Sunday Game - American Civil War

 Today we had a mass game - seven players - organised by our gaming mate Chris and played at our usual venue, Barry's place in Blockhouse Bay, Auckland. The Union (John, Mark, Nick and I) were pursuing a retiring Confederate force commanded by Barry, Paul and Rick. Chris was the non playing umpire. A series of roads had several convoys of wagons on them, and the Confederates could not start to retire off their table edge until the first wagon had done so. There were a lot of rail fences to provide cover and a mixture of terrain that slowed down the Union pursuit, particularly some undulating hilly ground in the centre, where movement was reduced by 50%, as well as a series of corn fields. John and I commanded the two flanks whilst Mark and Nick took the main forces through the centre. Rick opposed me, whilst Paul and Barry combined to take on Nick, Mark and John. The Union had more infantry battalions but fewer guns, although our batteries were bigger and fired with three dice as opposed to only two dice for the Reb's guns.

Here are a few shots of the action as it unfolded over a period of about five hours

One of the several supply trains the Rebs had to get off the table - they had no control over them however as they were moved by the umpire

General view of the table, my position is in the bottom left of the image

Some of the very few cavalry in evidence - two regiments commanded by Rick

My initial deployment position was pretty cramped and it took a while to get my two brigades of six battalions each sorted out

Marks initial dispositions with the cornfields stretching off to the Rebel lines

Nick advanced against Paul across the hilly ground in the centre, which slowed his progress. He cleverly screened his advance with his dismounted cavalry troopers, who are harder to hit as they always count as a dispersed target

At the other end of the table, John was faced by a very strong defensive position occupied by Barry

One of the convoys has already reached the Confederate lines

A solid wall of grey commanded by Rick awaited my advancing troops

Having shaken out my force, the first brigade climbs over the rail fence and advances towards Ricks troops

While the remainder hold their position

My initial advance to contact- Ricks cavalry had already pulled back after a couple of rounds of artillery fire put five hits on them and reduced one unit to shaken

Nicks Iron Brigade advances slowly across the broken hilly ground to close with Paul

Whilst Marks progress was also slowed by the need to traverse several corn fields

John was getting the worst of the engagement on the other flank against Barry's strong defensive position

The convoy passes a farm occupied by Barry as Johns troops try to catch it before it gets out of reach

Marks troops advancing against the juncture between Barry and Paul's commands

LUNCH TIME - the view from Barry's gaming room 

Right, back to the war - my leading battalion was somewhat exposed, taking eight hits ...but saving seven! Looks like it might be a good day with the dice....

Meanwhile on the other flank, John continued his assault against Barry

John moves against the Rebs holding a strong defensive position in the farm house

Nick closing in on Paul's position in the centre - it certainly took him a long time to cross the rough terrain

Apart from the middle aged bellies at the far end, I thought this was a great view along the length of the battlefield!

The blood fest between John and Barry continues on the other wing

Whilst two of the three convoys have almost reached the edge of the table

Mark (left of the road) and Nick (to the right) close in on Barry and Paul respectively

Both my brigades moving forwards against Rick, causing several of his units to flee.

After assaulting and destroying an infantry unit and artillery battery, two of my units broke through onto the supporting infantry 

The result of the two melee's was a win each. I pulled my successful unit back to form a solid line as Ricks first brigade began to disintegrate

Close up of some of the figures in my force. These were sculpted and produced by our friend Mark Strachan of "1866 and all That" fame. Mark has also created figures for the Austrian/Italian war of the late 19th century

Meanwhile, Mark's men are slowly making their way across the wheat fields

Near the end of the game and an aerial view of the position on my flank, with my slightly depleted brigades pushing forwards against Rick - in the final round of firing I put nine hits onto his remaining two units, taking one straight from one hit up to the maximum of six and making it permanently shaken in the process - it WAS a good day with the dice!

As the convoy had reached the table edge, Rick had started to withdraw units of his second brigade, which gave victory points to the Confederates - whose aim was to withdraw from the field once the convoys were safe

The situation in the centre after a bloody struggle between Paul and Nick - honours were about even and both forces were in pretty bad shape

Final shot of Marks situation - the wheat field certainly made his progress against Barry pretty slow.

We called the game there as it was 4pm and we needed to think about getting home. Chris ruled it a minor Confederate victory, and given some of the wagons and some of Ricks forces had managed to leave the table, as per the victory conditions, I think that was fair. I had a great game, only losing two of twelve battalions, and throwing some really great dice along the way, much to Rick's irritation, but the rest of the team got a pretty bloody nose and all the forces engaged were in a shaky condition by the time we finished, although everyone was still engaged, unlike the recent Carlist War game when half the forces popped and disappeared from the field!