Taking A Calculated RISK

So here in the hotel, this time in Virginia, I've set up a game for The Portable Wargame rules using some RISK replacement figures purchased from Amazon. 

Ready To Go! (That may be a unit motto somewhere...)

I am trying to prove the principle of a truly portable wargame before my impending deployment to a warm place with a free view of sand traps and scrub. This is yet another step in that process. I will try to paint some of the other figures I have before I go, as I do not expect to have my painting kit as I was fortunate enough to have previously. 

BLUEFOR

The Blue Forces I mounted in a manner similar to Mark C from the TPW FB Group. I figured that this would give me a test group that mirrors what others have done. The artillery on the left, followed by Light Cavalry, then two units of Heavy Cavalry, followed by four strong Line Infantry units, and the right most group being a pair of skirmish type Light Units of mixed infantry and cavalry. 

REDFOR

The Red Forces are mounted slightly differently, with only Light Cavalry and Infantry with five figures instead of six and no dedicated Light Troops. My idea is that they will have some integral skirmish capability or something to that effect, but be less resilient in melee than the BLUEFOR infantry units. 

The ground cloth is almost 36 inches sqaure and was originally intended to be used for a Five Men in Normandy playtest, but more of that anon. 

So, we shall see how this plays out. 

I Have Been To.....Seccessionville, SC

Well, maybe not quite all the way to there, but I visited the battlefield named after the village. 

Located on Jmes Island south of Charleston, the swampy, mucky, humid place was fortunately free of bugs for my brief visit. 

Monument to mark the location of the battle, properly speaking, located inside the Union's objective

The 12 June 1862 battle saw five brigades of Union infantry, two of which were under Brigadier Isaac Stevens, try to assault Fort Lamar, whose guns were covering Charleston's harbor. Poor coordination and a lack of leadership doomed the assault to failure. 

Interpretive Stand

I read a book about the battle several years ago and being in the area for work, I thought I would see what there is of the battlefield. It's a state park and wildlife refuge, so there is minimal infrastructure to support or interpret the battle, but the stand they do have was excellent, if somewhat faded, due to weather. 

That part of James Island has been built over, so there are houses on the routes of approach that the Union forces used. With the housing area being private property, I did not dismount and walk around, there was literally no place to  park, but instead I drove slowly along. 

Inside Fort Lamar, there is a very nice walking area. Even if it was miserably humid at ten in the morning. 

Some of the remains of earthworks of Fort Lamar

As the Union forces made their advance across a narrow strip of semi-dry land, the Confederates held them off with artillery and musket fire. Other forces moved down from Charleston to help the fort and put pressure on the Federals to retreat. 

An example of the swampy bits. Looking towards Charleston. This was approximately where a tower stood, hence the fort's other name Tower Battery

Union avenue of approach as seen from the Confederate side

To the left of the picture, Colonel David Leasure's brigade of Stevens' division would have been advancing with the road on their left flank. The other brigade, which included the 28th Massachusetts and the 7th Connecticut, would have been on the other side of the road. Both brigades were squeezed in as the terrain canalized them as they got closer to the fort. 

Part of the excellent map on the interpretive stand

The overall map on the stand. Excellent explanations and details.

A view of where Leasure's brigade made their part of the assault

The end result was several hundred dead Union Soldiers with the Confederates suffering approximately 200 casualties themselves. 

Just walking around with my water bottle in shorts and a t-shirt was miserable enough. Wearing my Civil War kit would have been just awful. I can only sympathize for those who had to do so. 

Overall the site is very nice, small, easily accessible, and I felt it was worth the hour or so I spent there. With very stormy clouds on the way in, I decided to pack up and leave a little sooner than I was originally planning. Thunderstorms in this part of South Carolina are nothing to ignore. 

I am thinking about how I can run this on the tabletop, definitely in 15mm, with All The Kings Men rules, I think it would be an interesting game. 

Weekend Update - Taking a RISK

Various and sundry ideas crop up from time to time, which is all part and parcel of the wargamer's life. But I was noodling around on "the socials" as I believe they are called, when a gentleman whose work I really enjoy posted a picture of painted figures from the game RISK based for The Portable Wargame. 

And then the mustard seed of an idea found its way into my brain...

Then, as a friend of mine likes to say...in a bit of doggerel 

"And the monkey wrapped his tail

Around the flagpole.."

 So. Unable to get THAT Idea out of my squirrel cage, I found some 40mm squares, pulled out The Yellow Army, and came up with this....

Still not 100% sure on things, but it's getting closer

More to follow on this project, I am sure. 

In other news, here in the Duchy, Herself the Younger spent the night and the day here. We decided last week with all the hurley-burley running amok, that this might be a better weekend for them to take Dad to lunch. Which they did and it was good. And then we came back and played a nice small 15mm ACW scenario with All The King's Men rules. 

Morgan trying to decide upon how to best whomp Dad

Based on my knowledge of the rules and the time available, I took the Confederate side, which had a brigade of four North Carolina regiments and a battery of smoothbore guns with two sections. Each of my regiments was four stands of four figures. Morgan had a brigade of six mostly Pennsylvania regiments with three stands of four figures, and a battery of rifled guns with three sections. 

The objective was to "take the crossroads", but really, the objective was just to play a game together. I am incredibly lucky my child enjoys playing the odd game with Dad, even at 27. 

Morgan enjoyed the flow of the game and rolled moderately well. With the odd pointer from me, they did a fine job of getting up and establishing a position. A run of cards one way, and then the other kept things interesting and lively. 

After two hours of game play, we called it since I had a Zoom meeting and they were going to meet up with a friend of theirs for a lift back into Philadelphia. I still have the game set up and I think I'll play it out just to see what might happen. 

Overall, a very nice way to spend a Sunday and mentally prepare oneself for the week ahead. 

Weekend Update

This past week has been a real bite in the posterior, to put it mildly. 

To wit, I was supposed to be in Gettysburg this weekend with my Civil War unit, the 28th Pennsylvania, camped at the Pennsylvania Memorial doing re-enactor things as one does for the NPS on a weekend in July. 

"And then God laughed"

To be fair, some of it was poor time management on my part. But between the very last class for school, Army things which popped up Whack-A-Mole style, and work, Gettysburg was off the ticket and was replaced by the computer, the mid-term research paper, and such. 

But there were some positive gaming things that helped considerably. 

First was on Wednesday, at the RAP Gamers, we played the 1864 Battle of New Market from the ACW.

I had Moer's Brigade (under Franz Sigel), whilst Garth, my fellow Federal, took Thornton's Brigade and the Cavalry Division under Stahel. 

 

Up the Shenandoah...or maybe down...well, somewhere in the middle of the table, anyway...

Some of Moer's Brigade, and rather Less of Stahel's cavalry on my right flank

Our rules were our club standard "All The King's Men" suitably modified for the ACW. I don't know what exactly that means, but Bruce, our host, does and really that's all that matters. I'm just there to push dice and little lead men. 

Bad Guys. Lots of them. And somewhere in the back are the Kids from the Academy.

The Battle of New Market is famous for, well, pretty much for the Confederates throwing in the Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in the later part of the battle around the Bushong Farm. The school gets very excited about this piece of their history. I'm not exactly sure why, since they were rebelling against the very Government they say they currently support...but I digress. 

Bruce does have a nice collection of ACW in 15mm... 

The Bushong Farm, scene of many lost shoes, apparently. There was a movie about the battle called "The Field of Lost Shoes"... 

RAP Gamers (L to R) Garth, Bruce (our host), Phil, Steve (mit beard) and Michael (back to camera)

In the end, despite Bruce being hopeful about a decision in three hours, three hours and slightly more later, we called it a Draw. The Rebels (boo! hiss!) couldn't take any of their objects, though my brigade was vaporized. Garth still had most of Thornton's Brigade intact and Stahel's cavalry was holding their own. 

I personally called it a Win because we managed not to lose WITH Herr Franz Sigel with us on the field. 

I think that's a handicap for anyone playing the Union, and we did better than the Union did historically. Well that's my story and I'm going with that. 

In other news.... 

Saturday night I trekked up to the wilds of Luzerne County for a game with the PAWM crew. After spending most of the day with my head deep in the computer, I needed some mental floss, which was provided by Mike S. running Egyptians versus Romans using Neil Thomas' Ancients Rules. 

Roman commanders Ethan (next to the wall), Bernie, and John the OFM (with myself taking the picture)

Shabby Gyppo Tricksters in command of the other side (L to R) Jim B, Darrell, Jim K., Mike (our host, standing) and Mark C. 

Honestly, I took the Roman right flank command which was a bunch of cavalry and two mediocre infantry units. I went forward, bounced into Jim, pushed him back, Mark came in behind me (typical shabby Gyppo trick) and I ignored him to keep pushing Jim back. 

We called it at 2030 after playing for three hours (with a half hour dinner break, graciously provided by Mike and Cathy) and if had played another turn or so, it's quite possible the Romans might have won. But it was more fun to see these goons that I don't get to see very often. 

The shape of projects to come... 

I finally finished my section of Paras for Five Men in Normandy. With a similar section of Italians ready for action, I hope I shall be able to get a test game in a week or two. 

And finally, today was spent doing some much overdue yardwork. Well, sure enough, what did I find when cleaning out one patch of the front garden but this....

No idea where the thistle came from. It's not native to this area and I've not planted any, nor have I seen any growing in the township. But there they are. And the bees were quite happy, too. 

Now, to get ready for another week. 

Weekend Update

So, as opposed to a couple of thousand or so wargamers, I did not attend Historicon this weekend. With the exception of doing a drive by to pick up some bases from Phalanx Games and pay for an order from Rich and Dave at RSM that will be mailed. 

Instead, I puttered about the Duchy. Went to the movies with Herself to see "Minions and Monsters", utterly silly and ridiculous which is why I loved it. Was "generally employed in tasks", as the Ship's Log might say. 

But I did some work on my Italians and British for Five Men in Normandy. 

Figures purchased in the previous century finally getting painted

Half a section of Paras in their primed glory

And th' other half... 

Why Italians? I mean, it says "Normandy" on the tin? 

Actually, it's good for any theater and campaign. And I had the Italians already primed and mounted on pennies. So, they became the first ones in the pipeline. A bag of British paras was then magically pulled out of the WW2 Box of Shame. (Honestly, I thought I'd sold them a couple of shows back...) This now makes the ESCI Paras that arrived the other day, redundant. Or maybe I'll paint them as Poles for Arnhem. 

Either way, it's nice to see a little progress with this project. 

And next weekend is my Civil War unit's NPS weekend at Gettysburg. So, it's recommended we prepare ourselves with exercise and hydration. 

So, I went for a two-mile nature walk carrying my Little Buddy. Who weighs in at about 30 pounds or so, I'm guessing. 

I walk a LOT at work, but this was actually nice to do to prepare for our march in to camp. 

A pretty busy week is in store, so methinks I should end here.

A Wednesday Winner

The Summer of Heat crashing against The Duchy like a suffocating wet towel has left me quite knackered and after several days of work in a row, I actually called off from a game tonight at the RAP Gamers. It was to be the third meeting of our Gettysburg Day 1 event, so for me to pull out I must be tired. 

Sitting quietly after supper, my thoughts went not to the fun I'm missing down the street, nor to Historicon, which is starting up in the next county over, but instead to a small skirmish game system I found for playing small introductory games at WW2 re-enactments. 

Five Men in Normandy (the .30 caliber edition)

I bought this after a conversation with my friend Shannon at the Wheels of Liberation WW2 event in Gettysburg. We tossed about doing a small, public friendly introductory level game for the guests as they come through the camp. And one we could play on Friday nights after the tourists go home. 

Poking around, I have 20mm and 1/72 scale figures. I have British (and Canadian) infantry and paras. I have Germans....Hmmm. My first thought was Crossfire, but that might be a bit much for people who have never done this before and it requires a LOT of terrain. 

An unguided search of the InterWebs came up with Five Men from Nordic Weasel. I know some others have really enjoyed the FiveCore system and it looks to hit all the spots. Small number of figures needed (5-7 per side), small playing area, 2 or 3 feet square, D6 based and only a handful needed, NO vehicles, although you can have Jeeps or similar, minimal terrain required.....it might just work. 

So tonight, as I'm resting up on the couch, sans television, I think I'll have a deep dive read of them. 

And the glue on eight British/Canadian paras is still drying them to their painting bottle caps, so I'll have to wait until morning to start the priming process. 

More anon. 

It's Gettysburg Season!

There are no more irrational creatures than wargamers and historians. Worse, yet, when one is both. This time of year finds us in the full throttle of "Gettysburg Season". Those first three days in July when All Things Gettysburg abound here in the Duchy. 

Yes, I am a Gettysburg Nerd. 

I don't know why, I just am. 

But on to the fun bits. The RAP Gamers played out one part of the First Day.....on the First Day of July. 

Bruce P. laid out a grand table with his 15mm ACW collection and took us back to the late morning of 01 July 1863. We used All The King's Men rules, modified for 15mm ACW figures. 

Phil G. and John F. on the left playing the dastardly Confederates (boo! hiss!) Steve T. on the right as my fellow Federal commander.

I took command of Lysander Cutler's brigade of New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians. Steve generously let me have Hall's 2nd Maine Battery as well. He took The Iron Brigade and played the role of Wadsworth, the division commander, as well. We were positioned as they were historically on MacPherson's ridge. 

Phil and John split the four brigades of Heth's division and five batteries of artillery. We began the action after Buford's troopers and Calef's battery had withdrawn. 

"There stands Cutler like a rail fence wall!" 

Cutler ordering his Gold Chip over to the 76th New York (or maybe it was the 7th Indiana) to get them to do something Army-ish

Sadly, my dice rolling was sub-sub-par. ATKM uses a system where the colour of the chip behind the unit not only shows its status (think of it like cohesion) but uses dice of the same colour. The statuses are Green, Yellow, and Red, with a success being 4, 5, or 6 for Green, 5 or 6 for Yellow, and for Red you need to roll 6's. 

It was amazing the number of ones, twos, and threes that a gentleman can roll in the course of an evening. 

The above view of John's Rebels schwacking my Federals. Iverson's North Cackalackians getting the better of my right flank. John rolled exceptionally well, above the mathematical mean, which helped. 

Phil surges across from Herr's ridge to MacPherson's, as Bruce (in red), Steve, John, and I look on.

Cutler struggled mightily to save his flank (and the soft bits he was sitting on), but three units were either destroyed or badly mauled. His other three were looking any too fresh, either. Fortunately, I was given Colonel Roy Stone's brigade of three regiments and Calef's battery of artillery. 

Calef's battery was wiped out, but managed to eliminate two Confederate batteries. Stone's three regiments filled the hole in the doughnut so Cutler could consolidate on the right. 

After three hours, we called it at 2200 (two of us are still working stiffs), took pictures to capture positions, and we'll resume next Wednesday night. I rather enjoyed myself despite getting badly handled (well, it's what happened in real life...) and I'm looking forward to playing out the rest of the game. 

Bruce was hoping for eight players, four of us showed, so it was probably a case of too many units for the available number of players and functioning ears/hearing aids. (This is the downside to being in an elder set of gamers, methinks)

Again, a wonderful way to spend a Wednesday night and to kick off my annual Gettysburg Season. 

More anon.