The Grand Campaign: the Battle of Castle Woods

Last night was game 2 of an 11 game Longstreet campaign I am running with my 17-year-old son. In the first game, he brutalized me, but ended up getting punished in the post game. This game was payback...

I ended up outscoring him with my Reb cavalry. We randomly rolled the scenarios, which was a defensive battle at a walled farm. Knowing his propensity for ATTACK, I chose to be the defender, even though I would be understrength for 6 turns.

As anticipated, the Union hurled their greater numbers at the rebels. Due to some awesome terrain cards, I had created several choke points the Federal troops would have to pass in between. There I placed the cannons.
It was a bloodbath. The poor Ohio troops were destroyed, while the rest of the Union forces were slowly chewed up before turn 6 even arrived.
We only had a few charges, most of which the Federals won. But, it was too late.
Union lost 17 stands to the CSA 6.
The post battle round saw a Union promotion. The papers must have loved his bravery?
But camp fever slashed through both sides, again decimating the horse. US cavalry dropped to 2 stands.
However, new troops from back East bolstered the ranks once again with fresh meat.

The Grand Campaign begins...

With both children growing way too rapidly (one in college, one almost finished with high school), I decide to slow things down a bit a host a one on one Civil War campaign with the Boy. It's a chance to spend some time together and share one of my first loves in wargaming: the American Civil War.
I decided on Longstreet, as it provides a crisp, concise campaign with lots of character and it's easy to learn. Time to dig out my ancient 15mm ACW armies.
We created our forces, 3 infantry units, 1 cavalry unit and a battery of cannons, All Eager Recruits. We randomly created our personas.
Me: Col. Cletus Wayne Guthrie, a politically savvy up and comer who raised a regiment of native troops, the 1st Missouri Volunteers (the Ozark Zouaves, even though only a half dozen men actually have the fancy outfits).

The Boy: Eustus Marshal, a hot headed cavalry officer commanding a group of Northern Aggressors.
We randomly created the battlefield and and scenario per the rules. Marshal would be the defender and I would be on the attack.

I divided my forces and sent my cavalry charging down the turnpike to capture one of the objective, the small town of Prairie Landing. It was decided all battles for the campaign would be named after local housing divisions...

They were assisted by a unit of infantry. It was risky move I would later regret.
The rest of my troops moved solidly forward, forced into a deeper formation due to terrain. This limited my opening volley, but not the follow up charge which sent the Pennsylvania troops reeling back. This would be a push over....
Then Marshal swung his cavalry around and rode hard at my flank, including a still limbered battery. I blew through my best cards keeping him at bay, including throwing an unspotted swamp in the way.

Meanwhile, his other troops had recovered and were steadily blasting away my poor Arkansas troops.
The only satisfaction I got was cutting his other flank to pieces trying to cross a stream to capture Prairie Landing.
The turns quickly blew by along with my losses. My untested troops were holding, but dying in droves. At least they died on native soil.

The victory for Union was complete. I lost 21 stands to his 9. UGH!
The post battle process followed.
Thanks to my political connections, despite my horrific loss I was promoted as did the Boy.
We regained some losses as men trickled back into camp. But a few of my units dropped from Eager to Cautious after "Seeing the Elephant". Our post battle camp losses were terrible. My once 10 strong units were dropped by to 7, 7, 6 and 5. The Union fared little better.
But, our Campaign cards helped a little. I was given a Veteran unit from back East to bolster my losses while Marshal got a few new rifled guns.
As 1861 closed, it was great fun. We have 8 more games together, and hopefully some good memories.

Down but not out

Too many relatives, too small a space= a sick Baron.
I've been out of it since last weekend, but was able to get a few thins done.
Here's some picks from a lovely ACW Black Powder game hosted by Jon. You can read the full AAR over at his blog. It was close, but my Boys in Gray just couldn't hold the line.

Also had time to paint some Federales for all my Mexican Revolution scenario playtests.

I chose to portray them in a hodge-podge of khaki and summer dress. Most period photos show a mix of uniforms spanning a decade of fighting.
Waiting in the wings are Federal Cavalry, artillery, mounted and dismounted Villistas, and a film crew to document Pancho.

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.

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.