1st Kernstown Scenario Test

The goal was to play test the OOBS via Carnage and Glory.

Jackson's Valley Army 1862 in 6mm

Below are pictures of my 6mm Confederate army of the Shenandoah commanded by Major General T.J. Jackson in 1862. This is the initial set up for Kernstown in March of that year. More units are being painted but this is the start.

Stonewall in the Valley by Robert G. Tanner

Great read on the valley campaign of 1862.  Gives a quality analysis of the Confederate action and fairly evaluates Jackson and his subordinates.  Jackson's early victories are certainly due more to luck than skill.

As i start the first of the 1862 valley battles this read has been particularly helpful in prepping for Kernstown. Jackson issues confusing orders, his subordinates are not experienced enough to manage the assault,  and it is amazing that the Confederates don't come away more mauled than they did. 

The book does a great job of highlighting the vital role the Valley campaign played in shaping the course of the war in the east during the spring of 1862. It also helps show Jackson's development into a military commander.  Poor at first but a market improvement. 

Tanners book was a great resource for getting a confederate perspective. I only wish there were more OOBs, but given that even the Confederate brigade commanders reports on strength are spotty and this due to loss of troops to fatigue or desertion, it can be overlooked.

The biggest concept I take away from this book is that Jackson lost more men from marching than from battles (these are no return men), and this casualty percentage matched those of R. E. Lee during the seven days battles.  Good thing for Jackson he didn't face a more capable Federal commander in 1862 or he would have gone down as an eccentric but unsuccessful Confederate leader.

Federal casualty markers

I always like the idea of marking the ebb and flow of battles in a game. Using carnage and glory as my rules system it makes this very easy. Each time there is combat action the computer registers the impact on the unit affected.  This makes it very easy to know how many casualty markers to put down at any given time.

The main problem I faced was acquiring enough markers to make this goal  of tracking the flow of battle visually happen. The simple solution presented itself when I came across paper figures at the following link.
ACW casualty figures

These are designed I believe for 28 mm figures. I just copied them into a word document,  shrunk them down to a size I liked and then printed them off. They needed only a little detail adjustments before printing to fit my happiness expectations.

I then cut them out and glued them on to small popsicle sticks I found in the craft section at Walmart.

The figures with all 6 icons equals major damage,  3 figures moderate damage, 2 figures equal as minor damage.

A little more work is needed to finish these off by cutting and pasting but the goal is to use up the 150 popsicle sticks in the process. Before that I need to complete by Confederate division. 2 brigades are underway at the moment.

Completed 6mm Federal Division

After a short delay due to a vacation I completed the first federal division to re fight the 1862 valley campaign.

The figures are baccus, based on a 60 x 40 base.

Regiments on parade. 3 brigades of 4 regiments each. 8 artillery batteries.  One battery base contains 2 guns.

Brigades marching to the attack. Front brigades were my experiment at adding more detail. Although I like the diorama effect I passed on using it for the other units and just based them. I will put officers and skirmishers on each base.