This month it's been the turn of ACW - something we have not played for a while. We gave Mr Lincoln's War a go. These are an excellent set for simulating how battles were fought - but the text is. To easy to follow and for a club game they are a little restricted for an evening.
We gave Regimental Fire and Fury a go next. Concerned we would need big units we made the decision to count our 40mm sq bases as two stands. That made a significant difference and we got to grips with things very easily in the following games. Now we use a casualty marker to represent the loss of a stand and take a base off once two stands are killed.
Last night we refought Fox's Gap - a battle from the South Mountain series of engagements in 1862 between McClellan and Lee using a scenario from online. With a couple of brigades and a short duration it was the perfect Tuesday night battle.
The Union player (me!) waited until his full force was available before making a concentrated push for the crest. With hindsight this may have left things a little late, but the Confederate fire was so hot (several repeated 10 's for effectiveness) that the union was thrown back. As the second brigade came on and started to advance up the slope it was clear there wouldn't be enough time to press the attack on the outnumbered Reb's and they claimed victory.
Had we had a few more turns I'm fairly certain the union would have pushed them back, much as their historical counterparts did.
We had a great game and everyone is fairly up to speed with the rules now and happy with the set we have chosen to stick with. Below are some "aged" piccies. Hope you enjoy.
Sunday's big game will also be ACW.
Confederate on the left, Union right
Union first assault on the head of the pass.
Waiting over the crest.
The fight for the northern edge of the field, near the Wise House.
Towards the end of the game, the first federal attack halted, while to the rear, the second federal brigade begins to arrive and deploy.
4 comments:
Good to see you had a successful game with F and F. Your post reminded me that I re-fought this battle in 6mm in 1996 after a visit to the Sharpsburg area, and it was the first with home grown rules which were not very satisfying - then I found the original F and F and ACW took off for my group.
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for your comments. it's a good scenario to play, and a few more turns would have seen a historical result.
My wife and I drove through the Valley on our way down to Richmond after being at Gettysburg it's a beautiful part of the world. Our trip took us past many battlefields but after the re-enactment she was in no mood to see any more!
Excellent post Stuart, love the black and white photo (sepia) its just like looking at an Airfix, Featherstone, Asquith, Grant book. This tempting me to ACW in 20mm.
Cheers,
Willz H.
Will,
Thanks for that - I've always fancied doing Featherstones "orange plank road" scenario. It was an influence for the for the game we played last weekend actually.
The pics were taken in my iPad and then run thru an app called "Old Photo" - which added the sepia, lines and rough edges. Very very simple but very effective.
Almost all the figs were 28mm plastics from Perry - either the original infantry, Zouave, new infantry, cavalry and artillery. Any that weren't were Dixon's. The Perry plastics are perfect, well priced and so easy to paint.
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