Wargames 1st November 2010

On the 1st November 2010 the club’s ACW Campaign began though I will save those details for another post. After both sides in the campaign had discussed and decided their first moves, separately of course, a little game of ACW was put on using the Black Powder rules for those interested.

Mark Alcock and Paul Robinson with his son James were playing a WW1 game between Mark’s Germans and Paul’s “Doughboy’s”

 

 

 

 

Some of Paul Robinson’s “Doughboy’s” with their Field Guns.

 

 

 

 

Some of Mark’s Germans in Soft Cover. These were painted by Joe Dunn, a club member and professional figure painter.

Paul and Mark were playtesting some WW1 rules they were developing based on a discussion they had several months back. The result was that the Germans won, but not by much. It was hardly an overwhelming victory.

 

In this game which was intended for all those interested, was just to bring us up to speed with the Black Powder rules which the club is using in the ACW Campaign. Playing in this game were myself, Mal Taylor, Tony Walmsley (Union side) with Andy Hamilton and Jason Whitfield (Confederates).

 

I was manning the left flank which was under attack from Andy’s Reb’s whilst Mal Taylor attacked the Confederate forces in the middle. Tony was the right flank.

 

 

 

Unable to hold the right flank, as I ended up having to withdraw all my forces, with the centre and left collapsing, the Union side unfortunately lost.

Before the game ended Andy’s Reb Cavalry had entered the battlefield and were heading for Mal’s men. Good fun game. Thanks to Dave Tuck for his refereeing and use of his figures.

The 2nd South Carolina String Band

Following a link shared on Facebook by a friend I discovered the 2nd South Carolina String Band. After listening to their sound and music, I actually thought they weren’t bad at all. In addition having an interest in the American Civil War, listening to the 2nd South Carolina String Band was a bit like going back in time. The 2nd South Carolina String Band plays on American Civil War instruments, the songs they played and more importantly, the way the musicians would have played them at that time in history.

A few of their songs are below. The first song was actually sang at the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, in a field not far away from the battlefield itself. The 2nd song was sang exactly a year later in roughly the same location.

If you like these guys they have their own website. For a preview of their site click on the screenshot on the left. Their website address is http://civilwarband.com/

Wargames At The Club 19th January 2009

My first Monday night of 2009 at the club. Only dropped in this time. Hoping to get back to playing and joining in again soon. As usual, took a few pics of the games that were played. There were 3 games that night.

Dave Tuck (left) and Steve Mercer (right) were engaging in a 15mm American Civil War Battle.

Dave was the Union while Steve was playing as the Confederates.

Some of Steve's Rebs taking the long way round to the Battlefield.

The ACW playsheet. This is the advanced version of the playsheet that had been used in the October 2008 ACW game at Dave's house. Its report can be found here:
http://grantsgrimsbygames.blogspot.com/2008/12/battle-of-stones-river-1862-at-daves.html

Mike Barnatt (left) and Tony Walmsley (right) playing 6mm Ancients. Indians v Alexandrians (Greeks).

A close up of some of the action in the 6mm Ancients game. Personally I find this scale too small for me and could hardly see anything even when I tried to look up close. Those lads have obviously got better eyesight than me.

Mike built this fort at home for his 6mm Ancients game.

A nice large War of the Spanish Succession game on our big table. The players were: Paul Robinson (Grimsby Mariner) as the French, on the left of the photo; Andy Hamilton (on right of photo) and Mark Alcock (not in photo) as the Anglo-Dutch.

An "aerial" view of the WSS action in the middle of the table.

Cavalry Melee between the French and the Anglo-Dutch.

The French won the entire battle. Read Paul's report here at:
http://grimsbywargaming.blogspot.com/2009/01/monday-19th-january.html

President Obama

I missed President Obama's inauguration speech yesterday but finally caught up with it today. It was a really good speech and well received by just about everybody. Before going to college yesterday I did manage to catch Vice President Joe Biden being sworn in.

Interestingly Obama used the same bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration on March 4th 1861 in the early days of the American Civil War. Presumably this was a symbolic gesture by Obama. Capitol Hill and many other parts of Washington had been built by Slaves. Slavery was in the Heritage of the First Lady Michelle Obama's blood. Apart from keeping the Union together it was Abraham Lincoln who eventually ended Slavery in the 1860's.

Here is President Obama being sworn in:



And his speech:

The Battle of Stones River, 1862 (At Dave's place...)

Between December 31st, 1862 and January 2nd, 1863 a large battle was fought in Tennessee in the American Civil War. That was the Battle of Stones River.

The picture (above) was originally found on Wikipedia.

On 18th October 2008 this battle was fought again at Dave Tuck's House.

All the figures were Dave's which he had already set out on the table.

The confederate frontline with the Union frontline immediately in the foreground. Dave was the Commander of the Confederates in this game.

A view of both lines near the top of the table.

Both Union and Confederate Lines at the top of the table. Myself and Andy Hamilton were the Union forces with Andy taking command of most of the force.

Some pesky confederates defending the small hill.

Very early in the game. Dave Tuck (left) with Andy Hamilton (right).

As the game progresses, there is some serious clashing going on. There were huge amounts of soldiers/brigades involved on both sides in this game.

Action in the middle of the battlefield. Most of the action and attacking in this game was done by Dave and Andy because...

....it took my brigades ages just to start moving into position. Here they have moved forward a reasonable amount after several moves. Even then there were loads more soldiers behind these trees that were never used and hardly moved.

A close up of some Confederate figures.

Bottom left, you can see that some of my soldiers had begun engaging Dave's Confederates, driving them back slightly, though their line was still holding.

Andy's Union soldiers in battle on the hill.

The Chaos near the end of the game.

The End of the game after playing for about 5 hours.

The layout of the Battlefield had changed considerably since the game started. By the time it ended it was set up for another huge battle which could have taken another 5 hours to resolve.

The result? The same as the battle ended historically: It was not conclusive. Basically a draw. Neither side could claim victory.

This was the playsheet we used. Actually this was mine. The rules used were Whipping Bobby Lee. How did the playsheet work? In your turn you throw 3 dice. Say you got 3,5 and 4. Using the playsheet you could either do 3 different moves: 3 is move or fire any 1 field gun unit; 5 is action move for any 1 unit of any type; 4 is move or fire any 1 unit of any type. Alternatively you could add all 3 together and get 12. 12 is move any 4 units of any type. However if you wanted to do something else on your turn you could either add or plus 1 or 2 etc to your dice roll. If you wanted 13 on the sheet, you would cross off the +1 box at the bottom of the sheet before you made your move.

Firing and moving would be accordance of the rules of whichever ruleset you were playing with. This sheet has changed since this game, been modified slightly or should I say evolved?

Dave's dog Jasmine. She's a lovely dog who is very lively, friendly and affectionate. She is also hard to take a photo of as doesn't stop still for a minute. Was Lucky to catch this one that day.

Wargames 30th June 2008

A couple of games happened last week which I will report on this post. Got a nice treat for you at the end of it too.

There was a game of 15mm American Civil War which I was playing in; 15mm Napoleonics game between the Russians and Swedes; Napoleonic Naval game using the Close Signal Action Rules. Got a small selection of photos for you.

15mm Napoleonics. John Ogden's Russians. Russians are Prussians who haven't had a P in front of them.

Mark Alcock's "Turnips", sorry, I mean Swedes.

Naval Napoleonic game using the Close Signal Action Rules. All the ships belonged to Steve Mercer.

A slightly sneaky and shaky shot of Steve Mercer (left) and Andy Hamilton (right) playing the Napoleonic Naval game.

15mm ACW. Playing in the ACW game were myself, Danny Malone, Ron Skeet, Dave Tuck and Steve Graham. On the Union side were myself and Danny using Danny's figures; On the "Reb" side were Ron and Dave using Dave's figures with Steve using his own. The figures on the bottom corner of the table are Steve's.

"Reb's" under Ron's commands.

Ron's "Reb's" coming dangerously close to my brigades.

Dave's "Reb's" clasing with my Union soldiers. In the end the Union won as Ron's men managed to break through and destroy my flank with many of my men routing, running for their lives. Danny managed to hold out quite well as many of his defences were still intact at the end.

Here are the treats I was telling you about. This is a scratch built World War 1 Water Purification Truck by Andy Sharp with one of Andy Hamilton's recently scratch built buildings behind it.

World War 1 Disinfectant Truck also scratch built by Andy Sharp.

Alternate view of the Water Purification Truck.

Aerial view of the Water Purification Truck with Andy Hamilton's building in foreground.

ACW Naval

1 of 2 games played at the club last night was a game of ACW Naval upstairs. All the ships belonged to Steve Mercer who also played. Other players in the game were Jase "Devildice" Whitfield and Ron Skeet. Steve had offered to let me play but I was more interested in the WW1 Trench Terrain game going on downstairs. More on that story later.

Here are a few photos of the ACW Naval game:

Close up of one of the ships.

An overview of the game. Ships engaging in battle on the open sea.

Another ship close up.

The "Hammering Iron" rules were used. I think it's the first time I have come across an ACW Naval game. It is certainly played even less than normal ACW which also hasn't been played for a while.