Battle of Second Manassas Scenario Progress

Battle of Second Manassas Scenario. 
The OBs are tentatively set using a variety of sources. The major source of OB info comes from http://www.brettschulte.net/CWBlog/regimental-level-orders-of-battle/ which contains a number of regimental OBs for a number of ACW battles. All listings are in Excel and easily converted for use with multiple rulesets. A few handy battlefield maps can be found at: http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/secondmanassas/maps/secondmanassasmap1.html. The OB for my game is posted under the Second Manassas scenario.

In preparation for the battle, 18 Confederate cavalry have been completed. This should be enough to field Stuart's cavalry arm.

18mm SYW Project:
The Prussian Red Hussars are finished and two battalions of Austrian infantry are on the painting table. The two battalions will be fielded as IR#45 Heinrich Daun. I've already completed the eight grenadiers for this regiment so my painting tasks will be slightly diminished. Tonight I spent two, uninterrupted hours toiling on these Austrians. It has been several weeks since I've experienced a two or three hour block of time devoted to painting. I managed to get the faces, coat, and breeches completed on these 46 figures (22 foot; 2 mounted officers). While slapping on the white, I decided to add four Old Glory 25mm Napoleonics Austrians to the production line. These Napoleonic Austrians were already primed leftovers from a test battalion of 16 figures.

In the mail this week were Ned Zuparko's Vive L'Emperor rules, Peter Young's The Wargame, and copeis of GWD/GRD's Europa duo of Narvik and Balkan Front.

Battle of Second Manassas Scenario Progress

Battle of Second Manassas Scenario. 
I laid out a battlefield prototype on the game table on Sunday. The major, historical battlefield activities will be fought out on an area roughly six feet by six feet (roughly five miles square). The entire 12x6 table will be utilized but I anticipate two feet at each table end will see little action unless either,

1. Lee is able to push the Federals across Bull Run
2. Pope is able to strike towards the Northwest and intercept Longstreet earlier than happened historically.

For the scenario map, I'm giving MappingBoard a try. The results of my MappingBoard attempt are in the Scenario -> Second Manassas page. The map is not finalized but provides a good, preliminary scope of the battlefield. MappingBoard is easy to use having a very gentle learning curve. The interface is very intuitive and maps can be generated quickly. A tabletop battlefield layout is provided for comparison. OB work begins. Immediately, I see I'll need a few sizable cavalry forces; none of which I have painted. Another decision to make is basing for the cavalry. The infantry are mounted upon 1.5 x 2.5 inch bases and represent about 1,000 effectives. The cavalry forces present at Second Manassas also muster at least 1,000 troopers each. Should the horse be based on similarly sized bases or should I consider half-sized bases?

18mm SYW Project:
8th (Red) Hussars: Not much progress on the Prussian hussars this week. Horses are finished with the troopers next. A Eureka order was placed today to replenish my SYW inventory. Three heavy horse regiments and four foot battalions will be added as will a couple of stands of wing command. I think I'm seeing a correlation between busy work-weeks and placing miniatures' orders. That is, busy week with little time to paint prompts me to spend time planning and purchasing. Also included in the order are enough AB figures for four battalions of early French.

Projects Update

Friday evening passed with a bite to eat and a painting session with the guys. For my part, I brought along 8 Perry German Jaegers that, once completed, I'll field as Hesse-Kassel Jaeger Corps. Austin worked on some very nice-looking AB Russian horse including the striking Soum Hussars while Scott diverted his painting focus from his large commission to a unit of Carthaginian cavalry.

Work begins on the Second Manassas scenario which I hope to have ready for play later in June or July. My recent trip to the battlefield has given me a better feel for the terrain and the problems that it poses for both combatants. I have a variety of battlefield maps and will be using Hennessey's RtBR for much of the scenario ideas. I envision a number of smaller scenarios along with a full battle scenario. Preliminary measurements suggest that the tabletop battlefield will represent an area of about 4 miles by 6 miles .

30mm English Civil War Project:On the painting table are 27 Renegade ECW foot soon to be fielded as Skippon's regiment. Well, much to my disappointment, I discovered (while basing) that I painted only 26 figures for Skippon's regiment! Ah, I need to be more careful when counting out figures. This isn't the first time I've mis-counted only to discover my error during the basing process. The missing musketeer was quickly primed and painted.

Skippon's regiment was quite enjoyable to paint so on deck for priming is another unit of 27 foot. Will it be mustered as a Royalist or Parliament regiment?

28mm American War of Independence Project:
The eight HK jaegers that I began Friday night during our painting session were completed Saturday afternoon. Although these were not needed for the Saratoga OB, I thought these would make a useful, yet small addition to the project. Eight figures turned out to fit nicely into our two-hour painting session. That exhausts all of the original Perry's I purchased in September 2009. With the British mustering slowly, I placed a small order for British foot to help accelerate the mobilization for Saratoga.

18mm SYW Project:Next up on the painting table are twelve Prussian hussars in mirliton. These twelve will be fielded as 8th (Red) Hussars under Seylitz and will represent two squadrons.