Bull Run - 24 November 2012

Another great game set up by Jonathan - a recreation of Bull Run from the American Civil War battle at Bull Run.  After a few weeks of build up and many orders flying around by e-mail (admittedly 99% from Orhan), the belligerents met in Jonathan's games loft (probably for the final time...).  The Union were represented by David M and James (with Adrian replacing David in the afternoon) and the Confederacy by Orhan, Kieron and Andy.  Jonathan had set boards up in two rooms and oscillated between them acting variously as umpire, messenger and teaboy.

Following history, the Union had called for the balloon Enterprise, which was being demonstrated by Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe in Washington, to perform aerial reconnaissance.  This enabled David and James to float along the corridor and peer into each others' rooms to see the battle was going.

James faced off Orhan in the smaller room.  We had a good battle that ebbed and flowed satisfactorily over fourteen turns but with an eventual win for the Rebs.

The first turn after the rapid advance of the Union across the ford on left flank and bridge on right flank:

Crossing the ford:

The Confederacy's earthworks were hard fought over:

Pressing up the left flank:

Finally over the fortifications (soon to be lost again, after dropping back from rifle fire and failing the command roll to move back in...):

Pushing over the bridge:

The effective but criminally-underused 20 pounders:

Coming over the bridge:

The Confederates holding their second defensive line:

The final view of the battlefield:

Finally, here's the three photos of the other battlefield I took - two from early on, and the final position - curiously free of Union troops...

Black Powder - Zulu Wars, 22 October 2012

An extra half-term bonus figures game in the form of Black Powder Zulu Wars at Adrian's.  The scenario saw a British column advancing to liberate a Boer homestead overrun by Mblini's impis and deal a punitive blow to any of his warriors they came across.  The column consisted of two brigades, the first commanded by Orhan of 3 companies of the 24th Foot and a Boer commando in skirmish order.  The second, led by Kieron, was made up of 2 more companies of redcoats, a Royal Navy landing party, a skirmish unit of Natal Native levies and a Gatling gun and crew.

The British column advances, with Boer skirmishers out in front

The Brits, spotting Zulu skirmishers in the homestead, gave the order to advance and engage the enemy, with the rear company on the left flank forming up to screen the flank of the column.

The advance company of redcoats backed up by Natal Native levies as seen from the homestead.

With the British committed on their right flank, the Zulu commander (Jonathan) unleashed his impis against the British left, with the traditional clashing of assegais on shields.  Moving from off-table, the 'Right Horn' of the Zulu 'Buffalo' - 3 impis and a skirmish unit helped by a good command role - crashed into the midst of the column and massacred the Gatling gun crew (albeit at heavy cost having suffered pass-through fire from a company of the 24th), with one impi charging on past the wagon train hoping to cut off the lead British units.

As one impi charges across the road, the Gatling gun and crew is wiped out

Having undergone the shock of ambush, the British officers dressed their lines and massed volley fire saw two impis cut to pieces (with YouTube helpfully providing appropriate sound effects from the film...).

Volley fire from the thin red line about to give what for to two impis

But this turned out to be a false (zulu) dawn for the British column.  Mblini's elite warriors (the 'Head of the Buffalo') joined the fight from the left flank whilst the 'Right Horn' sallied out from the hills behind the homestead - and experienced the only command blunder of the game, sallying too far to their own right thus denying them the chance to run down the Natal levies.  In the centre the fight was hanging in the balance, the British volleys not quite managing to keep the warriors at bay, and the first British company going down under the stabbing spears.

Having despatched the first British company, an impi (left) turns to surround another British unit

With their backs against the wagons and the Zulus pressing on, the redcoats sought to keep the distance from their adversaries, but the weight of numbers was against them.

The British companies are assailed from all sides

The final British stand was made in the rough and hilly ground, the three remaining companies of the 24th and the Naval Brigade standing shoulder to shoulder but without any barricades to hold off the enemy.  As the distance closed to hand to hand it was all over for Her Majesty's forces.

The trap is closed

The game played through very smoothly and quickly - we were all done in 2.5 hours.  We realised we had made two main mistakes with the rules, one in the Brits' favour and one in the Zulus'.  For the Brits I permitted the infantry companies to use skirmish formation despite it not being specifically an attribute of these troops.  This allowed enhanced firing dice and mobility which made a key difference early in the game. But against the Brits we forgot for a few turns that natural 6's on shooting dice cause disorder, and we also forgot the inhibiting factor of disorder/being shaken when it comes to charging home - so the Zulus got off a bit more lightly in the early turns than by rights they should have done.  So perhaps these aspects more or less balanced out.  We also didn't really remember the special abilities of the redcoats or elite impis either, but there you go.

Overall it was a great game, which felt very plausible and was heightened no end by the film soundrack with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker crying out 'First rank, fire! Second rank, fire!" etc etc.  Definitely worth me continuing to paint up units for this period - perhaps for another outing at Xmas.

Lee withdraws from Gettysburg - 29 July 2011

Three weeks on, my scribbled notes from this game aren't that clear - so here's a quick summary and some  photos from another great ACW game set up by Jonathan.

Following defeat at Gettysburg, General Lee (Jonathan) is withdrawing with the rebel army west towards the Shenandoah / Cumberland valley with its rail links back to Richmond.  The Third and Fifth Corps are in the Vanguard of the pursuit, swinging south via Frederick, through High Knob Pass towards Sharpsburg seeking to cut off the Confederate Army before the Potomac River crossings and safety at Williamsport.  On the 11th Lee has ordered Longstreet and Hills division to hold the Hagerstown to Downsville line to screen the withdrawal over the Potomac.

The Union Army (James and Kieron) has the chance to seal the victory and defeat the main rebel army in the field, brush aside the covering force and seize the crossings bring this war to a close.

Jonathan charged onto the table in his first move but failed his command roll in the second turn so his advance was halted.  Nevertheless his artillery and shooting managed to break the first Union brigade that very turn.  James then got his first (of very very many) command blunders (a double six).  By the fifth turn, he'd had four command blunders - but his flank march did arrive pretty early.

With lots more scrapping and shooting, by lunchtime it was still anyone's game.  Early in the afternoon, Jonathan's flank march had also arrived and the Union was taking a beating.
 

The classic moment came in turn 10 when Kieron and James rolled four successive double-sixes - blundering all over the battlefield.  A couple of turns later it was all over with a decisive win for Jonathan.

Seminary Ridge, South of Gettysburg - 11 June 2011

A welcome return to Jonathan's games attic for an American Civil War game.  Jonathan had painted around six hundred (yes, six hundred!) 28mm figures to accompany the hundred he painted for the Texas-Mexico scenario, so there was a lot of lead on the table.  The Union army were in blue uniform, the Confederates less formal in a mixture of greys and browns.  We used the excellent Black Powder rules again and the figures, although individually based, sat in trays of six to aid movement.

The scenario covered the southern flank at the Battle of Gettysburg.  The larger Union army were holding Seminary Ridge and defending the Emmitsburg Road running Northeast towards Gettysburg.  The Rebs had to take the ridge, and break the units supporting the Union flank, thus putting Meade's victory at Gettysburg in doubt.

Above shows the initial Union position (North being the far short table edge) as commanded by Kieron and James.  The Blues occupy the ridge in the foreground and across the road in the background.  The Rebs, commanded by Jonathan and David, are about to deploy from the Western edge.  The Union have a single artillery piece at the edge of the wood...

...and their commander is ready for action.

The Union line along the southern part of the ridge...

After a couple of rounds, all the Confederates had entered the table and started firing on the Union troops on the ridge line.  The Confederates started to do some serious damage with their group of three artillery pieces.

The view from the Confederate lines...

Jonathan's Texans charged out to attack the Union artillery piece.  They didn't quite reach but survived to inflict enough damage that it broke anyway (see below and note the casualty markers, with figures dropped back from the tray to signify a disrupted unit).

David's Alabama units advanced and took cover behind a hedgerow and started shooting up the opposing units.  Jonathan started inflicting damage on the Pennsylvanian troops in the northern part of the ridge, although they proved pretty hardy, with Kieron keeping them going for far longer than expected with a series of good morale rolls.

Perhaps frustrated by the lack of Light Horse to manoeuvre, David ordered a unit into skirmish formation...

...and they starting sneaking through the woods around the southern flank of James' mixed Union brigade...

...eventually popping out behind the Union lines...

Fortunately, Union reinforcements were on their way.  Kieron and James delayed the first reinforcing Brigade so that it come on further south at the same time as their second reinforcement entered at the north.

In the middle right of the above picture, the reinforcements have arrived and starting to march south to support the depleted troops on the ridge.  In the left of centre, Jonathan's troops have pushed on and taken the edge of the northern ridge and hold the central ground.  In the far distance...

...Kieron's reinforcements have crossed the bridge and started to deploy, but a failed command roll and disrupting fire from Jonathan meant they got no further.

We were now getting into hand-to-hand combat and both sides were taking casualties.  A Pennsylvanian unit broke and Jonathan started to occupy the northern part of the ridge (in the background of the picture below, and in the foreground are the other type of casualty marker Jonathan uses - shell cases).

The two original defending Union brigades were now broken and falling back, and the Confederates moved into positions holding the ridges.

But the Union still held the northeast and the road to Gettysburg, and had a fresh brigade threatening the southern part of the ridge.  So they had probably just scraped a minor victory.  The final layout...

After we left, Jonathan played through another couple of turns (we had played eight) and the Union army did indeed push the Confederates back off the southern ridge.

But the whole game felt in balance throughout the day.  The Black Powder mechanisms worked really well, and were fairly straightforward to use without feeling like they were over-simplifying things.  And of course, the table covered in little men and scenery looked fantastic.  A great game.