Civil War Battles an outing

Game at Stephens today and he decided to use Civil War Battles from the Peter Pig Rules For The Common Man stable.

I have had these rules since publication in 2007 but never tried them.

We tried a standard 600 point game (1 Corps of 2 Divisions a piece) using they scenario generator and war points system.

Forces based on mid-war Western lists with Stephen using Feds and me the Rebs.

Took a while to go through the various stages of the game set up but straight forward and would speed up with familiarity.

Knowing best categories to allocate your war points can be influential to battle set up.

Despite only allocating 6 (of my 60) to trying to attack whilst allocated 12 of his (60 + 3 from list) I managed to outscore him 3:1 and was attacker.

However he had much better successes (+3) in two categories whilst I only had minor effect (+1 in 2 categories) so Feds had more effective benefits overall.

Terrain is plentiful with 6 to 8 pieces each and 2 Objectives placed mainly by defender but with some pieces adjustable (limited scope) by attacker. 

No difference to terrain selection for theatre but did seem to generate a plausible ACW style table.

The Motivation (Generals activating individual units), the use of Action Points for the units is nice system that is easy to follow and this combined with fairly simple movement, shooting, combat and morale makes for a smooth game.

Only rule we had issue with was overhead firing which seemed to allow artillery to fire at enemy guns over friends and enemies units on the flat in addition to from hills seemed rather odd (FOOs in use !?) but otherwise all was fine. 

++Postscript++ we feel using the much clearer overhead firing rule from the later Washingtons Army set seems more appropriate ie only applies to firing to or from hills not on the flat ++

Did not finish the game but we did try all the component parts and a nice system overall that is decent option for a pick-up style game.

 

Regimental Fire & Fury - Gettysburg 1st day scenario

Game at Stephens and he selected good old dependable Rgt F&F for a smallish scenario set around lunchtime on first day of Gettysburg.

I choose the Rebels who had a reduced (had been fighting in morning action) Brigade of Veterans, a Brigade of 3 large Trained units and support from several off-table (on a ridge to rear) artillery batteries.

Union had a Brigade of mostly Veterans (only 1 Trained unit) and the Iron Brigade of Crack units (a juggernaut) with several gun batteries on table.

Rebs had only 2 Brigadiers on table with no higher commanders and so had a couple of units out of command at start, whilst the Feds had a couple of Brigadiers, a Divisional Commander and a Corps Commander allowing them flexibility of essentially four command formations.

Rebs split into a right and left wing with Union defending a central line of fences.

The Iron Brigade were set back on Union right but they had first turn and double-quicked themselves into front line right off the bat.

For Rebel right that was pretty much the death knell as Iron Brigade swept forward crushing all before them.

On Reb left the Trained Brigade twice failed to advance (falling back on rolls of 1) and failed to get to grips at all with this weaker Union wing.

On plus side the off-table Confederate guns done sterling work (despite low factors for long range firing) throughout and indeed 9 out of the 10 gun batteries were low on ammo having rolled 10s.

These caused lots of losses to Union and at one point Rebs had lost 12 or so bases to Union 10 but the onslaught of Iron Brigade and Union guns soon saw Confederate losses rise sharply and we called it a day.

I had the Brigadier on my right killed putting his units out of command and Union right had a Brigadier wounded (lost for 1 turn)

RFF such a good set of period specific rules and played smoothly and quickly (a smaller scenario than usual) with those D10 rolls being exciting and vicious in equal measure.

All terrain and figures (mostly Peter Pig) from Stephens collection

The central Union position

Iron Brigade turning Rebel right

Confederates gamely try to put pressure on Union lines

But falter at close range

Iron Brigade ganging up on weaker Reb units

Rebel left failed to get forward being repulsed by Union firing

Tough objective to take the defended MacPhersons Farm

Iron Brigade deployment area from which they leaped forward

Rebel left deployment with Veteran but weakened units 

American Civil War action with Glory Hallelujah (Black Powder)

Game at Stephens (a newly minted Granda) and he selected to try an ACW scenario using Glory Hallelujah supplement for Black Powder.

Scenario was semi-fictional set in 1863 (Swifts Creek ?) with Stephen taking the Feds and I the Rebs under Longstreet.

About 6 Brigades per side (of varying sizes) in 2 Divisions each so quite a lot of units on table.

The Union artillery being 6 gun batteries were rather powerful compared to standard Napoleonic types we are used to with extra range and more importantly an extra dice when firing.

This combined with difficulty of saving (ie passing Morale Test) against any hits they inflict made them quite potent.

Musketry was fairly even (one of my Brigades had exemplary accuracy !) with both sides taking several losses and having units 'Whipped'.

Some Union regulars were classed as Stubborn which is a very useful trait (re-roll a failed Morale Save)

I did manage to get a couple of units into melee, which is not easy as -3 to charge in ACW, in order to avail of their 'Rebel Yell' trait. 

But of course they failed to outscore enemy despite hitting on 3+ with 6 dice as opposed to Union on 4+ with their 6 dice, the supporting units system in BP is important and so easy to adjudicate (here's looking at you GDA !!)

BP has its issues for me but easily tweaked to taste and it does produce a quick playing game which is always a bonus if fielding lots of units.

Due to way to much waffling we failed to finish the game but enjoyed the turns we did get through.

Rebs pushing into teeth of Union artillery on ridge

Confederate left wing engages advancing Feds

We did use bounce through/grazing fire which would have made Union guns even more deadly with the dense targets

Rebs hide in open woods but no protection from ballshot

Union advance on their right

Rebel Brigades try to spread out 

Ulster Wargames Society - Snodgrass Hill scenario played

Last club meeting of year (we do 2 in January as December always too busy) and I played in a 15mm ACW game run by Bryn and Ian using Black Powder (Glory Hallelujah supplement) and a scenario based on action around Snodgrass Hill during Chickamauga 1863. 

I was on defending Union side with Mike and Ian and facing a large Rebel force under Andy, Ivan, Simon and later Bryn.

Great game it was too with plenty of action all across the board.

Mike took initial Union forces deployed around Snodgrass Farm and ridge line with Ian and I controlling oncoming reserve Brigades.

Hard pressed he was too as scenario special rule had his forces facing possible confusion/friendly fire (literally blue on blue) when attempting to fire on Kershaws Rebel Brigade (under Andy) as being dressed in blue uniforms historically caused problems for Federal chaps. 

Simon commanded following Reb Division on Andy's left with Ivan sweeping further left with 2 Divisions and Bryn bring further Division on as reserve to rear.

I controlled a Division supporting Mikes left and Ian another Division on his right. 

A ding dong engagement soon developed all along the Union lines which ended up in a right angled formation.

I managed to break a Brigade of Andys which thereby forced Bryn to commit Reb reserves to face my lot.

Ian suffered horrendous losses with several broken Brigades as he faced superior numbers of Ivans Rebs, whilst Mike held on as long as possible around Snodgrass before being forced back.

A broken Brigade on my flank meant any forward progress by Union was stymied and our right flank was totally collapsing so Union called it a day (ie referee told is we were duffed).

It was a bloody affair with numerous broken Brigades on both sides. 

Black Powder would not often be my first choice but it mostly certainly works for these large multi-player games.

 

Action near end as Union push on left at zenith and right wing under intense pressure, with central Division pushed back from Snodgrass Hill

Mike deploying to try to hold at hill and shore up crumbling right

Mid-game as Union and Reb reserves committed

Reserves arrived as 'blinds' with something of a statement as to political proclivities !!

My Division advances on Union left as Mike contests the only real open ground on table 

A Reb Brigade is moved back in broken status

Whilst the table was 12' x 6' we only used half of it

Initial forces on Rebel right

Union defend ridge at Snodgrass Farm

And the open fields adjacent

Of course several other games at club and of course as usual I saw little of these or outcomes

Dave P and Adam played a 20mm Late War East Front WW2 game using Battlegroup with some lovely toys on display

A Sharp Practice 28mm game run by Jeremy D with several participants 

A 28mm game of Lion Rampant run by Leslie with Phil and others 

And last but not least a Battle Tech game with Charlie and co

Bonnie Blue Flag rules played - The Wheatfield

Game at Stephens today (last for few weeks as he is off on holiday to England) and he choose ACW period with set of rules called Bonnie Blue Flag which we have never tried before (think he bought them at Warfare last year).

These are marketed as a fast play set with units as Regiments.

Scenario was based on a Guns of Gettysburg version of  'The Wheatfield' using Stephens excellent 15mm kit and troops (mostly Peter Pig).

Used standard sized units (5 bases) for ease although rules allow varied sized Regiments (4-12 bases) but no matter number of stands used units are rated for 3 Attrition Levels ie 6 for Veterans, 5 Experienced or 4 Raw.

System has interesting sequence of play (followed alternately by players) with Officers moving first then Charges, Skirmishers and other Moves followed by shooting by Artillery, then Skirmishing, then Musketry and a Melee phase.

I really liked how Skirmishers are handled being able to be deploy or recall at will but only taking 1 hit to get rid of them or forcing them back by advancing on them and their shooting is not too powerful.

Oddly they cannot be ignored by artillery (no shooting through to parent unit) but this is fine in practice and overall Skirmisher just worked.

Movement is a set distance with variable move of 1-2 D6 with usual deductions for terrain and is done per unit (no group moves).   

Shooting and Melee are conducted by causing a Morale Check on enemy which use a percentage dice system for passing or failing with units suffering Attrition hits and possibly falling back and maybe not being able to fire at next opportunity. 

Advancing troops seem slightly less vulnerable to being fired at than stationary chaps but with caveat that if you move over half you don't fire.

Officers give Morale bonuses to units in Command when shot at or when attached to a unit in Melee and can recover Attrition hits on units by using their own pool of Attrition (4-5) but are mostly invulnerable (only lost if attached to a unit destroyed by melee).

Rules are bit vague in several areas (and not much in way of support that we could find) but these issues were pretty easy to rule upon in practice.

All in all a fun set that should be quicker to play than our favoured Regt Fire and Fury (really its only downside is game length imho).