May Painting Projects

Got a few projects painted this past month.  I am working my way through the unpainted figures.  Still have quite a ways to go.

216 Hellenistic Zystophoroi.   These are Baccus Prodomoi figures being used for the heavy cavaalry.  They are made with a strip of three different poses.   The middle pose is the same as their Companion figure

 288 Indian Infantry.  These are also from Baccus

 256 ACW Confederate infantry.   Figures are a mix of Baccus and Rapier.   Baccus has two poses in their skirmish pack.   Standing shooting and standing loading with no command figures.  Rapier makes standing shooting, kneeling shooting, standing loading, three different advancing poses, a march attack pose, and three different command packs.

256 ACW Union infantry.   The flags were made by reducing larger scale flags using Paintshop Pro.   Original flags were about 30mm tall at 72 dots per inch.  They were reduced to about 6mm and the dots per inch were increased to 360.  This kept the same level of detail as the originals.

Special Units

Many of us have had wargame units that have performed exceptionally compared to others in the same army.   Sometimes better than usual and sometimes worse than usual.  

Years ago when I got started with ancients using WRG IV, I fielded a Seleucid army.  At first it included some 20mm Airfix Romans and some 20mm metal phalangites.  IIRC the manufacturer was Brescia.  At the time I was told that the Seleucids did not have Roman type infantry.  Years later it was found that they did.  One of the units in the army  was a fifty figure formation of levy archers.  The worst class of troops possible under the rules.   They usually occupied a hill behind the main line of the army and would turn any unit that came in range into a pin cushion.  Their morale never faltered.  One time a friend and I played a Jewish revolt game.  My friend took the Seleucids and I had the Jews.  It may have been the first turn of the game or possibly the second, when the levy archers had to take a morale test.  The result was an uncontrolled advance towards my army.  They came in range of my archers, took some casualties, had to perform another morale test, and broke, fleeing off the field.

Some years later I ran an American Civil War campaign at the local hobby shop.  It was a fictional campaign between the Empire (Union) and the Federation (Confederates).  Star Wars had recently been in the theaters %).   Commanders had names like J.B.T. Hutt or D. Vader.  During one of the early battles a Confederate infantry brigade performed outstanding acts of valor, throwing back attacks by Union troops though greatly outnumbered.  They became known as the St. John's Brigade due to their flag.  Every time they were involved in a battle they continued to out perform all others.  The Union players came to fear them and whenever there was a battle they would immediately try and locate the brigade.   The St. John's brigade had started the campaign with 1500 men and over the course of the campaign they had eventually been reduced to less than 500 men.  In their final battle the Union surrounded them with over three times their number and fired several volleys into them.  There were few survivors.  At this point the Empire had conquered most of the Federation and the campaign drew to a close.

From Manassas to Appomattox at Peanut Wars

I ran the fictional early war scenario "The Battle of Rabid Rabbits Rapids" at Peanut Wars this past weekend using From Manassas to Appomattox by Hoplite Research.  Both sides had equal forces of six infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, and six battalions of 6 pound smooth bore cannons.    The union army was organized as two equal sized corps of three infantry divisions, one cavalry division, and three artillery battalions.   The union elected to keep all their artillery batteries under corps command instead of assigning them to each division.   The confederate army had the two cavalry divisions under one corps commander and the infantry divisions under the other corps commander.  Each of the infantry divisions had one of the artillery battalions assigned to it.   Each infantry and cavalry division had eight stands.   Game scale was one inch = 100 yards, each infantry stand = 500 men, each artillery stand = 12 guns, and each cavalry stand = 300 men.  For smaller battles there is an alternative game scale where one inch = 50 yards and formations are brigades instead of divisions.

 

 Greg surveys the battlefield.   Both sides had to designate which of the two roads on their table edge their troops would enter on

 Another view of the battle field.   Objectives were control of the two towns with the railroad and/or driving the opposing army from the battle field.

 The first turn.  Although units were designated to enter on a certain road there was the possibility of them entering one road to the right or one road to the left.   This was to reflect the poor maps and order confusion that happened during a battle.  One division from each union corps shifted one road to the right.  On the confederate side one infantry division from each road shifted one road to the left.

 The armies arrive on turn one.   Some units were held up by units on the road ahead of them.  The confederate infantry division at the edge of the table to the right of the cavalry is one of them and has not arrived yet.

 Turn two.  One of the union infantry divisions has deployed along the railroad tracks near the eastern town as the confederates advance towards it..

 Western end of the battlefield as both sides deploy.

 The infantry battle on the western end of the battlefield.   Action at this end would be ferocious.   The confederates would have the advantage in numbers with four infantry divisions and one cavalry division against three union infantry divisions.   However, their troop quality would turn out to be not as good as the unions.   All troops on both sides were treated as inexperienced and would have to roll to see what quality they were the first time that they would have to take a morale test or engage in melee.   All union troops eventually tested as average.   Except for the first infantry division on the right which was elite and the second infantry division on the left which was average, all other confederate divisions were  poor.

 The battle on the east end.  The confederate first infantry division is on the left and the third infantry division is on the right.

 The fighting on the west end.  The union infantry division in the center was hit in its right flank and driven back facing its attackers.  It was then hit in its right flank by another confederate infantry division and again driven back.   About 1500 men from that division would be captured during that turn.

 Action in the center and east.   One confederate cavalry division has advanced through the woods near the confederate first infantry division.

 The union cavalry decides to charge the confederate cavalry in the woods.

 Manny Granillo's game of Ridiculous Vanity in the background.  The union cavalry in the woods would take heavy losses, but would eventually chase the confederate cavalry away resulting in a popular song.

 Action at the west end of the battlefield.   Two union infantry divisions have been destroyed or routed.   One of the two union cavalry divisions has moved to this flank as would the one of the two confederate cavalry divisions.

 The fighting at the east end of the battlefield was not as intense as the fighting at the west end.  The confederate first infantry division fought an inconclusive engagement with the union infantry while the other divisions fought over the town with the confederates gaining control of it.  The confederate cavalry in the center can be seen running from the union cavalry after a failed charge against them.  The union cavalry would later be heard singing the following (with apologies to Johnny Horton):

"Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down Rabid Rabbits Rapids as fast as they could go."

At this point the battle was called.   The confederates won a close victory.   Both sides held one town, but the union had suffered more casualties than the confederates and the confederates had captured three times as many prisoners as the union had (1500 to 500).

Gettysburg, the first day

On July 6th we re-fought the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg using From Manassas to Appomattox..    Bob Bergman, Alan Sissenwen, and Kent were the confederate commanders.   Dan Rygasewicz, John Riley, and Kirk Bollinger were the union commanders.  The composition of the armies was as follows:

Army of Northern Virginia – Lee

III Corps – A. P. Hill

Heth A 7 R

Heth B 6

Pender A 6 12H

Pender B 5

Anderson A 7 10P

Anderson B 7

Pegram R N

McIntosh R N

II Corps – Ewell

Early A 5 R

Early B 5

Rodes A 9 N

Rodes B7

Johnson A 6 10P

Johnson B 5

1^st Virginia R 20P

Nelson R N

Army of the Potomac – Meade

Left Wing – Reynolds                                                   

I Corps – Doubleday                                                    

Artillery 3”R, N                                                                    

1^st Division 7                                                                       

2^nd Division 5                                                                 

3^rd Division 7                                                                    

                                                                                        

XI Corps – Howard

Artillery 3”R, N           

1^st Division 6

2^nd Division 5

3^rd Division 7

XII Corps – Slocum

Artillery 10P, N           

1^st Division 10

2^nd Division 8

Buford 8 cav. ½ 3”R

III Corps

Artillery N 10P            

1^st Division 11

2^nd Division 9

The game scale was one inch = 100 yards, infantry =500, cavalry = 300, and artillery = 12 guns.  Ground scale is one inch = 100 yards..  All infantry were regulars armed with rifle muskets.   Buford's cavalry were also regulars armed with beach loading carbines.  Buford had one half of a stand of rifled artillery.  Due to the large size of the confederate divisions they were divided into two parts.  The store opened at 11 and the game started about 11:30 finishing at 4:30 with a 1/2 hour lunch break.

Units arrived at their historical times and locations.    The battle started on the 8:30am turn as the Union I Corps started arriving on the Emmitsburg road.    

 

The first part of Heth's division arrived at 10:00am, took an hour to get into position and then attacked Buford.  The attack failed to dislodge Buford, but on the next turn his cavalry failed its morale test and became shaken.   John elected to withdraw from Seminary Ridge and fell back towards Gettysburg as more Confederate infantry was arriving.  

 

 

Reynods leads part of I Corps towards the south edge of Seminary ridge in an attempt to outflank Heth.

Union cavalry rallies at Gettysburg. as part of I Corps marches through the town.

Buford's cavalry took a voluntary morale test in attempt to recover from shaken status and did so in spectacular fashion by rolling a one.   As the only modifier was the shaken status their morale was so good that they sought revenge for being driven from Seminary ridge and launched a charge on the Confederate infantry on top of the ridge.   As the cavalry came charging up the hill the Rebs let loose with a volley at close range, unseating a good number of union horsemen, causing their charge to falter before making contact.   The cavalry then withdrew again and headed for the east side of Gettysburg.

With Seminary Ridge firmly in Confederate control the Union army withdrew to Cemetary Ridge where it started to entrench.

 

Confederates take control of Seminary Ridge.

 

Union infantry takes up position on Cemetary Ridge.

At noon Rhodes' Division arrived north of Gettysburg and proceeded to advance towards the town.

 

 Rhodes arrives

 By 1:00 his division was in position to assault the union forces on the hill.   However, the confederate assault was halted by fire from the union forces position there and forced to fall back.   For the rest of the afternoon Heth's Corp held its positions along Seminary Ridge and exchanged artillery fire with the Union forces across from them serving as a pinning force to keep them in place while Rhodes and Early would make several assaults on the Union lines.   The fighting was intense and bloody as Bob's confederates and Kirks yankees fought for control of the hills.  Both put up a valiant fight as their forces made one charge after another in a desperate struggle.

The battle for the hills

Fearing a confederate breakthrough on their right flank Dan brought his division with the Iron Brigade over to regain control of the hill.   Their attack shattered two of the Confederate formations, but they were taken in the flank by a third and most were captured.  Seeing the division being withdrawn from the Union left flank Alan led Pender's division in an attack on the Union entrenchments, but was not able to break the Union line.   As the battle hung in balance the Union III Corps was arriving on the Baltimore Turnpike.   Before they could  get into position to regain control of the hills, the morale of the remaining Union troops on the hills collapsed as they saw two fresh Confederate division advancing through the town.   At 7:00pm the Union army was either routing or withdrawing leaving the battlefield in Confederate hands.

Union III Corps arrives in time to be caught in the general rout.

Historically Ewell's corps halted north of Gettysburg and did not attack the hills.   By pressing forward Bob was able to secure victory for the confederates.    Doing this is the best chance the Confederates have of achieving victory.

I would like to thank all who participated.   A special thanks to Kirk and Bob for taking pictures as the batteries in my camera went dead partway into the game.    Three of the above pictures are from Bob (pictures 4, 9, and 10) and five are from Kirk (pictures 3, 5, 8, 11, and 12).

150TH Anniversary Battle of Stones River

On February 9th the Battle of Stones River or Murfreesboro was fought at the South Bay Game Club.   This was fought using From Manassas to Appomatox.  The Confederates started the battle by attacking the Union right flank reforming their forces in the center and advancing Breckinridge's division on their right.

Historically both sides had planned to attack the opposing left flank, but the Confederates were able to launch their attack first and drove the Union army back.   The Union army eventually reformed and held its ground.    On the following day Bragg renewed the attack, but was not able to make any progress.   Bragg later withdrew leaving the Union in control of the battlefield.

The re-fight was a see-saw affair with both sides having bad luck when taking morale checks.  The Confederate left made some initial advances, but its morale failed causing it to lose several turns reforming for another assault.   In the center Polk's corps reformed and spent most of the battle throwing back Union attacks.

The Union forces had decided to be agressive.   They launched an attack against Cheatham's division in the center with two of their divisions, but were thrown back   The Union left wing then proceeded to cross Stones River in order to attack Breckinridges division.

After some heavy fighting Cheathams division retreated across Stones River and took up position near Murfreesboro after being rallied by Bragg..  Wither's division was able to redress the situation when it attacked out of the woods and hit the Union center in the flank.  Their attack caught Rosecrans in the melee resulting in his death. Whither's division then found itself in a difficult situation with forces facing it from the front and a Union division advancing on it from the rear.   Fortunately for the Rebs the morale of the division advancing on it from the rear cracked and it fell back.   The Rebs were able to reform near the bridges so they would not be flanked.

On the south end of the battle the Confederates facing Union troops had fallen back in disarray, but the Union troops refused to advance from their positions.  Had they done so they might have destroyed the two divisions of Hardee's corps.  By the end of the battle both the Union right wing and Hardee's corps on the south end had part of their forces exhausted and were not making much headway against each other.   The Confederate cavalry on the south end had made a couple of valiant charges against the Union infantry and though they had driven them back were not able to capitalize on their success as the Union infantry quickly reformed.

By the noon turn both sides received some cavalry re-enforcements

Meanwhile the Union left wing had begun to catch up with the Breckinridge's division which had fallen back quite a ways due to failing morale.    Bragg managed to halt their retreat just north of his headquarters.  The Union left wing finally caught up with Breckinridge and after some hard fighting almost destroyed his division.   The resulting route by Breckinridge also swept away Cheatham's division and left Whthers trapped on the west side of Stones River.

At this point the Confederates conceded the game.   We started about 10:30 and finished 14 turns by 3:30.  Losses were fairly heavy on both sides with at least two Union divisions exhausted and several others approaching that point.   The Confederates did take three stands of Union infantry prisoner, but the results of the battle would result in their rescue.

Infantry figures are a mixture of Heroics and Ros, Baccus and Rapier.  All cavalry and artillery are from Heroics and Ros.   Buildings are from PaperTerrain.  Trees are from an ebay dealer.

John Rigby was Rosecrans, Peter Michels was Thomas Crittenden, Bill McHugh was George Thomas, Alan Sissenwen was Alexander McCook, Gregg was Braxton Bragg, Manny Granillo was Polk. and Robert Packard was Hardee.

 View of the turnpike from Murfreesboro

 Initial starting positions

 View from the Union side

 early stages of the battle

 Initial Union attacks in the center have been thrown back.

Cheatham's division under heavy attack.

 South end of the battlefield.  Confederates are re-grouping for another advance against the Union lines

View from the north end of the battlefield near the end.  Union left wing advances on Breckinridge.  Murfreesboro was actually on the edge of the table but had been moved in to avoid damaging it by players leaning over the table

 Union left wing destroys Breckinridge's division.

South flank of the battlefield.  Union lines are still holding after being pushed by by Rebs.

 The order of battle is listed below.   Each stand represents 500 infantry, 300 cavalry, or 12 guns.  Ground scale is one inch = 100 yards.  The complete scenario file can be found at the FMTA yahoo group

 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FMTA/

Union

Army of the Cumberland – General William Rosecrans

          Pioneer Brigade

four stands of infantry – average, rifle musket

          Cavalry – General David Stanley (independent command)

                             4 stands of cavalry – average, muzzle loading carbine

                             3 stands of cavalry – breach loading carbine

                             6# rifles

Right Wing – General Alexander McCook

                   1^st Division – Brigadier General Jefferson Davis

                             9 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             6# smoothbore cannon

                             10# Parrot

                   2^nd Division – General Richard Johnson

                             12 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             6# rifle

                   3^rd Division – General Phillip Sheridan

                             10 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             12# Napoleon

          Center – General George Thomas

                   1^st Division – General Lovell Rousseu

                             12 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             10# Parrot

                   2^nd Division – General James Negley

                             11 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             12# Howitzer

                   Corps Troops

                             Part of 3^rd Division

                             5 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             6# smoothbore

          Left Wing – General Thomas Crittenden

                   1^st Division – General Thomas Wood

                             10 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             6# smoothbore

                   2^nd Division – General John Palmer

                             9 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             12# howitzer

                             6# rifle

                   3^rd Division – General Horatio Van Cleve

                             8 stands of infantry – average, rifle muskets

                             10# Parrot

Confederate

Army of Tennessee – General Braxton Bragg

          Cavalry – Brigadier General Joseph Wheeler (Independent command)

                   6 stands of cavalry – average, muzzle loading carbine

                   12# howitzer

          Wharton’s Cavalry – Brigadier General Wharton (Independent command)

                   5 stands of cavalry – average, shotgun

          Polk’s Corps – Lt. General Leonidas Polk

                   Cheatham’s Division – Major General Benjamin Cheatham

                             13 stands of infantry – average, rifle musket

                             12# howitzer

                   Wither’s Division – Major General Jones Wither

                             15 stands of infantry – average, rifle musket

                             6# smoothbore

                             12# Napoleon

Hardee’s Corps – Lt. General William Hardee

          Breckinridge’s Division – Major General John Breckinridge

                   15 stands of infantry – average, rifle musket

                   6# smoothbore

                   12# howitzer

          Cleburne’s Division – Major General Patrick Cleburne

                   12 stands of infantry – average, rifle musket

                   6# smoothbore

          McCown’s Division – Major General J. P. McCown

                   9 stands of infantry – average, rifle musket

                   12# Napoleon

                   3” rifle

Fictional Early War ACW game at GameKastle Fremont

Back in November I ran an ACW game at the GameKastle store in Fremont.   This was the same scenario as the previous fictional early war scenario that I ran at the South Bay Game Club.  The Confederates ended up with a traffic jam on the left center road and took a while to get their army in place.   Daniel's Union command ended up coming down the road on side of the table and took some time finding its way across the river.   Charlie Parker was commanding the Confederate cavalry opposing him and was able to use his cavalry to wreck havoc on the Union infantry.  The game ended in a minor victory for the Confederates.

 Dan surveying the battlefield

 Daniel preparing for battle

 Manny checking dispatches from Headquarters.

 Confederates advance on Eastern side of battlefield

 View of the battle from the southwest corner

 Confederates continue to attack Union left.

 Union left faces Confederate cavalry.

Confederate commanders survey battlefield.

 View of the western part of the battlefield from the north

 Union right continues to hold

 Union left has regained some ground.