ACW with AGW or Finally Playing with the 28s

 As part of the wargaming program we've been trying to get figures that haven't been used in a while or not played with at all out onto the table. This week saw my ACW 28mm collection out for some action.

The Armies are basically a matched set with the CSA forces having an extra two units from an earlier attempt at the period*. Perry plastics with some metal command.

We chose "Action in the Plattville Valley" from Featherstone's War Games as the scenario. 

The Union advance guard move along the
Lower Pike Road. 
  

Spying the Rebels, the The Pennsylvanians 
move to Green Ridge. 

Confederate forces arrive at the Ploughed Field. 

 

The boys from Michigan set up by Church Hill

Standing bravely under the withering fire of the 
Confederate guns.

The Virginians charge into Plateville.

As luck would have it a Boy Scout has led 
the artillery astray.

Union cavalry looking good but in effective.

A good game although the as the Union commander I took a beating. The cards seemed to go my way but the dice refused to hit or save. 

*The story behind these armies. When Sash & Saber came out with their 28mm ACW line my friend and decided to do build some forces. It took me a bit to get mine painted and by that time we moved on to other things. I sold off the unpainted figures but kept the painted. Several years later at a hobby store the owner was selling two boxes of Perry Confederate for a fairly good price. Of course I bought them.

Then another friend told me of an online store that sold Perry's for a good price. I bought some Union figures and ordered some more things from England. In 2021 with out much else to do but work I built and painted the figures. Each army is six units of infantry, two skirmishers, one cavalry and four guns. Three Generals per side rounds out the army. A nice balanced for for A Gentleman's War.

I do have two extra infantry units for the Rebels so someday I may need to breakdown and buy a box of Zouaves.

Thanks for reading.

Catching up

Blog posting has not been my strong suit this year. The last few years I'd posted  two to three times a month. This year it's been about once a month.  Most posts were battle reports or pictures of what I painted I seem to be getting the games in and have been painted a fair number of figures. I think what has cut down on posting is that we've started watching some TV shows that require my full attention while watching and multitasking has been cut out.

So that brings me to this post of three games played. Two games of A Gentleman's War and one of Chainmail Bikini. The first AGW game was with my 28mm figures. We played a Hubberton scenario modified from the Black Powder Rebellion book. Howard took the Crown forces while Matt T and I split the Patriot forces.

American rearguard forms up.

British deploy across the river.

The battle begins.

The 2nd NH skirmishes with the Indians on the flank.

Game two finds us seventy years ahead playing an ACW game of AGW. I pulled out the 15mm troops for this. The scenario was Daybreak at Hangman's Creek from the Black Powder rulebook. Again Matt and I teamed up on Howard, we being the USA and he being the CSA. We were a little over enthusiastic about the size of this game running three brigades of five units each and hoping to set up play to a conclusion and break down  all in two and a half to three hours but it was a great looking game with all that lead on the table.

Union troops move into the town

The Rebel line is faced by a lone Union regiment.

The Union line awaits the onslaught.

The Confederate brigade attacks as the Union troops attempt to reinforce.

The battle heats up.

More Union troops move up to support.

Lastly Howard and I played a game of Chainmail Bikini. The game was set in China. I controlled the Monks holding a relic, while Howard had a Wizard, his daughters and a number of thugs hires to steal the relic..

The Temple

A day of mindfulness.

Respect for your elders.

The thugs bust through the front gate.

The Monks outnumbered do a fair amount of damage to the Wizards force.

The relics Foo Dog guardian awakens and wreaks havoc on the thugs.
 

Three great games. All better entertainment than a TV show you can multitask through. Thanks for reading.

Went on down to Dixie.

We just got back from visiting our daughter down in North Carolina. Ten and a half hours of driving broken up by a stop at the Petersburg battlefield. We didn't want to stop long so it was a quick stop with a movie at the visitors center and three of the eight stops. 

Stop #1

 Confederate #5 battery

The Dictator

Gun and caisson.

Stop #3

Battery #9

Stop #8

Start of the Union tunnel

Approach to the tunnel.

The Crater

My wife's reference for all this.

A good spot to stop for BBQ before or after the Battlefield

Jumping forward ninety years we went to see the USS North Carolina. Although my father was a destroyer man during WWII I enjoy seeing any of the ships from that era. It always amazes me at the technology available and the logistics involved with a Navy ship.

 

You could climb into two of the 16" turrets and one of the 5" turrets. The AA guns were set up so they could be moved up and down and side to side. 

The  last spot of interest was Moore's Creek Battlefield.  The visitors center was closed so there was no overview of the battle but there was a nice interpretive trail. 

Widow Moore's bridge.

The view from the Patriots side.

The Patriot earthworks.

A 3# field piece.

Whig view of the Loyalists advance..

From behind the earthworks.

After this it was off to pick strawberries at Lewis Farms .

A great trip all around.

The Portable Wargame at Salem Church

I should have written this when some of the questions were fresher in my mind but I didn't. Part of the reason for that w=is that the floors are being re sanded and we spent much of the weekend moving things, more things than we should have. Part of all this is why playing The Portable Wargame was the choice for this weeks game.

It was just Howard and I as Matt was working and Nate is enjoying his newborn. We decided to give PW another try this time using my 15mm ACW figures. I pulled out the Salem Church scenario done by Johnny Reb as it's seemed to be the right size for this game. I used one stand per unit of infantry and three gunners for the artillery. I didn't have commanders but should have used at least two per side.

The Union advances.

Confederate's delay the Union advance.

Reinforcement arrive for the South as the Northerners advance on the left.

Yankees flanking the right.

Reb artillery dueling with the invaders.

The Union closes in on the Confederate left.

The Rebs have been flanked on the right.

An enjoyable game all in all. The squares are 2.5 inches and the board is eight by thirteen squares. I think I should have used two stands per unit to get a better look. Most of my figures based for Johnny Reb2 are on inch squares, four per base mostly. The fences were place in the center of the square to show which square would get the benefit but I think putting them on the edge would be better appearance wise and still show which square benefits. Maybe some new fences will be needed.

We had a few questions about flank attacks, line of site, figuring weapons ranges. Many had to do with the use of a grid and adjusting our own perceptions. Another reading of the rules and a few more games should get us there.