4 Ground Wild West Train

Just a quick post. I have been building this since Christmas, when I recieved it.

I admit I am not the best modeller nor am i too patient! So yours should look better.

This is an impressive model and I love the look and scale of it.

12 pages, yes 12 pages of instructions but they are good instructions. A photograph showing you the pieces is then followed by photos showing you how to apply them.

My only concern is that there is a lot of cardboard in the model and storage will need to be well considered.

ACW Revisited – Part 2

It has been a long time since my last post. I have been getting over a big ish operation that to be honest just wiped me out.

Anyway, finally managed to feel like playing a game so invited Steve and Laurie up for an ACW game.

It was based on the forces detailed in the first part of this post and the terrain was similar to the map.

The background was that an initially numerically superior Confederate force was attempting to take a set of road junctions and hold-off  expected Union reinforcements.

The rules we used were based upon the Fields of Honor set which we adapted to align with our house rules. The main difference is that the original rules use D6 and in our initial trials we found that while the rules were OK for middle and later battles, the early years with units having lower morale and inferior weapons meant that they usually ran on getting their first casualties. The D10 we believe balanced these issues out perfectly.

The view from the Confederate end.

and the Union end

The confederate came on to the table and advanced up to the first set of rail fences and seemed to take up defensive positions to await the union onslaught. After a few turns trading artillery shots they realised that they may be better off taking the fight to the union.

Meanwhile the few Union troops on the table anxiously await reinforcements!

The delay by the confederates allowed the Union reinforcements to appear and have room to deploy.

I have to be honest we then went for a bite to eat and sat chatting, which  got the better of us. We returned to the game late in the day so I have left it set up for next time.

Not much of a battle report but hope you like the photos.

ACW Revisited – Part 1

Having swore never to go in to ACW again.   I have.

In previous expeditions into this era ,I started in 15mm then went into 25mm down to 10mm and back to 28mm before swapping my collection for the start of an English Civil War Army. I also have to admit that in all those scales I only ever played about 4 games.

Having recently establish a small group of regular gamers who all have a liking for ACW I became tempted back into it.

Therefore over the last few months I have been buying, painting and basing.

 RULES

The rules we will try will be our own lite version of the Fields of Honor, rule set.

Order Of Battle

As with most new eras I go into,  I like to pick a battle and start to build the forces for it.

On this occasion I picked a rather smallish event, The Battle of Mill Springs also known as Logan’s Cross Roads, 19 January 1862.

This battle has everything I like when starting a new era. It has a little of all aspects of the armies of the day. Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry,  and dismounted cavalry. The terrain is interesting with roads, fields fencing, rivers, and woods.

The order of battle I will be working to is:

THE TABLE

I will probably play this game on a 8×6′ table. Map and entrance positions below.

THE FIGURES

Here are a few picture of the command I have painted so far. These are a mixture of Perry and 1st Corps. Although they fit as in scale wise, the quality of the Perry over the 1st Corps stands out. That said I do like the character look of the 1st Corps. The 1st Corps horses were great to paint as I just painted them a base colour and then once dry wiped them with oils.

The Union

The Confederates

These were a mixture of Perry and Redoubt. While similar comments to the union command regarding quality are true, I do feel that Redoubt are slightly better than 1st Corps overall.

As I finish troops I will add another blog.

Random War of the Roses Army Generator

Fed up with balanced games or knowing exactly what you are going to command because you have priced it up to the last point. If so then accept the challenge and throw caution to the wind.

As promised, I have developed a way to generate random armies for you to command or defeat.

While aimed at my rules AYBS recently published on this blog, please feel free to amend the cards to represent any other era or rules you like.

I have done versions for Peninsula War , ECW and AWI eras. I am currently working on versions for ACW and WW2.

Hope you enjoy them.

WOTR Random army generator

PAW 2014 Wargame Show

Had a weekend off and went to PAW (Plymouth Association of Wargamers). Please check out this show next year if you get a chance as it has a really nice feel to it. Small but very friendly and like Exeter (Legionary) has a good venue with FREE parking. Traders are a little thin on the ground compared to larger shows but there is a good spread. The bring and buy was a haven for 40k fans but very lacking for historical fans which meant that although I bought little the items I had to sell went quickly.

Met up with a few friends at the show and played a game. We played an era that I have never played before, American Civil War. Everyone else had played this era many times before. That said they had all played Fire and Fury but this time we were playing the Regimental version. Following a quick chat I seemed to become umpire. This gave me the opportunity the get a great overview of the rules and I have to say I am very impressed. the figure were 28mm and from a mixture of manufacturers including Perry, Foundry and Dixon.

I enjoyed the game so much that maybe ACW will be another era I might drop into!

  The game we were playing was The Battle of Olustee 20th Feb 1864

This turned out to be the only battle fought in Florida. It came about due to the Confederate loss of Vickesburg and Port Hudson during 1963 and their need to secure alternative suppliers of Beef.

Union forces landed at Jacksonville on Feb 7th and started to advance Westward facing at worse screening troops belonging to Confederate Brig General Joseph Finnegan.

The battle was fought largely in a clearing in an area of light woods with marsh/bog alongside railway lines. The Confederates were dug in near Lake City and attempted to draw the Union into attacking them through the use of cavalry.  This failed. Growing impatient the Confederates finally decided to attack, both sides fed more and more troops into the growing battle. Finally the Union broke, not stopping their retreat until they reached Jacksonville.

OUR GAME

I have to admit that during Saturday the game played out very much like the historical version. The union were unable to hold up the massed units of confederates and most of the union troops failed their morale and started to withdraw only to be rallied and feedback into the affray. Sunday started with the Union centre holding and reinforcements coming to their aid. The Union left was isolated and slowly swamped by the Confederates. The battle ebbed and flowed all day with no clear winner and so the game was declared a draw.

A Great Weekends wargaming.

Below are a few shots of the game.

 

Union cavalry move up the right flank

Confederate centre

Confederate reinforcements take up position behind their right flank units

Confederate cavalry. These met their end in a vain attempt to break the Union centre.

Union dismounted Infantry. These were armed with repeaters and could have won the day on a few occasions but bad dice rolling ruled the day

Massed Confederate troops dwarf the Union opposite.

Union reinforcement setting up in the middle of the field.

Confederate reinforcements marching on the table to support the centre

Union troops getting steady and ready to re-join the affray

Confederate centre

Confederate right looking shaky