The Battle of Neutralville (3)

 Turn 6:

 The battle continues. In the village, the Union infantry is trying to get a foothold while the COnfederates are still involved in a firefight with the last of the villagers.

On the hill, the Confederate cavalry has countercharged and has routed one of the Union cavalry units.

 Turn 7:

Don Featherstone is quitly watching the wargaming battle ... 

On the hill, the Confederate Cavalry have now completed routed the Union cavalry. It seems the south will capture the hill and therefore win the battle. But we're not there yet. The Union infantry has reorganized at the foot of the hill on the other side, hoping to combine a tremendous amount of fire power.

In Neutralville, the last villagers have been chased away by the Confederate infantry, but the Union is setting up a firm line of troops to capture the village.

Another view of the situation on the hill. The onfederates eem to be in firm control, but the Union still have three fresh infantry units left.

 Turn 8:

A complete overview of the battle. The Confederates are now establishing strong position on the hill.  

As seen from the Confederate side. They have also occupied the windmill, establishing a firm anchor point in the middle of the battle line.

A view on the village, with both sides occupying some of the buildings.

Another view on the hill, with the Union firing line shown on the right.

The Battle of Neutralville (2)

Since I play this game solo, I don;t really want to "win" the game. I rather play the game as an exploration, to see how the battle unfolds.

As neither side could yet see the other, due to the central hill and village, both sides wanted to move forward as soon as possible. Due to our rules, in which one has to roll for unit activation, and then roll for movement distance, the speed at which troops can move during a give turn is variable.

At the end of turn 1, the situation is as follows:

The Confederates have moved the cavalry on their left flank forward, hoping to dash quickly for the hill. The infantry is following at a slower pace. On the right flank, not much progress has yet been made. Note that Napoleon (the Lucky General token) already has switched sides.

The Union moves forward as well, also leading with the cavalry.

A general overview at the end of turn 1:

Let's see what the situation is at the end of turn 2.

The infantry units at the Confederate right flank are moving forward through the corn field. Difficult ground, so they advance slowly. 

The Union Infantry on all flanks have made progress. The Cavalry has taken up position in a small wood.

The Confederate left flank is moving according to plan. The cavalry are well positioned behind the hill, and the plan is that 3 infantry units will occupy the hill such that they can establish a defensive position there.

 

Turn 3:

 The Confederates are reorganizing somewhat at the foot of the hill, while approaching the village. The villagers now roll for alliance, but the die roll says they remain neutral and will take shots at whoever is closest.

The villagers flee in one of the houses. Note I replace a house with a little floorplan to make room for the figures.

The Union infantry sees the villagers, decide they're in the way, and take some shots ...

Turn 4:

The  Confederate infantry has started moving on the hill ... slowly but surely.

On their right flank, the infantry is involved in some firefight with the villagers. The villagers count as a light unit, so should be eliminated quickly (but you never now, they shoot back!)

A close up of the fight in the village. The Rebel Oak Infantry has taken an adjoining house.

The view from the Union right flank. Not their cavalry has come out of the woods, and has swung to the left side of the hill, ready to charge over the top if needed.

The Union left flank is getting organized to take the village.

Turn 5:

The  firefight in the village continues. The Union has also occupied one of the houses.

A view on the village from the Union side.

On the hill the Union cavalry has charged, ans has driven back the Confederate infantry.

Another view on the hill, with an event card played by the Confederate side.

Another view on the village:

Another view from the Union left flank:

To be continued ...

The Battle of Neutralville (1)

I did set up an ACW game last week, but alas, my regular opponent couldn't make it at the last minute. So I decided to play the game solo.

The scenario is based on a Table Top Teaser from BattleGames magazine (issue 15, Nov/Dec 2008). Two equal forces approach from opposite ends from a table, with the aim of getting supplies out of the town of Neutralitz. However, I changed the scenario somewhat, did away with the supplies, and decided both forces wanted to occupy the central hill and the town. The town has a garrison of villagers who would declare their alliance for either side (or remain neutral) when the first troops would approach the town.  

 

Both sides have 6 infantry units, 2 light infantry units, and 2 cavalry units. Since this would become an encounter battle with some manoeuvring, I decided not to use artillery. Moreover, the Table Top teaser as published also didn't specify any artillery units.

In my ACW games, all units and commanders have imaginary names, and have a deck of cards with each unit and general represented by a card. The card also has some "advancements" the unit or general acquired as the result of previous games. I usually draw cards randomly to know what units will participate in the game.

 The Confederacy force was drawn as follows. Note also the random event card to be used during the battle.

The Union force is shown below. I rolled the dice and decided the Confederacy would get the first move, so the Union would start with the Lucky General token (Napoleon!). The Lucky general allows you to reroll a command roll, but then you have to hand over the Lucky General.

I divided each force in 2 brigades of 5 units each, and decided what general would occupy each flank. Below you can see the initial setup of the game.

 The battlefield, as seen from the Union side:

As seen from the right flank of the Confederacy:

The Union battleline:

An overview of the entire table:

 Next: The first turns!

I painted something!!!

It must have been perhaps 2 years since I painted something wargaming related. Too long to explain why this came about, but as usual, it's real life intervening with hobby activities.

But in preparation of a game I will host later this week, I finally decided to make some proper command bases for my ACW games. In our house-developed rules, generals merely act as centre points for activation, much like as in Black Powder. 

Technically, I didn't paint any figures, but I assembled figures onto bases and I did paint the bases! I consider that a minor tactical victory.

I've been to ... Stockholm

During the Easter holidays, Ann and I visited Stockholm. Yes, I know this is almost 2 months ago, but never late then never to publish some images that might be of interest to wargamers.

We visited a lot or art and history locations, and one of the stops was the Army Museum. As could be expected, a lot of focus on Swedish military history. Too much to show it all in photographs, but here are a few fun highlights.

 

A diorama of miniature soldiers showing formations from the Pike & Shot period.

A close-up of that same diorama.

A life-size display of Swedish cavalry charging during the Great Northern War.

An old Swedish Kriegsspiel: "VinterKrigsspelkarta".

Detail of the same Kriegsspiel.

A German cypher machine - these machines always interest me as a computer scientist.

An Engima machine ... Alan Turing and all that.

 Needless to say, we also visited the Vasa museum. I was very much impressed!