Black Powder ACW at Entoyment

It's been a while since I have posted, mainly due to being either very busy or rather ill again. So, here goes again. I have done a bit of gaming, a bit of painting and a bit of struggling not to snap peoples heads off when they annoy me.

Highlight of the gaming came last Sunday when we had a trip to Entoyment in Poole to play a Black Powder ACW game of the Battle of Fredericksburg. Panjo, Nathan, my son Christopher and I all went up and played with several other like-minded lunatics gamers. The sensible ones picked the Confederate side, while the fools went for the blue coats. I was in the middle of the Confederate line, just to the right of the sunken road/stone wall on the heights. Christopher was to my right and Nathan was on the far right with lots of very static cavalry. The far left was ably commanded by Mel while my immediate left was commanded by Lee(not the real one), Mel's husband. There is a better report of the game on their blog, Battlebunker.

Hood's Division stands ready to see off Billy Yank

 I had command of Hood's and Pickett's divisions of Jackson's Corps. Spread thin was the thought that came to mind, I had very very few reserves to support my thin front line.

Early commanded the far right, waiting on Stuarts cavalry

 As more and more Union types crossed the river we all sat and waited for Stuart to spring into action. It turned out to be a long wait as rasping Nathan "Wandering Star" Marvin kept rolling 11's on his command rolls.

Damn Yankees just kept on coming!

 Meanwhile his opposite number had similar issues as he kept moving alternate brigades each turn.

Longstreet's Division goes to sleep in their sunken road.

 Lee(not the real one) commanded loads of troops holding the most defensible position on the table. Sensibly the Union boys stayed as far away from him as they could and all headed for my thin line of grey clad fighting men. It was so quiet on Lee's(not the real one) section that he even told his men to have a nap!

Union troops filtering through Fredericksburg

Facing Mel was Jamie, her son. There is no love lost between those two when it comes to wargames.  He kept on charging and she kept on slapping him back down the hill. Luca faced Lee(not the real one) initially, but quickly moved over to charge Pickett's thin line.

More yanks crossing the river, there are a lot of cavalry over there!

Over on the right Stuart failed to move again and the Yank cavalry streamed over the river and prepared to do some damage. However, once over the river everything seemed to slow down over that side.

That's not gun smoke, it's Longstreet's troops having a cigar break!

 On the left Lee's(not the real one) men had woken up and lit the "fine southern tobacco" cigars provided by General Longstreet. They are not firing, well not going by the lack of damage caused anyway!

Stuart finally moves forward....a bit

  Stuart finally moved forwards, once! The next turn saw yet another blunder by raspy Nathan and the cavalry all moved left to stand in front of their own infantry so they couldn't fire. Something about not letting them get any of the glory I think.

Pickett's Division is holding against ever increasing odds

 Meanwhile Pickett was fighting a valiant defence against ever increasing odds. His position was the weakest of the hill top defenders, with a stone wall to his left and a fence to his right, but no cover for his troops at all. Despite the best efforts of the masses of blue coats he was managing to hold while he waited for Lee(not the real one) to do anything.........

Oh look, there is still nobody attacking Ransom's Division!

 As my troops weathered the storm my left flank was eerily quiet. Except for the sound of coffee being drunk and cigars being lit that is. Nobody there Lee(not the real one), any chance of you passing a command roll today?

Finally Lee(not the General) springs(wanders) into action!

 Shock and horror, Lee(not the real one) moved some troops to support Pickett. To be fair the timing was fortuitous as my unit was forced to fall back the very next turn, but don't believe him if he says he planned it like that. The next turn say a sweeping advance by Lee(not the real one), but it wasn't planned. He rolled a command blunder and his troops decided to charge forwards!

Lucky timing though as it enabled the fresh, well rested, nicotine charged troops to roll up the flanks of the attacks to both sides of them and win the day.

All in all it was a cracking day with great company and a fun scenario. Thanks to Paul and Carl for letting us play with their troops and putting on a great game. More thanks to Pete and Entoyment for hosting us. I can thoroughly recommend a visit to the shop as it is an Aladdin's cave for wargamers! Extra thanks to all the other gamers, even static Lee(not the real one)!  😉 Good to meet you.

Nathan's Stag Do

It is with a heavy heart that I have to report the forthcoming loss of free will that my mate Nathan, aka Stumpy, is about to undergo. After many years of dodging the bullet he has finally been cornered and is marrying his long time partner Linda. My condolences to her as well, but she must know what she is letting herself in for after 20 odd years with him. 😉

In an attempt to alleviate his fear of the approaching doom it was decided to put on a wargames day for him with a few of his "friends".  Any rumours that they were paid to turn up are false news and should be ignored.  The venue was the party room at his sisters local hedgehog rescue center, Prickly Ball Farm. The room was big enough for a 14'x4' table so there was plenty of room for the 10 invited players.  Sadly one had to cancel as he is away in America seeing the sights. Food and drinks were provided as well, so all we needed was a game to play. 

After our recent trip to Wargames Foundry, reported in Jon's blog, I decided that a multi-player ACW skirmish would work nicely using Sharp Practice. I sorted out briefings and forces for 8 players with yours truly herding cats, I mean running things. Terrain and figures were gathered and I roped Andy and Panjo, two of Nathan's longest suffering friends, to help me set it up the afternoon before.  Nathan knew nothing about, being mislead by his betrothed with a family breakfast at his sister's cafe. 

 Here is the table, set up and ready to go.  Each side had 4 forces of 36 to 38 points, 2 each of cavalry and infantry.  Each had it's own mission to attempt to complete but, as is usual with these things, they seem to have been forgotten as soon as the enemy were spotted. 



As the morning progressed the players all arrived by the allotted time of 10am, with Nathan due at 10.30.  He was so surprised that he was speechless for a few minutes, a rarity as anybody who knows him will attest too.  A quick welcome chat was had and then we went off for a very nice bacon and egg roll in the cafe.  Except for Chas, who is special. He had bacon, egg and avocado because he's a celiac person!  I thought he was just from deepest, darkest North Devon.

 The players then assembled back in the room and chaos ensued.  Andy, Colin, Chas and Steve were Confederates, with Nathan, Vince, Jon and Panjo getting the Union troops. I played about with the camera and took this attempt at a panorama shot. Need more practice I think.
Below are a selection of shots of the game, it seemed to play well and everybody had a good time I think(and hope). Steve is moving Reb cavalry forward in this one. He had to burn the barn, which confused him as there were two of them so he just went for the closest one.

Right flank action as Reb skirmishers engage dismounted Union cavalry.

 Reb infantry advance towards the approaching Union cavalry.

 Confederate cavalry "search" for a Union spy. 

Right flank, with dismouted Reb cavalry being supported by infantry as the Union infantry advance towards them.






Left to right, Nathan, Vince and Jon.  Union command at it's best, ish, sort of....maybe!

 Reb infantry push through the woods, driving Panjo's dismounted cavalry back.

 The other side of the wood, with Jon's Union cavalry trying to retrieve the lost cannon as the Rebs advance on them.

 Chas' engineers move towards the bridge, preparing to destroy it.

Right flank again as the Reb infantry and cavalry are gradually being outflanked by the Union troops.






Reb cavalry in the rear of the Union lines alleviated the pressure somewhat though.

To finish it all off we had a cake made by my daughter, a bit short for a French Napoleonic shako but it looked and tasted good.

A final panorama shot of the room with everybody getting into their slab of cake.

All told it was a cracking day and I would like to thank everybody who was involved. Lin and Juliette for organising the room and food. Andy and Panjo for helping me to set it all up the day before and keeping an eye on me throughout the day. Chas, Jon, Steve and Vince for making it a fun game and finally Nathan for the excuse to get us all together for a days gaming.  We even had a flypast by several aircraft as the Torbay Airshow was on, it was nice to see a Catalina go by. 

Jon will have an update on his blog at somepoint, including a group photo of us all.

Legionary plans and a bit of painting

Tomorrow is Exeter's premier(only) wargames show, Legionary. I am ineptly assissting Nathan with a 28mm ACW game using the Pickett's Charge rules I reviewed recently. The scenario is based loosely on Blochers Knoll during the Battle of Gettysburg.  Hopefully it will work well, hopefully.......

As it clashes with the monthly Devon Wargames meet this year, Jon "JJ" Jones is also putting on a game, using his exquisite 15mm Napoleonic forces. So a decent showing from the club, hopefully enough to drag along some new members.

I have done a bit more painting, although not that much. 
First up is the Renedra/Perry Miniatures ACW house. This came in the Battle in a Box set I bought and I finally decided to get it painted. It goes together easily enough and can be modelled with doors that open, with a bit of care when gluing it anyway. I went for a generic white(ish) structure with grey roofing. Looks ok to my eyes, but I do wear glasses!

 Then I broke away from 28mm for a change. I bought the Landmark building set way back in the distant mists of time, when Battlehonours UK released them. Since then I have gradually based up some of them and decided I needed a church for my expanding 15mm town.

I repainted the church as it was originally a bit too green, so it is now a nice shade of grey, well several shades actually. It was then based on a bit of hardboard and walls were added, also from the Landmark set. A couple of trees were made and stuck onto the base and gravestones were purchased from several places and put onto Flames of War bases so then can be removed if needed. Finally it was all flocked, grassed and tarted up.

 Hopefully it looks ok, it took a bit longer than I expected, primarily because I kept getting distracted, but it should look good on the table.

 At Crusade way back in January I bought a couple of 15mm barns from Original Laser Designs. Quite simple to look at, they went together very easily and painted up quite nicely as well.  At some point they will be based up to add to the town.

 Finally I painted some more ACW. Yes, I know I said I had finished. Yes, I know I have no willpower, but the guns were sat there all forlorn and unpainted. So I painted them.  Two each for the Confederates and Union, each with four crew. So that really is it, until I buy some more tomorrow!

It could be worse, I could have a load of figures to paint still..........

😉

Adios for now and if you are in Exeter tomorrow say hi, I'm the ugly fat bloke helping on the 28nn ACW table. 

I wish I was in the land of cotton.............

Well, not really but it seemed like a good title for this post.  I have finally finished* the Confederate force to face Union troops for Sharp Practice.  The force is identical in composition to the Union force, with six units of 8 infantry, two units of 6 skirmishers, one unit of 8 mounted or 6 dismounted cavalry and assorted leaders etc.  All told it is 77 foot and 11 mounted figures.

 Photo one is 24 infantry with right shoulder arms, along with a skirmisher screen of 6 men.  The infantry are all Perry Miniatures plastics while the skirmishers are a mix of plastics and a few metal Wargames Foundry to mix them up a bit.

Photo two is another 24 infantry charging/advancing, again with 6 skirmishers.  Same composition as above.

 The mounted cavalry are also Perry plastics, with a few conversions to try and match the foot figures.  The foot figures have assorted weapons, 2 each of shotgun, carbine and rifle, so I have tried to replicate that with the mounted figures.  Some cutting and chopping, several moments of gluing my fingers to bits of metal and/or plastic and a few choice words later and the end result is mediocre to say the least.  They will do though.

Finally we have the commanders and "extras".  There are three mounted officers, one based with a standard bearer to make him more commanding.  The state flag of Texas flag has been used to mark the senior officer.  Six foot officers make up the rest of the commanders, supported by a drummer, two standard bearers and a physic/surgeon.  The standards are those of Hamptons Legion as they spent some time in Hood's Texas Brigade and I like the flags.  There is also a sneaky Union type in this picture, I knocked together a surgeon for the Union force from a left over plastic figure.  You can tell they are medical types by their green sashes, the Confederate one even has a cigar of "good southern tobacco".

* When I say finished, that's an obvious wargamers lie.  I still have the artillery to do, then there are the other bits I could add later like snipers, more cavalry etc.  It never ends, despite what I say to my wife.

So that's it again, two posts in two days should be enough for anyone.

Operation pending and yet more ACW

I am off to hospital tomorrow for the long awaited operation.  It's not the op I hoped for but at least I won't have this damn tube stuck down my nose anymore, so happy days.  Now onto the serious stuff.......

I have finally been motivated enough to get some paint onto lead and plastic.  A while ago I bought the ACW army box that the Perrys sell and it is mostly good.  Some cracking figures, some nice scenery and a couple of mounted officers only available in the box.  Sadly a chunk of the figures are the original ACW figures and not the newer, more dynamic, poses but they will do for a while.  So I have cracked on and now have a near finished Union force for Sharp Practice.  I added to the box contents with a pack of commanders and dismounted cavalry for both sides, plus a sprue of Zouaves, one of cavalry and 2 of union skirmishers from ebay.

140th NY Zouaves

I have nearly finished the Union force now, just the artillery to do at some point but they are a rarely seen support option in the games we have played so far. My planned force is six units of 8 infantry, 2 units of 6 skirmishers and one unit of 8 cavalry with 6 dismounted figures.  Along with that I have 2 standard bearers, a drummer, a physic and 9 leaders, 6 foot and 3 mounted.

Officer types

Cavalry and Skirmishers

I already had some of the older figures painted up, so they make up half of the infantry units with 3 groups of 8 men and a unit of skirmishers.  Newly painted are 24 Zouaves, 2 Zouave leaders, 3 mounted officers, 1 foot officer, 8 mounted cavalry, 6 dismounted cavalry and 6 skirmishers.  I shall replace the older figures with a box of the new Union Infantry from Perry Miniatures soon......maybe.

The zouaves are painted up as the 140th New York Volunteer Infantry, who started out as a regular uniformed unit but were changed to zouaves in the winter of 1863-64 as a reward for their seamless record. 

 I did a little bit of modelling on the cavalry, changing the arms and chopping bits about to give them carbines instead of sabers and pistols. 

I am partway through the Confederate forces as well, but none are based yet.  So there it is.  I had hoped to get the rebs done too but time and other things got in the way.

One of the other things was fixing a computer for a customer.  It was "making some funny noises and not working properly" was the clear and concise information I got.  After a few questions it became clear that this PC was a few years old (Windows Vista!) and had never, ever been cleaned.  So I opened it up and, after removing the dust that was inside the case I started cleaning the fans.  The main fan vents at the back were completely blocked and the fan was so jammed up with crap it had burnt out the motor so I had to replace it.  The cpu fan was also full of crap, so I removed it and found a load more crap.  That's the picture below, after I have removed the cpu fan to clean it. 
I'm actually quite surprised it worked at all, given that the fans were clogged up so badly.  The graphics card fan was also blocked, so it all got a damn good clean out and was soon looking almost as good as new.  A new fan, a good clean and it's all quiet again now.  A quick check of the systems and I find 2 copies of Vista, 3 different users, all with the same name and lots of multiple copies of various programs.  It's all done and gone back now and he is happy as Larry, but it took a bit longer than planned so my painting is now behind schedule.  Ah well, life goes on.

Good luck with whatever gaming you do, I shall return after the hospital release me.