Tag Archives: American Civil War

FIRST BULL RUN PART II

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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

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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…

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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)
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!