If you want to get half off on the Terrible Sharp Sword supplement "The Coming Thunder" and the Bag the Hun/Check Your Six supplement "The Falcon and the Gladiator", you need to act before midnight tonight (Atlanta, GA).
Also " In the Name of Roma" is $3 off until then as well. Chock full of IABSM and Chain of Command scenarios for the Italians on the Russian Front.
Thanks Everyone.
First us is Brian Botzan. Welcome. i could not find in your profile if you had a blog or not. If you do, let me know. He runs the blog: RayGun Gothic Galaxy. Through this site I have learned quite a bit about Canadian B movies that I never knew existed.
Next up is Abikapi2. He is the author of Anonima Wargame Romagna. It seems that he has been up to some ACW gaming lately.
Our third contestant is The Kiwi. He is the author of The Gamer's Table which has recently featured some really nicely painted Normans.
Last up for this round is Thoran Braune. Again, I could not find a link to a blog that you host. If there is one, let me know and I will update it here.
American Civil War
Well along the theme of a recent post, I found some more figures. I was looking at the shape of my ACW forces and was fairly depressed. I have a large number of troops that are unbased and need some additional paint. Then I found a large bag that I had been gifted from the Mad Padre himself. When I received those, I was buried under the work for "In the Name of Roma" and completely ignored them. While the rest of the family slept, I went through the bag. WOW! There was a ton of great stuff in there.
First I had figures I can now use as my Cavalry commanders. They will fit in perfectly with my existing Old Glory Cavalry for both sides. Next was a large number of infantry. I pulled out enough infantry in Hardee hats to make two groups of 8. These also had a pair of drummers to go along with them. They will end up as a supporting unit for my main Union infantry. Then there was another two groups of infantry in slouch hats. These will promptly be drafted into Confederate service to begin the second company of Infantry in my Mississippi Rifles Regiment. Then there were a huge number of troops in kepis. These looked like the larger ones that the Union wore to me so they will complete out my Union infantry company. four groups of 8 of these have been mounted on popsicle sticks for base coating. There are several "character" casts in the mix. Fellows waiving a hat or with a bandaged head and the like. Including a couple that look like perfect NCOs. I have one of these fellows on the popsicle sticks as well. This will go a long way to finishing out my ACW troops for Terrible Sharp Sword.
Also I rediscovered that I have not taken care of the unit of Union Zouaves that I have. I have a group of 8 and another group of 7. I received from Mark a pair of zouaves with rifles to fill in the gap a couple of years ago and I have yet to paint them. Well on to the painting stick they went.
I have three groups of 8 Confederate cavalry. But only around half of that number in Union cavalry. Not sure how that happened. I thought I bought one OG bag each of them. I will have to buy some more at some point. Not sure when that will be.
Anglo-Zulu War
Ha! Bet you thought I was not going to have an update for this, right? Well, it is not much of one. I managed to get the four 28mm giants onto a painting stick and gave them a good flat black base coat last night. With the painting guide I found from Warlord games, I should be able to get some work on these. They really do look nice. But really, this is only a test.
Anyway, that is it for today. Hopefully I can drag myself away to get some reading done on the AZ War today to start framing the scenarios and the campaign I want to do.
I spent some time trying to figure out what to do with this scenario and decided to try something. I am a big fan of shareware software. I tend to support the products that I like and keep. I was wondering if this would work for scenarios. So here is my thought. I would post a share link for the scenario. Down load it. Read it. Play it. Comment on it. If you like it, shoot me $0.50 or whatever you feel it is worth via PayPal to cstoesen@corecard.com. There is also a button for this on the right side of the blog somewhere. If you think it stinks, just delete it. What do you think?
Here is the scenario. It is for Pohick Church - August 18, 1861. Pohick Church was the home church of George Washington. It became the site of several small skirmishes throughout the war. Unfortunately, the church was vandalized and ill used while under Union occupation during the war. The scenario is a cavalry action the will require close to 40 cavalry troops for each side. .
Please let me know if you think this is something worthwhile to try out and what you think of the scenario. Thanks.
Edit 9/25/2013 - I noticed a typo in the scenario. Please take the updated version.
Edit 10/3/2013 - I have taken the scenario down. It seems that the shareware concept was a flop.
While sifting though Google for tidbits on the Battle of Jug Tavern I found some really nice maps of Georgia circa 1864. I found a great map in 1:350,000 scale. The map in usable form is in a jp2 format. I tried to get the gimp plugin for it working but that is not working out. I found some other software to try out called IrfanView. I was able to open the file and save it as a regular JPG. The original map can be found at: http://www.history-map.com/picture/002/Northwestern-Georgia.htm.
But the area I am interested in is this particular chunk of the map. I copied the scale bar onto the chunk to give perspective.
Now, this little plot of real estate shows where the Battle of Jug Tavern took place. If you find Lawrenceville and move west-southwest, you will find Beaver Ruin Creek. I actually live not far from there. Some Yankee labeled it Beaver Run on the map. Oh well. Also in this area is where another action took place. It seems that a home guard detachment from Athens fired a "rifled battery" at Adam's Brigade and more or less scared off 2 brigades of Union cavalry. The report of Adam's Brigade (you can get these from the book "The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies" Series 1 - Volume XXXVIII, Part II - Reports from 1891) details that they were following the Oconee river to get to Athens. I am wondering if he ment the actual Oconee or the Middle Oconee River as the Middle Oconee River would have been infront of Athens while the actual Oconee passes through Athens.
Much of the landscape has changed. Names have changed as you can no longer find Jug Tavern on a map (its now Winder). Unfortunately King's Tanyard is nor pictured on the map. We do know it was about 3 miles from Jug's Tavern and there was a bridge present that collapsed under the weight of fleeing camp followers and Union soldiers. There are a couple of likely spots on this map for that. Too bad I have not found anything as detailed as I did for Northern Virginia.
Enough for now. Take care.
I have just received a copy of Charge!(Issue 34). Scott Mingus did a nice recap of the scenario supplement. Thanks Scott. Hopefully, this will generate a little more traffic.
Following on with this, I have been making some real progress now on the East Front Supplement for IABSM. This morning, waiting on my desk at work was not only Charge!, but also IABSM version 3, the IABSM Card Deck and the IABSM tokens. All very, very nice. I am a very happy gamer. Hopefully, I can get some time and put a game together this weekend. Possibly.
On the Bag the Hun front, progress continues on the second desert supplement. Hopefully, I will have more on this later.
I had spent a few hours making some cards up for the game. Here is what I came up with:
If anyone wants these cards, they can download them from the two links below. They are in the Quick Cards format. The demo version of this app can be downloaded at http://plaincards.com.It is a useful little program to make your own cards with. Main Cards and Bonus Deck.
The table looked rather weak as I could not find the two story house that I had painted. It seemed to have vanished somewhere. Next, I only had a few inches of snake rail fencing and needed several feet of the stuff. I improvised by placing small wooden dowels on the table where they should be.
The Union troops begin the game with only two groups on the table watching a small farm. I deployed one group, with Captain Dillman, in a house as a hidden blind. The other group with another Big Man was deployed in a field across the road. Their reserves were deployed off table and available via the Blank Card/Reinforcement Card once shooting began.
I used regular envelopes for the blinds as I was too lazy to make any.
The Confederate forces entered on blinds at the first turn. The force was divided in half with the Captain leading half of the force and two low grade big men leading the other half. The Confederate Captain moved up the road while the other half moved through some corn fields towards the farm buildings.
The first turn ended with the Confederates moving steadily forward. They spotted the Union troops in the field ahead of them. The Yankees initially failed to spot anyone. The opening of the second turn had the Yankees spotting the Confederate Captain's force while it was still deployed in Column. Taking advantage of a great target, the group opened fire. This lone group of Union troops proved to be the fiercest group on the table. They inflicted four of the five casualties suffered by the Confederates. This did two things. First it added the reinforcement card to the deck and prompted Captain Dillman to move his command out of the house to see what was happening.
For the next few turns, the Confederate Captain kept attempting to deploy his troops to a line formation. The other half of the Confederate Company had much better luck. They moved to a fence line and promptly spotted Captain Dillman and his group. At this point, a random event was rolled and a herd of sheep went rampaging through Captain Dillman's troops.
With three groups, they opened fire on Captain Dillman's group using a Crashing Volley card. Captain Dillman suffered a light wound and his men lost one dead. They also took on some 18 points of shock what effectively routed them off of the table.
Finally, the Confederate captain was able to deploy his men to a line. They held their fire waiting on a better shot.
The Union reinforcements were also able to deploy to a line. I was very sleepy at this point and lost the ability to count. The Union ended up with seven group in the reinforcements instead of six. Through an excellent run of cards, the Confederates had the first shot at the Union line.
And the second shot by the second half of the Confederates against the Union flank. Again, they were able to play a Crashing Volley card. In total an additional five Union soldiers fell but the shock taken by the force, even distributed among the various group in the large line formation were staggering. The formation broke and retreated off the table giving the Confederate forces the field.
It was a very fun game that was quickly played to conclusion.
Taking a few minutes, I wondered, "Hey, what happened during the Civil War in my county (Gwinnett)." A quick Google search came up with the answer - not much. There was one action that occurred at the very edge of the county near a small town call Jug Tavern.(August 2, 1864) The name of the town alone caught my attention. But how big was this fight? Since it was a part of the overall Battle for Atlanta in 1864, surely it is WAY too big to game with Terrible Sharp Sword, right? Not entirely.
It seems that this battle took place following the dispersion of General Stoneman's force following his defeat outside of Macon. A Brigade of Cavalry under the command of Colonel Horace Capron was fleeing around Atlanta with Colonel Adams Brigade of cavalry. The two got separated in an attempt at attacking Athens. Capron had a local guide who led him astray. Capron's men raided the small town of Jug Tavern (now Winder, Georgia) and moved on to a spot called King's Tanyard to stop for the night.
So far, it looks too big. Capron's men included the 14th Illinois Cavalry, the 8th Michigan Cavalry and McLaughlin's Independent Ohio Cavalry Squadron. Plus they had some remnants from the 6th Indiana Cavalry Regiment with them. All had fled the Battle of Sunshine Church where General Stoneman was captured.
This seems like a huge force for a skirmish game. But how many men were in it? Well, the 8th Michigan had hacked their way through Confederate lines to escape from Sunshine Church.(Sunshine Church. Not really a name you would associate with battle is it.) They were down to 70 men lead by Major Buck. Colonel Capron's was not only the Brigade Commander but the regimental commander of the 14th Illinois Cavalry who numbered some 300 men on the 31st of July. The 6th Indiana cavalry had an additional 350 men or so. This gives Capron's force a total of about 720 men or there about. This is WAY to many figures to paint in 15mm and I am too lazy to even paint that many in 6mm. Things do not look good for a scenario here.
The Confederates that engaged them were another Brigade of cavalry under Breckinridge that had been pursuing them since Sunshine Church.(Each time I read this, I picture a brightly painted structure with a big yellow sun painted on the side with a smiley face and a large children's playground to the side. Not a site of blood and slaughter. But I guess that is just me.) He had the 1st Kentucky Mounted Infantry (I think. They may have been true cavalry), the 16th Georgia cavalry and Major Cook's Armory Battalion Cavalry.
But wait, there is hope!
From the description of the action, it seems that only about a company of the Confederates engaged Capron's Brigade. A company! That is doable. But wait, why would about 50 to 100 guys charge 700+ men? That seems suicidal? Well, it seems that the Confederates found the napping Yankees after they finished pillaging the town. They charged through a large group of camp followers and escaped slaves and made a huge noise that panicked the bulk of Capron's force. It seems that in their haste to flee, the stormed across a nearby bridge that collapsed dropping many into the river to drown. A small group did mount and form a line and engage the Confederates. In this smaller action, the Confederates beat those that chose to stand. Over the next day, hundreds of troops were captured and taken to the University of Georgia as prisoners. Capron, his son and five others walked back to Marietta four days later. Capron fled at first noise and hid in a ditch with his son. It seems he was not in command of those that stood and fought.
William Tecumseh Sherman with typical aplomb, wired Washington after their arrival stating, "On the whole the cavalry raid was not deemed a success." Sherman is normally a name, that as a resident of Georgia, I am not permitted to say without surrounding it with appropriate profanity has earned a little more merit in my eyes with that dry humor. However, Capron must have had some friends in high places as he was again given a new command almost immediately even though he lost his entire command and fled from battle not once but twice!
I think I can make a good scenario out of this action. Stay tuned for it and an associated action at barber's Creek.
This now has options for Not only the Confederate forces but Union forces as well. Numbers of troops available for the artillery batteries are also present. Also starting troop ratings are present for each company type.
The Union troops are all based on troops that fought in the area throughout the time. While the New Jersey troops were technically in reserve, they did participate in several actions in the area of the Peach Orchard Battle that occurred along the Taylor's Tavern, Munson Hill, Mason's Hill and Falls Church line. The Union Cavalry, while not a New York or New Jersey unit was split up in penny packets (as was typical Union practice at the time) and two companies served with the New Jersey regiments.
Please take a look. This replaces the last few pages of The Coming Thunder.
*** Update ***
Just a reminder, I have Rich's permission to use the Terrible Sharp Sword name and though published by me, it has his approval.
******Update 11/21/2011*******
I had a request for a sample of the scenario pack for folks to see what they would get. Click the link below for a sample from the document including the table of contents and most of a scenario.
Download Sample file
******Update 12/21/2011*******
I have created an errata page for a couple of other issues that have been pointed out. You can download the errata here: