Black Powder ACW

We had a nice little dust up last night using Jon's 28mm ACW collection. We used some of the new period rules found in the "Glory Hallelujah!" supplement to BP. They add a new dimension that feels better. For instance, there's no firing if you move more than once and troops are very reluctant to charge into hand to hand.

This was a simple scenario with even forces we threw together last minute. Definitely want to try some asymmetrical fights with some historical based re-fights.

Rebs ended up winning. There was no clash of bayonets.

15mm ACW with Black Powder.

A nice little game with miniatures I painted 20 years ago.

Getting caught up with BP and acquainted with SW Armada

I'm helping run a game of Black Powder with Cluck Amok at Warlord Con next month, and I thought I needed few more games under my belt. Using John's terrain and soldiers we set up a rare Saturday game using the Black Powder ammendments for ACW (Except the "Whipped" rules which I don't see a difference with existing rules).

I was small game by most wargaming standards, but I gotta say, it was a lot of fun. Some of the best games I've played have been with fewer units, but come game time it's hard to resist the pull of throwing it all on the table.
We each had three infantry units and a pool of two guns. This would mean brigades getting knocked out as soon as two of those three were shaken or destroyed. Management of a unit's hits would be paramount.

I managed to get my Rebs safely behind a wall, but some nice die rolls and concentrated fire by Lead Addict had one of my regiments beat up off the bat. It took efforts most of the game by both the Brigade Commander and the Big Boss to hold them together.
There was a nice back a forth to the game that reminded me of my first ACW love, Fire & Fury. But seeing as we didn't have 6 hours to play, F&F would have to wait. The new rules that only allow firing it you move once gave a more period feel.
We ended up with destroyed brigades on both sides, and one reb unit so banged up it couldn't finish off the Yankees. A slight victory for the Union.

Last night we tried Star Wars Armada, the big brother to X-Wing (or Wings of War in space). A lot to keep track of, but not a hard game. Yes, it has the Space Opera feel more than SciFi. It feels more like a sea ship battle in space but that's OK. If I had known the ships better, I might not have lost the biggest, baddest ship on the board so quickly. This is definitely a "know your troops" type of game where repeated plays with the same ships comes in handy. That's not my thing. e rarely play back to back games of anything.

I would also say 4 players was pushing the max. You might be able to play 6, if everyone just had one ship. As I mentioned before, there's a lot to manage.
The ships are of course, beautiful. I was seven when Star Wars came out and it changed my life. I am what I am (an artist and geek) because of it. That being said, I have a hard time playing games set in that universe, or Tolkien's for the same reason. It's too close. I can't fly the Millineum Falcon or play Darth Vader. Han didn't die in that battle, Darth didn't fly that type of TIE fighter.
To me it's like having an a-historical ACW game where General Lee is leading a cavalry charge. I can play as anonymous pilot A, it for mythical Squadron B. That's about it.
Other than that. great game.

15mm Napoleonic Black Powder game (in honor of Waterloo)

With the 200th anniversary of Waterloo yesterday, we just had to run a Nappy's game. Armed with but a fraction of Lead Addict's enormous Napoleonic collection we staged a Black Powder game using some of the house rules generated over the years on the BP forum.

A combined British-Prussian force had to stop a French force from combining with it's parent army off table. The British had 5, let's call them brigades, of 3-4 units plus cannon, while the French had 4 brigades of 4.
Both sides had all their cavalry massed on one flank. And that is where the initial clash happened. In a fast and furious battle the British Horse were shattered and left as a broken brigade, but the French fared little better. One more unit disabled and they too would join the British as combat ineffective.

On the other flank, a Blunder roll had the French charging into the Prussian and British line. Due to some terrible British combat rolls, it actually worked out for the French.
But in the center, the French couldn't seem to get moving. Their attack Columns saved them from failed maneuver rolls, but they only got sluggish moves.

It finally ended with a bit of an anti-climax. Much like last week's game, commanders were intent on their own section of the battle and failed to realize the bigger picture. If you use the "real" rules where a brigade is broken at half casualties then it was a draw. If you use most people's house rule of over half, then it was a slight victory for the French. Both armies would, in reality, be of little use later.
An 8 player game with thousands of minis on the table over in 2 hours. A good game.

Black Powder ACW-Battle of Moore's Crossroad

In preparation for next week's Napoleonic game celebrating Waterloo's 200th anniversary, I wanted a quick, easy game of BP to get everyone re-acquainted with the rules.
Union forces had set a gun emplacement in preparation for the bombardment of the rebel held town of Moore's Crossroad. (The name of the battle unfolded later as one of the player's plunked a canon in the middle of the road that defied almost all the odds and blasted a huge regiment to bits).
The small rebel garrison had already called for reinforcements, so the Rebels got to start already on the table making a dash for town. Their job was to destroy or run off the Union artillery.
Meanwhile, the Union forces had to get their strung out troops up from the roads entering their side of the table.

 "The battle's this way boys!"

The hill seemingly being secured.

It was a fun battle, with the Rebel forces at first sprinting across the battlefield with some great Command rolls. But the might have to soon. They were quickly outflanked and the right wing (with an untested regiment) getting destroyed quickly.

 Union troops hold the flank. They held firm the whole game. Unfortunately their comrades did not.

Meanwhile, the Rebel left cavalry flank, which everyone was sure would simply ride around behind the puttering Union flanks and destroy the cannons, failed several Command rolls in a row, and spent most of the battle picking apples and enjoying the weather.
It was an interesting fight. At times, both sides were sure the battle was lost for their side. In fact the Rebs were dismayed when they heard that the second Union brigade had broken, and the army was now in retreat.
It was only fitting that General Moore's forces would win with his big 5-0 on the horizon.
As much as I love Fire and Fury, when wouldn't have been able to fight a battle of this scale in the 2 hours we had. Can't wait to play some Nappies next week.

Black Powder ACW in 15mm

As much as I like Fire & Fury (it was one of my first historical rules sets), I like finishing in an evening. So, with new guy Doug (sorry John, I guess you're not new guy anymore) showing up regularly, I decided to run ACW Black Powder. BP is a great game to introduce newbies to. With the right group, it can also be a lot of fun.
We used the scenario right out of the book, but used half ranges for everything. The Rebs were trying to attack a town at first light and capture the foundry, take the town and the Union camp. A tall order for the Confederates, but the Yankees start out unawares, asleep in their beds with only a picket to alert them.

It started out with Rebs unable to get one brigade moving, one engaging the pickets, and one blazing across the table at a terrifying rate right at the camp.
Fortunately the pickets did a decent job of slowing down the middle while a brigade of Yanks came up the road to the sound of gunfire. Meanwhile, the brigade in the camp was slow to wake.
Soon the middle and right flank were engaged, but it looked bad for the campers.

They finally broke camp, but were immediately pounced on by the Rebs. Miraculously, they not only drove off the Rebs, but broke a few regiments!
The Rebel right flank started to collapse, it looked like the game was over.....
But then, the Union regiments that had been engaged in the center and right started to drop. It suddenly was a close game.
In the end, the Union pulled out a close victory. The Rebs retreated over the mountain to lick their wounds.

Black Powder ACW in 28mm

One of my favorite periods at my favorite scale. John brought the minis, I provided the table. Since every Thursday is basically a mini convention at my house, we used Black Powder. Quick to learn, quick to play and generally gives the right feel.

The scenario was a Union assault on the far left flank of Rebel entrenchments. The Rebs were outnumbered almost 2:1, but they had the works to defend, and an extra gun.
The Union attack faultered from the start. Our right (yes, I had to play the dirty Blue-bellies), sputtered to a halt. I'm pretty sure the Brigadier was drunk. The left closed too soon thanks to a blundered and was chewed up and spit out early. That left me with an uncoordinated attack in the center. The few that made it over the wall were decimated.

Meanwhile the REb cavalry was able to sweep in from behind (that's the way they like it!), and break up the right side of the attack.

As usual, a good game. We finished in about 2 hours. Might even get me painting some troops.

On an altogether sad note ( I don't Facebook, so this my shout out), long time friend of a few of us Basement Generals, Tom "Big Finger" Bajt passed away a few days ago. I knocked back more than a few last night in his honor.
Tom was born with a disfiguring disease that would have killed most people long ago. We grew up in a less PC time. He dealt with alot of crap. He could have let it get to him, bring him down. But instead, he turned out to be one of the most positive people I know. He was a fighter, and as such, surely Odin prepared him a table in Valhalla. Save me seat, pal.

Black Powder ACW in 15mm

Don't get me wrong. I love Fire and Fury. It is my rules of choice for the Civil War. But, when you have 6-8 people over, unless you have a Saturday afternoon and possibly evening, you're not going to finish. So, we needed a solution to have an enjoyable game in the 3 hours we have every Thursday.
For this game, I used the ACW scenario in the BP book with a few modifications. We had 4 commands a side instead of 3. I halved all measurements for the 15mm scale.

My group is used to F&F, and the slow slog it takes to break a unit. So, the careful management of troops you need in BP took some getting used to. Units can blow up quick. Flanks can fall in a turn. But, that's what we needed for a game.
The scenario involves an army of Rebs catching the Bluebellies napping. The Union troops have to get their scattered forces together really quick if they want to hold off the Rebel horde. The Confederates have three objectives: the foundry, the town and the camp. Any one is a minor victory, but all three is a triumph of generalship.

Union picket troops sounded the alarm by turn 2. Meanwhile, both Rebel flanks (except my troops, of course) maybe huge gains. It looked like it would be a quick game, with the Northern forces unable to get their troops on the table before they were swarmed.
But, you know where this will go.
THose pesky skirmishes managed to slow the Reb center for half the game. The foundry fell, but it took forever to get the Reb left flank swung around to hit the town. The Confederate right wing commander got hisself outflanked by bypassing the camp, and shot all to hell. What looked like an easy victory was become possibly a draw at best.
After 2 1/2 hours we called it. A minor Southern victory.
Yes, we missed things, and did things wrong, but Black Powder turned out to be what I wanted it to be. A quick, fun game with a definitive outcome. Now, if only Lead Addict will finish his Nappies...
More at Curio Clashes

Black Powder Playtest 2

I had a fan-tabulous Father's Day. I woke up late, got a huge breakfast including home made biscuits and gravy. Then I got to paint for a couple of hours and then Lead Addict came over and we tested out Black Powder again. This time, I used used a few tweaks I found on the inter-webs for Pike and Shot era.
We started with equal forces: 2 brigade of 4 regiments each of cavalry, 2 brigades of 4 infantry and a gun. We set up almost identically,  except I (the red player) had my infantry brigades in 2 lines, where he (the blue) had his side by side.

I started with a general advance across the line. Blue had trouble getting his troops moving, with only one infantry brigade puttering forward, exposed. The one little regiment poured fire into my uint reducing it to "shaken" the first turn.
My next turn the cav on both flanks swept forward. The left attack did little but drive their opposite off. On the right, it was different story. The smashed through their opposite number, and with a sweeping advance reduced their opponents to two regiments, breaking that brigade. Shooting in the center was sparse, and I was forced to try and rally my shaken unit.
Blue's turn peppered my lead infantry brigade. I was forced to retire due to the fire. They had broke.

My next turn my left cavalry brigade decided it was time to retire almost off the board. This would have ended it for me, as half my brigades would be broken or gone, causing an army morale collapse. Luckily, Blue's cavalry pursued but was unable to drive my cavalry the rest of the way off. A counterattck by me the next turn drove them off.

Like alot of era battles, the cavalry leaving the battle signalled the end of things. With two out of 4 brigades broken, Lead Addict was forced to retire his army. It was close. My infantry was about to go, and any more casualties to my cavalry would have ended them as well.
I really like these rules. A great game in under two hours. Biggest bit of advise (from Lead Addict) "Watch your shit!".
In other words, you really have to manage your resources. Pay close attention. This is not a game to half ass. It is very unforgiving.
I'm dropping everything to concentrate painting on my pike and shot stuff. But, as soon as I finish Hail Caesar, I'll probably start on that....