Gettysburg Day 1

Scheduling sessions has been difficult, so there has been a bit of a hiatus in our D&D campaign. In the meantime, I've been anxious to do something, so I figured I could set up a quick Fire and Fury game (American Civil War) and sucker at least a couple people into that.

The original thought was to throw together a generic scenario just to do something simple. Then I decided to use existing stuff to do a passable version of the first day of Gettysburg. Then that turned into a full custom battlefield. Things often go this way for me...

I started by cutting a 6 by 7 foot piece of tan craft felt as a ground cloth, and then sketched out the roads and hill contours using a brown sharpie pen. I love tan craft felt. It comes with color mottling so it is not a solid color, and comes in 6 foot wide bolts which gives it great flexibility. It is only $6.99 per yard at the local Joann's fabric store, and there are always sales or 50% off an item coupons (this piece was cut from a full 10 yard bolt which I got for $30).

I marked the lines of streams and woodlots with rows of beads, and then painted the outlines of the woods green, and the streams a medium-dark blue (cheap craft paints). The battlefield was way too tan at this point, so I took the cloth outside and spray painted it with a combination of medium-light green and light green to give it a mottled green look.

Gettysburg - Day 1, at start, from the West

For additional detail, the roads were painted brown between the sharpie border lines, and the smaller streams were simply drawn in using a wide point blue marker. Then, rather than using drawn in "quickie" contour lines, I decided to carve the elevations out of styrofoam insulation board and cover them with additional tan felt. These were then spray painted like the ground cloth. Seams between the hills and the groundcloth hide very nicely.

Heth's Divison of Hill's corps deploys for battle

The insides of the outlines of the woods were stippled and dry-brushed with a dark green, then a medium green, then a light yellow-green for a little pop.

Woods Detail - Herbst's Woods

Various detailed map references were used to place cosmetic outlines of orchards in the proper locations. Roads were dry-brushed with a lighter tan color, and the wider streams were highlighted with a light turquoise-blue. The major roads then got a heavy dry brush of a light gray to distinguish them.

Road detail, fur fields, simple orchard markers

Lastly, labels were printed for the main terrain features and then glued down.

Buford defends East McPherson's Ridge (Seminary behind)

All buildings, fences, trees and figures are from existing stock, and I already had base labels for F&F Gettysburg from years ago.

I'm very happy with how things turned out. Doing a project this way also has the advantage of being easier to store than a full styrofoam board battlefield (which would be two 6 foot by 4 foot sheets). This is four pieces of hill elevation each no more than about 1 by 4 feet, and a rolled up ground cloth. What started as a "throw something together for a quick game" turned into a full custom battlefield for the northern half of Gettysburg. In total, it took maybe 6 hours over the course of a week's worth of evenings. I got on a roll. And a little obsessed. Oh well, the end result is nice.

Now I guess I have to make the southern half of the field as well...

The South Will Rise Again! (Tomorrow, actually...)

It looks like four of us (Leo, Dave, Ryan and myself) will be getting together for a game tomorrow night. We were bouncing a few emails back and forth deciding what to play, and the consensus was a Fire and Fury game since we all know it well, and since my ACW figures and terrain were left on the table since our game back in early April.

I figured it would be easy enough to move the terrain around a bit, recast the scenario, change a few things, and have at it again. So I went down to the basement a few minutes ago to look at the table and remembered something - we were right in the middle of a very good game where the outcome was still very much in the balance. This makes my set up work very easy; I'm not changing a thing. We will pick up right where we left off, at the 11:30am turn, with the Confederate attack in full swing and the Union attempting to hold on while reinforcements arrive.

The players will be a little different, but it shouldn't matter, and this way we get to finish this game. A half dozen or so posts back in early April detailed the game to this point. In the near future I will be posting the remainder of the game. So tomorrow (on what is apparently the last day of the world according to some), we shall grill burgers, uncork a bottle or three of good wine and then let slip the dogs of war. If the world does end tomorrow, I think that would be a fitting way for me to go...

[Update as of this evening: Leo, Ryan, Dave, Anthony and I are confirmed, which means we have all of the original players except swapping out Leo for Ryan's friend Mike. It should be a good game tomorrow...]

A few Civil War pictures

These weren't narrative shots, so they didn't make it into the battle report posts, but they are nice pictures. I always try to remember to take a few shots from a low angle to give more of a realistic view. Sometimes they turn out really nice like these.

ACW Game - Part 6

Turn 6: 10:30am-11:00am

Union problems in the center.

Panorama at 11:00am. More and more troops are getting fed onto the flanks, while the Union center is a serious cause for concern. On the Confederate side, Pender in the south and Hood in the north are both beginning to deploy and should be in contact with the enemy next turn. For the Union, the entire 11th Corps is on the field, but is spread thin in the center and in the south, as Barlow's division is pretty well wrecked. McLaws' rebels occupy the center wheatfield, and Barksdale's battered brigade can be seen wildly chasing Barlow's remnants at lower right. Schurz's newly arrived division will need to plug the middle long enough for a cohesive line to be formed. If they can...

Center - Howard hurries to deploy Schurz's division in hopes that they can get into a blocking position ahead of McLaws' troops. Both flanks are relatively stable at the moment, but the center has a gaping hole where Barlow used to be.

North - The northern flank is setting up to be the scene of some vicious fighting in the turns ahead. Reynolds has Wadsworth's division up and deployed, and Robinson's division just about ready for battle as well. Which is a good thing, because Hood's powerful division is forming on the hill to their right front and looks to be ready to attack at any moment. Wadsworth, Reynolds' last division, has been ordered off to extend the left of Reynolds' line in the wake of Barlow's misfortune.

South - Union situation stable at the moment, but Confederate forces are building. Steinwehr is in position, with Buford's dismounted troopers and artillery support. But Heth's guns are up, his infantry is pressing the line, and Pender's division is filing across the ford and is about to begin deploying. When Pender is in position, the Yanks will be seriously outnumbered.

At this point, our gaming evening came to an end. The game is still set up here in my basement, and can stay set up as long as I want in the hopes that we can get this same (or similar) gang back together to keep going. It's shaping up to be a good game, and if it looks like getting the boys back together won't happen any time soon, I may be forced to forge ahead as a solo game. We shall see.

...To Be Continued...???

ACW Game - Part 5

Turn 5: 10:00-10:30am

Aggressive Confederates push the Union front line back.

Panorama at 10:30am. The rebels are doing well early, and more are arriving. Dorsey Pender's division of Hill's Corps is crossing the south bridge and coming over the hill toward the ford at middle left. In the right distance, the first two brigades of Hood's division of Longstreet's Corps are forming on the hill while the rest file over the bridge in the far distance. At lower right, Schurz's division, the last of the 11th Corps, advances.

Center - Things are not going at all well for Barlow in the middle. Barksdale and Wofford have hammered his two brigades, inflicting substantial losses and driving them way back. Kershaw's big South Carolina brigade is supporting them to the rear while artillery comes up. Gamble's troopers are no longer in a position to readily help out, as they have been committed into the woods to the upper left of the picture to help Steinwehr deal with Heth's attack.

North - The situation is somewhat more stable for Reynolds and the Union forces in the north. Semmes has driven Cutler back, but most of McLaws troops have been fighting Barlow in the center, so there have not been additional troops available to reinforce this attack. That will soon change as Hood's leading brigades deploy on the hill at upper right. Robinson's Union division continues to file onto the field in Wadsworth's rear to counter this threat.

South - Heth's attack on Devin and Steinwehr meets with success as the Union troops find it hard to deploy effectively and bring their artillery to bear. In their haste to get the guns into the front line, they have been exposing them to enemy fire and have had a difficult time keeping them in line. In the picture below, Pettigrew and Davis have driven in Steinwehr's leading brigade and damaged an artillery battery, exposing another battery that was coming up. Devin's cavalry has temporarily been forced back out of the picture. In the upper right, Gamble's dismounted cavalry brigade has formed up in the woods to contest Davis's further advance. Note that the Union 11th Corps supply wagon can be seen behind the woods. As noted before, we play that a unit can only resupply ammo if it meets the normal rules and can trace a 12 inch path to a supply wagon.

...To Be Continued...

ACW Game - Part 4

Turn 4: 9:30-10:00am

Confederates arriving in droves...

Panoramic view of the field taken from the East. For the Confederates, Pender's division of Hill's Corps and Hood's division of Longstreet's Corps have both begun to arrive. On the Union side, Robinson's divison is coming up for Reynolds, and Steinwehr's for Howard. The roads are pretty full of converging troops.

South end of the field - All four of Heth's brigades are at the front, along with both artillery batteries. Devin's cavalry is hard pressed by Pettigrew's North Carolina boys, but the lead elements of Steinwehr's division and some attached artillery are arriving to extend the line.

The Center - A very eventful single turn. Gamble's troopers, seeing Barlow's infantry coming up, have fallen back. Ames' brigade advanced to take their place and hold the fenceline, but was charged by Wofford's brigade. After a three round melee, Ames' brigade was badly beaten up and ultimately pushed way back. Having been all the way up to the fenceline, they can now be seen at lower right, disordered, low on ammo, and reduced in strength.

Northern flank - Cutler advances to face Semmes while the Iron Brigade deploys behind them. Hopefully this will divert some of McLaws' attention and take some pressure off of Barlow, who is hard-pressed in the Union center. At the bottom of the picture, the head of Robinson's division arrives.

...To Be Continued...

ACW Game - Part 3

Turn 3: 9:00-9:30am
The action begins to heat up as more of McLaws' men contact the enemy.

McLaws' division is now pressing the Union cavalry in force. Wofford's Georgia brigade has come into line next to Barksdale's Mississippians, with Paul Semmes' Georgia brigade in support. Buford's battery, being out of ammo, has limbered and retired to the rear to resupply. The cavalry troopers themselves are also disordered and low on ammunition.


As McLaws' presses eastward, Wadsworth's division deploys to their northwest. Cutler's brigade is in the lead with artillery moving up in support, and Meredith's Iron Brigade is moving up behind them. To counter their advance, a Confederate battery has taken up a commanding position on the hill.


To the south, Devin's brigade has galloped across country to block Heth, and has gone low on ammunition almost immediately. Buford's cavalry has done some fine shooting early in the game, but are paying the price by shooting off most of their ready supply of ammo. We are playing a house rule on resupply whereby a unit wishing to resupply must follow the normal restrictions as written in the rules but also be within 12 inches of a supply wagon unit. With no supply wagon nearby, the ammo situation for Devin is critical. Pettigrew's men are disordered at the moment, but are a very large unit, and have supports moving up behind them, as well as artillery.

...To Be Continued...

ACW Game - Part 2

Turn 2: 8:30-9:00am

Not too much fighting in this turn as forces from both sides continue to move onto the field and deploy.

Barksdale's brigade continues to aggressively front Gamble's dismounted cavalry. Buford's battery inflicts another casualty on Barksdale, but goes out of ammo in doing so (the black bead behind the gun). Barksdale assaults the Union troopers along the rail fence but is pushed back. In the background, McLaws' remaining brigades and artillery continue to pour over the bridge and deploy for action. In the foreground, Ames' brigade of Barlow's divison (11th Corps) pounds up the road as fast as possible in support of their hard-pressed comrades.

As McLaws' men deploy for battle, Buford receives good news - the cloud of dust to the north has been identified as the lead elements of Wadsworth's division of Reynold's 1st Corps. This division is one of the better ones in the Union army, and includes the Iron Brigade. That will give McLaws something else to think about.

Meanwhile, on the southern end of the battlefield, Heth's division begins to deploy after crossing the southern bridge. Pettigrew's large and excellent North Carolina brigade is in the lead, followed by some artillery and then Davis' Mississippi brigade. As the rebels deploy, Buford dispatches Devin's brigade to block Heth as best he can while more of Howard's Corps comes up.

...To Be Continued...

ACW Game - Part 1

Introduction
Without having too much time to get ready for this game, and having a few players who are not very familiar with the rules, I decided that the easiest thing to do would be to play a meeting engagement. This would allow most of the troops to begin off the table, and allow the newer players a chance to get their feet wet with the game mechanics while only having a few units to worry about. By the time more and more forces arrived, hopefully the players would be comfortable enough to be able to handle things by then.

The Situation
The scenario is set in June 1863 and uses the historical order of battle from the Gettysburg campaign. Initial Federal forces would include Buford's cavalry division (Me), John Reynolds' 1st Corps (Ryan), and Oliver Howard's 11th Corps (Mike). The Confederates would have parts of both James Longstreet's 1st Corps (Anthony) and AP Hill's 3rd Corps (Dave). The picture below, taken from the East looking West, shows the initial deployments. Buford's two cavalry brigades are in the center, one holding the nearer crossroad facing south and one holding the more distant crossroad facing west. The Confederates will be entering the battlefield from the west and southwest, crossing the stream in the distance. Union forces will be entering from the north and northeast. McLaws' division of Longstreet's Corps is advancing on Buford in the far distance. Lead elements of Howard's Corps are moving along the road in the near right of the picture.


Turn 1: 8:00-8:30am
The first turn was mainly movement, with more of McLaws' troops arriving and deploying to engage Buford. Buford's artillery immediately put a casualty on the lead Confederate brigade, but went low on ammunition in the process. The yellow bead indicates low ammo. The small orange beads that can be seen in this picture are 3 of the 7 objectives that the players are fighting for control over - these are typically high spots on the battlefield or road junctions. Control of the locations will go a long way toward effectively controlling the battlefield.


On the southwestern side of the field, lead elements of Harry Heth's division of Hill's Corps file toward the bridge crossing.

...To be continued...

Civil War Game Tonight

It looks like we will be throwing together an American Civil War game this evening on fairly short notice. I cleaned off the mess on the gaming table yesterday, and took an hour or so last night to scatter some terrain around. During the day today I will need to pull a scenario together quickly, but that shouldn't be much of a problem. I will also need to take a few minutes to reread as much of the Fire and Fury rule book as I can manage. Fortunately, F&F is one of those rule sets where you can pick it up after not having played it in a while and still get 95% of it right from memory.

This should be fun. I can't wait! Hopefully I will remember to take enough pictures to write up a good after action report.