Sunday Daily Double!

Sunday produced a daily double in gaming; quite a rare event for me.

Jake drove up from Moscow Sunday morning and then we carpooled to Terry's for a half day session of Regimental Fire and Fury.  The scenario Terry planned for today was the Battle of Port Republic.  Jake and I commanded the Federals while Ken and John took command of the Confederates.  The first phase of the game was played out earlier in the week and we simply started where the prior session stopped.  At the start of our game, Jackson was already bearing down on the Federal positions strung out across the valley floor with most of the Federal artillery atop the Coaling.

Confederates Advance on Federal Positions

With better troops and commanders, and a fistful of brave colonels, the Rebels were unlikely to fail any Maneuver rolls and we figured our foes would be aggressive.  In fact, they simply stormed ahead, wave after wave, as they girded themselves for frontal assaults.  Having a steady stream of replacements coming on-board, no need for the fine art of tactics.  Both sides reached heavy casualties after five turns.  

Federal artillery was deployed on the high ground at the Coaling.  While the artillery wreaked havoc on the Confederates in sight, the Union right collapsed after only a token resistance.  With the outcome all over except the crying, the Federals conceded the game even though they still held some of the key objectives.    

Union line breached

After a quick stop for lunch, Jake and I returned to my house for an afternoon session.  Our plan called for a game of Commands & Colors Samurai Battles in 15mm.  We had time for one game so we selected First Samurai Skirmish which pits too evenly matched forces in a straight-up contest.

Initial deployments

Initial Deployments Yellow Close-up

Initial deployments Red close up

Jake brought up his Samurai Battles kit and enough figures for Red.  I fielded Yellow contingent and this would be my troops' baptism under fire.

In the early turns, Red's firepower was used to pick apart several of my Yellow units at long range.  As I closed, three of Red's central units suffered damage but could not be finished off.  In a counterattack, I lost three units in quick succession including my most lethal Samurai horse unit.  Ouch!

Yellow Attacks

After that, momentum remained with Red faction as Jake picked up an additional two banners to win the game 5-3.  For my command, one unit of teppo had to be pressed into service as spearman due to a lack of enough Ashigaru spearman.  I need to paint and field a couple more units of spear.   For easier identification, I also color-code my units with green, blue, and red identifying marks.

An enjoyable day of gaming day including two different games in two venues.  What could be better?  Oh, possibly I could have managed a win in one of the games?  Not to be today!