First Battle of Bull Run - BBB ACW

So having refought Gettysburg six times, with only a single Union win (two Confederate and three draws) we moved on to First Bull Run, with Rick playing Union and Haim Confederate.  the battle fought out in 2 1/2 hours and was full of flanking moves, desperate assaults, vicious hand to hand fighting and failed die rolls resulting in a Confederate victory.

Once again all the talk over lunch was about what went wrong, where the decisive moves and attacks went in and what to do differently next time; what better testament to a fine scenario and excellent game can there be?

Union forces start the day by marching furiously towards Henry Hill.

However the rebels get there first and the boys in blue have to shake out into line to prepare for the assault, unfortunately some poor staff work (aka dodgy die rolls) mean that this is a longer activity than desired and the Confederates are given ample time to prepare their defence.

With the Union slowed the Confederates start to bring their reinforcements forward.

With the assault against Henry Hill building further Union forces are sent to clear the river crossings, however Stonewall himself interposes his forces between them and their objective.

Union columns start to mass against the desperately holding grey coated rebels. 

Clearing one of the crossings, the Union find themselves with Stonewall filling the gap and threatening their flanks.

But as the pressure builds the rebels give ground, pulling many Union formations away from the main objectives.

On the right flank a Union battery has secured Henry Hill while further forces mass to  take Bald Hill; unfortunately for the anti-slavery forces a spirited rebel counter attack dislodges the battery, securing the Hil while further forces threaten a more general counter attack.

Back on the Union left flank Jackson and his fellows are driven back and the Union starts to work towards Henry Hill, but time is running short.

JEB Stuart lurks behind the ridge to threaten the Union battery firing up Henry Hill and ready to take the fresh Union units in the flank should they attempt to assault the hill from the north.

A final view from the north of the battle line as time runs out for the Union, the final throw being Stuarts frontal assault of the Union smoothbore battery and, against all odds, making contact and silencing the gunners for no loss!

Gettysburg at War

Finally got around to posting some pictures of the game at Warfare in November 2017.  It was a good fun game played over the two days with a group of novices and a number of drop in observers, all of whom enjoyed the experience.

Result was a Confederate win after Meade forgot to put any troops in the vicinity of the Round Tops becoming fixated on holding and then retaking Gettysburg, the result being that Lee managed to secure both ends of the Union line and was folding this back on itself when the battle came to a close.

As ever, all players ended up trying to work out what they will do next time, which is the mark of an enjoyable experience if ever there was one.

The Confederate view at the start of day one across Gettysburg towards the pensive Meade carefully examining his battle plan.

The battle opens with Buford trying to hold back the grey tide while behind him the first assault on Gettysburg gets underway. 

The rebel columns advance towards their goal while up on Cemetery Ridge the Union reinforcements start to show themselves.

Buford having been forced to retire the grey noose tightens.

Union forces prepare for the Confederate onslaught.

Having failed to take Gettysburg on day one the forces realign themselves overnight.

The view from behind Seminary Ridge up towards the Cemetery Gatehouse.

Fearing for the town, now positively identified as a Rebel objective the Union players decide to push their reinforcements that way, curiously ignoring the Round Tops in the distance. 

As Confederate infantry climbs Little Round Top unopposed the Union wakes up to the threat and diverts several formations to attempt to retake their left front anchor.

The Union desperately swing forces out of line and across the Wheat Field in order to cut the forces on Little Round Top off from support.

Sensing a gap in the Union line the rebels surge up Cemetery Ridge to put further pressure on the fractured defence.

And then launch a second assault on the town itself. 

Back at the other end of the line the Confederates have pushed forces over the Round Tops and in to the rear of the Union line; things are starting to look bleak for Meade.

The Round Tops are now well out of the grasp of a counter attack, and the Union forces pull back to form a line to prevent Cemetery Ridge being assaulted from front and back. 

Desperately clinging to the Ridge Meade pulls his force back from trying to retake Little Round Top to take the assaulting rebels in the flank and keep his lines of retreat open. 

Day three sees the rebels consolidating their gains on the right and massing once again for an assault on Gettysburg on their left.

The Union, however, know that they need to not only hold Gettysburg but retake Little Round Top and set of smartly to the tune of Yankee Doodle.

Unfortunately the not only failed to retake the hill but a series of well co-ordinated attacks from multiple directions saw the town fall heralding in a decisive victory for Lee as the Union only hope to save Washington is that the roads are so choked with fleeing blue coated soldiers that the Confederate progress is so hampered that a hasty defence of the capital can be mounted.

Gettysburg Refight - Bloody Big Battles

So yesterday we tried out the not quite finished game board to see how everything worked; Bob and Rick took the side of the Union with myself and Haim trying to win the war as the Confederates.

The view looking south over Gettysburg towards Cemetery Ridge with, as yet, no soldiers in sight.

And then into the Round Tops and Devil's Den.  The wooded areas are not yet finished and a collection of hand made and bog brush trees adorn the chocolate brown areas where they will go.

The first day opened with Buford riding hard to the south to deny the Confederates deployment zones and Steinwehr deploying to cover Seminary Ridge, an aggressive opening gambit that went sour fast for the boys in blue as it resulted in 4 Confederate divisions swatting the German Corps with contempt and catching the reserves in column; only a flank charge by Buford's horse boys was able to keep the Rebs out of Gettysburg and allow a much needed respite to call up the reserves.

Day 2 dawned with the Union deciding that the Peach Orchard was the place to be while the Confederate battle plan coalesced around an assault up Cemetery Ridge from the vicinity of the Seminary while Longstreet sought to assault north through Devil's Den into the Orchard, bypassing the formidable Round Tops.

(Longstreet advances on the Peach Orchard)

(View from Little Round Top across to Seminary Ridge)

(Union troops watch the assault on Gettysburg)

A savage battle erupted around Plum Run with Union troops on the Round Tops pouring fire into the flank of the advancing Confederates but the Peach Orchard finally fell when batteries of the Army Reserve were able to bring fire into the defenders rear.  Meanwhile the Main Confederate force became fixated with taking the town as a prelude to assaulting the Cemetery but the Union failed to penalise this due to a staff error neglecting to bring forward whole corps of reserves, something that was to prove fatal to the Union cause.

Finally the Confederates were able to mount a sustained and unrelenting assault against Cemetery Hill and Ridge and as the second day ended the Union were in full retreat getting inextricably mixed up with their belated reserves so once day three dawned they were in no position to recapture the high ground and after a half hearted attempt to shake themselves out finally called the attempt off and began to compose their excuses for the Washington Post and to work out who was to blame for the disaster that had befallen the North's cause.

The final view from the defenders of Little Round Top as the Union army disintegrates.

Overall it was a great game with plenty of manoeuvre and desperate hand to hand struggles and now makes one win all; both sides are eager for a rematch and the next outing will be a reversal of sides with hopefully one more game before Warfare.  Next step is to finish off the wooded areas and neaten up some of the roads and other terrain pieces but all should be done in plenty of time for the show.

Creating Gettysburg for use with Bloody Big Battles and to take to Warfare 2017 in Reading in November

We've often put on participation games at shows before but this year decided to have a go at creating a whole battlefield for a demonstration game that, hopefully, people will enjoy looking at and like to join in.  The game is designed to fight all 3 days in 4 to 5 hours on a 6' x 4' table with units representing whole divisions, as such there is a compromise between figure and ground scale that meant having contours that are aesthetically more extreme than on the real battlefield, which I've visited a couple of times.

What follows, if I can get the hang of this is a series of pictures showing the evolution of the board.

First step was to get 6 sheets of 4' x 2' of 1" Styrofoam and lay out the base layer to ensure it fit.

Next, the contours had to be marked out and cut using a hot wire cutter:

And then the slopes carved using more hot wire tools and sharp knives (please ignore the red contour lines....); the figures are Pendraken 10mm being used to make sure they could stand on the slopes without sliding:

Next step was to mark and carve the rivers and mark the roads, these latter not being carved but marked to make sure they didn't go anywhere silly with the slopes:

The view above is looking down from the round tops towards Gettysburg in the distance.  The whole lot was then covered in plaster cloth to give it a good hard surface that could take paint.

Next the roads were all marked out with 12mm masking tape and a good solid coat of green and brown paint laid down before moving on to a liberal covering of flock:

 Next the masking tape was removed to reveal the roads and then on to the finishing touches:

The roads were flocked with a good brown and the rivers painted brown with blue and the bottom (not realistic I know but it looks nice) with Woodland Scenic water effect then poured in:

Unfortunately I forgot to take any more pictures of the intervening stages and I've not fully finished but the above gives an idea of the effect as we look into Gettysburg; we fought the battle today on the nearly finished board and I'll put up pictures of that to give a better view.