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.