Sometimes you find something fun ...

Here are some new recruits I picked up earlier today in the local "kringwinkel" (roughly translated: recycling store or 2nd hand store), a store where people can leave their old stuff, and it can be bought by others. I usually pop in once every month or so (it is conveniently located right across the post office and bakery in the village where I live). Usually, I buy some old books (I quite often donate books myself), sometimes some old tools or stuff for the kitchen.

But today, I saw these old Britains Deetail figures ... so I couldn't resist bringing them home. Perhaps they might even be fielded in a 54mm  skirmish game ... 

Backlog of magazines added to the index

I added a handful of magazines to the index, mostly issues of Wargames Soldiers and Strategy. These are now up to date up to issue 130.

WSS is the only magazine I currently subscribe to, so currently this is the only magazine whose recent issues are added to the index.

Promotions and Medals

In our ACW games - our latest game can be seen here - we try to keep some continuity. Not in the form of a grandiose campaign (they have a tendency to fizzle out rather quickly), but simply by keeping track of units and officers, and giving them some additional abilities. Then, in a next game, these units and officers will appear again, and they build up their own history.

This is a very old school mechanism. The use of the "wargaming journal" in which one records the adventures of various units over a series of battle was already described by founding fathers such as Featherstone and Grant. It is also a system I have succesfully used before in other games, such as our Special Operations Scifi Antares 2401 campaign.

For our ACW games, after each battle, each player can nominate 1 unit that did something remarkable. I then have a little table outlining various possibilities, I roll a die, and the unit can get some additional benefit. I keep track of what a unit can do by using playing cards from an old Columbia cardgame, and I add little post-it notes. Such cards are a useful reference during the game. I of course also keep track all units in an Excel sheet but I'm a big fan of NOT using any digital tools during the game itself. Miniature wargaming should be an analogue and tactile hobby (call me old-school), hence the cards.

A selection of 4 units, with their earned abilities.

I do the same for the Officers. I have a stack of 12 different Officer cards for each side. At the start of the game, a player is given 3 random cards, and those are the Officers he has for that scenario (sometimes we deal 1 card more, and you can select 3 out of 4 or similar). Afer the battle, I put a little sticker (card suits) on the Officer's card, to indicate he has fought in a battle, and I also roll on a table. The table can gave the Officer extra abilities, but it could also indicate wounds, retirement, or even death!

A selection of 4 officers, with their characteristics, and card suit symbols to show how many battles they have fought in.

A last "campaign" mechanic is to add a numerical indication to units that have been routed. In our last game, the "Cornhusker Cavalry" fled the battlefield, and hence, the unit now becomes the "2nd Cornhusker Cavalry" (and loses all abilities). The use of such numbers also adds to the period flavour of ACW units.

Battle of Brawner's House

Last Friday Wim and I played an ACW game, using or well-tested and developed house rules.

The scenario was inspired by an article in Wargamers Annual 2014, which outlined a scenario for the 7YW, but was in fact itself inspired by an ACW battle, the battle of Groveton or Brawner's House, on the evening of 2nd Bull Run.

The idea is that one side travels in convoy along a road, spread out. The other side's force suddenly appears from behind a hill line, concentrated. The tactical challenge is for the convoy to deploy as soon as possible given the terrain, and for the attacking side to try to attack as soon as possible. Whoever controls the battlefield by the end of the wargaming day wins the battle.

The original article in Wargamers Annual 2014.

Here's what the initial setup looked like. Note that we use little name markers for each unit. Names are fictional and AI generated and inspired by Bourbon and whisky brands.

The overall view at the start of the battle. The Confederates attack from this side, the Union is spread out as a long convoy on the far end. We use cards from an old cardgame to indicate abilities of commanders and some units.

The Union left flank.

The Union middle.

The Union right.

The Confederate Left.

The Confederate middle and right brigades. We use mikado sticks to mark the boundaries between the various brigades. These sticks move along, but they are handy to remember what unit belongs to what brigade.

Ok, the battle is set. Wim will play the Union, I will play the Confederates. I won't give a blow by blow account, but simply show some photographs taken at various points during the battle, and usually from the side of the table where I was sitting ...

The opening move on the Confederate right. My plan was to quickly attack the Union here, before the could deploy in full force in the forest in the middle of the table.

Napoleon as our "Lucky General Mascot". Whoever has the token can reroll any die roll, but then has to hand over the token to the opponent.

Wim is trying to set up his left flank.

The middle Union brigade is trying to occupy the forest.

View after the first few turns.

Another view of the action unfolding. On the left flank the Confederate cavalry is vigorously pursuing the Union. These are results of "morale checks" in our rules, and create all sorts of little stories across the battlefield.

Cavalry action on the Confederate left flank

An overview of the left flank.

Advance in the middle!

Heavy firing from both sides in the middle.

An overview of the developing battle.

Another overview.

When the clock had passed 11pm, we decided to halt the game. Both sides were know well entrenched, and we felt we would probably spend several turns firing, hoping for one side to crumble such that the other side could exploit an opening.

Here are some pictures when we stopped the game, with all table clutter such as dice and rule sheets removed.

It was a fun game and fun scenario. We also felt the rules handled this type of scenario well, although we had of course suggestions for slight adaptations.

Next post: handing out medals and rewards!