After The Battle Caculations.

 

 

After the battle you then go through a series of 'Post Battle' processes - Randall Hill goes up a rank and receives 3 Elan Points (EP) - 2 for turning up and 1 for leading a charge. The individual regiments take permanent battle losses plus any losses due to camp fevers and as you can see most units lost heavily . The 1st Michigan became 'Seasoned Veterans' , the 38th N.Y. received a 'Hero' and a new regiment was transferred into the Brigade the 4th Michigan- a Seasoned Veteran unit who also have a attached company of Sharpshooters .  To bring the Brigade up to the required number of bases (40) another unit is added the 11th N.Y. (Fire Zouaves) . I am now ready to fight the next battle which takes place in 1862.

'Longstreet' Campaign , First Battle 1861

 

I have started the campaign from the 'Longstreet' rules - my Commander is Col. Randall Hill who served in the Regular Artillery before the war and then moved into railroads , but has answered his countries call and re-joined the army . (Randall Hill is the name of a bungalow in our village - it always sounds like an American politician to me !)

 

 

 

 

His Brigade . The first battle is set in 1861 and his Brigade has been given the task of capturing a ridge from the enemy . It was played against my gaming colleague 'A'.

 

 

'A' insisted on bringing his own General figure .

 

 

My troops prepare to attack .

 

 

Col. Hill helps position and aim the guns personally - with impressive results !.

 

 

'A' consults his cards and by the demonic look in his eyes - Beelzebub as well !.

 

 

My attack goes in !.

 

 

The highpoint of my game - the cavalry overrun his guns !

 

 

I'm afraid to say that I didn't manage to record the rest of the battle as the action grew furious and although I took his guns and captured one of the objective markers I was forced back, ran out of command cards and so lost the battle !. How this will affect the Brigade will have to be diced for and the results posted next time.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements .

 

One of the problems of finding a set of rules I like is that I go off on a tangent and all my many projects are shelved as I madly paint up extra figures I always seem to need for the new rule set . For 'Longstreet' I needed cavalry - so I dug out a box of the Perry plastic cavalry that I have had for several years in storage . Now plastics are not every bodies cup of tea but as Foundry Union cavalry are running at 3 for £12 plus postage I decided I would use plastic .

 

 

They glued up very quickly - the earlier boxes of Perry plastics had less bits to them and match in well with the rest of my figures .

 

 

I also did some dismounted figures as well , these are a mixture of Foundry and Perry figures.

 

 

I also re based my Confederate mounted command. Next up are the plastic Confederate cavalry .

 

 

 

Seek And Ye Shall Find !.

 

I have been painting extra figures for my ACW collection and I needed more artillery , now I knew I had got some guns off eBay about a year ago - but could I find them ?! , I looked high and low and still I could not find them ! - my wife said (accurately- as well sad to say) "I don't know how you find anything in your toy soldier room "!). So I bought a couple of new ones from Foundry , yesterday I knocked a box over that was perched precariously under my gaming table and on cursing and picking up the spilled contents I found the packets of guns I had been looking for !. So here they are glued up ready for spraying and painting.

 

 

Occasionally in 'Longstreet' (the rule set I am using at present) you need 'hero' figures so I have painted up a couple in suitably heroic stances !. I have started a campaign using these rules and will report back on the progress soon.

 

Longstreet - An Explanation (Hopefully !)

 

Spurred on by my failure in my last post about 'Longstreet' I have decided to explain a move in the latest game I have been doing . The scenario is 'Crossroads' , the Union force is holding the crossroads in the centre of the table - the Confederates have to capture it .

 

 

The attackers (Confederates) move first . A sides hand is 6 cards , to fire or move/combat a card has to be played initially, any card will do this (usually one you don't need) but the action can be enhanced by playing another card -

 

 

- as the Union battery playing this card to double the number of dice thrown . A 5 or 6 is needed to hit and a 456 to kill a base.

 

 

The 38th N.Y. open fire playing one card to initiate the action and the above card to improve the effect .

 

 

However the Confederates interrupt this move by playing the above card , making it harder for the enemy to hit them .

 

 

The 38th N.Y. cause 4 hits (needed 6s to hit having been modified by the Confederate card) one dice per base .

 

 

The Confederates can now try and lessen the 4 casualties by playing a card - the 2 in the blue square removes 2 of the casualties .

 

 

The Union commander has to convert the remaining hits to kills by rolling 4+ resulting in 2 bases being removed . The generals have to remember that they only have 6 cards in their hand per move - so you have to be careful how you play them , it may be wiser to take casualties rather than play cards to save them !. At the end of a move you get extra cards from your pack to bring your hand up to 6 again.

 

 

The Union player increases his move distance by playing this card .

 

 

Later in the battle the Confederates drive back the Union right flank .

 

 

 Finally the Confederates take the crossroads - the 18th Georgia charge twice driving all before them . At the end of each move the players throw a dice (the Confederates get another extra dice as they hold the objective) if this and the opponents casualties equal the break point they win ! . The break point is determined by half  the total bases of the weakest side . Well I hope this explains the rules . Having read it through again I'm not sure it does !, however the game once you get your head around it plays very quickly, 'A' picked it up half way through the game I played with him . This system may not be for everyone but I like it and am busy painting up extra figures so that I can play a campaign .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longstreet - Flank Attack.

First of all an apology and a confession - My wargaming colleague 'A' came round to try out 'Longstreet' and I forgot to take photos of the battle - well I took photos but not very many and they do not illustrate the battle very well - that's the confession (in my defence I was busy telling 'A' how the rules worked and I got carried away as the battle hotted up !) . I must apologise to 'A' as he won and I cannot immortalise his triumph in photos .

 

The initial set up , my Confederates on the right - attacking , the Federals on the left defending . 'A' was the Federal commander.

 

 

The Union commander and hand of cards.

 

 

My alter ego the Confederate commander.

 

 

My troops start off on a flank march , which never really arrived !.

 

 

'A's army start to roll up my left flank .

 

 

My troops deploy but the enemy have got there first !.

 

 

 

I play 'Old Rivals' to interrupt his moving this regiment !.

 

 

'A's Zouaves stop my advance in its tracks .

 

 

'A' played this card and managed to remove 5 of my 6 cards in my hand ! , the battle went down hill from this point with him charging and driving one of my regiments from the table . This meant I had taken enough casualties to lose the battle . I realise I have not illustrated how the rules work or the influence the cards have on the moves , but commanding one of the armies was very distracting - especially when your loosing ! so I am going to set up a solo game next and go through the play more slowly and show how the cards work .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Longstreet.

 

In my never ending quest for the perfect ACW rules I decided to climb on board the 'Longstreet' bandwagon . The rules mechanisms themselves are simple enough being D6 orientated , the difference is the Action Cards which both forces have . The armies are dealt a hand of 6 cards and they have to be played to initiate firing, movement and close combat , other cards can be played - if suitable- to enhance these actions and help minimise casualties, the skill is knowing when to play the cards and plan your actions in advance . Some cards can also interrupt the opponents actions and strip cards from the enemies hand . Having played about 8 games I think I have a grasp of the rules - so 'A' is coming round on Wednesday to have a go .

 

 

I have decided to play the 'flank attack' scenario from the rule book to initiate 'A' . The action takes place on a 6' X 4' table , I set out the terrain randomly using the 'Terrain Cards' supplied with the game , the dice mark out the deployment areas - Confederates nearest the camera and the Union defenders - with the threatened flank in the left hand corner of the table. Both sides will have a Brigade classed as Eager Recruits as this game is set in 1861 . The rules have a campaign system with which you take the part of a Brigadier and follow his progress through the war- gaining prestige (hopefully) as the war is fought. The controversial thing about the rules is that both sides need a set of cards - so if your playing solo you have to have two sets to play the game , this adds to the price . The rules themselves are nicely produced as are the cards and the system give a very different game - if everybody will like them or not is up to the individual - must admit I'm impressed - we will see 'A's reaction in my next posting.