The Battle of Lake Erie, 1813

Posted on July 5, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.”

Happy Birthday, America! Having recently returned from a quick trip up to Erie, PA and eventually up into Canada, I was hankering to do some War of 1812 Naval Gaming, more specifically, hankering to refight the Battle of Lake Erie, a pivotal engagement of the War of 1812 in the northern theater of operations. I asked Alex if he would be available to command the American fleet (Oliver Hazard Perry’s flotilla) and he accepted, if for no other reason than to say “Dont Give Up the Ship” during the heat of battle). I played the British and commanded the Royal Navy Squadron under Commander Robert Barclay.

I feel like you’d be hard-pressed to find a better time to refight the battle of Lake Erie than America’s birthday – the 250th! So here we are – with a rag-tag fleet of upstarts and ne’er-do-wells fighting (yet again) against the world’s most powerful Navy, this time for control of Lake Erie. (and if you have not heard of the herculean American ship-building effort the previous year on Lake Erie – it is an incredible story of perserverance against long odds and probably worth a blog post in its own right).

I won’t review the history leading up to the battle but you can check out the well-done wikipedia page here.

We used John Armatys’ “1 Hour Age of Sail Naval Wargames” rules found in the files section of the Groups.io “AMW” site. These are based off, and very much done in the ethos of, Neil Thomas’ One Hour Wargames. Most readers of my blogs (past and present) know my penchant for Neil Thomas’ rules and so the opportunity to fight a battle from the Age of Fighting Sail was just too good an opportunity to pass up. We made some very slight modifications as I’ll discuss as the battle unfolds.

British Fleet in the foreground, American fleet top-right. The wind is at the Americans’ stern and so the Royal Navy has the “Weather Gauge”.

We used the historical dispositions so leading the Royal Navy is the HMS (sloop) Chippewa, followed by the HMS Detroit (Barclay’s flagship), the HMS (schooner) Hunter, HMS Queen Charlotte, HMS Lady Prevost, and HMS Little Belt.

We treated the largest ships as 1st Rate (the British large ships seem to be a little larger than American brigs) with the American brigs as 2nd Rate, and the Schooners and Sloops as 3rd Rate ships. This nicely captured their (lack of) firepower. The British have the 2 x heavy 1st rates, but the Americans have more ships.

The American fleet – in the lead is the USS Scorpion (Schooner – 3rd rate), followed by the Sloop Ariel, then the USS Lawrence (Perry’s flagship, 2nd rate), the USS Caledonia (Schooner – 3rd rate), the USS Niagara (Brig, 2nd rate), the USS Porcupine (Schooner – 3rd rate), and the USS Tigress (Schooner – 3rd rate).

The first few turns were spent coming up into position – nothing fancy. My intention was to bring my ships up alongside the enemy – in proper Royal Navy fashion… As our lead ships came into range of our guns, we opened fire. In this instance, I won the initiative roll (which we instituted) and so I moved first. This allowed Alex to move second, close the range and fire. The rules are very generous about shooting – which is allowed anytime during your move. The USS Scorpion opens the ball…

As we close, the intention is to bring as much of my firepower to bear as is possible. Eventually I want to turn into the American fleet to the extent that the wind will allow me to. Alex is thinking the same thing!

By turn 4 I am able to get some great shots off at the American upstarts, crippling the USS Scorpion (her war is not yet over…) but they give it right back as half of the American line has turned to offer their broadsides. Damage and solid shot are flying back and forth over the choppy waters of Lake Erie.

Americans returning fire! Caledonia and Niagara score 4 hits on Lady Prevost

By turn 5 lots of markers start appearing on the table. USS Scorpion is already crippled (she can still fight, but each new hit over 10 and we roll for her to strike her colors) as is the Ariel. USS Scorpion does NOT strike this turn amidst all her hits! The Queen Charlotte is also making her guns heard and spreading more damage amongst the American fleet. I move the HMS CHipewa in but with some fancy seamanship, Alex makes use of Scorpion’s great mobility and sets up a raking shot on the Chippewa! The USS Ariel moves in between 2 x Royal Navy ships and gives BOTH a taste of her broadsides! (okay okay she’s a sloop but it’s not any less dramatic)

The crippled USS Ariel (center) rakes the Chipewa and fires on the HMS Detroit at once! It’s inconclusive – (1 and a 3 rolled) but that doesn’t make it any less cool – or heroic!

As all of this intense small-ship action is occuring in the van of the line, the USS Lawrence and the HMS Detroit are fighting their own little war, both Captains glaring at each other from their decks. USS Lawrence rolls an incredible “6” and the HMS Detroit, long suffering from hit after hit, is crippled but does NOT strike her colors! Along the line, ships from both sides are taking hits with some damaged and some crippled already.

Around Turn 6, the British fleet attempt to turn into the American fleet and isolate some of their lead ships. Poor HMS Chippewa (right side, yellow marker) is cut off behind the American fleet! Seeing no other alternative, the Captain of the Chipewa decides to attempt to BOARD the crippled American schooner, USS Scorpion and TAKES HER! (5+ rolled so they grapple. Both ships only have 1 deck)
Note the HMS Detroit is crippled.

The HMS Chipewa boards and takes the USS Scorpion!

We instituted a few new rules to John A’s set – including rolling each turn for the wind direction to slightly change 1 45 degree point on the compass. Also, each time a ship takes a new tier of damage, we rolled for the Captain’s health if she was the flagship. I’ll note neither Perry nor Barclay were killed. They both survived the battle.

On Turn 7, the wind changes direction, more heavily favoring the Americans! The British are in irons / close hauled and their movement is significantly reduced until they can adjust their positions. Chippewa captures the USS Scorpion, giving a point to the British, however the Chippewa is crippled. Things start to really move now and in a very unexpected turn of events, the HMS Detroit, Barclay’s flagship, is hit with a whopping 6 points of damage. She does NOT strike and sinks instead!

The HMS Detroit on her side and going down fast! Abandon ship! Barclay somehow lives and swims over to the Queen Charlotte… This is 3 VPs to Alex now!

Turn 8 rolls around and the Queen Charlotte, enraged by the loss of their flagship, fires a broadsides into the USS Lawrence – rolling a 6! 8 points of damage scored! Revenge! The Lawrence strikes! Both flagships are down! (but also Perry lives and makes his way to the USS Niagara)

During the American portion of Turn 8, the American schooner Caledonia cripples the HMS Queen CHarlotte and she strikes! Both British 1st rates are gone, either at the bottom of the lake or struck. To add insult to injury, the USS Niagara sinks the HMS Chipewa! This is now 7 American points to 3 British points). The British only have schooners (3rd rates) left but they sink the Ariel as they attempt to disengage.

Amazingly the British have 1 ship that is still unharmed at battles’ end – the HMS Hunter. The Americans end up also striking the HMS Little Belt as well, bringing their total victory points to a whopping 8! This battle was a clear American victory.

We both tremendously enjoyed this engagement! The rules really capture the ebb and flow of Age of Sail gaming – really not bad considering they’re one single page! We used rosters to capture damage points and markers to capture “damaged” and “crippled” ships. we also made some determinations with the movement rules in terms of “interpenetration” speed after turning and maneuvering allowances for more nimbler ships.

We were able to add a little chrome too, which added a nice touch (the Perry touch?) to the day’s proceedings. If a ship reached a new level of damage we rolled for the Captain as a casualty. (needing snake-eyes).

In retrospect for this engagement, I probably should have focused my firepower and ganged up on American ships instead of spreading it out like I did. Capturing the USS Scorpion was fun too – and I imagined a swirling below-decks melee with grenades, knives clenched in teeth, swashbuckling and pistols! Probably from watching “Master & Commander” too many times 🙂

Alex offered his expertise and was great fun to play against – and truth be told we’d both been wanting to play an Age of Sail game for awhile now. Alex very skillfully handled the American fleet and we both rolled some devastating broadsides when we needed to! (The USS Lawrence destroying the Detroit, followed by the Queen Charlotte striking the Lawrence was much fun and supported a great narrative).

The zany reversals of fortune were also perfectly woven into this new narrative of the battle. Honestly, I cannot think of a more perfect way to spend the 250th than wargaming one of our most important naval battles from our infancy as a nation. If you want to fight Trafalgar (see Martin Rapier’s excellent 1 Hour Trafalgar blog post) with as little rules overhead as possible, then these are the rules with which you can do it! Alex and I are already talking about refighting Lake Erie and I’ll make sure to have the ships labeled and proper colors flying for the next round. I also want to come up with some cooler damage markers, as well as some proper markers for when a ship is taken as a prize or strikes its colors.

FIRST BULL RUN PART II

Posted on June 14, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

Alex of “Commission & Regiment” and “Up the Blue” blogs returned to finish our First Bull Run / First Manassas game yesterday and I can’t think of a better time to post about it than the birthday of the US Army. If you have not read the first installment, click on the link above and check it out. So far, the battle has progressed very historically, with the Rebels falling back and dishing out punishment onto the Union Regiments who are pursuing them.

Sherman’s Brigade crossing the Warrenton Turnpike!

Alex has a huge allotment of reinforcements but his lead brigades are badly chewed up (particularly Burnside’s Brigade and Keyes’ Brigade, who Alex pulls back onto Buck Hill to rally and slowly regain their combat power. We re-join the battle around noon when Sherman’s Brigade arrives onto the field and is attempting a crossing under fire of the Warrenton Turnpike by elements of Cocke’s Brigade, while in the woods below Henry House Hill, Wilcox and Porter’s Brigades supported by Franklin’s Brigade move aggressively against Stonewall Jackson’s Brigade who has deplolyed on the heights oriented towards the threat in the woods.

Union Regiments from Porter and Wilcox’s Brigades move into the woods next to Henry House Hill, making their way towards the road as Virginia Regiments under Stonewall Jackson orient themselves to meet them.

Alex skirmishes with these troops and moves his artillery around to the flank, expanding the battle to the furthest southern point on my table. Stonewall complies and moves a Regiment across the road into the woods, as well as into the orchard on the Union flank – moving units into the woods on the Confederate left, below Henry House Hill seems to be the best way to stall or blunt the Yankee attack.

Heavy fighting in the orchard as the 33rd VIrginia moves against Zouaves under Wilcox. Note the 2 artillery batteries in the background hammering the treeline to their front with cannister.

By now, the Yanks have also occupied the Warrenton Turnpike. Alex has brought up his copious artillery and is inches from the first objective – the crossroads!

Union Infantry crossing the road in the center and capturing the first objective! The units in the foregound are finishing up rallying (you roll a morale check and lose 1 hit for each “success” at or over your target number. So if your quality is a “4” (average or seasoned) and you roll a “6” you rally off 3 hits. If an officer is present you get a plus 1 and the 6 would become a 7.

The fighting on the flanks is heating up now with vicious firefights erupting on both flanks. Sherman’s Brigade is under heavy fire as he gains a lodgement on the Confederate side of the turnpike and Porter masses along the road on the slope of Henry House Hill! Not much close combat yet – but that will change soon!

We proceed through the afternoon and Howard’s Brigade – the last reinforcements of the Republic – move down the road and onto the battlefield. Kershaw’s Brigade also occupies the battlefield and the Rebels move Kershaw straight towards Sherman’s attack in order to blunt it. The Confederate right is very strong.

The arrival of Howard’s Brigade allows Alex to rotate units out and continue the advance with fresh regiments. Cocke’s Brigade is shooting “full volleys” which is 2D6 per base against the advancing yanks! Making them pay for every inch of ground! The yellow marker is a reminder for them to make a morale check. The red die indicates a base loss and the cotton indicates a full volley has been fired.

Alex begins solidifying the Union line against Henry House Hill and can boast an almost uninterrupted line of troops from the Warrenton Turnpike exit all the way in front of and around to the right side of Henry House Hill! Kershaw’s troops are coming up but the fighting on the Confederate left – the Stonewall Brigade – is fighting for its life. Porter’s “fire zuoaves” and Sykes’ Regulars are getting the upper hand in a firefight against the tough Virginia regiments.

Heavy fighting along the line now as the Yanks close up the distance to the hill.

There are some noteworthy things that begin happening in the afternoon. Burnside is out of action (rolls a 1 during rallying) and is on timeout. Followed by Sherman. The same thing happens to Bartow and General Beauregard! Lots of officers become casualties while rallying. Units are also starting to get used up but I dont have alot of leftovers to plug the holes that are starting to develop in my line as stand losses force morale checks and fall-back actions.

The Union juggernaut slowly approaches Henry House Hill along the road as Bartow’s last remaining regiment is pushed back. Stonewall’s guns are red-hot and firing double-cannister from the hill as Union units swarm the treeline, preparing the launch their assaults against the hill!

Stonewall’s Artillery is hammering away at the Yanks as they start to emerge from the treeline.

Alex decides the time is right to begin assaulting the Stonewall Brigade, weakened from about 3 hours of continuous fighting with barely any rallying. After one more turn of shooting, Alex forces back 2 x Virginia regiments guarding the “grand battery” on Henry House Hill, leaving the redlegs to die by their guns.

2 x lonely batteries as the infantry is driven off with heavy casualties!

Alex launches assaults up and down the road now against the remnants of the Stonewall Brigade. In these Civil War rules, much like Alex’s Franco-Prussian War rules, both sides exchange a volley at close-deadly range (hit on 3+s, 2D6 per base!). Any base losses result in an instant morale check for both sides. Assuming both sides pass, you then fight a melee. Alex has really beat up my forward infantry units. So while Jubal Early slowly marches to the sound of the fighting, Stonewall Jackson’s Brigade is being picked apart by determined Yankee assaults!

A Confederate unit falls back after a Union close-assault which did not yet get to melee. Units that have considerable base losses or hits will probably not fare well in a direct assault. The initial close-deadly volleys will favor a strong, fresher unit. Here, a regiment of the Stonewall Brigade fails their post-close shooting morale check due to a base loss and falls back.

So that about wraps it up. With 2 of 5 Regiments pulled back involuntarily and the loss of the guns, Stonewall cannot defend his objective on Henry House Hill, giving a very different ending to First Bull Run! (and perhaps the war??)

I have a bunch of changes to make to the ACW rules now that we’ve played hours worth of fighting at Bull Run, but these rules give a very fun game with very little in the way of rules overhead. Once I’ve written them down, I want to recreate the fighting at Barlow’s Knoll at Gettysburg, which is roughly a division per side. That will be a nice capper on “Civil War Month” …which has actually lasted about TWO months 😀 !

So what did I learn?

First and foremost – I’ve learned it’s a mistake to think that the American commanders in the Civil War used “Napoleonic” tactics. Humbug. The tactics, from what I’ve read, are more akin to an undisciplined Seven Years War fight than a Napoleonic fight, the latter of which demonstrated more in the way of actual combined arms fighting. The close terrain, undisciplined and hastily raised soldiers, and the lack of a professional officer corps really mean that the men are fighting altogether differently from their European counterparts – which is a byproduct of America’s evolution as a nation to that point. For that matter, the previous wars in North America were fought in a similar way, too. Neil Thomas certainly agrees and his ACW rules in Wargaming: An Introduction speak to the unique characteristics of Americans fighting in our Civil War. “He who learns to run away, lives to fight another day“.

I really have enjoyed the growth of the rules I’m using, which I think give a very fun and very historical-feeling American Civil War game. Advancing is deadly work. Advancing against fresh troops is even deadlier and fresh troops introduced at the right time can swing the battle as evidenced above by the arrival of Howard’s Brigade at First Bull Run in this game. Scenario design should really feature interesting arrival of reinforcements as that makes the games so much more interesting and tense. Advancing against fresh, rifle-armed troops ends very predictably.

I also like ahving 3 distinct range-bands – Close/Deadly, Distance and Extreme, hitting on 3, 4 and 5 or better respectively. The artillery has the same named bands but with different ranges (and receive differing numbers of dice per range-band, all hitting on 4+.

So far we’ve found it’s been better to wait until the enemy has lost a base or 2 to launch an assault as the close-deadly firing is – well – deadly and units go down fast during close combat shooting. This is incredibly historical as units would rarely stand if they’ve been subject to long bouts of rifle-musket fire, are tired and low on ammo and are suddenly charged by fresh troops. More likely that they get off a volley (and in fact charging troops routinely stopped and volleyed – with Union and Confederate officers warning their troops NOT to volley during assaults as that would sap the momentum). It’s more likely they’ll run if you charge them (there are exceptions, though) and that certainly happened in the game above.

In fact, the only actual close assault that turned into a melee was Alex’s assault on Imboden’s Battery – in which the Battery stood and took the assault (artillery are only a single base, and so they get 1 die in close combat! the assaulting infantry were full strength and so they received 3 dice in close combat. You roll your quality to score a hit. The Yanks were ‘seasoned’ so needed a 4 or better. Imboden’s gunners were green and needed a ‘5’ to hit! Needless to say, the Yanks clobbered them and Imboden’s men died by their guns!

If you can mass fires and include artillery support, you can whittle an enemy down and assault him with a fresh regiment. This is hard to achieve, though, because the enemy gets a vote!

Recreating Bull Run was exhausting but arguably this was a roughly Corps-sized action with about 25 regiments per side. This stretched the boundaries of my 6×4 table and collection. Next battle, Barlow’s Knoll, will feature about 13 units per side on about a 4 x 4 area, and so I’m looking forward to that game giving a more sensible game in terms of time played and units. This game took quite a long time and multiple sessions to bring to a conclusion!

Wrapping Up ACW Month?

I think I can safely say ACW Month(s) was successful. I am wrapping up a home-brewed, fan produced rewrite of Neil Thomas’ ACW rules from Wargaming: An Introduction, played scores of ACW games with 15mm ACW troopers, and rebased all of the troops – in many cases repainting them as well. It’s been a busy 2 x months but all in all it was GREAT to get them onto the table as my ACW troops have been in garrison for way too long. My next step is to clean up the ACW rules and link to them here for anyone to peruse.

While I will still put on Barlow’s Knoll with the new rules this summer, I really need to get painting other units! We’re halfway through June and I’ve yet to play any D-Day themed games! Right now I’m painting up the rest of Andy’s 1/72 Italeri WWII US Paratroopers to play a Brecourt Manor game using Bolt Action and July is going to feature a good Kursk Battle – just not sure of the scale yet! (MicroArmor, 15mm or 20mm!)

The year is only half over and there is plenty of good wargaming action to come! WWII will be making a comeback on the Angry Dachshund’s wargame table as we re-create the “Day of Days” with my 9 year old Son and the Bolt Action rules in GLORIOUS 1/72 scale!

Stay tuned!

FIRST BULL RUN, PART I

Posted on May 27, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

I linked up with Alex of “Commission & Regiment” and “Up the Blue” fame to game First Bull Run with my draft ACW rules (themselves a variant of NT’s ACW rules from his “Wargaming: An Introduction” book.). Ive always liked Bull Run due to the huge variation of units that fought there as well as the strange reinforcement schedule that favors the Union in the first half of the battle and then favors the Confederacy in the latter half. Using the scenario from “Forward the Colours” on Wargame Vault, I pieced together a scenario using my 20 x units per side (so brigade strengths are a little fudged).

The resulting game has so far been alot of fun. Much like the armies of both sides coming to grips with “modern” warfare, our recent battle saw us coming to grips with Neil Thomas’ ACW rules, as well as NT’s 19th Century rules – both of which were heavily discussed.

The turns are 20 minutes each. Units are regiments. The Union (Army of Northern Virginia) much seize the crossroads and the multiple portions of Henry House Hill by the end of Turn 23. The Confederates (Army of the Potomac and the Army of the Shenandoah) must prevent them from doing so.

We stopped around Turn 10 – there are still a bunch of Rebel reinforcements and yet ANOTHER Union Brigade scheduled to come on the table. I will let the pictures tell the story from here.

Burnside and Porter’s Brigades fanned out, assaulting Bee’s Brigade and cutting the Warrenton Turnpike (running across the pic). Franklin and Wilcox’s Brigades are coming up to continue the attack up Henry House Hill in the background. Bee is putting up stubborn resistance on his hill and the veteran Louisiana troopers are giving ground grudgingly.

Alex’s attack against Buck Hill is textbook and he forms a beautiful line across the battlefield. More importantly, the full firepower of his formations is being brought to bear and Alex is using the “Full Volley” rule to good effect. Bee eventually loses an Alabama regiment atop Buck Hill while his veterans slowly withdraw from their position

Bee facing combined elements of Burnside, Franklin and Wilcox’s Brigades

The view from the Rebel side looking at Buck Hill and teh Warrenton Turnpike. Henry House Hill is to your right off-camera. Porter’s Brigade has crossed the Warrenton Turnpike in the foreground and is advancing towards the woods while elements of Franklin and Wilcox’s brigade relieve him along the fenceline. Note the Rebels (Bartow’s Brigade) have refused their left flank and are taking what meager cover they can. The Rebels are attempting to stave off the Union Army as best they can while Cocke’s Brigade and Jackson’s Brigade deploy.

Burnside’s 2nd Rhode Island push Bee’s / Evans
Louisiana Troops continue to move out of the woods on the hill. Bee’s men at the bottom to the left continue to make an orderly withdrawal to the fenceline along the Warrenton Turnpike (left). Bee will take up Bartow’s positions, while Bartow shifts left to handle the attack into the woods. The Union troops are right at the Confederates’ doorstep!

Alex’s line continues to strengthen and he continues to move his artillery up with him. Meanwhile, Rebel reinforcements are pouring in from Manassas as Cocke’s Brigade advances through the woods up Henry House Hill and Jackson’s Brigade moves up Henry House Hill moving around the woods. There is lots of combat power massing on Henry House Hill now but the Confederates need time to establish a second line. Alex does not intend to give me time to leisurely set up my defense!

Cocke’s Brigade moves into position by Henry House. They’re tagged to relieve Bartow so he can shift his Brigade along the Warrenton Turnpike Fenceline position. So far the battle is turning out eerily similar to history.

Jackson’s men arrive up the backside of Henry House Hill. They will be instrumental in trying to blunt the Union attack materializing in the woodline to the southwest.

The fight along the Warrenton Turnpike is tough. Heavy shooting from Union muskets and artillery has shredded a number of units from Bee and Bartow’s Brigades. Cocke’s reinforcements are deploying to your left (off camera) and Bartow is trying to shift up in the picture as Alex’s Union sledge-hammer comes down on the Confederate positions.

Confederate Troops of Bee’s Brigade have given up the woods atop Buck Hill as Burnside’s men occupy their old positions. Note the horde of Rebel columns atop Henry House Hill upper-center. You can see Cocke’s Brigade next to the Henry House model moving at speed to support Bartow. Ominously, there is a horde of troops to the upper right attempting an assault on Henry House Hill from the west.

Porter’s Brigade moving through the woods as Jackson’s Brigade moves to deploy to cover the objective (red bead)

1st Minnesota taking cover at a stone wall at the base of Henry House Hill. Alex is fighting to gain a foothold on the south bank of the creek! There was a rebel regiment here a few turns ago who were driven back and fled the field.

Sherman’s Brigade arrives onto the field now, further complicating my plan!

The entire field at the bottom on turn 10 (1230pm roughly). A major attack is setting up from the woods and Sherman’s Brigade has arrived to continue the attack on my right. Jackson and Cocke’s Brigade are deploying to meet them both while Bartow and Bee trade more lives to buy time for the defense of the hill. I still have more reinforcements coming on in the form of JEB Stuart’s Cavalry, Kershaw and Early’s brigades in the afternoon portion of the battle.

Lessons Learned So Far

I am enjoying the rules but there are some kinks to work out still. The saves provided in my previous download version were much too generous, prolonging the game more than was necessary and so the saves have been reduced to 6 and 5 in cover (being dug-in allows a save 1 better than the terrain). The retreat rules brought up some questions such as what happens when a unit retreats through another unit that itself had 3 hits on it – if that unit loses a base, does it have to test to retreat now? I do like the retreat rules as units were driven off frequently from shooting, but came back just as frequently.

Additionally, Alex suggested that since units consist of 3 bases (vrs 4 in the NT rules) I should play the units with 3 bases (meaning they are done at 12 hits). Much to ponder there. We have not been physically removing any of the bases but rather using red dice as counters to track base loss and casualty figures as individual hits).

Otherwise, I think the game has certainly kept the spirit of NT’s ACW rules alive and well (buliding upon them with more chrome) I have really been enjoying the game so far and watching Alex’s attacks materialize brings about a sense of excitement and dread 🙂

If I can more intelligently deploy Cocke and Jackson’s brigade, perhaps I’ll have the opportunity to say “THERE STANDS JACKSON LIKE A STONE WALL! RALLY BEHIND THE VIRGINIANS!” but so far my deployment has been a bit foppish.

Future Plans

Concluding Bull Run may bring about the end of “ACW Month” (April) but since it’s still May and I’m still painting ACW stuff and playing ACW games, I’m not sure “ACW Month” will actually conclude… It has been immensely satisfying getting my 15mm ACW troopers on the table for some hard campaigning especially after repainting and rebasing so many of the troops.

They needed to stretch their legs out and it has been too long since an ACW game graced my table! So I kind of fouled up the schedule taking way too long to get ACW stuff onto the table and I completely missed May which was supposed to be 10mm Fantasy and 15mm Vietnam stuff. But since ACW has been on the table, the boys have fought in some tough brawls (including a 1st Manassas scenario fought with Ken using Valour & Fortitude and a bunch of test NT ACW games using the One Hour Wargame scenarios)

All this being said, it’s almost June and D-Day beckons! I plan on playing Bolt Action with Andy and his 20mm 101st Airborne and possibly more Kursk action using Bolt Action, preparing to reap a “bitter harvest” in July for Kursk month. Still have about 20 US paratroopers to finish painting and some German howitzers.

I’ve also been reminded that it’s going to be America’s 250th birthday soon, and so I should probably get an AWI game in. To be honest, that was not part of the 2026 agenda, but it just seems like the right thing to do 😀

Stay tuned!

“Exotic” ACW Units & A Connundrum…

Posted on April 24, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

I’ve been threatening to rebase my “elite” ACW units for weeks now and I am finally getting around to the effort. Here are some more interesting ACW units that I’ve either recently acquired or repainted to serve in different capacities (read: I didn’t like their original paint jobs).

The connundrum I’m facing is a complete “first world problem” in that I’ve already used 11% of my total blog storage space with pictures. I pay a small fortune to google so purchasing additional space from WP is out of the question. The solution? I’m working on it…

“Elite” ACW Units?

Characteristics of elite troops from the horse and musket era or the age of rifles are their ability to take punishment or their ability to rally back after what other units would consider a devastating loss. These troops either have a strong confidence in their abilities, have received exceptional training and equipment, or perhaps have seen their share of fighting and come out better from it – excelling at their trade and trusting in their officers. Some units have a mystique or exclusivity about them like the US Army’s Rangers or the US Marine Corps. It’s the same in other armies and in a battle, sticking around a few minutes longer than other troops or perhaps continuing to try when other units have long abandoned the attack is sometimes the difference in winning or losing a battle. Most of us have played games with elite units on the table, and like me, you’ve probably expected much from them. So much so that a failure to rally or failure to charge at an inopportune moment brings a blush or a snicker.

Neil Thomas chose to classify better quality ACW units as “Zouaves” in his One Hour Wargame rules and while Zouaves came in many different stripes, qualities, and capabilities (and uniforms!) that mystique of theirs is probably irresistable to the wargamer, figure collector and history enthusiast. NT’s “Wargaming: An Introduction” rules do not “bucket” elite troops simply as Zouaves, and so in my version I won’t either (but it’s fun to think of many of them in that regard). NT’s WAI ACW rules and my version have different morale grades, of which the highest is “elite”. The “elite” troops are the ones I want to showcase today.

Union Zouave troops purchased recently at a convention and awaiting their new bases. The leftovers will be used to represent units in skirmish order

A real rarity on any post 1861 or ’62 battlefield! Confederate Zouaves! These fellows are modeled after a unit I saw in a painting of the “Richmond Zouaves” with a dark blue/grey coat, and red or red-lined kepis. The officer jackets have a yellow trim which I think is really cool. These fellows are in a skirmish order now (note the spaces between bases)

20260424_154213 — I asked “jetpack” to help make the image smaller and it blurred out the one of the NCOs of the second regiment!! Anyways these are “those black-hatted fellows” of the Iron Brigade. The heroes of Gettysburg’s first day and stalwart and stubborn infantry all-around.

I will be rebasing the Iron Brigade troopers this weekend in the hopes of getting them on the table soon (although not in my Bull Run game).

Another unit that needs no introduction. The US Cavalry – dismounted. More heroes of Gettysburg. These are also in “skirmish line” and will remain so when dismounted in my rules. Forgive the hack-job on the US Colors. They used to be a normal-sized flag with white stars and I chopped them up and painted yellow stars on it! Close enough for government work…but whose government!!!

That’s it for this unit showcase. I have more pictures but I’m trying to save space – which brings me to the “connundrum”. I’m already at 11% capacity in storage for my blog as stated above. This is probably due in no small part to my phone’s outstanding camera capabilities. The issue though is that wordpress is going to make me pay for additional storage and I’m not particularly keen on that – so I’m playing around with picture quality and size, as well as how the media is presented within the blog (all of which make a difference).

So come with me on this journey to more efficiently load blog images (I never had this problem with blogger because its storage was based on my Google storage which I have plenty of). On one hand, it’s making me more disciplined in terms of the images I load. On the other hand, it’s forcing me to compress pictures and adjust sizes of those pictures, which is extending the amount of time it takes to publish! I’ll be posting best practices as I go. Stay tuned!

CENTAG Assault! Wrapping up Cold War Month

Posted on March 25, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

As The Angry Dachshund winds down “Cold War Month”, we played another Battlegroup: NORTHAG game using the West German Bundeswehr list from the “CENTAG” book, and a Soviet Motor Rifle Company in BTR-60s from the “NORTHAG” book. This was a roughly 330 point game’s worth of gear and troops but with somewhat disparate break points (Soviets were 43 and the West Germans were 34).

That didn’t stop the Soviets from losing, though! Read on.

For a “simple” battle, I picked the “escalating engagement” scenario from the rulebook. This was an easy choice because it is the only scenario in the rulebook. (I’ve started piecing together a deliberate assault scenario but just wanted to get something on the table quickly and had already done enough math to get the forces ready to fight.)

After playing a few of these battles now, I am finding that I really enjoy the challenge of playing with an infantry-heavy force and the Soviets have a large option with their motor-rifle company which consists of 9 light machine gun fireteams and 9 RPG teams mounted in BTRs or BMPs. If played right you can really cause alot of havoc as the infantry teams with their RPG-toting brothers are quite dangerous to be near, and once they get settled into terrain, they’re really tough to force out.

This was a simple setup with most of the objectives lined up from one long end of the table to the other. The Soviets “out scouted” the Germans with more scout elements on the table including 2 x BRDM-2 armored recce patrol cars, and 2 x T-64Bs to accompany them. The Soviets also purchased the “breakthrough” option, which forces a morale chit pull for every Soviet unit that leaves the table. My fear, which proved unfounded, was that this would be a jail break and NATO would be sent packing in less than an hour.

The Soviet scouts began skirmishing with the German Luchs recce and their tanks quickly got the upper hand on the Germans. The BRDMs pulled up closer to the table edge – right in time for the German Leopard I platoon to arrive in force!

Soviet recce teams move from one objective to another! (blue dots are objectives) The Soviets are running fast to try and exit as many vehicles as they can off the table.

German Luchs firing (or attempting to) at the Soviets!

With the Luchs destroyed, the Soviet armor rumbles through the light woods towards the table edge. This is a T-72 masquerading as a T-64B. I would have used a T-80 ot masquerade as a T-64B but they’re not yet based…

The BRDMs are full of hope. “We’re going to force 2 x chit pulls! The table edge is literally 8 inches away!”

4 Leopard IA4 tanks arrive and block the path of the BRDMs and tanks and a knife fight develops with the Germans gaining the upper hand. Their “advanced optics” and “advanced gunnery” means the Soviet T-64s lose any advantage they had hiding in cover. Needless to say, the BRDMs do not pass – even with rolling “snake-eyes” to kill one of them.

Note the Leo’s to the front. This BRDM lives another turn, although he’s now pinned. Soviet tank rounds miss their chance to knock out the Leopards, who roll well in the ensuing tank battle.

By turn 5 the situation with the reconaissance troops on the Germans’ right is stabilized however a new threat develops as a huge force of armored vehicles approaches the hill!

The Soviet vanguard has arrived – all 11 BTR-60s loaded with troops and gear. THey immediately aim for the valley to try and race off the table – but there is way too much ground to cover. The German tanks and Infantry Fighting Vehicles redeploy to cover the valley and it will be a turkey shoot unless the Soviet commander shows some initiative…

The Soviet vanguard arrives! A full motor rifle company along with an automatic grenade launcher and an AT-4 anti tank missile. My intent is to speed them off the table and force enough chit pulls to win the game for the Russians. The enemy had other plans of course!

The Soviets, seeing the Germans redeploy to cover the valley, decide instead to assault the hill and go for an “all objectives secured” victory. Instead of racing off the table, the Soviets will dismount their horde of infantry platoons and assault the hill objective. If they can successfully seize it, the game will be won via objectives – the old fashioned way. My infantry platoons have 3 RPG teams each (total of 9) and can assault the German infantry on the hill. It will be glorious!

As I said before, I like playing with infantry forces in this game because they give you lots of options and have lots of capabilities. It forces you to think like a commander – deciding which tools from your toolbox to use.

The first Soviet teams dismount and charge the hill from the woods! Those are unsuspecting German vehicles to their front! It’s a bold plan and I feel like Ivan just might pull it off!

The Germans also are much closer to their breakpoint than the Russians are. With a big difference between BPs, the Soviets are much more inclined than normal to push their troops and take some risks. Little did I know how quickly the fortunes of war could shift!

The Soviets gearing up to assault the hill. Lots of infantry crowding the base of the hill!

The Soviets maneuvered an RPG team up close to the summit and opened fire from teh woods – knocking out a Marder on the objective and forcing the 2 passenger teams to dismount, pinned! You can see the AT Team on the left with their yellow pin marker and the LMG team on the right with theirs. Subsequent fire against the dismoutns fails to knock them out and the Soviets are too far away to assault them. Drat!

Soviet commander dismounts with his company, urging them forward, thrilled at the prospect of a successful attack for once!

Things start to go a little sour for the Russians on Turn 6 as a Soviet timed artillery barrage clips and pins 2 of their teams assaulting the hill. To make matters worse, almsot every shot on the hill misses and the Germans are able to return fire and/or redeploy and end up killing or pinning lots of Soviet troops. The element of surprise has been lost!

The Germans, knowing half of the Soviet company is still down in the valley, strikes. They move their tanks and Anti Tank Guided Missile vehicles around the hill (covered from RPG fire) and launch a serious barrage of fire at the BTRs milling about in the valley, knocking out all of the BTRs who had not yet joined the assault. Meanwhile, the German vehicles atop the hill redeploy to get a little cover, preparing to assault through the Soviet ambush.

Turn 7 saw the prompt destruction of 4 BTRs and 7 infantry teams (the infantry teams all failed their casualty save rolls after dismounting). This is getting bad!

One bright spot is the Soviets were able to get 1 BTR off the table forcing a German chit pull which turned out to be a tactical “Nuclear Strike” (OMG!). A quick scan of the rules states that since I did not purchase the “cleared for nuclear attack” option at the start of the game, a nuclear exchange doesn’t happen. Well that’s heartening!

This BTR forced the final chit pull for the Russians who lost the game.

The single Marder on flank guard knocked out the remaining BTR who was trying to sneak off the table on the German right, forcing a chit pull. It had been awhile since I tallied up the Soviet morale chits. Some quick math reads “44” which is 1 over my morale. The Soviets, who had a serious force at the base of the hill ready to over-run it, now pull out and the battle ends. So close!

The Germans were at 27 – close to their BP but not close enough. Had the Soviets held on and over-run those teams on the hill top, the battle very well could have swung in the other direction. If the Soviet shooting had been better on the hilltop on Turn 6, knocking out a few more vehicles with RPGs, the game may very well have turned out differently.

I was hoping for a Soviet win here but it wasn’t meant to be – the German stuff just showed up at the right time and place and were able to use their mobility and shoot-on-the-move capabilities (they gain a +1 modifier to shooting with their advanced gunnery which cancels out the -1 penalty for moving) to beat the Russians.

Still though, the only thing actually losing the game for the Russians this time were the German missile vehicles and a handful of Leo’s on their baseline knocking out a bunch of BTRs in a single volley. The Germans fought right from the march. It was a near-run thing and exactly the kind of reversals of fortune you expect from the Battlegroup rules.

Wrapping Up Cold War Month

So far, the idea of “themed” months has worked well. I was able to explore a number of Cold War rules and broke out a substantial number of my 1/285 miniatures onto the table.

A large Dunn-Kempf game was played, as well as a large Battlegroup NORTHAG game based off of Objective LOG and Hill 214 from the Team Yankee boardgame was also played. I finally got my West Germans, painted in their NATO 3 color scheme to the table for an inaugural game, too.

Speaking of 1/285 minis, I finished re-basing my American infantry in 1/285, finished my West German and Soviet collection (all of them are now painted to a decent standard – every last one – about 300 vehicles). Pictured below are teh Soviets.

2 Soviet Motor Rifle Battalions and accompanying infantry painted. 1/285 micro armor.

Cold War month has been a blast. I learned that I like Battlegroup: NORTHAG best for large-scale Cold War battles and frankly I’m not sure what I’ll do with my 15mm Cold War kit as it just takes up too much space for me and I dont play all that much 15mm Cold War these days. Much to ponder here.

The goals for the month – that of finishing up my numerous microarmor collections, playing a bunch of Cold War games, and settling on my favorite Cold War rules has been accomplished.

As far as the month goes, there is still some time for me to put my 1/285 scale “Checkpoint: Charlie” era Cold War stuff together including Soviet T-10 heavy tanks, lots of US M-48s, and a host of other vehicles and assorted goodies but I’m not sure if I will find the time to do so. If I dont, it’s safe to say that “Cold War Month” 2026 has been a complete success and much fun. I am looking forward to unveiling April’s theme, but until I do here is a little hint.

Perhaps serving in Von Steinwehr’s Brigade?

Battlegroup NORTHAG: Objective LOG & Hill 214 PART II – ENDGAME

Posted on March 14, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

The Angry Dachshund played a large-ish Cold-War-Gone-Hot battle recently, recreating battles from the Team Yankee novel and using a few sets of rules to do it. If you read the first installment, we now come to the denouement. (if you have not yet read it – I strongly suggest reading it first and then circling back to this post! If only for the pictures of the miniatures!)

The last of Team Yankee closing on Lemm after securing the crossing and village.

The newly liberated town of Lemm is in ruins after repeated artillery bombardments and small unit actions inside the village. Team Yankee is racing like hell to assault Objective LOG, AKA Hill 190, with the ultimate mission of capturing Hill 214, the prized high ground overlooking the town of Arndorf, from the Soviets.

There should be more maneuver space between Lemm and Objective LOG but this is how it sat when I played the game. LOG is menacingly close to Lemm and the Americans are under the watchful eyes of the Soviets throughout their redeployment. We commence the story where the Americans are swinging wide around the hill to try and take it from multiple directions. The Americans took such heavy casualties seizing Lemm that additional significant casualties here would be catastrophic and endanger the Team’s mission to capture Hill 214.

Redeploying an M1 platoon to serve as a base of fire element for the infantry in APCs to swing around. unfortunately for them, they are close to the hill – too close!

A lucky shot with an RPG knocks out an M1. Box cars were rolled. Note the pinned American squad next to the burning M1.

The M1s are taking heavy volleys of RPG fire on their way around the hill mass. The Soviets, wishing to be more aggressing, manuever some of their squads to the side of the hill to match the Team’s advance. Instead of sneaking up the opposite slope, the Americans run into a Soviet squad and RPG team and another nasty surprise – the PKM team from the first battle!

Another M113 burns from an accurate RPG round while M1s circle the hill. The surviving infantry teams dismount, pinned down under scary accurate Soviet fire.

Redeploying more M1s from behind Lemm to fire on Objective LOG.

While the Americans left 1 infantry squad and dragon team in Lemm due to losing their ride, 2 x M113s swing around the flank. Both are taken out by accurate RPG fire. The Americans have to get to grips with their ambushers and assault towards the hill, calling in one of their last remaining fire missions to even the score a bit.

Horrifyingly, the mission falls short – and scores a direct hit on the American squad advancing up into Objective Log! The tanks will have to do the rest of the work as I will need the infantry that are still alive to assault Hill 214! This is getting bad.

American firepower in the form of 155mm artillery strikes right on top of the maneuvering American squad going up the hill! It also knocks out the PKM team and the BTR. Brutal!

With the coast clear, the Americans maneuver a platoon of M1s up onto the hill and begin methodically knocking out targets. It’s risky because there are still RPG teams afoot atop Objective LOG…

M1s surge up Objective LOG and destroy the remaining resistance.

The Soviets draw a chit and it moves them over their Breakpoint – of 53 (I incorrectly reported this as much higher in the last installement). Presumably, since the Soviet motor rifle company has seen 2 of its platoons destroyed and hears the “high pitched whine” of turbine engines atop Objective LOG, it retreats from the defense of Hill 214 – to say nothing of the T62 company waiting for the word to ambush. And thank goodness, too, because Team Yankee was NOT relishing the idea of doing this all over again with only 2 x Dragon Teams and 1 x single infantry squad. Not to mention the fact that all of the M113s were knocked out. And there was only 1 Artillery fire-mission left. Ouch!

Hill 214 – a fortress bristling with Soviets – who up and ran anyways! The Americans got extremely lucky that the Soviets reached their BP. The Americans were about 12 away from their BP.

All in All, the Americans lost almost an entire mechanized infantry platoon and the remaining elements of the platoon are certainly non-mission capable with no more functional APCs.

The Americans also lost 3 M1 tanks during the battle, including CPT Bannon’s (although that was to mechanical breakdown). I am assuming the Americans will probe and redeploy onto Hill 214 without firing a shot, and the story can continue on in the novel almost as it occurred in Coyle’s story – except with far fewer infantrymen.

Well this was an adventure and it was alot of fun recreating battles from books I’ve read. I would love to get some more cold war armor and Cold War battles onto the table as the Angry Dachshund is halfway through “Cold War Month”. Stay tuned for more armored action.

Battlegroup NORTHAG: Objective LOG & Hill 214 PART I

Posted on March 12, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

Cold War month marches on and I am putting various rules and scenarios through their paces. Battlegroup NORTHAG was high on the list. I’m no stranger to any of the Battlegroup series and NORTHAG ranks quite high with me regarding sheer enjoyment and narrative-building. While I have some little items that “irk” me about NORTHAG, all-in-all it’s a very solid set of rules for any Cold War Gone Hot afficionado.

This post is not really about NORTHAG but rather about a scenario I cooked up for use with the NORTHAG rules taken straight from the pages of the Team Yankee novel by Harold Coyle (and the subsequent board game by Frank Chadwick published by GDW).

The Objective LOG/Hill 214 scenario is a big one – topping off at 700 points for both sides and a morale battle rating of over 70 for both sides – featuring the entirety of Team Yankee and a full Soviet Motor Rifle Company. Since the US M1s are prohibitively expensive points-wise (in order to discourage their use as they were not as prevalent in 1983), I’ve bolstered the Soviet MRC to include a full T-62 company but with a twist. The T-62s don’t come on the table until the Hill 214 objective falls to the Americans. This represents the Soviet counter-attack from the book with a whittled-down Team Yankee after a period of hard fighting – and hard fighting it will be indeed.

Before we get into the plan and the fighting, let’s quickly get oriented. (“orientated” for the Brits).

Image courtesy of BoardGame Geek. You can clearly see Lemm and Arndorf on the maps. Hill 190 is Objective LOG and HIll 214 is above it to the north. Team Yankee’s attack is coming from the south. Figuring that defile is going to be targeted by the Soviets, Team Yankee is assaulting from the high ground southeast and southwest of Lemm.

The large town of Arndorf in the foreground, looking south towards the village of Lemm. The American attack is coming from the south, across the river from Lemm. Lemm, along with the small hill next to (Objective LOG) it are objectives for the Americans, as is the hill close to Arndorf (Hill 214).

The following gallery shows some of the topography that the fight is going to occur on. As an aside, I am very happy with the table and setup. I think it was Napoleon or Wellington who said “money spent on wargaming terrain is seldom wasted”.

The battle for Lemm – featuring a river crossing and a “light” urban fight was tough. Objective Log is also proving a really tough nut to crack. While Team Yankee is advancing, it’s not been without cost.

I allowed the Soviets to make some of their fire missions “on call” vrs “timed” provided their commander was still around. They had to pre-plot all of their target points but could stipulate the turn those arrived. They purchased the maximum limit of 8 fire missions of 122mm HE artillery. This fit in a bit more with the “Dunn Kempf” stuff I’ve been reviewing. The Americans purchased a howitzer battery and so enjoyed “on call” artillery the entire game – however I’ve limited their salvos to 8 (also keeping with the GDW “Team Yankee” theme).

The Soviets had 2 timed, pre-registered target reference points on the road to Lemm to aid in the defense and as you will see, this really caused some havoc. In fact if there is a key take away from this battle so far, it’s that the artillery is the infantry’s worst nightmare in modern war. King of Battle!

The American plan was to shoot the hell out of Lemm along with the artillery firing into it constantly to destroy or neutralize (NORTHAG calls it “pin”) the enemy and soften them up prior to assaulting. There is motorized infantry platoon (BTR-60 mounted) in Lemm, on Objective LOG and on Hill 214.

After a good amount of shooting, the American tanks move out and their M113s move towards Lemm to begin the assault (around turn 4). A Soviet fire mission rains destruction down on them, knocking out TWO M113 APCs and killing an infantry squad, pinning the rest of the survivors.

OUCH. 50% of the infantry platoon’s rides knocked out

Soviets move an PKM machine gun team into Lemm. They’re pointing at the houses near the bridge! This is going to be a tough fight!

Americans along the river fighting with the Soviet troops in the townhouse. The small round base is an RPG-7 (rocket propelled grenade) team. The American fireteam, eager for payback from the destruction of their APC, fires, hits and pins the Soviet team, who roll a “1” and fail their casualty save! Time to rush the bridge!

An American team is pinned rushing the bridge by a BTR in the town on “ambush fire” orders. The Americans also pull a “CONFUSION” chit, pinning the Soviet RPG team. The fighting at the bridge is intense, with the Soviets feeding teams into the buildings. Lemm is about ready to fall.

Unbelievably, the Soviets in losing another team pull a BREAKDOWN chit which is played against Captain Bannon’s tank, Y66. I naturally roll a “6” in determining its fate and the piece of crap catches fire. Bannon’s tank is destroyed just like in the book, only a little earlier.

American team pinned down by a BTR down the road. Need to bring up the tanks. I like how the need for tank-infantry cooperation does not seem forced. There are no arbitrary rules for targeting but your tanks are best at knocking out other vehicles and my Dragon missile teams from the infantry dont have clear shots.

American troops gain a foothold in Lemm!

Once that BTR near the grey house is knocked out, the Americans flood in, using tanks along the river just off to the east to finish off the remaining BTR in Lemm and the Soviets draw another counter.

Final Protective Fires! The Soviet PKM crew fires and pins the Americans at the Gasthaus before pulling out, saving this vital HMG for the fight for Objective LOG coming up after the Americans seize Lemm.

BTR and PKM crew getting ready to pull out of Lemm

Carnage but the Soviets have another trick up their sleeve, a dedicated fire mission targeting Lemm once the Americans over run it!

Not wanting a repeat of what happened outside the bridge losing those M113s, the Americans space out. Good thing too, because the Soviet Artillery is loading as you read this! Note the burning BTRs at the road junction. I love this picture!

Back at the bridge, Captain Bannon is funnelling more tanks across the river to prepare for the assault against Objective LOG now. Team Yankee reports to the 3-78 Infantry Battalion TOC that Lemm is secured. All of this carnage was just to secure a jumping off point and prepare for the assault against Objective LOG!

THe M901 Improved TOW vehicles (anti tank guided missile launchers) are moving out from their support-by-fire positions towards Lemm.

And the Soviet FPF arrives. The “6”s are direct hits and other dice are pinning hits. The Americans suffer lots of pins but no units killed this time around.

American tanks and APCs pouring into Lemm

Lemm was hit by no less than 5 Soviet and American artillery fire missions so these buildings are probably shells or rubble piles now…

Hard to believe but this story is only 1/3 finished. Lemm has been captured (liberated?) and Team Yankee is arranging itself for the assault against Objective LOG (Hill 190 on the map). That will be the second installment in this series. I’ll probably skip over some of the mundane movements but the PKM machine gun team escaped and is now “safely” on Objective LOG and the American tanks and APCs are maneuvering to assault LOG next.

Crucially, let’s discuss some post battle (part 1) thoughts there. First of all, the cavalier movement towards Lemm by the American Infantry resulted in the destruction of critical combat power in the form of 2 x M113 APCs. I’m going to keep fighting but the casualties among the infantry are really going to hurt later and the tanks are going to have to do a disproportionate amount of the work. (the work being killing Soviet units).

The lesson here is movement should plan on receiving indirect fire and elements should be spaced accordingly. This was a really expensive lesson that you’d think I would have learned by now 🙂

Second lesson is tank-infantry coordination is crucial because without armor supporting the infantry, the infantry are more vulnerable to vehicle-mounted weapons (this will factor in more for the assault on Objective LOG than anything else).

Third lesson is to assault / attack from multiple locations. Bringing the M1s to the east of Lemm should have happened much earlier in the fight and could have potentially knocked out the BTR sitting at the grey house waiting to ambush those GIs on their way into Lemm at the fight for the bridge. The American attack is behind schedule due to Soviet counter attacks and higher than hoped casualties.

So far this game has been very enjoyable – mostly for the unexpected things happening, and for the tactical considerations that the rules naturally force you to make. NORTHAG are probably my favorite Cold War rules, and I say that as both a former Army officer, and wargamer for 25 odd years – that the experience is as genuine as you can get (note i did not say realistic – but you pay for your mistakes dearly, and you reap the benefits of knowing when to take advantage of an opportunity on the battlefield) . Ive found in this game that the must be eyed from the perspective of a commander. In my book, not much higher praise can be bestowed on a set of rules.

Anyways, I am looking forward to typing up Part II. I’ve played a few rounds this morning and already have experienced some reversals of fortune.

Team Yankee’s assault towards Hill 214 continues! Remember, once Hill 214 falls (if it falls), that triggers the arrival of a T-62 tank company to counter attack. This is where we divert from the NORTHAG scenario template a bit as the reinforcements are event-based and not scenario template based. Stay tuned!

TO THE RESCUE! Small Dunn-Kempf Game (RAW)

Posted on March 6, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

I was finally able to get a small game of Dunn-Kempf on the table using my 1/285 Cold War microarmor and the results did not disappoint! The scenario was taken from the GDW Board Game “Team Yankee” and features a platoon of Soviet T-72s and BMP-1s attempting to overrun a small, West German village which is held by 2 x sections of Cavalry Scouts in Bradley fighting vehicles. 2 x M1 Abrams tanks are racing to rescue them from the clutches of the evil empire.

The village bordering on a small river is sheltering 2 x US Cavalry scout sections. The Soviets will approach from the secondary road in the upper-center of the pic. The US M60’s will approach from your left along the highway. ( I forgot to add the bridge in this picture)

I took a little artistic license with the OOB and since we’re playing DK, I used M113 APCs as the Bradleys and M60 Main Battle Tanks instead of M1 Abrams.

Before you dive in, the following WWIII battle report is probably best paired with the old “Steel Panthers 2 – Modern Battles” soundtrack…

TO THE RESCUE

“The remnants of a US recon company are desperately fighting for survival against a Soviet advance guard. Just as all seems lost, US tanks come charging to the rescue!”

Turn 1

Just movement. The DK scales are very tight (1″ = 50m) and movement is not very generous with vehicles on a road moving 6 inches (300m) and infantry moving 2 inches off road and 3 inches on. Vehicles moving cross country get 4 inches of movement. Not sure the Soviets will even reach the village by Turn 8!

Soviet armor and infantry moving towards the village! They’ve started out of sight of any US missiles or other weapons. There is a US squad with a Dragon ATGM launcher in that tan building with a M113 APC waiting in the street.

The first Soviet turn is spent completely in movement (targets in a town are spotted at 3″ and so the Russians can only move until they are fired upon). And fire upon them the Americans do! The US Squad in the townhouse opens fire with their Dragon Anti Tank missile at 500 meters.

53 is a hit! The US squad needed a “26” (a 2 or higher on the red (tens) die). Does the impact knock out the T-62?

It does! A T-62 is burning on the road. Ivan knows there are troops in that building now.

The American M60s trundle down the road at 6″ per turn. They’re still quite a ways away from influencing this battle. The Russians will get their revenge on these American cowboys!

Turn 2

That’s better. You cant have a Cold War scenario without a bridge!

The Soviets unload with T-62 firing the AA machine gun at the tan building with the second tank in the column. Note how the tanks are snaking around the burning lead tank.

The column snakes around teh knocked out, burning T-62. A smililar scene is repeating itself across West Germany this morning!

The American infantry squad in the tan townhouse is suppressed while the other infantry squad moves into the church.

Turn 3

The Soviets continue to unload into the town now, intent on knocking out the American cavalry sections defending.

The Soviets unload on the church and knock out a US squad! .

Revenge for their fallen buddies in the church as the US send another dragon missile flying down the road hitting, but not killing, a second T-62 at 500 meters.

Turn 4

The Soviets pick up the pace now and move the BMP infantry fighting vehicles off the road to get more firepower to their front. They need to destroy or suppress those gunners to make this movement to the town easier. The American M60s creep closer to the battle area. The Americans spray .50 caliber machine gun fire at the BMP in an attempt to suppress it but the fire is not accurate.

The Soviets execute the Battle Drill they’ve rehearsed dozens of times and with a single word, the vehicles begin to deploy into the assault. Successful shooting is able to suppress the American squad in the townhouse now.

Turn 5

The Soviets, seeing the fire from the M113 in the town, open fire and knock it out with an HE round. More fire keeps the US cavalry scouts suppressed!

Turn 6

The Soviet BMPs surge toward the town to try and capture it and just in the nick of time, the Cavalry shows up! 2 x M60 tanks appear from the woods along the highway north of the town!

BMPs go for broke as the turn limit is approaching!

The American M60 tanks add weight to the fight! An unforseen and unpleasant development that the Soviet commander could have gone without! The M60s fire right from teh march, both hitting and knocking out targets.

Scratch 2 x BMPs as the American gunners find their targets. I did not know what to do with the dismounts when their transport is destroyed so I dismounted them, suppressed.

Turn 7

The Soviets go for broke and surge a T-62 and BMP along the river towards the church. If they can get a dismount section into the church they can actually still win this fight!

Good shooting from Ivan knocks out an M60. The American commander is still nervous! Note the M113 in the background that swung around last turn to engage the infantry dismounts who lost their ride. His fire goes wild and misses the Russians in the open.

American shooting knocks out another T-62 along the road. Note the BMP next to him on the left sneaking around to try and get to the church. In Dunn Kempf, it takes an entire move to mount or dismount and so the Soviets will not be able to win this game in 8 moves. In fact, it was probably unfair to have the game only go 8 moves.

By the end of Turn 8, the final BMP is destroyed by the single remaining American M60 and the squad in the townhouse. This was a tough fight and it felt brutal. Most weapons have a good chance of getting an effect on the target (even if they can’t kill it) and suppressed tanks fire at a disadvantage and suppressed infantry can’t fire at all. Fire and maneuver is rewarded and the old saying rings true: “if it can be seen, it can be hit. if it can be hit, it can be killed”. Nowhere is this more apparent than the modern battlefield.

Issues Encountered

During play a few things stood out to me.

Range & Rounding.The range blocks in the game are in increasing increments (50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, etc) so it is inevitable that you will have to round numbers up or down. There is no guidance for this at all that I could find, so I’ll have to think about this one a little bit.

Dismounts. As mentioned above, there was no guidance given about the fate of dismounts when their transport is knocked out. Are they simply knocked out with it? Do they have a chance to save themselves? I ended up dismounting them, suppressed.

Line of Sight. Always a sticky subject – there is not much given on LOS so you really do have to identify the effects of terrain and how LOS works prior to starting play. There is a highly restrictive (or highly realistic?) observation table that tells you what you can see at a given distance. So if the intent is to make LOS hard on the firer, I’ll have to take that into consideration.

Modifiers. The modifiers sneak up on you and they’re easy to forget or easily missed – even with the QRS. I found myself forgetting to apply them sometimes so I had to go back and re-roll some of the To-Hit rolls. There are quite a few modifiers that go into the To-Hit roll and are dependent on the firing unit’s status (moved? not moved? suppressed?) and the target’s status (moved? not moved?) and that is alot to apply. I’d almost like to make this a 2D6 game with a mean to-hit score, and a to-kill score based solely off the percentage required, then expressed to the closest 2D6 equivalent. I’m envisioning a handful of modifiers that keep it within the spirit of the rules here by moving the target up or down (not the dice roll). (As an important aside, 2D10 as percentage dice would probably be the most accurate way to do this, but I can’t stand using D10s! As a thought exercise, I already have the percentages for the To Hit / To Kill rolls from the tables worked out and I could just play those within the results of a 2D6 roll, instead of the strange 16-66 method used in DK.)

Movement & Play Sequence. The play sequence is rigid and deliberate. This isn’t a problem really, but being used to more free-flowing games like Battlegroup: NORTHAG where a player can pick the order of operations, I kind of like having just a little more flexibility. That said, this play sequence just *works* with fire enabling suppression which gives you a bit more confidence moving across open ground when the enemy is present.

Templates. I didnt play this game with the templates provided in teh book (the scenario didn’t call for indirect fire) but I will be soon. If I play another GDW Team Yankee scenario, then there is most certainly a number of salvos of IDF that I’ll have as either the Soviets or the Americans. I’d like to get artillery support dialed in and figure out how to call for, track and eventually adjust fires. This is where an umpire helps tremendously. The real DK requires players to develop a fure support plan complete with pre registered target points and on call support elements. If I’m going to play a larger game of DK, I’ll need to get the artillery system worked out.

Final Thoughts

This was a great game! Lots of excitement and it moved fast (except for the agonizingly slow movement rates). The game is certainly written to be as specific (not abstract) as possible and very much plays like a military simulation (think JANUS or something you’d encounter at the Battle Sim Center). I hope I’ve successfully demonstrated that it has tremendous potential as a stand-alone wargame with whatever forces you choose. The sequence of play is gold, and would also work for a WWII wargame as well.

I would like to play this same scenario with my old Battlegroup: REFORGER or the current Battlegroup: NORTHAG rules to see how they play in comparison. Unfortunately NORTHAG doesn’t scale *down* so well and so I may have to dust off REFORGER and give it a go but as a thought exercise this was incredibly fun to get some Cold War kit on the table and blow up some stuff 🙂

Also – I want to build up more Cold War terrain – this terrain looks great so I need to finish more roads, more modern buildings, billboards and industrial areas for use in even bigger battles.

Introducing Cold War Month & The Dunn Kempf Project

Posted on March 5, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

2026 has been going swimmingly so far in the wargaming department. Besides being sidetracked a bit with unforseen projects (my son recently asked to start playing Bolt Action and so I’ve been furiously buying up 20mm kit to play it with him. Incidentally, if you live in the UK and are experiencing a sudden lack of availability of 20mm figures and vehicles, they’re probably all being shipped to my house in the US :).

Box art from the original, very crunchy “Tac Force” Micro Armor rules – this image has always been one of my favorites! Very evocative of the Cold War.

Anyways, according to my 2026 schedule, March is “Cold War” Month. (January was WWII focused, and February was Napoleonic focused). This is not a hard and fast rule but more of a prioritization for projects and the like. I’ve decided to focus on my 1/285 microarmor collection and play around with a “serious” wargame – the US Army’s old Dunn-Kempf simulation.

The John Curry DK Compilation which I happily own – Mr Curry has compiled known versions of DK and put them all into this convenient booklet. Thank you sir!

Dunn Kempf was a training simulation designed to test and evaluate Army units in a number of different categories from battle planning and situational awareness, all the way down to crew drills. It was a smash-hit in the Army, with “sets” being delivered to Army commands worldwide (like Kriegspiel years before – Der Wütende Dackel is pleased!)

You can read about Dunn-Kempf here (and there is even a gentleman who has been putting on huge and spectacular, doctrinally-correct DK games at HMGS conventions! Also from my understanding there are still corners of the US Army’s Training & Doctrine Command senior staff schools that occasionally use it) but my plan is to use the rules and bring them a bit more into the 21st century in terms of mechanics. If you want a quick primer, there is an outstanding QRS on Board Game Geek here, and also an amazing article in Wargame Digest (written in 1979 before I was born) that talks about mechanics of the “game”.

Recent 6mm modern game (Dunn-Kempf rules) I ran — Dunn Kempf in action more recently. Photo from HMGS. Used without permission.

The sticky part for Angry Dachshund fans is that DK is meant for multiple players and even full military staffs to work out course-of-action development problems and play with orders-transmission and tactical resource management – issues that are way beyond the scope of my humble abilities. (oh that truck was knocked out? S4 – how does that impact our calculus for resupply and how will it impact capability over the next 24 hours?) Instead, I want to focus on the tactical planning and engagements, and explore the capabilities of the belligerents as the US Army expected them to be in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Okay, full disclosure – I also want to get my microarmor on the table! 🙂

Example of Page 1 of the DK QRS from BGG (linked above)

Cold War month will culminate in a large campaign style series of games with the natural bad guys (Soviets or one of their clients) trying to seize key terrain held by the good guys (a NATO force TBD but I have Americans, West Germans and British in their assembly areas, maintaining strict light and radio discipline, and waiting for the word to move out).

After reading through Norm’s outstanding Napoleonic campaign, I think I’ll try out Henry Hyde’s “Junction Jeopardy” to fight a series of Cold War battles to either achieve or deny a Soviet breakthrough. Time permitting, you’ll get to see the results of these battles. Worst-case, you may get a short history of the results. I do plan on playing a very small DK game with the Rules-As-Written to see how they play “out of the box”.

As usual, expect plenty of goodies to be posted as I play around with a new QRS and a more streamlined way to play DK. Stay tuned!

PS – Comments were “opened” to allow commenting without permission (until the bots find me). Hopefully this is easier for those of you who wish to leave a comment.

The Winter Battle: Valour & Fortitude 1807

Posted on February 28, 2026 by thedisgruntledfusilier

I recently played a decent-sized solo game of Valour & Fortitude (2nd ed, v3.1) with my 10mm Napoleonic troops, snow mat and 6mm buildings. The action-packed game did not disappoint!

The scenario played was “Set Piece Battle” and after selecting about 360 points each of French and Russians from the V&F 3.1 list, I diced for the attacker (per scenario instructions) and the Russians rolled highest meaning they were the attackers. The Battlefield was already set up for my Eylau Scenario for “Eagles Cheaper than Brain Cells” and I kept it including the hills and villages. The Russians selected 2 x villages. The French selected the large town on their baseline (the “defensible terrain” town of Eylau) and the large woods on their right.

Turns 1-4

Looking from the French Baseline. 2 Brigades of Troops – the left is 1st BDE (with attached Hussars) and the right is 2nd BDE (with attached Light troops). The large town in the center is Eylau, presumably.

Russian baseline – also in 2 large Brigades. The Brigade on your left (Russian right) is 1st BDE with attached Dragoons. The Russians heavily weighted their left flank because they intend to attack the woods on the French right (the weaker target than attacking directly into the town).

Note the woods on the French right. The Russian target for the day’s battle.

French light troops holding the objective in the woods. The woods are treated as “rough” in this game and are not defendable terrain.

Lots of French combat power around the woods!

The rules suggest when playing with 10mm troops to halve all measurements, which I did but it felt a little fiddly and next battle I might try 2/3 measurements intstead.

The French division forms a battle-line against the oncoming Russians!

Another view of the French Battle Lines from 1st Brigade in the foreground and 2nd Brigade in the background.

Russian units come off their perch as teh Russian attack begins! Note the casualty markers on the lead french unit! a result of constant bombardment from Russian guns!

Russian “flank guard” infantry battalion fires against prowling French Hussars!

Turns 5-8

The fight for the forest objective begins! The Russians assault the light troops in the woodline. French battalions on either side of the woods are prepared to support as are the Russian units approaching!

The gallery above shows the Russian attack against the French right taking shape. It’s important to note here that Valour and Fortitude handled the attack easily with little to no questions so far as the Russians shelled French units across the field and the French responded in kind!

view from the woods as the French descend upon the forest! Combat ensues!

The French win the combat but neither side has to test yet. While the lights are shaken, they have not taken any casualties above their tenacity level. The combat could continue another round but the French commander decides “discretion is the better part of valor” and withdraws the lights while moving up a fresh Battalion into the woods! A Battle Hand-Over which was planned the entire time!

Meanwhile in front of the large town, the Russians are demonstrating and trading volleys. The French cannister is doing its deadly work!

Turns 9-12

A swirling cavalry battle taking place on the French left. The Dragoons end up getting the worst of it!

French reinforcements assault the Russians at the woodline! The Russian attack breaks down as this unit loses the combat and fails its valour check!

The Russians have experienced a setback to their plan but they still have the combat power to shift some units around. There is an intense firefight going on in between the woods and the town and also more Russian units are demonstrating in front of the town. A cavalry battle is occurring on the extreme left of the French line as supported Hussars charge full in against thte Russian dragoons.

Meanwhile in front of the Woods, the Russians, already suffering from 1 “defeat” prepare for another push this time against Les Grognards to the left of the wooded area.

Meanwhile the units in front of the town are suffering from the repeated cannister and small arms firing!

The Russians attempt to gather up their forces for one final push into the woods but trading fire with the French sees the French come out on top!

On Turn 10, the Russians pull back to try and consolidate their inner lines. They have 2 turns left to take a French held objective. Note in the pper right how the French line is starting to look refused. Meanwhile the French near the town have actually started to advance! More shooting and melee ensue but the Russians concede on turn 11. The game is over and the French have won, 6-2 (captured 2 objectives and inflicted 4 defeats on the Russians. The Russians captured 2 objectives.

So what did we learn?

For starters, the attacking force has a tough job in Valour & Fortitude. Attacking units must be properly supported and preferably with no hits on them. An enemy should be softened up and close to being shaken when you assault them. This is easy to say, but if the dice aren’t with you and you’re on a tight schedule, you should have a “Plan B” lined up!

The terrain rules are still a little hazy to me but for the most part the game flowed really well. Basing the units on 2×1 stands, with 3 stands to a battalion was no problem and I think this will be my basing scheme moving forward.

Obviously, V&F plays better with lots of units, as units dry up pretty quickly. Once committed to a course of action, you have to see it through. In this battle, the Russian “Brigades” should have cooperated with each other and both supported each other to seize the wooded area. Imagine if an entire brigade would ahve assaulted the woods, instead of one single battalion! The rules are clever and pack alot of punch into a few pages. I like that and I can completely see the “Black Powder” DNA evident in these rules, but they are just so much more streamlined and efficient.

Anwyays that about wraps up “Napoleonic Month” here. I still want to get the Battle of Lindenau, 1813 on the table, but I am furiously cranking out 20mm WWII units for an upcoming game at a friend’s house. More to follow so stay tuned!