Big Bethal- RF&F AAR

Fire and Fury is sometimes refered to as Fire and Frustration. It's still my go-to for ACW, but last night reminded me of how damaging bad rolls can be to an otherwise great game. With all the extra charts and modifiers piled on by the Regimental version, they can really do harm.

The table and the miniatures were great. John over at Curio Clashes provided both.
The Union had a tough nut to crack. A slog across swampy, tree filled terrain to assault the rebel works. The forces start fairly even and then the Union troops start arriving in hopes to overwhelm the opposition.

One of the units, an Indiana regiment (9th, 11th?) starts out already disordered due to some friendly fire earlier in the dy. Best change out of those gray Zuoave uniforms, boys. Then they really got plastered by the Rebel guns. They were rendered combat ineffective early. One unit out.
Then, a succession of truly abysmal Union die rolls for maneuver, the Blue Bellies got jammed up on the roads. Fodder for the Rebel gun emplacements. Way too early, it was obvious they were going to win.
S, just like the real Battle of Big Bethal, it was a Union disaster. A combination of green troops and bad luck spoiled the assault. But still, you can't beat a night with friends, toys and beer.

Regimental Fire and Fury

I've owned RF&F for awhile, but never understood the appeal. Why play a more complicated version of plain old F&F? New guy John has a very fine collection of 28mm ACW stuff and has been itching to try RF&F. Regimental F&F lets you paint all those fun troops that don't get represented much on a brigade level game. Those cool Zuoaves would only amount to a stand in F&F.

Our brave boys in butternut move forward

We had to abandon alot of the things that make RF&F more detailed like all the various troop qualities for lack of time, or at least until people got used to the mechanics. (In hindsight, we probably should have played F&F first, to get everyone up to speed). But we kept some things. The Union got rifled muskets and a 24" range and got start in the woods, while we poor REbs had smoothbore 12" ranges and started in the open. Not a good beginning.
With several "Well Handled" command results the Rebs flew across the field covering 24" in a turn. But, the Federals were able to use the woods as cover, and blast away most of the game. Only one of the Scotts made any headway, but was finally driven back.

Rico Zuoaves

Union troops make the best of cover

The Rebs target some sharpshooters

At 10pm we had to call it (besides, K-State was getting hammered on the TV and me along with them).
I think everyone liked 'em. I can see small battles with each unit getting different variations could be fun. Fire and Fury is my favorite ACW rules, but it is not a fast game. For time's sake, we have to try some Black Powder or Foundry's rules. Also there has been some dark rumblings of doing some 6mm ACW using Sam Mustafa's unofficial variation of "Might and Reason" called "Rights and Treason".
We shall see.
Last night's pairings:
Representing the North, Wheat State Golden form Free State Brewery in Lawrence, KS (boo, hiss).

Representing the South, 1842 Porter from Weston, MO (Huzzah!)

Iffen yer in the KCMO area, both breweries/pubs are worth a try.

Fire and Fury Thursday

That pretty much says it all.

Initial set-up

Union Line advances

Rebs charge right up the middle.

The fight for one of the towns begins.

A view of the right flank. The fight for the Old Mill starts.

The battle lines establish.

The bloody fight for the walled fields.

As always a solid game. Don't know why anyone would play another ruleset for ACW.

Civil War Thursday

"Deploy behind that there wall, boys!"

I forgot how much I liked playing smaller scale Fire and Fury. As lovely as a table full of troops looks, being a able to finish a game in an evening is much more satisfying. This game, everyone commanded a division of three brigades, with some divisional artillery support and an extra cavalry unit for fun. The

Union side got some extra troops and canon to offset the Rebs combat bonuses.
It was a simple meeting engagement (a wargamers crutch, I know). My plan, on the Confederate side (we chose randomly, Kenny) was to use 2 brigades to pin down the Union on my left, take the town quickly to use as a strongpoint, then, throw most of our troops on the right and roll up.

Sweeping around the Right

Everything was going according to plan. The cavalry on the far right swept around the flank and managed to break up a couple of formations. The town was taken.

"Let's give them Blu-bellies a lickin'"

But then, an extremely obstinate Federal brigade on the Union far left (our right) refused to die. The earned the nickname "Iron Brigade". When they finally did break, the had managed to hold up the Confederate advance enough that my pinning units were destroyed, and they managed to re-deploy to counter any roll up the flank.

My poor brigades left defend the far left

In the end, it was decided the Rebs would consolidate in the town near nightfall, but ultimately fall back under cover of darkness.
We're getting ready to start an ACW campaign early next year using the "House Divided" boardgame for campaign moves and Fire and Fury for tabletop. We've done it before with great results.I've also picked up Ganesha Games "61-65" which looks great for small scale battles.

Civil War Thursday

Must have been feeling nostalgic last night, because I pulled out an oldie-but-goody, "Fire and Fury", to me, the only rules for American Civil War. My ACW collection was one the first (and few) armies I ever finished, and they look great en masse. F&F does a great balance of looking the right size, but sacrificing playability.

This scenario was Union push over a river. They held one town, and were going to cross and claim some rebel held territory. The Rebs got wind of the planned crossing a raced to meet them.

Now being a dy-rect descendent of those heroic partisans of the Missourahh known as Quantrill's Raiders, I was duty bound to fight on the Southern side. We got the jump on e those dirty blue-bellied invaders and got across the river before them, taking the fight to the Federals.

Southern cavalry heads deep into Union territory

My Reb Cavalry flew across one the bridges to hold the crossing point. Now, as many who have wargamed with me will tell you, if I had an Indian name, it would be "Horse Killer". If I'm your cavalry commander, you might as well right off those pretty ponies, cause they'll be dead soon. And sure enough the boys in blue counter charged and drove me back with heavy causalities, but I managed to hold the crossing point long enough to get the infantry across.

The Rebel crossing

One of the things I love about F&F, is the see-saw push and pull the battles give you, which to my opinion, tipified most real life ACW battles.

We smashed into the Union lines, got pushed back, regrouped smashed in again, they pulled back, etc.

In the end, the Union lines fell slowly back to regroup around their town. We weren't going to dig them out, "they was dug-in like a tick". So, a marginal Rebel victory, as we kept from our side of the river. And, a major victory for me. I still had horses at the end of the night, actually poised to do some damage to the Union supply lines.

A fire-fight erupts at one of the two bridges. Neither side had the guts to cross.