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.