What can I say?
'Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa..etc", I am a bad blogger,
bad boy, for it has been 5 weeks at least since my last update... I have no excuse, just a general lack of time, a new office location (which is taking an extra hour a day out of my life more than the previous location due to it being further away), some much needed R&R (Cyprus.. just glorious...), and various other time wastage's ("life").. I think that I will be making some serious changes come the new year - it's time I started culling those various wastes of time, that detract from the more constructive use of my time (you know who you are Farcebook)...
Anywho... here we are/were.. it was 'Warfare weekend', and as friend DG was down from deepest darkest Wales to attend the show, it seemed downright churlish not to also grab the chance of a game.. period was a quick decision, it's been almost two years since the last game using these ACW figures, and that is more than long enough.. last time we played, we used the rules from One Hour Wargames that we had played around with and modified - they give a good game and have a particularly good mechanic for unit activation I like, so we decided to use the same again this time..
For a scenario I went back to the book to continue the delightful wend through the scenario's, and I am up to #19 which posits the idea of a surprise flank attack from the rear (and you'll get no more than that from me as you need to
go buy the book [clicky] if you haven't already... only £3 on Kindle!)
Table was as follows:
The river marks the defensive line..
..the defender deploys this side of it, the attacker the other side..
We played fixed/identical forces of 6 units - three infantry (Regulars by God!), one zouave, one cavalry, one artillery.. DG chose Union and the defender role, I took Confederate and the attacker role..
....and so to the game (or games, as we played twice..)
First game... a resounding DG victory..
Early in the game (following) and on my right flank/bridge (following) I had deployed a blocking regiment who never quite managed to suck in as many of DG's troops as I had hoped..
On the left flank was the bold move... I have sent my zouaves and a supporting infantry regiment across the bridge with the idea of forcing an early decision - unfortunately, it was 'decision making' but not quite the way I wanted it to be...
....as by the time my reinforcements had arrived on the table (following) both the zouaves and the infantry had been destroyed..
...and worse, DG's reinforcements we sallying forth from their encampment (following)..
...in these rules, you move or you fire, and it encourages static positions in the presence of any enemy so that you can fire... suffice to say DG managed this better than I and with my reinforcements melting away I conceded... time for beer and starch based comestibles...
Second game... a resounding StW victory..!
Having started on the beers we decided to play again, same sides/forces, as I think I saw what I had done wrong and wanted to see if I could force a win..
For this game I deployed the infantry and zouaves on the other bridge (my right flank) but with artillery support from the start... basically I then blew DG's forces away from the bridge, crossed in force (following), and DG conceded when it was clear he wouldn't be able to force my units away from the bridge..
...apologies, no other pictures as I was enjoying the game too much!
Post match analysis:
- we continue to really like the dice allocated activation, and when the ECW forces arrive on the table I will use the same mechanism in the rules I write for them
- we cocked up mightily on cavalry charging (or rather not charging) and only realised we had about half way through the second game - won't make that mistake again! Basically they can charge anything, not nothing..
- some kind of unit marker to show full/two thirds/third strength would speed up play considerably
- beer on the evening was the delightful "Summer Lightning" [clicky], an absolutely classic bottle conditioned golden ale
