement where the Union has 3 small brigades on table, 2 Reb brigades attack onto the table and then reinforcements for both sides arrive at differing times.
Paul had the brigade of Swietzer(3 regts), Alan had Tilton (Command rating 7 cautious with 2 regts) and de Trobriand(3 regts and a battery at north edge of wheatfield) at the set up stage. On turn one Paul gets Cross and 3 regts, on turn 2 Alan gets Kelly and the Irish with 2 regts, Paul gets Zook and 3 regts. On turn 3 Alan gets Brooke and 3 regts. All arrive on northern edge of wheatfield.
Russ had Anderson(Command rating 9 , 4 large regts) arriving on the southern edge and Terry with Kershaw(CR9, 3 large regts , Elite) arriving on western edge on turn 1.On turn 2 on southern edge Russ gets Semmes with 4 regts, elite. Then on turn 5 Terry gets Wofford(Aggressive) with 5 elite Georgian regts following in nbehind Kershaw.
Below is the initial set up with Sweitzer/Tilton brigades in the woods. Tilton is in the salient. Poor sods.
Kershaw’s brigade advances on. Large units get an extra shooting dice,2 extra combat dice plus 1 extra stamina.
Anderson advances on.
This is what Kershaws attack would have looked like to Sweitzers men as the Rebs moved through the open ground towards them.
And here are Kerhaws men giving it to Tilton. I decided better to gang up on the facing regt rather than move into the crossfire beyond. Paul responded by moving one of Sweitzers regts to fill the gap between Tilton and de Trobriand.
Semmes brigade arrives on southern edge. This was Russ’s second brigade and the link to Anderson so we could begin to roll back the Union until turn 5 when Wofford will roll in from the west.
The Union reinforcements looked like this as they queue up to enter the wheatfield.
Anderson holding the line as the blue coats flood the wheatfield!
Zook has some friends!! Thankfully the Union brigades did not quite follow their orders and some rushed up….meaning could not fire before Anderson got a shot at them……so bit disjointed an attack. And Anderson has 4 large regts so thats 16 shooting dice a turn against stamina 3 Union regts so a few good southern volleys and the blue bellies will be in trouble.
Semmes advances towards Tilton/de Trobiand
Over in the west Union shooting has halted Kershaw’s disordered regts. In standard Black Powder, Elite units roll on a 4+ at the start of their turn to recover from disorder. In ACW supplement, that is a 6+ and I just wasn’t throwing any of those. But being large units I was dishing out some firepower and Tilton now had 1 whupped unit. If you fail a break test from shooting you are deemed whupped so u must withdraw and stay 12 inches away from the enemy and are permanently shaken.
The Union brigades march across the wheatfield. In the foreground is a whupped unit retiring.
Just testing some new toys below. LED smoke lights that flicker.
AWESOME.
Paul has moved a regt from Sweitzer to assist Tilton in the salient. As Wofford was due on it should make my race for the wheatfield easier. With Semmes moving up to link with Anderson we should be able to roll back the smaller, weakened Union brigades.
It wasn’t all going to plan, Semmes Blunders and retires!
Anderson holding the road/wall line and the 2 regts of crazy Irish can be seen in centre left heading for the woods to support Sweitzer. The blunder by Semmes leaves Anderson a bit exposed longer than anticipated but these are hardy southern boys! But Anderson is doing enough shooting damage.
Wofford moved up to support an advance regt of Kershaw’s while Kershaw is rallying the unit behind.
Pauls east most brigade would just not follow orders and advance on Anderson’s open flank!
Semmes has recovered and here he comes! The firefight in the Salient was continuing but the Union were in poor shape.
And Semmes gets charge in on a flank, they won the combat but the staunch blue bellies stood. Next Reb turn another unit went in. That did it. The shaken/whupped Union units are pulling back in the woods.
In the west Wofford/Kershaw have shot up the Union and only the newly arrived Irish brigade was not in retreat. The Irish are armed with smoothbores(shorter range) so the super intelligent rebs are sitting out of range and just…shooting!
The mess that are the Union brigades as Kershaw/Wofford and Semmes roll them back.
And the end game….Semmes has moved up and linked with Anderson, Wofford can be seen on Semmes flank and the Union are on the run.
Recently Russ, Alan, Goldie and I ventured out to the Hutt Club to have an ACW game. Goldie picked the scenario so it was a refight of Gettysburg Day 2 where the Rebels were attacking from Seminary Ridge towards Cemetary Ridge. The rules of choice as ever are ‘Black Powder’ with the addition of the ‘Glory, Hallelujah’ supplement.
On the Confederate side Russ would have the brigades of Barksdale, Wilcox and Wofford. Alan would have the brigades of Posey, Wright and Lang. They also have reserve batteries under Porter. Barksdales Mississippians had the following special rules: Morale 3, Stamina 4, Rebel Yell(reroll 1 miss in H to H on turn charge, Uppity(ignore reluctance to charge and add +1 to charge, and may use initiative to charge). They are elite so roll to remove disorder on 6 at start of turn. Command ratings were Barksdale and Porter 9, Posey 7 and the rest 8.
On the Union side Goldie(Handcock) would have the brigades of Harrow, Hall and Smyth with Webb off table. Terry(me) had the privilege of not only being Sickles, but having the brigades of Graham, Brewster and Carr. Additionally I had 3 batteries under McGilvery which I could attempt to order onto the battlefield and another brigade under Willard which was freshly raised. Command ratings were Handcock and McGilvery 9, Sickles, Carr, Brewster and Graham 7, the rest 8.
Starting set up as above. Top centre are Sickles 3 brigades of Graham/Brewster and Carr lined up 2 deep on fence line of Emmitsburg Rd. Graham is the top brigade in the Peach Orchard. Opposite them in the woods are Barksdale/Wilcox with Wofford off table behind Barksdale. On the centre right is Langs brigade around Spangler Farm. The .Union force in the centre is Harrow with Hall and Smyth back on the ridge. Bottom right are part of Posey’s brigade. Wright is off table.
View from Rebel side with Wilcox on left and Barksdale on the right. Our batteries are normally 2 gun batteries but we are short on guns(didn’t help I left box of them on Garage Table) so made them 1 gun batteries but tried to leave space as if were 2 bases. Opposite them are my 3 brigades from left to right of Carr/Brewster/Graham.
Shot down table a a turn on……Rebs are advancing on fence line. Alan had some trouble getting his brigades going but got there.
At this point I have to admit to throwing an amazing number of 5’s and 6’s in my first few turns of shooting. Barksdale brigade are like facing French Imperial Guard…they just keep coming….. having superior morale and stamina makes them hard to hurt…and the Elite reroll on a 6 rather than 4+ was a blessing! We rated the fence as a -1 to hit from small arms fire.
Being super troops Russ sent several in….you will note my lovely Zouaves have 6 casualty counters, but with the aid of 3 supports and double 6’s on the morale test from the combat , I survived. Am almost embarrassed to admit it, but I beat them in the next round of combat and they popped. You will see 3 casualties on the unit beside them……Russ all day was doing lots of damage with his guns where as mine were not so good.
In centre Alan has a unit up on Rogers Farm. More coming into shot.
A look down table from Alans position. Pauls(Goldie) reinforcement brigade of Webb can be seen moving up from behind the ridge. I am reaching across and moving my reserve brigade of Willard. McGilvray had managed to bring 1 reserve battery on. On the far top of screen is my unit of Berdans sharpshooters who had moved from behind Brewsters brigade to the open flank of Grahams brigade. I took this as a suicide mission with aim of drawing the fire of the 2 batteries out there from shooting at my line. Graham and Brewsters brigades have backed away from the fence line and with Barksdales brigade a bit worse for wear my aim of getting them out of medium/close artillery range and hopefully rally some morle back on some of the units.
Here are the sharpshooters….much to my glee Russ sent a unit of Barksdales brigade hunting them as well…woohoo!!
Russ has a shaken unit up against fenceline…..I have backed off my centre(1 whupped unit) with aim of rallying damaged units in second line. With commanders all 7’s needed keep them outside 12 inches enemy to not reduce them to 6’s. I was rolling 8’s….consistently. Wilcox can be seen advancing on road.
Here is Alans troops lined up for the race to Cemetery Ridge.
In centre Lang’s small brigade is in trouble. Paul has a unit heading into flank.
A shot down lines…..far to many casualty counters and darn hard to rally any off. I decided to sacrifice my guns as speed bumps hold up Russ troops while tried to rally brigades. In background is McGilvrey frantically trying to bring those reserve guns on.
Alan was taking the pictures so we have more shots of Russ v me. The top Reb unit against the fence is straight off my painting table…38th Virginia!
I got all carried away and sent some units to try get Wilcox in the flank….these chaps then decided to be unsporting and interfere.
Carr’s Union brigade still in place with the reinforcements of Willard rushing into the gap…..aim….scare Russ and shoot up the guns and also provide block to rally units behind from Brewster and Grahams brigades. Silly sods forgot to load their guns.
Paul makes an impressive line against Alan’s Rebs. Alan does have a few guns at close range which is bound to hurt.
Russ charges in again. Unusual site of a unit in attack column. Formed this way to make it through the gap.
Shot down table……Alan still not over fenceline, Paul holding centre in advanced position, I have pushed more of Carr’s brigade across road and rest holding on. Far top the unit of Russ’s that was chasing my sharpshooters has beaten them and now turned back to main combat. Thankfully one of the reserve batteries had marched on ready to hold them off. By a miracle had rallied 2 of the shaken units to reduce risk of Graham/Brewster breaking.
The end game. Rebels had reached high water mark and been held or pushed back. We called it time as hall was wanting to close but the day belonged to the Union(I am not biased…honest!).
Alan downloaded the photos for me and he left the picture below.
Since the Aspern game we have had several games where we are working through the new Black Powder ACW supplement ‘Glory,Hallelujah’. I have run 2 games based on scenarios from the book with some pictures from the ‘Bartletts Farm 1863’ scenario below. The rules have worked rather well and the games have the feel of an ACW period game. There have however been some discussions post last game around some issues which we are working through. These for us are number of guns represented on the table,we have used 1 gun per battery until now but are moving to 2 guns and 3 guns for the Union 6 guns batteries. There are also concerns around the difficulty in getting units to charge into battle but the more you read the more you understand battles were mainly firefights rather than mass hand to hand combats.
You may have noticed we try to have appropriate terrain in our games so ACW requires lots of trees and fences of varying types. The other night Paul G and Keith came round and we started a production line of fences. First offering in early stage picture is below. I have a Foundry ACW rulebook called ‘From Bull Run to Gettysburg’ which is just awesome with step by step instructions on how to make all types of fences and even has tent templates.
2 types ACW fences under construction.The MDF is cut to 10cm long and 2.5cm wide. Plan is to undercoat brown,do some dry brushing,add flock,tufts etc.
And finally there are some pictures from an ancient game Brian Trott and I played last week using the ‘Hail Caesar’rules. Brian fielded his EIR v my Macedonians. My EIR are being rebased from WAB to ‘Hail Caesar’ so it is the unfinished and damaged from to many house moves Macedonians that were used. We fielded small armies to get a feel for the game. Standard sizes battles are fought between somewhere around 400 point armies.Brian fielded 270 points,I had 180. And yes I lost as Brian cleared both flanks of my Phalanx. Was fun and look forward more games. After loss consulted army list and identified what need to add to Macedonians to get to 400 points and also allow some variation in the army. So took advantage of Warlord Games buy 3 pay for 2 deal and ordered 3 boxes Companion cavalry. I have also assembled and undercoated a Warlord Games box 32 Macedonian Phalanx to give me a 3rd block. From Victrix I have I have added a unit of Hypastists and a box 56 skirmishers.These were ordered from Caliver as cheaper and no postage paid. Direct from Victrix I have ordered the decals.
Part of Brian’s EIR army. Back in early 2000’s we got similar forces,Craig painted and based them for PK for us. I am rebasing mine to similar sized bases.
Phalanx grinds on against legionnaires. Phalanx destroyed one unit but the Romans eliminated the flank supports.
Next week I have a game against friend Craig who is building a Greek army. It won’t be battle ready but we will use my troops and get handle of the rules.
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