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.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
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,
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.
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,
- Lee is able to push the Federals across Bull Run
- Pope is able to strike towards the Northwest and intercept Longstreet earlier than happened historically.
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.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Grant's Tomb
Returned from a trip to New York City to attend Daniel's graduation. While there, one stop was a visit to Grant's Tomb. In honor of Memorial Day, below is a photo of Grant's Tomb taken on 30MAY2010 bedecked with U.S. flags and bunting.
One of the displays inside the tomb focused on a uniform and accoutrements. The kersey trousers were a little more blue than the picture shows although the blueish-grey depicted in the photo is an acceptable. shade. Perhaps, Ceramcoat's Blue Jay would be a close match although I often use Ceramcoat's Ocean Reef Blue and Blue Heaven for the kersey trousers.
As with most of my plane travels, cross-country travel provides an opportunity to catch up on reading without the normal distractions. On the May trip to NYC, Sutherland's Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville, The Dare Mark Campaign was the subject of my attention in addition to a few magazines. Sutherland's book,
covers the activities of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville from the operational and political slant. Battlefield minutia is kept to a minimum with emphasis on the decision-making processes and the interaction between the field generals and the heads of state. Sutherland paints the Rebel army as a well-oiled machine under lee's leadership while the Federals are broad-brushed as a bumbling organism led by a disfunctional command system. Another recent acquisition taken along for review was Waxtel and Burke's, They Died for Glory.
Painting tally for May was a little understrength but not bad production considering my May painting funk.
30mm English Civil War Project:On the painting table are 27 Renegade ECW foot (hopefully) soon to be fielded as Skippon's regiment. Below is a photo of a painting found in NYC's MOMA. Note, in this painting, that the sleeveless buffcoat is the same shade of leather as the knee boots. Ceramcoat's Golden Brown is a close match.
One of the displays inside the tomb focused on a uniform and accoutrements. The kersey trousers were a little more blue than the picture shows although the blueish-grey depicted in the photo is an acceptable. shade. Perhaps, Ceramcoat's Blue Jay would be a close match although I often use Ceramcoat's Ocean Reef Blue and Blue Heaven for the kersey trousers.
As with most of my plane travels, cross-country travel provides an opportunity to catch up on reading without the normal distractions. On the May trip to NYC, Sutherland's Fredericksburg & Chancellorsville, The Dare Mark Campaign was the subject of my attention in addition to a few magazines. Sutherland's book,
covers the activities of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville from the operational and political slant. Battlefield minutia is kept to a minimum with emphasis on the decision-making processes and the interaction between the field generals and the heads of state. Sutherland paints the Rebel army as a well-oiled machine under lee's leadership while the Federals are broad-brushed as a bumbling organism led by a disfunctional command system. Another recent acquisition taken along for review was Waxtel and Burke's, They Died for Glory.
Painting tally for May was a little understrength but not bad production considering my May painting funk.
30mm English Civil War Project:On the painting table are 27 Renegade ECW foot (hopefully) soon to be fielded as Skippon's regiment. Below is a photo of a painting found in NYC's MOMA. Note, in this painting, that the sleeveless buffcoat is the same shade of leather as the knee boots. Ceramcoat's Golden Brown is a close match.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Projects Update
As I dug around the trays to pull cavalry for rebasing, I found several stands of 'orphan' figures. That is, surplus, painted stands that were no longer needed after the infanty rebasing activity. I have one remnant stand containing five colonial militiamen. To field this as a full unit requires fifteen figures. I pulled ten militia from my inventory and will paint these to add to the five-figure cadre.
The markers are complete for tracking CE for the game. I used Litko 30mm hexagons for the CE marker, each side having two sets of three faces. Side One is marked with "1-2-3" and "2-3-4" with Side Two marked with "3-4-5" and "4-5-6". Now, we'll be able to easily track when a unit has fallen more than two CE levels from current. In the rules, a unit may only recover up to two levels above its lowest point in the game. So, if a unit begins the game as a "5" and loses 3 CE (becoming a "3"), it may only recover up to a CE level of "4". These markers will be utilized in my ECW, FIW, and AWI Ironsides-derivative rules.
All of the cavalry have been rebased but the bases are unpainted and unflocked. I'm awaiting my flocking activity near month-end to finish these off.
15mm Second War of Italian Independence Project:
Up next on the painting table are 18 Austrian infantry that I'll be fielding as a grenadier battalion. The figures are Freikorps and look quite nice. I'll be interested to see how this painted battalion of Freikorps look alongside the painted battalions of Old Glory.
30mm English Civil War Project:
Although I considered following the 1859 Austrians with a unit of SYW Austrians to complete a trifecta of Austrian production, a regiment of ECW Parliament foote will cross the painting table next. The regiment is yet to be decided after I check my flag inventory but the 27 figures will be Renegade.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Mapping Software
Although I've been using Campaign Cartographer infrequently for several years, I never have quite gotten the hang of the software. Long lapses between mapping sessions makes the learning curve a hurdle to overcome with each mapping project. I do like the results and some have generated some excellent results. For instance see, Malcolm's excellent campaign maps (http://www.murat.ca/maps.htm). I recently found this mapping software (http://www.tylermade.co.uk/mappingboard.htm) and it is very easy to use and nice looking maps can be generated quickly without much fiddling.
To commemorate Cinco de Mayo, I pulled my French Intervention in Mexico collection down from the shelf and deployed both combatants on the gaming table for a brief review. These troops haven't been on the table in years (like the Vietnam collection mentioned in the 01MAY2010 post) and it is appearant that I still have a bit of work to complete with this project. First, all of the guns and crews need rebasing since the guns are currently based separately and the crews are singly based. Second, I'm sorely missing cavalry for all participants. The collection is a hodge-podge of several manufacturers with the dominant percentage made-up of Frontier 'true' 25's. I'll work on finishing the artillery and perhaps prepare for a small game. For rules, I 've used Fields of Honor and an Old Trousers variant.
The painting mojo still hasn't returned but I hope to restart the production flowing again soon beginning with 12 Austrian SYW hussars. Sometimes when painting becomes a chore, I place an order in an attempt to reinvigorate my painting. I recently succumbed to this temptation by placing a small order with SHQ for four Huey crews (motivated by the recent Where's Charlie? game) and Front Rank for two battalions of French Legere and one battalion of Portuguese line. With the BP once again under USD1.50, now seemed a good time to take advantage of the more favorable exchange rate.
To commemorate Cinco de Mayo, I pulled my French Intervention in Mexico collection down from the shelf and deployed both combatants on the gaming table for a brief review. These troops haven't been on the table in years (like the Vietnam collection mentioned in the 01MAY2010 post) and it is appearant that I still have a bit of work to complete with this project. First, all of the guns and crews need rebasing since the guns are currently based separately and the crews are singly based. Second, I'm sorely missing cavalry for all participants. The collection is a hodge-podge of several manufacturers with the dominant percentage made-up of Frontier 'true' 25's. I'll work on finishing the artillery and perhaps prepare for a small game. For rules, I 've used Fields of Honor and an Old Trousers variant.
The painting mojo still hasn't returned but I hope to restart the production flowing again soon beginning with 12 Austrian SYW hussars. Sometimes when painting becomes a chore, I place an order in an attempt to reinvigorate my painting. I recently succumbed to this temptation by placing a small order with SHQ for four Huey crews (motivated by the recent Where's Charlie? game) and Front Rank for two battalions of French Legere and one battalion of Portuguese line. With the BP once again under USD1.50, now seemed a good time to take advantage of the more favorable exchange rate.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Where's Charlie AAR?
Friday evening we met for dinner and then adjourned for a short game at Austin's. I suggested that we give my 20mm Vietnam collection a trip onto the table top and Scott and Austin agreed. I haven't gamed with this collection for many years and I've been contemplating selling it off. Scott and Austin would handle the American squads while I moderated and guided the VC forces. The rules used were Where's Charlie? and allows for either solo or GM-moderated control of the VC. Friday night's scenario would see two U.S. Army squads patrolling in an area of reported VC activity. Austin and Scott were instructed to patrol the length of the jungle-laden table with three pre-designated LZs scattered across the table.
Austin was first to make contact with the VC with VC fire pinning members of his command. In the firefight, Austin managed to pin the majority of the opposing VC and then closed to hand-to-hand combat. In melee, Austin dominated the VC and eliminated the threat. After the combat, Austin's squad discovered a weapons cache. On the other trail, Scott made quick progress, advancing with no opposition. As Scott's squad neared a stream, his squad began taking fire from a sniper. The sniper managed to pin one squad member and then out of the brush fire erupted from a VC force of five. In a heated firefight, one US grunt went down with wounds and another became pinned. As the M60 gunner kept up a steady fire, two soldiers grabbed their wounded comrade and began hauling him back to the LZ. With three grunts out of action, VC firepower began to take its toll. The Sgt was hit, dying from his wounds shortly, thereafter. The situation was looking bleak for Scott's squad when the HQ element and Austin converged upon the VC that were threatening Scott. As the VC attacked Scott across the stream, both Austin's squad and HQ took the VC in flank. The second VC squad was eliminated. As the chopper arrived at the LZ to dust off the casualties, the chopper took weak RPG fire. Under RPG and sniper fire, the US successfully extracted both squads. body count was 10 VC dead with two US KIAs and one wounded. Two weapons caches were discovered and all US troops returned to base (two in body bags).
As noted, I hadn't deployed these figures in a long time and hadn't run through a Where's Charlie? scenario in just as long. The game mechanics are straightforward but a small introductory scenario was needed to re-acquaint myself to the rules. During the game I noticed that my QRS didn't have all of the needed information at hand so I'll modify the QRS to include a few missing components. Next game should progress a little more smoothly.
Austin was first to make contact with the VC with VC fire pinning members of his command. In the firefight, Austin managed to pin the majority of the opposing VC and then closed to hand-to-hand combat. In melee, Austin dominated the VC and eliminated the threat. After the combat, Austin's squad discovered a weapons cache. On the other trail, Scott made quick progress, advancing with no opposition. As Scott's squad neared a stream, his squad began taking fire from a sniper. The sniper managed to pin one squad member and then out of the brush fire erupted from a VC force of five. In a heated firefight, one US grunt went down with wounds and another became pinned. As the M60 gunner kept up a steady fire, two soldiers grabbed their wounded comrade and began hauling him back to the LZ. With three grunts out of action, VC firepower began to take its toll. The Sgt was hit, dying from his wounds shortly, thereafter. The situation was looking bleak for Scott's squad when the HQ element and Austin converged upon the VC that were threatening Scott. As the VC attacked Scott across the stream, both Austin's squad and HQ took the VC in flank. The second VC squad was eliminated. As the chopper arrived at the LZ to dust off the casualties, the chopper took weak RPG fire. Under RPG and sniper fire, the US successfully extracted both squads. body count was 10 VC dead with two US KIAs and one wounded. Two weapons caches were discovered and all US troops returned to base (two in body bags).
As noted, I hadn't deployed these figures in a long time and hadn't run through a Where's Charlie? scenario in just as long. The game mechanics are straightforward but a small introductory scenario was needed to re-acquaint myself to the rules. During the game I noticed that my QRS didn't have all of the needed information at hand so I'll modify the QRS to include a few missing components. Next game should progress a little more smoothly.
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