1862 Battle of Maneuver - JRIII

 It had originally been our plan to play a mega-game representing Shiloh in August using Johnny Reb III and the excellent "This Bloody Field" scenario book.  All the plans were in place for 14 players when we had to make the regrettable decision to post-pone.  Putting all of us in a confined building for a weekend was not smart in a COVID-19 world.

But to put all the prep and training games to no use also seemed unwise.  So we cut attendance and tables in half, opened up my well-circulated garage and played an alternative non-historical game.

The Union was the Army of the Ohio based out of Fort Mitchell.  They heard reports of Confederate troops marching north and west towards Cincinnati.  They sent a small force up the road to Cincinnati then southward to create a line to slow or halt the Confederates.  The remainder of and bulk of the forces in Fort Mitchell pursued eastward towards the direction where the rebels were reported.

The Confederate forces were the Army of Kentucky, pushing northwards towards Cincinnati to try to severe the ties east and west along the Ohio River.  Trying to skate around the fort, they were met with terrible weather conditions which ground movement to a screeching halt.  After two days of little to no progress, the weather subsided.  Not to lose the advantage, a vanguard force pushed forward to take the town of Covington, to use as a place to push men and supplies north to Cincinnati.  Both sides were equal, with the Union having one more general present.  All arms were used with elite, regular and green troops on table.

The tables.  Troops starting on Table A want to move
to Table B.

Table A - both side move on from corners, needing to reach the
"Y" intersection.

Similarly on Table B both sides start out of contact.

The race is on.  Note the Confederate cavalry at the bottom of the image.

Table B - coming to grips.  Put your mask back on!

Lines form a Table A with my command grabbing a key stone wall.

Table B - neither side wasted any time making it bloody.

The Reb cavalry heads for the other table as reserves move forward.

Yankee cavalry looks to flank the Reb line on Table A.

The Yankees pile up against the Reb right, both sides move on the center.

The Reb cavalry arrives on Table A.

A lot of aggression from both sides on our right.  Also lots of bad dice.

Reb cavalry reorganizes and moves to meet their foes.

Hammer and tongs on Table A as Yankees take ground on our right.

Draw sabres, prepare to charge!

Yankees are getting whittled down on Table A in the center.

Broad view of Table A.

The cavalry crash together on Table B, result is melee!

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Table B it is looking promising.

The cavalry melee went incredibly well for the Confederates.

Once they reorganize the Yankee line looks in perilous shape.

The Rebel right has been mangled but holds against superior numbers.

In the center of Table A, I had weakened the Yankees, moved up fresh troops and was prepared to charge with support and rupture their position.  All that had to happen was get past First Fires.  A hit, no problem, just test for first casualty....  snake eyes!  Rout!  Test the next unit for seeing a rout... snake eyes!  Rout!  Test the next...  yep, snake eyes.  Six 1s in a row on d6 tosses.  Let us just say that the air sizzled for a time.  <grin>

View of the table after the dice disaster.

The dice were also unkind to the Yankees on the far left.

A decisive moment on Table B.

The game was called/conceded at this point.  As is so often the case, on Table A we thought the battle lost.  Although the loaded Confederate left/center was making real progress and still threatened a breakthrough, the Rebel right had been mangled severely.  But when victory points for holding terrain points and for eliminating enemy units were totalled, it was determined that thanks largely to Table B the Confederates had won handily.

That was back in August and happily there were no ill-effects from gathering for the day.  My thanks to the seven players who battled all day and especially to Ian McCurdy for doing the prep and planning.  

Flames of War - No Retreat!

One last game in my garage before cold temps and COVID-19 force a suspension.  We had four players, each with 100 points, Germans vs. attacking Soviets.  No coordination between the lists of the Germans so when one showed up with an all armor, all 88mm list it was a bit of a surprise.  The mission called for all the Soviets to be in play, while the Germans had to hold 40% off AND could only have one unit with a frontal armor of 3+ on table.  Considering that on a whim both German players took Tigers it made it complicated.

So one German formation was a Tiger company with six tigers and three Horniese.  The other was a Panzergrenadier company with nebelwerfers, three Pak40 (in ambush), two Pak43, four halftracks with the short-barreled 75mm, quad 20mm SPAA and two Tigers.  The Soviets were T-34s, IS-2s and 122mm artillery in one, lots of T-34s, 6 mortars, maxims, ATGs, Sturmoviks and Hero Infantry in the other.  

Two objectives were placed on the German side of the table, one by each side.  We're running lengthwise on the 7+' x 6' table.  Open fields require a crossing check, fields with crops offer cover, fences are bulletproof cover and the woods are light.

Looking at the approaching Soviets.  Tanks, guns and infantry.

Sturmoviks attack high value targets ineffectively.

T-34s at the top of the image, IS-2s next, engaged by Tigers
and Pak43s.

Panzergrenadiers do a rapid advance to the rear.

German reserves are slow coming, Soviet masses 
are imposing.  Best German ATGs eliminated or run off.

The Dance of Death on our left.  IS-2s eliminated in the center.
The Sturmoviks were both shot down in one turn by an amazing
run of dice by both sides.

Soviets rush one objective, Pak40 ambush is sprung.

Tigers from reserve arrive like the cavalry of old because
we have to shoot the Soviets off the objective.

Soviet infantry tries to flank us but run into a wall
of MG fire.

All our reserves are on and victory is won.

The Soviet formation on our left is broken, only the support elements remain.  On the right the Soviet armor is eliminated and although some infantry fragments and artillery remain there is nothing that can take on the panzergrenadiers.  The Soviet remnants began to pull off and the game was called.  

Very much a hard go where both German players thought they were lost at some point.  In the end luck favored the defenders and the inevitable German defeat was put off for another day.

Batailles de l'Ancien Regimes

 With COVID-19 surging in WI this may be my last game for a while, so I was pleased to gather five others in my garage (all doors opened) on a cool Saturday night for a fun BAR game.  BAR, if you're not familiar with it, is a card-driven "old school" wargame with big battalions.  For us, 48-60 figures each.  In our game a turn of the card allowed the CO to pick a player to move.  It's not uncommon for one side to entirely move first,  Then you start the flipping again for shooting purposes.  Melee is the last thing.  Casualties are dished out in staggering numbers at times, but each casualty gets a saving throw depending on type and formation.  You don't test morale typically till you get to 50% casualties.

Our imagi-nation countries were well represented.  The hybrid Ottoman-Russian vassal state of Vaneria  fielded Russian musketeers and grenadiers, Ottoman Janissaries and Azab regulars, along with dragoons and Sipahis.  Rondovia had three musketeer and one grenadier regiments, along with two squadrons of cuirassiers.

Opposing them were two regiments from Prochistan and a squadron of Polish winged hussars.  Austria provided two musketeer and one grenadier regiments and three squadrons.  France offered the Irish regiment Lally, Auvergne, and the Grenadiers de France, with two heavy cavalry squadrons.  Each side had four medium guns.  Sorry for the poor picture quality, the garage was not well lighted and telling whether it was in focus was difficult.

My French, the stragglers are off table in the column.

The other end of the table.  Charging across the stream
necessitates a morale check to not fall into disorder.

Early in the game we drew a joker.

The joker allows you to later "trump" an unfavorable turn of a card.  Almost always used in shooting situations, it is a big advantage to know that when you really need it, you will fire first.

My orders as the French were to drive on the center.  Cavalry
starts to drift that way in the hopes of an eventual opening.

Our side pushes forward all along the table.  Opening vollies
are particularly devastating.

We greatly reduce their line on our left, but my saves
for the Irish are particularly poor.

My history of saving throws is both storied and sad.  I went through a stretch of nine fails out of thirteen (50-50 chance) and so on and on.

The advantage seems to be with us everywhere.

As the Grenadiers de France push forward, the Russians
risk a charge, while struggling to find fields of fire.

The Russian musketeers rout away, as do the poor Irish, but this
opens the gap the cavalry has awaited.

Progress in the center and another joker is used for our side.

The cavalry charges, but the Rondovian grenadiers are
able to refuse a flank so are not disordered.

Up until this point the turn of cards had evened out and they had been getting a lot of opportunities to shoot first taking a toll on our men.  Both jokers had been played so the run of red cards early on for mostly movement, was balancing itself.

Unable to control themselves any longer, the Sipahis,
Polish lancers and hussars rush to engage.

After routing the grenadiers, the cavalry retires disordered 
to reorganize, having failed to pursue as Auvergne looks to move up.

Amazingly, the hussars beat the armored lancer Sipahis,
while the Polish squadron also routs.

One Russian and two Rondovian regiments have routed and the Janissaries are near gone against one "French" and one Austrian regiment lost.  The fresh Austrians and French are advancing and so the Vanerian and Rondovian side declared a fighting withdrawal and we ended play.  We use BAR for the campaign books written by Charles S. Grant, but there was no need to bitter-end tonight's game.

If indeed COVID-19 forces a suspension of games for a time we ended on a fun note.  Both sides had fun and took the luck factor all in stride.  We're fortunate to have such a mature group to game with.  Till next time, stay happy my friends.

Our redrawn map of Europe to incorporate our Imagi-Nations.