Yesterday evening after work, Chris, John and I made our regular journey to Julian's place, where we spent an enjoyable three hours fighting an action from the Peninsula Campaign in the American Civil War, using the Kallistra hex based rule set and Julian's collection of Old Glory figures.

The game was based on a real battle but I failed to record the name of the action. The Union were defending a river that extended about halfway across the table, with two fords. One was covered by Union earthworks, the other was undefended. The aim of the Rebs was to turn the Union flank. The battlefield was liberally scattered with trees, making it better for defence than attack. Julian and I played the Union with Chris and "Johnny" Reb doing the attacking.

The game progressed roughly as per below - I commanded the Union right and was able to hold off Johns attack on that flank and by the end of the game had more or less destroyed his command; however, John and Chris's combined cavalry managed to break through the centre between Julian and me, turn Julian's right flank and dispose of half his force. Meanwhile, Chris sacrificed one or two units of infantry to force a crossing of Ford 1 and he outgunned Julian's defending force 3:2 in the fire fight. By the time we finished up, John's force had more or less ceased to exist but I was isolated out on the right flank as Chris finished off the last remaining units of Julian's decimated command - a Rebel victory, dagnabbit!


Below - the initial dispositions - these are an approximation!

Below - First moves - I pulled back two exposed units of elite Zouaves on my extreme left into the woods

 The Confederate advance continues

After a couple of turns exchanging ineffectual fire at each other, John gave a Rebel Yell and launched a Pickett style charge. Meanwhile, Chris was wearing down Julian's forces on the other flank. I lost my gun early in the piece and Julian lost one of his two, so we were outnumbered in artillery now as well as cavalry!

 Half Johns force was wiped out in the charge and the remainder left shaken. The Reb cavalry, however, had cleared out the centre of the field. Chris pushed across Ford 1 and Julian's force was spent - so the Rebs had achieved their aim and my guys decided to decamp whilst the going was good!

Images below - some a bit fuzzy due to the lighting challenges!


The first two are particularly bad but I left them in aa they give a general overview of the initial deployment....

Below - the right wing under my command

 Below - the left wing under Julian's command

 Below - the centre of the Confederate line begins the advance

 Below - the field works occupied by my troops on the right flank

 Below -Johns Rebs advance through the dense woods

 Below -the extreme left of the Rebel line, one of the two cavalry units have dismounted

 Below - the first attempt to force Ford 1 on Julian's Union left flank

 Below - One of Julian's commanders directs the defence…..

 Below - the Zouaves redeploying into the cover of the woods

 Below - Julian's men arrive to defend the Ford 1

 Below - the Rebs advance out of the woods to my front....

Below - same position from a slightly different angle

 Below -the defenders were pushed out of their mini redoubt by the Confederate advance

 Below - the second confederate cavalry charge - the first one drove off the unit covering Ford 2 but then succumbed to cannister from our one remaining battery of guns

 Below - a second wave of Confederate infantry cross Ford 1

 Below - the high watermark of John's assault

 Below - the Union recover possession of the defensive position and drive the Rebs back

 Below - the decimated remnants of the Confederate left flank

 Below - the Reb cavalry about to prevail after a mamouth struggle 

 Below - Confederate artillery in position on the river bank

 Below - more and more Confederate infantry pour over Ford 1

 Below - final view of the table  - my command (out of shot in bottom right) was more or less intact but the rest of the field was swept clean of Union resistance - the Confederates had succeeded in turning the flank!

Tonight Julian and reprised last weeks encounter with another two games of his Samurai fantasy skirmish board game "Okko"

This week, I made sure I had my glasses with me so I could read all the special character traits on the various cards - and what a difference it made - that and some great dice rolling!

We played two games in 90 minutes then retired to eat dinner and watched a good film on Netflix with Tina Fey as a journalist in Afghanistan - and I still left for home not much later than 9pm - an excellent way to spend a Thursday evening!

The two games were linked scenarios - The Cursed Temple parts 1 and 2. This time, I chose to be the "goodies" while Julian was the dark forces. 

Here are some pics and a brief run down on the action....

 My "Gang of Four" ready to take on the forces of darkness

 Setzuka Female warrior

 Noburo

 Okko the hero

 The Black Samurai

 My essential equipment!

 My warband in position for the start of game one

 The opposition - Master Kanata and Oni Bushi

 Oni Warau and Oni Sumo

 First moves by Julian - Master Kanata and Oni Bushi in a combined attack on Noburo

 A couple of moves later - Noburo and Setzuka have both been pushed back by the assault

 Noburo attacks Master Kanata whilst the Samurai and Okko turn to face the Oni Warau

 Oni Sumu attacks Noburo from the rear forcing him to retreat shaken - but still alive! Meanwhile Setzuka has dispatched the Oni Bushi and is attacking Master Kanata

 Okko and the Samurai had two successful attacks on the Oni Warua, pushing him back shaken, then the Samurai turned about to support Setzuka (who had in the meantime combined with Noburo to finish off Master Kanata) in her assault on Oni Sumo. This was successful and so the game ended with my force intact and three of Julian's four characters dead!

 Game Two - my group in their starting position

 Noburo advanced alone towards the temple to confront the two characters guarding the Cursed Alter, whilst the other three figures turned on their pursuers. Because three of Julian's figures ended the first game "dead", they started this game shaken. Okko and the Samurai combine in an attack on the Oni Sumo.

 Next round, Oni Sumo is gone and the three friends advance on the lone figure of Master Kanata

 Master Kanata managed to pull back and fend off one assault by Setzuka but then Okko joined the fray and overcame this resistance

 Meanwhile, Noburo was taking on two enemies on his own at the other end of the board. He was driven back by Oni Warau ……...

 …...but then used his special "leap" power to bypass this formidable opponent and reach the Cursed Alter - all he had to do was roll 1-3 on a D6 to destroy it - he rolled a 4!

 The fight continued with Oni Warau making a rear attack on Noburo - who turned and defeated his attacker.

Now only the Oni Bushi was left in Julian's force whilst I had all 4 of my team still in play. I had obviously prevailed again but just to prove it, Noburo rolled a 2 and destroyed the Cursed Alter!