But enough of current British politics. Last night we played Black Powder, adding in rules from the new ACW Glory Hallelujah supplement,and had a go at a scenario based on the earliest stages of Antietam. Essentially this was the action across the Cornfield, except that for reasons of simplicity we left off the cornfield. And, as is traditional, of course, the Dunker Church ended up with a spire, rather than looking like a white-painted house.
Basically we had three brigades a side, and just set to. It was really about trying out the rules. Some of our group are giving them a full test over the weekend when they play another big Gettysburg game. This was a practice.
Here's the setup - Union on the left and Brexit on the extreme right. Sorry. Confederates. And just on the right. Getting distracted there.
The Confederates were itching for a counter-attack from the word go.
Union troops worked their way down a road through the woods.
A Union brigade advanced towards the Dunker Church in a column of regiments, whilst the Confederates rushed to meet them in a supported line. It was all looking a bit Fire & Fury.
In the centre skirmishers from both sides dominated the action.
On their left the Union shook the troops in the woods into lines.
Confederate units in the centre routed, leaving a big gap. The Union artillery was mostly responsible, slicing and dicing any unit which got in range.
Fighting in the woods.
On the Confederate left a regiment finally got in a charge, and swept their Union opponents away. However the supporting units all stood their ground, leaving things looking a bit shaky for the Rebels.
At that point we called the game. There's was still fighting to be had, but things weren't looking brilliant for the Confederates.
The changes to the rules were interesting, making it a lot harder for units to charge - possibly too hard in my opinion - and leading to a series of deadly firefights. Passage of lines is harder as well, meaning that you have to plan how your troops will get to the harp end of the battle more carefully. It was certainly a change playing a less fluid game of Black Powder, and it will be interesting to see how the bigger Gettysburg game goes this weekend.
Meanwhile Gary and John P played Saga. Here's another shot of those Norman knights people liked from last week's report.
Geoff and 50th birthday boy Peter played big-battle DBA.
Peter brought sweet, sticky wine, cake and nibbles for us all. Geoff allowed him to win in a Sarmatian/Successor battle. Nice one, Geoff.
Excellent report, Kaptain, except you neglected to mention the rampage of the Louisiana Tigers on the Confederate right flank, sweeping away a regiment of vicious skirmishers and then successfully charging a battery of guns, admittedly from the side. Hallelujah! This was my one success against Ralph, whilst he decimated my centre, but then I'm blaming all that on my ally general!
ReplyDeleteA secessionist blaming their failures on someone else? Surely not ;-)
Delete'a wealth conservative elite' Hmm - Actually London voted overwhelmingly to remain - it was the grimy rustbelt cities 'oop North' who voted to leave! However your wargames analysis is much more accurate, spot on about the supplement's effect on play I suspect. Another great report and photos, thank you!
ReplyDeleteNo most areas voted to Leave. It was a glorious decision. The way is now forward, I am sick of hearing I am a racist to be honest for voting leave.
ReplyDeleteSadly my area voted leave, a poor decision and one we will have to live with for some time. Stuck on an island with an elitist, old boys club has a with of Victorian England about it....
ReplyDeleteThe game looks great, being a BP fan I'm keen to see the rules used for something other than Napoleonic gaming.
**whiff of Victorian England** bloody autocorrect .......
DeleteFive comments, and no-one mentioned the typo in the title.
ReplyDeleteFortunately some silly mistakes *can* be corrected after they're made :)
And this coming from the man who left the country he is moaning about. It's not a silly mistake. Is Democracy a silly mistake? There is precious little of this ideal in the EU. The EU is slowly imploding, the U.K. Is the first of probably others to take leave of this European mess. The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and possibly even France seem to have large parts of their population wanting to join us in our exit.
DeleteThe U.K. Is gaining ground again on the knee jerk reactions of the stock exchanges. I note now the EU has an international credit downgrade. The Euro is a failed currency, look at poor Greece etc.
The UK has a government despite what the BBC may tell you. I have to admit that the Labour Party is even more of a joke than usual though.
I hope we take the stance on illegal immigration that Australia does in future. That is banish these people to an island and then check them before allowing entry. Is that a rascist remark? No it's the truth is it not?
Our trade is not dependent on the EU. I know this I worked in the international Freight Forwarding industry for thirty years. We import more from the EU than we export, that's fact. Europe cannot ignore us if they want us to continue buying their products. We can now trade openly with the rest of the world without permission from some unelected body in Brussels.
Hurrah for the UK which includes Scotland despite what Nicola Turbot or whatever she is called tells you. If the Scots withdraw from the Union how will they survive? The EU does not want them. They were told this two years ago and again this week. One million Scots remember voted leave. What about them?
So do you think the -2 command roll in order to charge is a bit extreme then?
DeleteWell, six years on it *did* all turn into a bit of a shitshow. Still, the racists did OK out of it, much as most people expected.
DeleteNope command is just being rotated to a better option. Let Democracy take its course.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaptain. I'll not comment on UK politics; we have our hands full in The States, now! Glad to see Black Powder and DBA getting some play. I just tried out BP for the FIW and was very pleasantly surprised how well it worked. If interested please check out the most recent posts at cluckamok.blogspot.com. Next post will feature BBDBA 3.0. Bests, Chris
ReplyDeleteAfter the excitement of last week's UK vote (which some of us resident here in the Antipodes were able to participate, and thus have a vested interest), we actually have an election here in Australia today. It's all go.
DeleteDBA 3.0 has proved very popular with our group, and playing it big-battle style even more so (although I'm personally a fan of the shorter, smaller 12 element games).
I shall check out your blog. We've only tried Black Powder with the ACW and Napoleonics, but that's mostly down the what armies are available for use. I suspect my modest GNW collection would probably work for a small game, though.