First play of Over Malvern Hill, new ACW rules by Stand to Games

Editors Note; 
As regular followers of JJ's Wargames will know, ACW is not really a theme that has really 'floated my boat', and I am surprised to see five previous posts on this period here on the blog, but it is, never the less,  a major period in historical wargaming and one that appeals to a lot of historical wargamers, including a few of my regular wargaming friends.

I and Steve M have reviewed and played Over the Hills (Napoleonic) and Rise and Fight Again (AWI) rules from Stand to Games which we have both enjoyed and had a lot of fun with, but were unlikely to take in a game of the new ACW set Over Malvern Hill, so I was pleased to get an AAR and review from Mr Steve of a game he played with the new set with Nick and Steve L.

Over to you Steve.

Battle of Reams Station 1864
A couple of us had taken part in the recent Kickstarter for the new set of ACW rules written by Stand To Games, these are the people who produced the popular Napoleonic set called Over The Hills,  and also a new AWI version, Rise and Fight Again, that had just come out in front of the ACW ones we were interested in.

Stand to Games

You can find out more about all the Stand to Games rules on the Over the Hills Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1819455724949749/

Having recently tried out the updated set of Brigade Fire and Fury v2 at the club we decided to re-run the same scenario out of BFF using Over Malvern Hill (OMH)

http://devonwargames.blogspot.com/2018/07/battle-of-reams-station-1864-brigade.html

First of all I had better give a very brief explanation on how OMH functions. Just like its predecessors the main concept in the game is Fatigue Level (FL), this applies to Units, Brigades and Armies, so a unit may have anything from 6-14 fatigue points depending on its numbers, class or experience etc. You add all the unit scores in a Brigade together to give you that Brigade's score e.g. 24-40, you then add all the Brigade scores to make the Army Total, probably around a 100+. A unit’s current fatigue score is used for anything it does, so the higher it as then the better the results, units lose fatigue by extra marching, combat or more commonly by getting shot. So if you receive two fatigue hits from the enemies firing then your reduce all three fatigue scores accordingly, that’s unit, brigade and army. A unit’s fatigue score can be regained during the rallying phase but the other two cannot and only decrease with time.

I have to admit I had some problems with this initially in the other period games I had played, in BF&F when you take two stands off a unit then they are permanently reduced in effectiveness however in OMH you can do three fatigue hits in one go, seriously weakening a unit only to see it return a couple of turns later back up to full strength again.

I now see Fatigue as a combined expression of a unit’s current willingness to fight mixed in with its cohesiveness plus small bits of its experience and its strength added in. Whilst it is possible to ‘destroy’ or break up weaker units, the big 11-13 FL strong ones are unlikely to go as they are easier to rally back, however the ever ticking clock of Brigade and Army fatigue is what will eventually destroy you.

In the rules there are two ways to determine victory, once a Brigade loses over 50% of its starting FL score then it is broken and must retreat, the same applies to Army FL, once over 50% of your starting FL is reached then you have lost the game; or alternatively you could use the second method were over 50% of units are destroyed, routing or wavering in a Brigade/Army etc. decide which method you will use at the start. More on this below.

So onto the scenario, fortunately it was not too difficult to transfer across the units from BF&F to OMH , if you look in the front of the new BFF rules there is a chart that gives Brigade effectiveness so if I take Rugg’s regiment which is Green and 6/-/5 I see that it comes under the Dispirited column. Looking at OMH‘s Union 1864 army lists I would make them Trained (next one down is Militia, which didn’t sound right) giving a FL starting score of 8 points, size wise they are 6 stands strong which is the OMH standard so no alterations there, and using another chart in the front section I
classed them as 'Hesitant' so minus 2 points giving a starting Fatigue Level of 6. With everyone worked out I had the following Fatigue totals:

Union Army Fatigue 106
Miles Brigade 28
Gibbons 25
Gregg’s cavalry 27
Corps artillery 26

Confederate Army 128
Wilcox 33
Heth 35
Hampton 39
Corps artillery 21

The table was set up as per the scenario and with all the extra rules in play as per the previous game along with the 12 turns limit.

Wilcox’s brigade bravely advanced on the Union emplacements, with all those that could, in Open Line to ease movement through any woods and to reduce firing casualties (Open Line is only available to those units with a starting FL of 8+). The two Union guns were inflicting steady casualties with the occasional maximum result of 3 Fatigue Hits. It wasn’t long before they came into range of the infantry rifles and ‘casualties’ were now mounting rapidly. Connors unit had already had to halt to reorganise and McGowan came in for particular unpleasantness in fact they were fortunate to survive not being completely destroyed and they fled to the rear. By Turn 3 the brigade had already reached 51% of its FL and therefore under the rules would have now be classed as broken and forced to fall back out of the fight.

We therefore stopped the game for a chat, a cup of tea and a homemade chocolate Krispie.

The decision was taken to amend the victory conditions, we took the Army FL level of 106 /128 and halved them to 53/64, these would count down as normal and the first to reach zero had lost (this is roughly the same anyway). Also we changed it, that the Brigades would keep fighting until they also reached zero, but would then be removed from the table completely. This isn’t that radical when you look at the figures, true you could keep rallying your units back over time but the Brigade and Army morale cannot be regained so losing the equivalent of two Brigades in this game would still break your army and Brigades themselves would eventually be taken off as well. On further reflection, as I write this, I think the changes are not quite right, so a tiny bit more adjustment for next time, maybe adjust to something between 60-70% perhaps instead, Not sure, we need more games.

With the changes made we continued the game, Nick, who was in charge of the Union forces had redeployed his units to form three successive defensive lines behind the entrenchments, which made it a very tough nut to crack, however the Confederate artillery was now on the table and you began to see a slight disadvantage to this defence due to the rule regarding bounce through, whilst in the whole it was not overly destructive the continual 'nibbling away' effect to Fatigue Levels was something
to pay attention to.

Wilcox’s depleted Brigade managed to charge the Union position but was easily repulsed, however Heth’s reinforcements managed where they had failed and took advantage of Broady’s very timely rout caused by the sustained artillery bombardment, and crossed the ramparts. As mentioned above, lines of fresh Union troops waited for them and they soon fell back across the other side again due to the “Driven Back by Fire “rule (taking 3FL in one phase is an automatic fall back with a possible second move due to a morale test.)

Not fancying their chances and with their dismounted cavalry brigade on the right flank also making little progress or seeing much potential of there being any at all, the Confederates conceded on turn 8.

To tidy up this game first, final scores were ;
Remaining Union Army Fatigue 29
Miles Brigade 12
Gibbons 17
Gregg’s cavalry 25

Remaining Confederate Army Fatigue 17
Wilcox 14
Heth 21
Hampton 25

Everyone’s guns were still around as well but I didn’t note their FL.

So what did we think.
As a scenario when we played it with F&F we felt the game went better and gave us the result we expected( a narrow confederate win) however it is playable using OMH and the same result could be achieved although this would be more likely by breaking the Union armies morale rather than pushing them completely out of the position. In both cases this would be similar to what happened historically.

The rules work OK, obviously there are some clarifications required that we couldn’t decide ourselves but this is normal with a new set. We felt that firepower is very strong however this was amplified by the emplacements giving bonuses and we plan to see what happens in more open terrain. Skirmishers could have been used but looking at the rules I don’t think it would have helped our attacking confederates that much (it’s only a -1, classed as obscured).

We will obviously play a few more games and see if we still need to amend how the Victory/Break conditions are calculated, perhaps in a more open terrain game they would work as written but we feel that a minor adjustment is maybe needed to prevent Brigades being taken off after just a few turns of firing.

As I said at the start, you need to adjust to this concept of Fatigue Levels and not taking stands away, it isn’t that easy initially and I still feel hard done by when you get a good shoot in and nothing is removed only to see them almost back up to full level again as a result of some good rallying. A really badly hit unit such as McGowan’s in our game who went from 11 down to 1 will take quite a few turns to get ready to rejoin (you have between 1 and 3 D10’s depending on Leader quality
each turn, needing to score less than or equal to the current FL, some bonus’ may apply, each pass increases by 1 the current FL).

In the end I suppose what you are trying to do is to break whole Brigades over a period of time and not just remove a few stands each turn which is a slightly different concept than BFF and is perhaps more realistic.

And finally where does this fit into our top 10?

Hmm, tricky as we have only played one game so far and we don’t actually have 10 sets of rules, I would say BF&F still first, then Over Malvern Hill and then Pickets Charge. (We love everything about Pickets Charge until you get to the shooting and melee stages).

Once I have my hands on the Napoleonic QRS I want to see if I can combine the two rule sets into something usable for my 20mm Sikh Wars.

Over The Sutlej River anyone?

Thanks to Steve for being the host and for Nick for not letting the host win.

15mm Figures are a mix of AB and Blue Moon
Streams are Timecast
Trees mainly Woodland scenics
Cloth from Tiny Wargames

If you want to see what happened in real life then:

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/maps/second-and-third-assaults-reams-stationaugust-25-1864

This has been a Mr Steve production.

Nathan's ACW "Sharp Practice" Stag

The Stags - Left to Right, JJ, Steve M, Chas, Colin, Nathan, Panjo, Vince, Jason and Andy

This weekend a few of us gathered to surprise a good friend of mine who is getting married and we needed to get together for a surprise stag party,

Jason was organiser and Gamemeister for the day and young Nathan was under the impression that he was off to Prickly Ball Farm, run by his sister, for a family breakfast only to find all the chaps in attendance for a big game of Sharp Practice. Total surprise achieved and one of the first objectives ticked off the list.

The table set up ready for the off Union forces on the right

Stag Parties, when you reach a certain age, take on a whole different meaning to the more commonly accepted description of the event and not many of our motley crew, including the prospective groom, would have been up for or would have had the constitution to take on a beer imbibing trip to Budapest. Thus I, and I suspect a few others, were very happy to help bring together the party plan of putting on a big American Civil War Sharp Practice game instead.

As you can see we had quite a large game set up with symmetrical forces from the American Civil War with each side, Union and Confederate having two infantry and two cavalry formations each with two leaders and three units, which were randomly divided up between the eight players.

The table seen from the Union right flank

The information about the units and the leaders were all prepared in separate envelopes and included an individualised mission that if achieved would contribute to a sides objective, namely to achieve more missions than the enemy.

The opposing forces start to move on to table

So the example for my Union command read:
You are Lieutenant R.Guy, a junior officer in the 3rd Indiana Cavalry. A former ranker, your prowess and natural leadership saw you rise rapidly trough the ranks until you were recently commissioned. You are no looker but have a pleasant manner and try to behave with honour befitting an officer.

You have direct command of three units of eight cavalrymen, aided by Sergeant Case. One unit has been given the new breech loading carbines, the others have older muzzle loading carbines.

Your mission is to find and retrieve a cannon that was left behind yesterday. It is somewhere in this area but has been hidden in the barn on the small farm to try to stop the Confederates finding it. You have a limber and rider to retrieve the gun when you find it.

Your cavalry may dismount, becoming six man skirmish units armed with carbines if they do so. Please bear in mind that these are not shock cavalry.

My Union cavalry together with limber team move on to table

Initially attempting to enter the table at the most appropriate point in relation to where you needed to get to became mission critical as time and space were limited and getting where you needed to be by the most direct route was the first priority.

Chas' Reb infantry together with explosives wagon move into the line

Unfortunately, that table entry point was on the the throw of a d6. The good news was that my die result of two put me on the road directly towards the farm and its very important barn.

A solid line of Union infantry form up on my right flank over the river

The Union forces came on in what looked like an organised set up with both cavalry forces out on the left and left-centre and the infantry over the other side of the river on the right. The Confederate deployment was much more of a mixed bag with cavalry and infantry alternating across their front.

This meant that the two Union cavalry forces were faced off by Confederate infantry and cavalry.

Reb cavalry units were spread out along their whole line

Of course given the nature of these individual mission encounter games, you couldn't assume that the forces opposite you would stay like that and sure enough the Reb cavalry in front of my units peeled off to their left and ran the gauntlet of my carbines from six of my chaps as they used a nearby bridge to cross the river to my right.

My skirmish line near the river was to cover my approach on the barn but if I could lend a hand to my fellow infantry commanders next door then why not if it didn't interfere with my primary mission.

The fight starts to develop around Prickly Ball House

The battle quickly developed as the Union infantry came out from the home edge tree line and formed a formidable looking line on top of a ridge over looking the Reb lines as they attempted to close in.

The Union infantry moved up to get a position on the hills

On the Union left my fellow cavalry commander swung out and fast on the extreme flank in an attempt to come in behind the Reb infantry closing on my farm and its barn.

I made it to the barn first and while searching it from top to bottom ordered my breech loading squad to lay it on thick and heavy towards that same Reb infantry.

Union cavalry dismount to contest the Union left flank. The farm and its barn are held by my cavalry

With nothing found in the barn I decided to send a squad forward to the farm house and add yet more fire power on to the Reb line. They say fortune favours the brave and as Sergeant Case accompanied the squad to the house he rather fortuitously tripped over a rather large cannon en route.

Reb cavalry cross the bridge to put pressure on the Union infantry over the river

That was where my fortune ended as the first round of firing from my forward squad heralded a special event check that saw my squad get carried away with their enthusiasm to take it to the enemy and leaving the nice cover of the farm I had ordered them into, promptly charged the Reb line opposite.

Needless to say the result was not pretty and my boys ended up legging it back down the road with half the number that went up it.

Some of my cavalry get carried away and rashly attack Reb infantry

Just then a pause in our game was heralded by the overflight of some unidentified warbird attending the weekend Torbay air-show. The day previously I had photographed the Spitfire and Hurricane flying back from the show over my house.

http://jjwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/torbay-air-show-spitfire-hurricane.html

The noise attracted our attention and so grabbing the camera I headed outside to find out what was overhead and managed to grab the picture below of a lovely Catalina flying boat.

It was an aircraft like this that spotted the Bismark in mid Atlantic in May 1941 following the sinking of HMS Hood. The subsequent sighting report enabled HMS Ark Royal to vector in her Swordfish torpedo bombers that caused the fatal damage to the great German battleship's rudder. The damage sealed the fate of the raider causing her loss of speed to enable pursuing Royal Navy surface ships to close in and sink her a few days later.

A nice surprise overhead during the Torbay air-show - Catalina  Flying Boat

Back to the table and suddenly it was looking like a bad day at the Union Office as Confederate infantry swept forward on to the Union ridge and around Prickly Ball House, supported by their cavalry that had managed to cross the river using a bridge that needed to be blown up by the Confederate infantry getting their support.

Steve and Chas fighting hard for the rebs against Nathan and Vince's Union Infantry on the ridge at Prickly Ball House

Meanwhile my fellow Union cavalry commander was taking severe casualties and shock as he closed in on the Reb left flank and my forward squad was running back having rashly attacked the Confederate infantry opposite the farm.

On the plus side, my breech-loader squad were shredding the Reb infantry near the farm and my limber team were moving up to secure the gun before the enemy got any closer.

A pause on the Union left flank as the action proceeds on their right

As the gun was hitched up, the Union cavalry lines skirmished with the Reb infantry as they closed in on the farm. It was getting a little tense as each side hoped to get that activation necessary to thwart the foe directly opposite them.

The fighting around Prickly Ball House became a confused mass of  close up musketry

Meanwhile the fight on the Union right became fast and furious as squads fought desperately to gain the upper hand and with Confederate commanders getting shot, wounded and charged over as the fighting gradually turned in favour of the blue-bellies.

The Reb cavalry took a lot of casualties around the house

As my command sought to cover the limber team as it started to prepare the withdrawal of the gun I detached Sergeant Case to recover my squad close to the river and assemble them by the road as I made preparations to pull out.

The explosives wagon couldn't get on to the bridge to do their work

The high water mark of the Confederate attack had been reached on both flanks and the Union troops were starting to recover lost ground or bring the enemy forward momentum to a halt as casualties and shock started to take effect.

My cavalry escort the recovered gun hitched up to my supporting limber team

The day was drawing to a close and both sides were well and truly battered but with a slight advantage resting with the Union, confirmed by the two objectives achieved to just one by the Confederates.

The Rebs fought hard and pushed in the Union line severely in several places 

We all had a great day playing in an excellent venue, with great hosts and maintained on plenty of hot drinks and food that sustained us during the hard table top fighting during the day.

The Union counter-attack on the right flank stabilises the line

Not only that, but we got a taste of that cake with a well deserved mug of tea to wash it down with.

A fine looking cake to help celebrate the day

Congratulations to Lin and Nathan for their wedding next month and thanks to the chaps who helped make a great day celebrating it in the best way wargamers can with great fun, banter and plenty of toys on the table.

Next up Talavera Previews, Mr Steve goes all Roman in Silchester and JJ has fun in deepest darkest North Devon.

Lee’s Lieutenants A Study in Command - Douglas Southall Freeman

Book Review by "Mr Steve"

The American Civil war is one of my main wargaming areas of interest, so when this book was mentioned on TMP, I put it on my list for possible purchasing pending further investigation of course, I am not the type of person who rushes out and buys a book just because it has the words Wellington or Napoleon in the title for example.

Originally published in three volumes back in 1942, Freeman was following up on his Pulitzer Prize winning four volume study on Robert E. Lee and it was said that he was prouder of this new set of books than anything else he had written.

It is available today in several formats, you can still buy the three volumes individually or there are various abridgements published by different people over the subsequent years as it is rather lengthy. I chose to buy the one volume version abridged by Stephen Sears in which he says that he has reduced it down to about one third of the original by leaving out the fourteen appendices and the bulk of the battle details which he says quite rightly you can find easily elsewhere, however this book still runs to over 800 pages (plus notes etc).

I don’t think there’s much point in detailing each chapter as they just run the course of the war which anyone interested in the Civil War will know so I will sum up the general content instead.

First of all it only covers the Army of Virginia and any temporary detachments from it, so it covers Jackson in the Valley, Longstreet at Chickamauga and early in the Valley towards the end, so there is very little on anyone in the West or Trans-Mississippi unless they come into contact with these detachments (Bragg gets briefly covered this way).

It also is solely interested in the command structure and the generals who served in the east, all the battles of course are covered in adequate detail but under the above premise.

I found this a very interesting book as the theme that runs throughout is the Confederates struggling to find the right quality of leaders to replace either the incompetent, the discontented or more frequently the dead.

After a few brief biographies it leads into 1st Bull Run where we first meet the future potential leaders that will become very well known and the author shows how in the early stages of the war getting coordinated action from people who were learning as they went was almost impossible. Both Jackson and Longstreet don’t initially show up that well being either slow or indecisive but this is only to be expected and they were not the only ones doing so. Indeed the whole Peninsula campaign is one cock-up after another with no one really knowing what they were doing or being that well
controlled from above.

The first section of the book concentrates a lot on Stonewall Jackson and Freeman’s version of his career is again interesting. He is of course very successful but his man management skills were very poor with frequent attempts to court martial various generals or transfer out people he didn't like. His inability to delegate is quite clearly put across and you get a mixture of his genius and flaws equally so it isn't a glorious depiction of a great general that you sometime get in some books, quite often things were going wrong because his subordinates had no idea on what they were supposed to be doing once the initial actions had taken place or broken down.

The death of 'Stonewall' Jackson

James Longstreet then takes up the large proportion of the narrative after Jackson’s death, interspersed with sections on Jeb Stuart as and when he comes to the fore and then Freeman covers the setting up of the three Corps system and the struggle Lee had in finding not only Corps commanders but generals for both Divisions and Brigades.

Lee through out the war couldn't just promote who he wanted; there was the normal political infighting as you would expect along with some surprising legal problems over the process of appointing generals and then there were downright fits of pique from people who thought they deserved a certain command rather than someone else and so would refuse to serve under or alongside them. There was also the problem of whether the man was from the right state to lead the troops concerned and if they trusted him to do so. Freeman gives frequent examples of when otherwise experienced troops performed badly because they didn't have faith in who was leading them or if they were a recent appointment, that they didn't know him enough to trust him with their lives.

As has been pointed out recently on TMP, this isn't the book to pick as your Civil War master, there are far better ones available that cover the war in much greater depth however it does cover all the battles the Army of Northern Virginia (ANV) took part in and more importantly all the little actions that took place, this is important because given the high mortality rate of the Confederate general staff, they didn't only get killed in the famous battles.

At the end of each chapter Freeman reviews all of the generals performances in any actions that have taken place and how any replacements if they were required or any restructuring was then decided upon.

For me, the last part of the book which details the fighting around Petersburg and the break out that ended at Appomattox is again very interesting as its a part of the war that I had previously not spent much time on, after all, its just trenches and stuff isn't it? I found how Lee had to constantly juggle his increasingly limited resources to keep Grant from breaking his lines completely and we see the return of some old friends like Beauregard and Picket taking major parts again.

By now we are starting to see war fatigue really affecting decision making and it reminded me of another book that I have and which I read many years ago:

Campaigning with Grant by General Horace Porter.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/607826.Campaigning_with_Grant

In it he recalls (if I recall correctly) that once the Union army laid siege outside Petersburg and tried to winkle the Confederates out of their trenches and forts, that previously sound and experienced Union generals had to be relieved of their duties due to their lack of initiative and/or of aggression. This applied to even well known generals who had fought the whole war and had risen up the ranks. It shows that battle fatigue has always been with us and is not just a modern phenomenon.

What stood out for me? Well the campaign around Petersburg as I already mentioned, Early's campaign in the Valley which brought him to the outskirts of Washington was familiar but what happened after that? Well when he arrived it was with a Corps but by the time he fought his last battle at Waynesboro he was down to only 1000 infantry, 6 guns and around 100 cavalry. He escaped over the mountains with just a handful of men only to be relieved of command and sent home on permanent leave, a sad end to a proud career. (Freeman’s family lived near Early’s house and as a child he always sprinted past it as it was said the old general ate little boys)

John B Gordon wounded five times at the Sunken Road talking to R.E. Lee - Don Troiani

Finally the general who doesn't get his due acclaim in my opinion, General John B.Gordon, in from the start and a participant at all the major battles, he even led the last charge of the ANV whilst trying to break through the Union lines the day before the surrender. Perhaps if he had been promoted earlier to Corps command instead of Ewell or AP Hill then ………….. Well probably not, but he was one of those who just got better and better rather than the reverse.

Small sketch maps of campaigns and battles are scattered throughout and whilst not super detailed are essential for following the action and is good to see, the writing style is also excellent as you would expect from a Pulitzer Prize winner.

You will find yourself following certain generals careers as they come to Lee’s notice and then are promoted from Regimental to Brigade command up to Divisional and even Corps level until most of them meet a sad end. It clearly shows how desperate Lee was to find and identify good leaders, often brigades were led by colonels as there just wasn't a suitable candidate for promotion to general.

I will finish with a couple of quotes from the book:
“ In July 1863 six of the nine Divisions were under officers who had not commanded them in July 1862 and only five of the thirty-eight infantry brigades were led by men who held the rank of Brigadier General twelve months ago”

“ In June 1864, after a month's fighting, 37% of the general officers were out of action”

An all round good book covering the Civil War in the East in a different way. Glad I bought it.

Pages: 910
Main Text: 816 pages
Best Price I found today was: £26.89 from Wordery

This has been a Mr Steve production.

Devon Wargames Group - Xmas Game

This weekend I spent a very pleasant Saturday in the company of the chaps at my local club and I am posting this pointer to the club blog to highlight the game we played.

The club meets once a month and on most occasions we aim to put on about three games to cater for everyone and provide lots of variety in periods, scale and rule-sets. It really is an opportunity to play games you might not normally play and to try out new rules among other things.

Thus through the year we often end up playing fellow club members occasionally because we can all choose what we play throughout the year. The December (Xmas) and final club meeting of the year is a little different in that we have traditionally played just one big game that everyone who attends can join in on and really caps the year and allows us to celebrate the social nature of what our hobby is all about.

We are not solo wargamers, and I for one value that aspect and never forget how great it is to spend time with people who get excited about the same silly stuff that I do.  

The club really did itself proud this weekend and laid on, under the guidance of our coordinator and Gamemeister for the day Chas, a huge 2000+ figures, American Civil War, 28mm, Regimental Fire & Fury game fighting a scenario based on the closing action at the Battle of Chancellorsville close to Fredericksburg in May 1863.

As you can see that means a lot of lead on the table, plus lots of cakes, mince pies, and other snacks generously donated by the guys to keep us sustained throughout the day.

So if you are interested in knowing more about the game and the club you can follow the link to the report I posted yesterday, and have a flick through the other posts about all the other stuff we have been playing since 1983.

http://devonwargames.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/battle-of-chancellorsville-fredicksburg.html

Lots of stuff coming up on JJ's Wargames as we head into Xmas and up to the New Year and next up, Mr Steve or as he is known in certain circles "Ragnar Hairy Breeches" has come up with a cunning plan to trap me in our on going Alfred the Great game that is into the last three nerve racking moves. The question is will I walk into it? 

Alfred the Great, The Great Heathen Army 871 AD Turn thirteen up next.

Gettysburg, The Last Invasion - Allen C. Guelzo

JJ's Note: What follows is a review of this book by my old mate "Mr Steve". The American Civil War is not really my subject, but I know this is a major period to wargame in our hobby and I am sure there are followers of this blog who will find this an interesting review. As an aside I have been to Gettysburg, taking my wife on a tour around it on our honeymoon (start as we mean to go on), I've got the movie and I've wargamed it in 28mm and it's about the only battle of the period I know very much about.

.........................

Recently I realised that my own library didn't include any books that had a detailed account of the Battle of Gettysburg apart from, that is, a few general summary’s like Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. I guess I never thought of it before after all everyone knows what happened, I have probably re-fought the battle two or three times as well and the ACW is one of those eras that I have a good knowledge off. My interest had been tweaked by a short review of this book in one of the wargame magazines; I cannot recall which, so as I was struggling to pad out my Birthday present list I added it in.

Good Decision, this is an excellent book.

Part 1 pages 9-135
The first few chapters cover general topics such as the political situation as well as the lead up to the war itself, there is some discussion also on the general concepts of war at this time and how it was carried out mainly from studying European experiences. All wars are initially fought with the tactics from the last big war so military thinking in the US was heavily influenced by Napoleon along with some aspects of the Crimea (although you could say that was much of the same). In a book about a battle fought mid war is this introduction really necessary? Yes, I thought it was well done and I especially enjoyed learning about the political infighting prevalent in the Union Army and also the inter-State distrust amongst the Confederates.

Brandy Station is then briefly covered along with the gradual improvement in the Union Cavalry before we start on the campaign proper .The next few chapters are on the Confederate march north and the response (or lack of it) from the Union, it covers the routes taken, objectives and general plan . Anecdotes are sprinkled in which explain the individual cities responses as the fast moving Rebels advanced on them and of the small actions that ensued when local militias were told to try and delay the advance. I don’t recall exactly where it's mentioned but the use of newspapers played a part in telling both sides roughly where the other was and what they were doing, even being able to tell Lee sometimes how far some of his own Corps had reached and of course sprinkled in amongst all this good intelligence were numerous false sightings by people who swore that the entire Confederate army had just passed right by their house.

General George Meade

Chapter Eight starts with Meade being given command of the Army of the Potomac, let’s just say he wasn't the first choice, rather that he was the first to be convinced to take the job. Many of the other Corps commanders were still very pro-McClellan and wanted him back, some were pro-Hooker and others just knew better. The split between the Republicans and the Democrats combined with the McClellan factor didn't make it an easy choice for Lincoln. Three days later Meade would be fighting the decisive battle of the war, what chance did he have of formulating a strategy of his own or even restructuring the Corps, which were still led by generals who a few days before had been his seniors.

Well there was a plan of sorts and it was to defend behind Pipe Creek therefore blocking the expected Confederate march on Washington and so he sent out orders accordingly for his Corps to move up into mutually supporting positions and for his engineers to commence making emplacements etc.

This book points you towards the various people who were actually responsible for the battle taking place at Gettysburg which was against both Lee and especially Mead's intentions, chief amongst them being General Reynolds of 1st Corps, who according to Guelzo actively sort to bring on a major battle and pushed his brigade and the two others around him to march on Gettysburg where they believed the Rebels had a Corps in the area.

Part 2 , pages 139-231. Battle commences.

The first day of battle is exhaustively covered with first Buford’s cavalry and then the Union 1st and IXth Corps fighting against the converging Confederate Corps. Whilst relatively successful in delaying them, the two Union Corps were virtually wrecked by the end of the day and with the few collected remnants somehow trying to look determined up on the now famous ridge line desperately hoping that there would be no more fighting that night.

This section is very interesting, covering the First day's action in great detail and includes the reminiscences of the Gettysburg townsfolk.

Part 3 pages 235-370
2nd Day
Another excellent account, it covers well the controversy around Longstreet’s delayed attack and then once it does get going he runs through each successive wave from right to left and the attempts by the Union to stem the assault; bringing in Sickles decision to advance into the Peach Orchard and its consequences and also the fighting for Little Round Top, although the Joshua Chamberlain fan boys might be a little disappointed in the amount of coverage he gets. (Proportionate in my opinion). The general impression you get from this section is how on earth did the Union manage to hold on well into the night as it reads like an utter disaster.

Part 4 pages 373-482
3rd Day

Pickets Charge obviously. Again well done, very detailed, no more to add. Included in this section is a round up covering the end of the battle, the retreat and pursuit (or lack of it) and the political enquiries into the battle both North and South.

Summary.
The individual unit combat detail is excellent and the amount of anecdotes and personal vignettes really make it an interesting read. You get to see how much impact some people you hadn't previously considered or even knew much about had in the shaping and conduct of this famous battle, Meade and Lee could do relatively little to influence events once their plans had gotten under way and that it was actually the Divisional commanders who were making the really key decisions often doing so under heavy fire. Then you also have the before and after sections plus the additional details on the pre battle campaigning in Maryland/Pennsylvania all of which is very welcome.

Minor quibbles, tricky, I guess there must be something. I thought the section on the fighting on Culp's Hill wasn't in the same detail as all the other action but that may be because there wasn't really all that much to report on. A good Index, Bibliography and Notes section is compulsory now however for me the combined Bibliography and Notes section (pages 483-599) is just way too long, I wouldn't mind if there were lots of interesting snippets hidden in there but there are only a tiny handful (oddly this is were you find the famous shoe discussion).It does show however the depth Guelzo went to, to gather his information.

Checking today I found the paperback version at £10.39. Worth every penny.

Mr Steve.

ACW Skirmish - Stoneman's Raid 1865, The Danbury Iron Foundry and a Quiz

Ok, the picture above captures events during Dahlgren's Raid on Richmond, but I thought it also looked great as header to our little affair that we played out yesterday in North Devon at Chez Chas.

Our game was based on the Stoneman Raid in 1865 with a specific focus on the fighting at Danbury. We were using the American Uncivil War rules which helped very much in making the game feel very cinemati; which, if you read my post from last year's game where we had a little bit of James Bond action using the 7TV rules, is the kind of game we like to play at this holiday time of year.

If you are interested in knowing more about the raid itself the following link will be useful.
http://www.civilwartraveler.com/EAST/NC/StonemansRaid.html

General George Stoneman

If you would like to know more about the rules and watch the really handy little video play throughs then I have attached the following link.

http://www.architectsofwar.com/americanuncivilwar-2.aspx

So, on arrival at Chez Chas we were greeted in the sun lounge with a hot drink and a briefing from our host.

Some of the extras for the days filming, L-R Vince, Steve M, Chas, Yours Truly (having the finer points explained) and Nick

I have to say this set of rules really made our game. The ACW stuff is there with the different weapons and troop types, plus civilians, but the little sub plots that our individual characters had together with their individual foibles and strengths made this feel like a film script as we played out our drama. 

Danbury, with the various factions laid out in their approximate start positions

Union raiders line the top of the table (right) ready to move in and wreak havoc

The game reminded me of, and seems similar to, Muskets and Tomahawks, with a card driven play sequence and the character theme. It made a refreshing change from the usual blue on red confrontation as, for instance, my character Bloody Bill was more intent on waging a personal war with Rab Butler and organising his men to loot the town than to worry about fighting the war. On the other hand the Confederate army commander was totally focused on his mission to protect the Foundry from Union forces, content to ignore my raiders as they gathered hogs around their waggon loaded with booty.

Likewise the fanatical Union Captain Daring seemed totally in character when, seeing his men shot down assaulting the houses, he gave the order to burn them down one after the other.

Confederate Town Militia

Townsfolk including the redoubtable ladies of Danbury led by Harlet O'scara (big white dress, centre right) and Rab Butler(red jacket, centre right)

Even the ladies had to be treated with caution by the fighting factions and several probes into town by the Union troops were shot at by Amazons in skirts.

Confederate regulars with artillery, tired and very hungry

Hopefully the following captioned pictures will capture the flavour of the day. The game was declared a Confederate victory with the Union forces badly shot up and more personal missions achieved by the Rebs. Well done to Steve who coolly led the Confederate regulars and came out on top for the day.

My brave Confederate raiders led by low down dirty dealing "Bloody Bill"

As part of the fun, I ran a little military history quiz over lunch and I have put the questions up if you want to test yourself.  Answers at the bottom of the post.

1, Name four Napoleonic Marshals whose surname began with M
2. Name the four British field army commanders in the American War of Independence
3, Name four WWII German AFV's that had animal names

Nick's beautiful Union cavalry led by a rather hard drinking unreliable type

4. Name four of Sir Arthur Wellesley's/Duke of Wellington's battle victories in the Peninsular War
5. Name four of the D Day beaches.
6. Name four Union Corps Commanders at Gettysburg.

Union Infantry led by the fanatic Capt Daring supported by the scurrilous Sgt Shifty

7. How are these four ACW battles otherwise known
Elk Horn Tavern
First Manassas
Shiloh
Sharpesburg

8. Name the members of the second triumvirate and the title of the last man standing

The quiet before the storm

9. Name the Persian King defeated by Alexander the Great and the three battles that led to that defeat
10. Name four of Hitler's field marshals.

Centre back is the Danbury Iron Foundry, and those pigs look good to a hungry soldier

They've even got fresh steaks

Play starts as the various factions start to arrive on table

The Confederate army set up to defend the Foundry (bottom right)

Civilians struggle to gather their belongings in the hope of getting the next boat out that belongs to that no good Rab Butler 

Battle is well and truly joined

Union infantry come under attack from the ladies of Danbury aided by the local militia

Hey Sarge, I'm getting me a hog!

Frustrated Union cavalry wait for orders and for their Officer to finish his drink, sadly for them their next move revealed a hidden stash of drinking whisky!

Bloody Bill's boys ride into town on business of their own

Panic among the crowd as bullets start to fly about the quay side

Union infantry were taking fire from all directions

Rab Butler is pursued by Bloody Bill  and his boys as he attempts to lose them among the passengers

Firing breaks out as Sgt Shifty leads his Union infantry down to the quay and tries to board without a ticket

Bloody Bill's men gather the horses and their loot at the foundry (guess who got the hogs?)

The boat builds up steam as Capt Daring, furious about his casualties, starts to burn the town

The defenders on the boat drive off Bloody Bill and the Union troops, but not without casualties

The desperate towns folk, with their houses on fire, rush towards the boat

Sheriff Pusser (shotgun second right) joins the boat as Confederate troops fight off Sgt Shifty and his attempted boarding at the bow. 

Sgt Shifty, driven from the boat, takes his anger out on Harlet O'scara and knocks her unconscious, the blackguard 

Bloody Bill cuts his losses and his men escort their waggon load of loot and hogs out of town

As the boat looses its moorings and starts to move, the Confederate militia are driven from the burning buildings

Capt Daring keeps up the pressure as he herds the militia towards the river

The Confederate army know how to defend a position and the Union cavalry discover the wrong end of a 12lbr

Many thanks to our host Chas, and to Nick, Mike, Everett, Steve, Vince, Tom and Will for a great day of wargaming. 

If you are keen to see how you scored on the quiz and want to check your answers, we had a top score of 21 out of 40 possible correct answers, with our History Mastermind champion being Vince. Well done, I'm just glad I was setting the questions and not answering them!

Answers

1. Murat, Massena, Mortier, Marmont, McDonald, Moncey

2. Howe, Burgoyne, Clinton, Cornwallis

3. Tiger, Panther, Wespe, Hummel, Luchs, Elephant, Grille, Nashorn, Maus

4. Rolica, Vimeiro, Oporto, Talavera, Bussaco, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vitoria, Sorauren,  Bidassoa, Bayonne, Nivelle, Nive, Orthez, Toulouse

5. Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword

6. Reynolds, Hancock, Sickles, Sykes, Sedgwick, Howard, Slocum, Pleasonton

7. Pea Ridge, First Bull Run, Pittsburgh Landing, Antietam

8. Octavius, Anthony, Lepidus, Augustus

9. Darius, Granicus River, Issus, Guagemela

10. Rommel, Manstein, Paulus, Kesselering, Keitel, Goering, Kluge, List, Model, von Rundstedt, von Blomburg, von Bock, von Brauchitch, Sperrle, von Kleist, von Richthofen, von Leeb, Milch, von Richenau, von Witzelben, von Bohm Ermolli, von Kluchler, Busch, von Weichs, Schorner, von Greim