Feb 2019 ACW 15mm game

Dave hosted a  American Civil War game using the Black powder 2 rules and the Glory Hallelujah supplement. We played on a 6x4 table length ways and the scenario was 2 evenly matched sides encountering each other.

I commanded the Union forces and Ian the Confederates.

The table

The key junction to control

I deploy

In column of march on the road to make a dash for the junction

I deployed the artillery straight away to dominate one side of the table

The Rebs approach

Ian was concerned about poor command rolls so opted for march column to guarantee forward movement 

Slow going in the woods

I won the race to the junction and busied myself creating a defence. Ian managed to get a battery in place early on to dominate the road which was painful.

The red dice show units with casualties

Moving to create an overlap on my left

My battalion controlling the road benefited greatly from the musket and artillery fire from my right wing

My right wing dominating the Confederate left disordering it with a large volume of fire

My cavalry amazingly still holding on to the wood

The Rebs pouring it on but receiving more in return

I didn't reach the church, and I thought it too exposed, with good reasons as the Rebs get ready to take it.

Reb centre suffering

The Rebs make hard going of the fences

Reb view of the junction

The Reb left finally develops their attack

My right wing moves to the right to cover the coming flanking attack

My shooting is slowing the attack

The Rebs spot the obvious gap between my wings and send their cavalry in to the gap to shot at from traversing fire that disorders them

The End. The Union hold the junction and the Rebs although not broken are not far off a total collapse if they continue to attack. I really enjoyed this game and liked to added flavour the optional rules from Glory Hallelujah gave.

Jan 2019 Anglo Zulu War game

For January's club meeting a umpired a 15mm Anglo Zulu game using Dave's figures and a scenario out of the supplement with the 2nd edition rules.

The game is set during the battle of Isandlwana at the point the British companies fall back on the camp. The players command a company each, with victory points for getting back to camp and points for a fellow company which is only known to that player. It's possibly for the same buddy company to be selected by more than one player.

The Zulus are commanded by the umpire - me.

This initial set up. On 3 sides you can see the Zulus lined up. I diced to see what turn each unit came on and put a dice next to the unit with the number so that I'd know

I didn't adjust the scales for 15mm so with the right command dice the Zulus advanced at a pace

The British line looks far away but they are already blazing away. The 1 on the red dice means this unit is in sight move 1, and will under orders if I get the right command dice. I ordered each Zulu unit individually.

Move 1 and a British company is already getting isolated, not helped by the British players failed command roll.

The pink card has the stats and written on for the players. This worked quite well. Next time I'll add the special rules as well.

The Zulus are looking organised but the British are failing to support each other

The first Zulu charge and they are disordered charging in, having received 2 lots of closing fire as the charge started at long range.

The Zulu charge is repulsed but a second one goes in on another company

After debate we decided that a British company would try to form square if isolated and charged. This did not go well for the British as they failed and left them disordered

Having pushed back quite a few Zulu companies numbers started to tell 

The disorder British square fought on a lot longer than everyone expected and finally became shaken

This battered square was buying valuable time for everyone else

One player had reached the top of the rise before the camp and one had reached the base before being stalled in hand to hand combat

The company on the hill was very successful with it's volleys holding the Zulu's off but became disordered from the volume of return fire from the many Zulu units.

A defensive line is starting to reform

A view on the Zulus being held up by the company on the hill

Cracking game which saw the companies of Younghusband (Mel), Cavaye (Tony), Wardell (Alex), Mostyn (Dave) retreat back towards the camp at Isandlwana. The line held longer than everyone expected then Wardell’s company broke, with Cavaye and Younghusband retreating. Dave won on points successfully making it back to camp! Mel second (he got points for Dave getting off, as did Alex who third and Tony fourth.