Last week Alan (Perry) decided to have an impromptu American Civil War game...
The scenario was that the Confederacy had to dash in and capture some supplies from the Union.
We used Black Powder... with some Black Powder Two additions...
Michael(Perry) and our friends Nick and Chris took the part of the Union... And friends Rob, Steve and myself were the Rebels...
An additional twist was that Rob and Steve had to crawl into the games room and make a map using a periscope to view the table...
This was the end result... sigh!
We were to enter from the west...
We made our plans...
I would attack down the road...Hopefully pinning the enemy.. Rob would swing round to the north threatening their flank and Steve would do the same ... with the cavalry... to the south.
Hmmm!
So much for scouting...
So much for cartography...
So much for plans...
Regardless we rush on... and hope our battle plan will work...
The Union had to dice where and when they came on...
First on ...Chris's infantry and Michael's cavalry...
I follow the plan and move rapidly forwards...
As do the Union forces...
They also do some Shooty Shooty... which isn't very nice...
Rob makes a drive for the Watchtower... For reasons that will become apparent I have christened this Fort Obsession...
I blunder...
But for once in a good way... forwards one move.. Hurrah!
I do Shooty Shooty...
Maybe not...
The Union do Shooty Shooty... sigh!
Some of my troops continue to advance... some like standing in a field...
Rob continues on to Fort Obsession...
Steve brings his cavalry on ... and dismounts on my flank... in a place that should have been called ...The Pimple of Death...
Nick dices for where his troops should come on...
In the wrong place as far as we were concerned...
This was just a nice picture...
I do some remarkable Shooty Shooty... could my luck be changing?
Things are looking... good!
Steve does an impression of fish in a barrel...
Rob continues his assault on Fort obsession...While Michaels cavalry decide that they are not needed anymore...
Steve does some rather dashing... running away... sorry... tactical withdrawing...
Frustrated by this brigade breaking under enemy fire ...
I order this brigade to move as far forward as possible and shoot the crap out of the enemy in front..
I rolled a 3 which gave me three moves...
Unfortunately I forgot that under the new rules you can only move one move if you want to fire...
So in fact I tactically presented myself as a target of opportunity...
I continue a fire fight with what feels like the whole Union army... collecting more bullets than I give...
My second brigade finds something important to do back in Texas...
Rob... Fort... Obsession...
Steve bravely rushes back in and retakes his position... as fish in a barrel.
I also play at fish in a barrel...
My first brigade decides it needs to help my second brigade with that important thing in Texas...
Rob... Fort... Yup!
I decide to move my last brigade over to join Rob .. who has got bored with Fort Obsession...
They also decide... Texas...
Leaving Rob to defend Fort Obsession against the whole Union Army...
Well things didn't really go as we planned... even with their random deployment the Union seemed a lot more organised we did... well they had better dice...
The trouble with trying out the new rules was that we/I kept forgetting... much to my cost.
This was a great and fun game with lovely friends... we did seem to cockup what seemed like a simple task...
My luck got better for a bit... but only for a bit... maybe things will improve next time...
All the best Aly
Great looking game Aly, although one would expect nothing less from your revered hosts! I guess you should be able to forgive Rob his obsession - after all. look at what happened at Hougemont….I am not 100% convinced by Black Powder as a rule set - we used it for Napoleonics for a while but we had some very odd games/results....
ReplyDeleteIt was excellent fun...
DeleteI must own up to being a bit unfair to Rob (for comedy effect)... his dice throwing was as bad if not worse than mine...couldn’t hit a barn door/watch tower...
We use Black Powder a lot... it makes things easy because most of us mostly know the rules...we also often have an umpire.
There have been some interesting results but the only really odd one would be the one where I win... :-)
All the best. Aly
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DeleteWord from the rebel camp was that there was an expert cartographer around somewhere, but a niggling ankle injury meant he couldn't go out scouting. So the task fell to two green recruits from Alabama without much schooling to speak of...
DeleteWe'll get them next time...?
rob
A great and amusing write up as always, like the periscope idea, although as to crawling on the floor, I doubt Dave or myself could get up again if we tried that ;~)
ReplyDeleteGot to love the dice gods, what they give they verily take away.
Did you find the new BP rules an improvement?
Thank you Phil...
DeleteWe have used periscopes in the past... they are great fun... you will notice that I got the young people to do the crawling...
I feel that new bits we used certainly did improve the game...
The moving once if you want to fire made you think about what you were going to do(unless you were me)
You can order disordered troops to withdraw...hopefully out of harms way
And what happens with a broken brigade is much clearer.
I will certainly pick a set up.
All the best. Aly
A fun game with friends, what more could anyone ask? I can readily empathise with your troops' performance as they redeployed to the rear, oh so familiar of late here too!
ReplyDeleteI am getting used to it David...
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Bad scouting, plans gone awry, obsession with a terrain feature...sounds like ACW to me. Looks like a great game, and great pix.
ReplyDeleteMight have to steal the crawling in and viewing the table from a periscope idea.
Well... we obviously strive for historical accuracy in our games...:-)
DeleteThe periscope is great fun...and adds an extra dimension to the game...you would be surprised how little you can actually make out...our map being a fine example of that.
All the best. Aly
The sketch idea is one worth stealing. As far as the game, very enjoyable report and pix (thanks!)--the "dice gulag": an idea whose time has come.
ReplyDeleteSteel away sir...
DeleteI think that I am going to need a very big box for my dice gulag...
All the best Aly
Great write up Aly. I temember doing something like the periscope idea some years ago...a bit different for us though in that we didn't use a periscope, just made the observer crouch down and his nose was not allowed to go above the table edge. Ther observer actually created a remarkably accurate picture of the table...but the burning question is what was so interesting in Texas?
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark...
DeleteThe tricky thing about the periscope is that you loose a lot of your depth of field making it hard to judge distances...
I think our men were trying to get to a Lonnie Spiker gig...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJBm9i7YO_o
All the best Aly
Outstanding write up and excellent pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark...
DeleteAll the best Aly
Excellent game, Aly, and a very fun to read battle account. Unless playing a set of rules frequently, rules’ forgetfulness is a given. Hopefully, this forgetfulness affects both equally.
ReplyDeleteOf course it could be our age and not the new rules that I causing the forgetfulness ...
DeleteWhat were we talking about?
All the best Aly
Lovely write up of a fine looking game!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you Ian...
DeleteIt was a Lot of fun...
All the best Aly