Rebels on the Attack

I've almost reach the point I throw away all the grey paints that dominate my painting desk for almost a year now. Only one Regiment and some skirmishers to go and I'm finished for our new years game and I will take a break from ACW for a while. That said, I ordered a lot of Foundry and Perry stuff for the next Brigade this week and I'm still on a mission to build a decent size army of at least three Brigades with all the bells and whistles.

Doing this one year project with our group made me again realize what games I like best: Fast paced (say platoon level) skirmish games for our evening games and larger sized games where you actually can take the role of a general ordering lots of units around. The more the better in this case. With our very limited attention span we never got to that point actually. Even with our biggest efforts we always got stuck at about eight units per side for this kind of games. Of course we have great fun playing this games but it also gives the feeling that we need far more to take it to the next level.
This ACW effort is different in that aspect and to me is a game changer. We can now do a decent size game and our new years game will feature about twenty Regiments a side. Finally some reasonable numbers.

But this also makes me reluctant to start yet another new period soon. I want to do some more ACW next year building on what we already have now. And really, I have so many armies that have seen action only once and even some that never reached the tabletop at all. Why start painting another if you have lots of others you can expand, or simply can start using. Well, I know the answer but to stop this rambling I'll conclude that I'm lost at the moment. Haven't touched a brush in two weeks and even considering a downsize to a 10mm project to reach my goal of mass sized games. It's only because I can not decide on the period that I did not order some samples to see if it's something for me. Over the next weeks I will introduce some new periods from the archives on the blog and let you know what the next move will be.

Miniatures from Renagade, flag from GMB. Complete gallery of all painted ACW here.
The Renegade miniatures Brigade is finished now consisting of a standing, marching, firing and charging regiment. I've made the stupid mistake of making the charging unit 18 figs only. As these mini's always lead the way on the gaming table it would have been smarter to make this regiment a bit larger instead of smaller than the rest. With regards to poses I would also do it different next time. More of the same pose in a Brigade, looks better as a Brigade on the table. The next ones will be all in attacking/charging poses...

Now, off to see the All Blacks crush the French. I may be Dutch but I'm a huge rugby fan and I'm still recovering from last weeks semi-finals tragedy. Hopefully the All Blacks set things straight today...

Battle for Miller's farm, Guns at Gettysburg report

Or better known to me now as The day I could not throw more than three.

 A week ago saturday the group came together for our second game of GaG. Rob created a the scenario and had built a great table for us to play on. Since it was our second game we decided to take it easy and focus on getting a bit of practice on maneuvering, charging and some melee.
 The maneuvering worked out pretty easy and it took me and Rob, who also played Rebs,  quite some turns to get the rebels in Brigade attack column to deliver some heroic charges. In the meantime our Union player Jake had a great time practicing dice rolling while shooting our approaching troops.

With some damage done on our side it was now time for some serious bashing. The first one in were my skirmishers. Looked pretty easy and in my mind the blue skirmishers were already stored back in Jake's boxes. But that's where my first great dice roll happened. The skirmishers decided to let me down and went to the ground instead. I was considering a repaint for them as traitors at that time. But OK, we could handle that as I had now two Attack columns in charge distance and Rob one. Next turn it would all be decided and I could drink a cold beer on a glorious victory.
Full of positive energy I started with the first Brigade, I moved them halfway and threw for morale... A three. Looking at all the modifiers the result was they halted and volleyed. No charge. Slightly dissapointed I moved to the second Brigade so they could secure the center...Another three. No charge again. I sat down in frustration to watch Rob charge his Brigade. Since Rob never misses a charge roll he went all in for his. Under heavy fire he hit the Blue wall. Minutes later he was pushed back  with his leading regiment reduced to only a couple of stands. At that stage we ran out of time so no time for a second chance. Bad luck, but that is part the fun I guess and in my case it better should be as I carry the curse of the dice with me on many occasions.

















 The next day made the matter even worse. As it is still fresh in the memory I always reread parts of the rules and FAQ's the day after to see what we did wrong. First thing I ran into was an errata from the author on the forum. Brigade attach columns neglect the Halt and Volley result to represents the fact they were an "all or nothing" formation. Thank you, they should have charged! and I should have known...
These rules have a lot to it and we just need to take a bit of extra attention to learn how to use them. So far, we are having good fun with them. Maybe I need to read the rules before the game as well?

A few pictures:
Lots more can be found on Photobucket

Sharp Practice supplement for FIW

A couple of days ago I received a short email from Rob van S, going by the name of Suchet on the internet. He just wanted to inform our group that the TFL Summer edition included rules for playing F&I: La Longue Carabine.  A Sharp Practice supplement for the French Indian Wars.

Well, thanks, nice to know Suchet. And thanks again since we all know our group is so easily distracted that such a simple email often means some figure and terrain traders can expect orders in the very near future. I suspect that this will be the case now as well. Our 2011 ACW group project is coming to an end and we all like this period a lot. People are dusting off their canoes at this very moment.

The news of the supplement reached us rather slow  as it was released in june I believe. But what more can you expect with a messenger like Suchet. It is exciting news for me though. I feel SP is an ideal ruleset for this period as it will be able to capture the feel of the period. Even more so then it does for what it is originally designed for IMO.
Inspired by this all I dug in to the archives and found a couple of pictures from games back in 2006. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of your fort and all the other troops Suchet. I'm sure they will pop up here soon.
We used This Very Ground rules by Iron Ivan games back then. Unlike their excellent Disposable heroes set this did not work for us making the news even more exciting.

Confederate firing line...under fire

The latest addition to the ACW collection, a firing line  from Steve Barber Models. I really like those models a lot. They come with seperate heads and bodies so you can vary what you want and they provide enough options to make any unit different. They fit in nicely with the other popular brands and they have marching poses and right shoulder shift available as well. You will see those appear on the blog in the next month.
I've tried to make this unit a bit more interesting using the fallen standard bearer miniature who looks up to his Colonel in despair and someone trying to take over the flag while the regiment is taking some hits. 

 
Flag GMB Design
Added the Regiment to the ACW Gallery

More Renegade rebels march in

Another regiment from Renegade miniatures done for Bennings Brigade. They were just ready for our last game and already  did some marching on the battlefield as you may have noticed in last post.
Decided to make a full Renegade only brigade and have one regiment and some skirmishers to go. For another brigade I'm finishing a firing line from Steve Barber miniatures which I will post next week. Flag is GMB Designs

First Guns at Gettysburg report

Two weeks ago the group came together for a first game using Guns at Gettysburg rules by David Brown. As you have noticed on the number of ACW posts on this blog our club theme this year is ACW. Our aim is to have about five infantry brigades a side ready for our new years game early January. Against all odds we are ahead of planning and in the meantime we play some games to stay inspired. I'm surprised the group keeps his focus so long and i think our approach to start gaming Terrible Sharp Sword and grow to a larger scale over time really worked well.
For our regiment based games we picked Guns at Gettysburg. Main reason is we like General de Brigade and do not want to bring in yet another system. Could have gone for the Elephant rules by TFL since we are using Lardie rules a lot and we might do a test drive with those as well to see if we like them. But so far, we like GaG.

 The game itself was good fun. One player unfortunately could not make it so we had to adjust the scenario as the Union now missed five regiments. This was also a good and now legal opportunity for Marc 'Mudwall' to hold on to his tradition of finding cover asap as seen in our previous games. This time however, the fences did not save him as the Rebels ferociously charged and routed the 16th Michigan from behind their cover (I must say the double six helped). We deployed a bit too far apart but it also meant we could see how movement and formation worked.
Anyway, not a lot of time today so some pictures of the game...

Complete gallery of the day on photobucket and Rob Pohlman created a gallery with some great shots of his Rebs here

Overview after a couple of turns moving

Rebs moving in 1

2

3

Battle for the bridge. Due to quick and decisive movement the Confederates got there first. No charges unfortunately, they faltered when they got the attack order

The first wave is getting in

with success

More thought on the rules and it's mechanics follow after we played one or two more games. Next few weeks a couple of new regiments arrive on the blog and I need to sort out some old pictures to post variation...

Honorary Member of Postie's Rejects

Now that's a cool title to reopen this blog after the mini-break. Unfortunately the break took a bit longer then planned but I'm ready again to join the fun.

During my holiday I had the pleasure to have a game with internet celebraties Ray from Don't throw a 1, Fran The Angry Lurker, Surjit (does not read blogs as he is afraid he might be on them)  and the ultimate game master Postie. Together with a number of others they are known as Postie's Rejects.
Ray read on my blog I was  visiting relatives in Kent and invited me for a game with the Rejects and after a couple of emails my first internet date was a fact.
Since Ray and Fran both did two parts battle reports three weeks ago I will just share some pictures and thoughts on the day.



When I arrived at Postie's house a couple of surprises hit me. The guys were already waiting and having a cup of tea to get ready for the game. Well, they were all drinking tea except for Ray and maybe one other. He was drinking something else which looked somewhat weird to me. Was he really....When he then mentioned he went out with some friends the night before I decided not to ask. But now I've seen Ray in action I got to know. What is this magical drink that makes you throw 7 hits out of 7 dice at a deciding charge?

Jokes aside the Rejects made me feel very welcome from the moment I walked in. They come together to have a good time and succeeded to include me in all the fun. The game was very well organized by Postie who prepared the table including initial deployment, handed out copies of the rules, wrote a scenario with lots of surprises and ran the game with great enthusiasm and humor. Every club would want a Postie and it made me think that we need to prepare better for our games since it adds so much to a game.


The second surprise came when they took me to the garden to start the game. Ok, the weather was good and I like the sun but playing outside? No way, Postie transformed his garden into a wargaming temple. Unfortunately I do not have a better picture but the shed behind us gives you an idea. A permanent large table and lots of terrain and figures. And that's just the shed. During the 'Marry me' pasta break which was discussed on TheAngryLurker's blog Postie showed me some other rooms in his house where he stores lots ans lots of painted figures.

Ah, I do have a better picture of the shed:

Rejects clubhouse

On to the game. As said both Ray and Fran did the reports so just a couple of pictures with comments.
The Battle of Pisek 8th July 1809

Initial deployment at left flank. I played the Saxons with Fran on my right side playing the French. Opposing me was Ray commanding an Austrian army

Saxons on the attack. The guys were quite surprised I actually went in to charge mode asap.

 Hey, no guts no glory.

Initially, helped by highly professional dice rolling, the charging was successful. Only a couple of batallions left to finish off

In we go again!

Ouch another one on the left. And it can turn and charge my flank as I hear...

Fran finds out Ray saved his best dice for the important moments. Ray seems pretty happy with it. What was it again? 7 hits out of 7 dice, needing 5's or 6's?  Can't beat that. Well, actually we did. We did enough damage earlier to just win on total points. But who cares, it was close and exciting game.

Fran and Surjit had a huge fight over the hill at our right wing

After the battle Postie had another surprise in store. I was made Honorary Member of Postie's Rejects and he handed me a beautiful trophy as a memory for the day. He even painted the flag orange the night before. Very cool and it got a nice place in the cabinet. The rejects now have a proud Dutch chapter and I hope this blogging community will expand further and we have some more games together.

I had a really great day and the rejects are just the kind of people you want to game with. Lots of humor while playing a fine battle with little soldiers. Perfect. So when you are in Kent, get in touch with them, they are open to it and I know you will not regret it. Be prepared for some Dutch swear words though. The last surprise was they asking me to write down some Dutch swear words for them.
Why I don't know, maybe it was to comment on my blog?

Thanks again rejects! CU@Salute


Links to the proper battle reports:
http://theangrylurker.blogspot.com/2011/08/1809-napoleonic-battle-report-part-1.html
http://theangrylurker.blogspot.com/2011/08/1809-napoleonic-battle-report-part-2.html
http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/2011/08/napoleonic-battle-of-pisek-1809.html
http://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/2011/08/battle-of-pisek-1809-part-2.html