Hypothetical 1863 Valley Campaign

After some assessment it was decided that some modifications to the campaign were necessary. We viewed the first few turns as a test phase and after assessing the good and bad elements we refined a few things.  With that in mind we proceed by realigning troops and restarting the campaign to test these new adjustments.

We changed things by going off the principle that Longstreet was delayed coming north from North Carolina and will therefore enter the Northern (actually the southernmost portion of the valley).  Meanwhile, a division from AP Hill's corps will be stationed in the northern valley supported by Confederate cavalry who are Virginian's and/or native to that region.  The Federal forces will be comprised of the Federal 5th Corps with attached cavalry divisions.

The Federals begin the next phase of the campaign with 2 divisions (Ayers and Crawford) of the 5^th Corps being moved into location in the Valley supported by one brigade of Buford’s Division of Cavalry led by Colonel Devin.

Opposing them is one of AP Hill’s divisions, led by Anderson, which has been detached to cover the Valley and supported by the cavalry brigade of Grumble Jones while Longstreet’s corps moves north from North Carolina.

The Confederate cavalry is spread out to cover both the mountain passes through which the Federals can march from the east and along the roads to the north.  Anderson has spread his two brigades led by Wright and Lang across the majority of the major routes leading into the Valley near Woodston and Front Royal.

The Federal troops, led by Ayers’s brigade which is first to reach the valley, penetrates unmolested all the way to Winchester.  With rumors that Confederates are concentrated to his immediate South along all roads, Ayers sends one brigade with two regiments of cavalry as a reconnaissance into Middletown.  Still unopposed but hearing the rumors, the Federals must determine what to do in the opening phases of the campaign.

Turn 1:  Confederates:

Wright’s Brigade has been ordered forward on a Reconnaissance in Force with orders to destroy any infrastructure that might benefit the Federals.  The Cavalry regiment (5^th VA) was ordered to go with Wright’s Brigade (rolled a 2).

Lang’s Brigade has been issued orders to rest, but to destroy infrastructure if they are attacked which might benefit the enemy.

Turn 1: Federals:

Weed’s brigade orders are to advance 1 hex towards the enemy in force and leave a garrison in the current hex.  He will leave behind the 91^st PA (rolled a 3) who has an effective force of 222 men.  He will take with him 1 cavalry regiment (9^th NY) leaving 1 cavalry regiment (8^th NY) to support the 91^st PA.  The 91^st PA will remain in garrison until relieved or reactivated.

Day’s Brigade has been ordered to rest and destroy enemy property.

Burbanks’ Brigade has rolled two 6’s (players choice in both Orders and Special orders) so the player has decided to advance 1 hex towards the enemy but to make it a force march instead to link up with Weed’s Brigade as it moves down the Valley Pike.

updated hypothetical Valley campaign map

After a hiatus from my campaign I have decided to update my map some and tweek some rules.

We start back up in July 1863. The map has been sectioned off in grids. Each grid is numbered. I'm still tweaking my rules and am just in the planning stages now, but I will devote more time to that over my Christmas holiday.

For now I have tweaked my map and realigned the troop locations.

The map with the new grid lines

General troop placement,  but I will come up with new icons to represent these troops. For now this template works.

Movement Trays

With 6mm based the way I like it is a tad bit fiddly and slow at the start of a wargame when players move troops forward to engage in combat.

Personally, I like battalion level games and my figures are based for that. I also typically don't use more than a division vs a division in my games. However,  I risk having my figures broken or squeezed as people move them. So the goal of this project was to save movement time where possible and limit some handling of the bases.

I decided to make a few experimental movement trays for brigades. The theory is players can move the entire brigade via the tray and then deploy once more specific tactics are necessary.  Units can be removed from the trays if they need to be detached,  etc.

Supplies...balsa wood. Thin rectangular strip and a long flat piece.  Green paint..Apple barrel marsh green for me. Glue. Paintbrush.  Flock of your choice.

On the left is the flat piece. About 100 mm wide by 80 mm deep. On top is a remaining piece of the rectangular strip. Bottom right is a half painted piece. Above right is a painted piece with the rectangular strip cut and glued down.

Once the upper right image dries I paint the remaining exposed wood a marsh green. I would then flock it on the rectangular pieces and the front.

1st moment tray. I like all but my flock job. I will just flock the outside all in grass on the remaining ones.

What it would look like 95% complete. This holds a brigade of 6mm cavalry in my games or a regiment for others.  I can also use it for a 18mm French or British battalion,  but I'll need a whole lot more trays for a brigade.

On the whole, once completed, I think they'll work out well. 

Berdan's Sharpshooters

With football season over I will now have more time to continue my 1864 hypothetical Valley Campaign.

In preparation I have added a company of Berdan's Sharpshooters to employ when and where it is possible.

These were painted as federal skirmishers in blue but a quick dab with some green has sent them into the ranks of Berdan's elite troops. In truth I just wanted to add some color to the drab Federal blue.

Dabbling with 28mm French

Nothing big. Had some 28mm French and figured I'd paint one up while I get my 6mm French Dragoons organized for painting. Vitrix figure, painted up ok.

6mm French Revolution / Napoleonic War project.

Slowly building my pre 1800 French Rev forces. I've decided to focus from 1794 to 1800, and to concentrate on the Italian campaigns.

I obtained these Baccus figures last December and have finally had time to paint and base them. Mostly it was just a healthy experiment to see if I wanted to go down this road.

I like the way they turned out. These consistent of Austrian Dragoons and French Artillery at the moment.

They are based on 20mmx20mm. I know it's not conventional for 6mm battles but I don't play against anyone but myself and a few friends and it's based for my enjoyment.  I can't get into the 60mm x 60mm bases, etc. I tried it. I like formation changes and battalion level games, but I also dont need 9 bases per regiment....not my thing either.

Above: Austrian Cavalry on the left vs the French artillery

Above: French artillery

Above: Austrian Dragoons

ACW 54mm Game played on Sunday

My good friend John Michael Priest has a very nice collection of ACW in 54mm.  He has assembled an 1864 Wilderness / Spotsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor style entrenchments.

Today we test played a game he plans to take to Cold Wars.  The game can easily accommodate 6 to 8 players.  With only 3 of us running it (2 Confederate - John and Chris) and myself taking the Federals, it took a while to get things going.

John (or Mike as I call him.  We used to work together) has his own set of rules which he has always been modifying.  These particular rules are probably some of the best he has come up with.

Infantry rules were still pretty similar, but with the addition of sharpshooters which was my favorite part.  I won't go into all the details of the rules, but the basic is that officers can sustain 3 his before they are out.  Lose an officer and any unit needing to be rallied can't be rallied.  You can roll to replace the officer with another officer / NCO....but these guys just die when you hammer away at them via sharpshooters.

My only tweeks on this would be to replace each officer with a enlisted man figure from the unit, and maybe to use the sharpshooters to be allowed to target individual combat soldiers but with some restrictions. 

View from Berdan's Sharpshooters.  From this vantage point we killed off 8 officers, causing the Confederate skirmishers to either be captured or driven off and helped reduce the leadership of those Confederates manning the earthworks facing a major Federal assault.

Another view from Berdan's sharpshooters positioned in trees.  Center is a Confederate earthwork with cannon.  During the game the sharpshooters decimated the officers of the Confederate artillery.

Another view of the sharpshooters.  I found it particularly useful to use them as a team to hit targets.  Each one could target a particular officer, but by triangulating their fire (3 sharpshooters vs one officer) we could ensure hits.  Once Confederate sharpshooters started targeting these guys we just ganged upon on each Confederate sharpshooter and wiped them out.  Then we could dominate the battlefield.

My charge by one Federal brigade.  The fences slowed us down but we eventually charged into the Confederate works.  By this point we had spend close to 2.5 hours just testing different parts of the system.  In a full game with 6 to 8 players this would have occurred much earlier on.

Close up shot from the above picture

The reserve troops of the division waiting to be committed.

The other side of the field.  Early in the fight I sent one battalion across the bridge to draw fire and test the artillery rules.  They held in there well, but we lost 2 officers, and one was left on the bridge.  I named him "Chris" for my buddy playing across from me who reenacts Confederate and had to have the pleasure of killing his namesake.  Another battalion is being sent in to retrieve the body as the main attack unleashes itself at the weak point seen top-center of the image.

Just another view of the flank attack from above.  Poor "Chris" left on the bridge.

Long view from the Federal right flank.  Mike did a great job on the entrenchment stuff.  He tried to suck me in there by starting me with my "official skirmishers" as pioneers.  Only after my mistake of not asking early on did I realize he was stopping me from my normal Napoleonic tactics of Skirmish Cloud followed by columns en-mass.  Strange as it may sound, when properly employed those tactics work and are my bread and butter with his games.

Another view of the Federal left.  Sharpshooters in the trees next to the artillery battery...see the smoke.  That poor battery of mine was beat to crap.  Lost 3 officers and everyone in the crew hurt.  Fortunately Mike stopped shooting my batteries with his sharpshooters even before the major infantry attack began...thanks for forgetting guys...but not possible with more players I'm sure. Mike's age must be catching up to him! Just kidding buddy.

Early in the battle.  Federal batteries and Berdan's men soften up the Confederate position.

"Chris" and his battalion test the bridge defenses.  Early on they take some series casualties, but classic "Chris" he plunges ahead.

I really like the trees Mike put together and how the guys just perched there.  They are based on poker chips.

Battle set up.  Note the skirmishers on the right side of the picture.  That lasted all of 4 turns and we were redeployed.

Another view of the initial layout.