28mm ACW - A little bit of Everything Game

Well finally felt well enough after Chemo treatment to try our 28mm ‘everything in the pot ACW game’  I took a lot of pictures and I am afraid that you will have to suffer a lot of them. Sorry.  It also represents the last game on my big table in my loft - all dismantled now.  Five flights of stairs in a Victorian London Terrace are proving more of a challenge! Still aim to carry on gaming for as long as I can but will use the dinning table instead.  Also means Jack can join in as the can't do the loft!

Given the Confederates entrenched positions and knowing how difficult these had been to take in other games using Black Powder, we agreed that the Union forces should be further reinforced by another Brigade of 4 regiments of infantry.

The Union forces started with an all out assault Bob relying on speed to try to get to the Confederate raider before she could escape.

The Union cavalry charged forward catching the militia unit guarding the herd.   This was a freshly raised unit and the sight of the Union cavalry struck terror into them only giving them a chance to hit anything with a roll of D6.  Needless to say they missed and were cut down by the cavalry and the herd scattered.  However the gunfire alerted the Confederate forces.

Across the rest of the front the Union infantry hesitated and didn’t make great strides towards the Confederate lines.

On the river the Confederate patrol boat suddenly discovered it was being pursued by 3 Union boats .  Not something I was expecting.  Shades of the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat race.   The Confederate boat couldn’t pull clear enough to turn around to use it’s gun and I just had to keep going towards the raider hoping all the time that Bob’s ships guns wouldn’t sink me!

Whilst this was going on, unaware of the river threat, the main gun on the raider was being loaded and turned to face the threat of the advancing union infantry. 

It was only a lucky shot from one of the Union bow guns that disordered the raider’s gunners that alerted then to the real threat.  In the meantime they had managed to score a direct hit on the 30^th New York infantry forcing them to badly fail a Break Test and leave the field.

With his cavalry largely unable to advance further because of the Confederate defences, Bob decided to dismount first one regiment and then the other and engage in a fire fight.  This pinned the confederate forces.

Whilst the raider then reloaded and turned its bow gun to deal with the river boat threat, the rear gun was loaded and turned to face a now growing infantry threat.

 

Panic was being to ensue on the raider all attempts to get the boilers going were failing and the crew were rushing to try to ward off the advancing Union flotilla.

The noise of the Union light ships guns alerted Col Jackson of the 47^th Alabama whose regiment was engaged in a fire fight with the Union cavalry.  Unable to leave the defences, he sent half his men to the river side to fire at the passing Union boats to try to disrupt them.  They managed to Disorder one reducing it’s speed by half whilst the rowers got their act together.

In the meantime all attempts to roll a D6 to get the slaves to revolt were failing but the Union troops kept advancing.  A fresh Confederate Regiment came off the train to prepare to take up position.  Whilst it proved impossible me throughout the entire game to roll any sixes to restart the train’s boiler, I did manage one six to get one of the 2 raiders boilers fired.  I just needed one more six to get the other one going and smash through Bob’s boats!

The Confederate Marines rushed to try to fill the gaps in the centre of the line.

Whilst the defences meant that the Confederates were taking little or no casualties, Bob’s Union force pushed on across the entire front preventing me from moving troops.  Soon the Union the forces had moved to close range and it was only a matter of time before they hurled themselves at the defences.

The final assault came all along the line.

On the river the slower of the Bob’s Union boats found itself exposed at close range to the raider’s main gun.  Needless to say it didn’t survive!

But it was all going horrible wrong. Everywhere except on the one section of defence’s left hand side my forces were pushed back in melees.  Not only did the Militia unit hold, they forced back the 1st US Sharpshooters, and seemed to be doing well against the 80^th New York (with the smart yellow flag).  Then it happened! A D6 and the slaves seeing how close their saviours were decided to get involved! One shot and a lucky D6 was all it took to disorder the Militia and the 80^th were over the barricade and getting to work. 

There were odd success but not enough one Union regiment was through back , but another took its place.

Worse still the union boats drew alongside the Raider and their crews engaged in hand to hand fighting with the crew on board.

Whilst the crew were rushing to try to see off the river threat a gap occurred in my line which I couldn’t fill and although the Confederate Marines put up a good show against the New York Chasseurs.  Two of Bob’s infantry regiments stormed through the gap and found the undefended side of the Raider and it was all over!

My patrol boat rowed off up-stream to deliver news of the disaster!

For all of the odd bits and pieces I had put out on the table, the rules, with a bit of common sense, worked surprisingly well.  The Union would have failed without the extra Brigade and we allowed the river boats to up their ‘stroke rates’ on 2 occasions to be able to move 6 inches instead of three.  They couldn't reload when this was happening and could only fire every other go.

I never thought it would be so difficult to throw a D6 for the Train and Ships boilers.  We even thought we would change it in the course of the game, so you only had to get above the number on the next roll to help.  That of course was the only time we rolled a six!

It was great fun anyway and good to see everything out.  Jack scratch built the Church, the Rider and the Warehouse building, and some of the Boats.  He also made up the Black Hat regiment in one of the pictures.  The boat crews are from Britannia Models Napoleonic range which head swaps from the Redoubt Naval and infantry range with lapels and braiding cut away.  The union sailors are First Corp, Confederate sailors are Redoubt.  Almost all the other figures are Perry Plastics, with the exception of a few Haitians from Trent Miniatures and a few African Sailors from the Reviresco range.

Preparing for the next game - 17th C Pike and Shotte

At SELWG I pointed out some Napoleonic sailors and gun crews to Bob. They were French and British but easily used as other sailors, all the gunners for example being bare chested. Now Bob has sent me a few pictures of the sailors deployed for what will be our next game.

The eight guns are deployed in a small fort that guards a Polish port. Although Bob has eight crews he has only placed four in the fort, so although every approach and the port itself have a gun pointing at it not every is manned.

As well as the fort there are three Polish infantry regiments stationed nearby. Cavalry is deployed down the road and will take several moves to reach the fort or the port. Bob has not  given all the details of the Polish forces yet but has said that since this is a small frontier garrison there will be no Winged Hussars or elite cavalry. He also neglected to tell me who the opponent will be. 

Since this is a Pike & Shotte scenario set in the 17^th century there are several options.

It could be Swedes, or TYW Germans – but it might just be his Turks, Cossacks or Russians all of whom could legitimately attack the port.

The fort was scratch built by Jack, as was the dock. The gun and gun crews and the sailors on the dock were all by Newline Design. The barn is another of Jack’s scratch built piece and the customs office came from eBay,

British and Chinese river naval action

Some time ago Jack made me 3 Dapper Class Gunboats and some Junks.  Bob and I decided to try a game using them.  It was a bit of an experiment in terms of what each side should have by way of forces.

The scenario was a British punitive raid up river to take out a rebellious Chinese fort and supporting naval force.  The British figures were made up of Jacklex sailors and a unit of Rose Miniatures redcoats.  The Chinese are Orion Boxer Rebellion figures and some metal figures which I think were B&B Miniatures.

The British flotilla approaches and the Chinese Junks emerge from the tributary river.

One Junk was moored to the jetty and immediately tried to move off.

We discovered that we had under powered the British guns as they failed to blast the Chinese out of the water as expected.

Bob watches on as the Junk with fled the jetty at the start of the game ran aground.

British sailors and infantry are launched to tackle the Chinese forces.

Boxer Infantry prepare to repel the British. Their musketry was poor and the better armed British sailors and drove them off with a well aimed volley.

The Chinese Imperial forces in the fort came under bombardment from the British ships taking regular hits without being able to respond.

The naval fight with the Junks continued with one Junk being demasted and others turning tail as their morale faltered.

The game looked good and the models Jack made excellent but the rules we used and tried to adept didn't work. They were meant for early/mid 19th century ships but not for steam or the types of guns the British ships carried.