Last week of Camp VIP

We'll be ending my minature wargaming class with a bang this week.  At last count I'll have 14 students and two assistants participating in a whopper of a game.  The table is set up.  It is 4 feet by 12 feet.  Prussia and her Hanoverian allies will be trying to overpower Austria and her French cohorts.  I believe 24 Prussian and allied brigades will fight it out with 25 Austrian, French and Bavarian brigades.  Each player will start with one brigade.  Bringing on reinforcements and losing units will cost points while gaining objectives will gain points.  I'll be sure to post pictures throughout the week, so stay tuned.

Battles For Empire

This week we are playing the game Battles for Empire.  Our latest epic is in the Sudan.  An Egyptian garrison is under siege and a British column is on its way to try and relieve them.  Thousands of natives are rising up against them, arriving at intervals during the course of the game.  The kids have picked up the rules rather well and the game is moving right along.  Here are some photos.

the town under attack

Sudanese regulars attack with the natives

The relief column under attack

Regimental Fire and Fury, Game Two

We concluded our week of Civil War action with a re-do of our battle of the first day at Gettysburg.  The kids switched sides and had at it.  This time, however, all of the units began on the table and all of the Rebel batteries started unlimbered.  This had a definite impact on the outcome.

The Confederate generals began to advance on their first turn.  The strategy was to pin the flanks where the infantry brigades were posted and to aggressively assault the dismounted cavalry defending the center in two lines.  The gray and butternut wave swept across the table, suffering heavy casualties.  Despite the gaps in their regiments, they all struck home with vigor.  The Union guns were fairly well neutralized by the rebel guns, and this was really the determining factor in the long-run.

Pettigrew's huge brigade, made up of only trained troops, had the task of taking on the entire Federal right.  This included the vaunted Iron Brigade.  By the end of the game, Pettigrew's brigade was pretty well wrecked, but it had successfully tied down two brigades and even broke through onto the ridge.

On the other flank, Davis used two of his regiments to take on Cutler's infantry while the other two charged ahead into a gap that existed between Cutler and Gamble.  The two pinning regiments routed from the field after suffering extreme casualties from the ceaseless volleys, but the other two units met light opposition in piercing the Union line.

Archer and Brockenbrough crushed Gamble's brigade, driving it from the ridge.  Both brigades were still fairly in tact at the end of the game and would have been able to withstand a significant counter-attack.  This was a clear Confederate victory, though Heth's division was pretty well crippled as a result and would have had a hard time contributing much to the next phases of the battle.

Heth's division surges forward

Archer's men at the beginning of the game.

Davis' brigade on the Confederate right.

Confederate generals moving their men forward.

Davis' men about to break at the end of the game.

The "high water" mark for Pettigrew.

The Iron Brigade coming on at the conclusion of the game.

The game had the right feel to it.  It see sawed back and forth very realistically.  Officers were in harm's way on numerous occasions, but only Devin was mortally wounded.  Archer was hit twice, but only lightly both times.  All in all, we had a great time.

Regimental Fire and Fury Gettysburg Game Conclusion

Our recreation of the first day of Gettysburg drew to a close today.  As we took up the action for our second day of play reinforcements had arrived for both sides.  The Confederates threw their two additional brigades at the Union left and center.  The Yankees sent Cutler's brigade to shore up their left while the Iron Brigade marched to Seminary Ridge to shore up Buford's shot up cavalry units.

The Iron Brigade approaches the battle.

Cutler's men advance quickly through the woods.

The Pettigrew's rebel brigade, comprised of some huge regiments, sought to drive Gamble's men from the ridge.  The first couple of attempts seemed to be futile (some incredibly poor dice rolls), but towards the end of the day the Union cavalry was breaking off from the action.  Pettigrew's men crested the ridge flushed with what appeared to be a victory, only to be confronted by the bayonets of the Iron Brigade.  On the very last phase of the day, all five of the crack regiments charged home, forcing the weary men in butternut back down the ridge and saving the day.  The battle was declared a minor Union victory.

Pettigrew's attack

Overview of the action.

Tomorrow the lads will switch sides and see how they do with the situation reversed.

The battle from behind the Union center.

150th Anniversary of Gettysburg battle

My eleventh year of camp VP got under way today, and what better way to get things started than to recreate the first day of the greatest battle ever fought on the North American continent?  Nine young commanders and two incredible assistants assumed their roles enthusiastically as the game began.

Buford's cavalry division was deployed along Seminary Ridge.  He had two batteries to support his dismounted troopers.  These he posted adjacent to the road.  From here they did significant damage to Heth's Confederates as they tried to deploy and advance on the thin blue line.

By day's end, Archer's brigade was pretty well spent in its attack on the Union left flank, but Pettigrew was on the verge of crushing Devin's brigade on the right, Devin himself being mortally wounded on the last turn.  Tomorrow the game will resume with Merideth's Iron Brigade making its appearance.  Cutler's regiments will soon follow.  The rebels also have two more brigades coming on, so things are still very much up in the air.  Heth's losses have been heavy; Buford's moderate.  Here are some pictures from today's action.

Archer's brigade receives a hot welcome from Buford's artillery

At the end of the day, hundreds of Confederates have fallen in trying to take the ridge.

Gamble's brigade holds the left against significant odds.

The Union center at the beginning of the game.

Another shot of the Union center.

Memorial Day

Playing at war and actually living through it are two radically different things. On this day in particular I am so grateful to all of those who put their lives on the line to secure the freedoms that I enjoy.  And I remember that freedom isn't free.  It has cost hundreds of thousands their lives to guarantee it.

My great-uncle, Harold Brown, is one of them.  He left Cal Berkley and a young, pregnant wife to do his bit "over there."  Towards the end of the Great War, he volunteered to try to get through to "The Lost Battalion."  Three others had tried and failed.  He would be the fourth.  He died in the effort.  He received the silver star for his selflessness and his example stirs me to this day.  He never saw his daughter who was born while he was away.  He never got to hold his wife again, or enjoy a Sunday afternoon relaxing at home.  He sacrificed all of that to go beyond the call of duty.  To me, he is what Memorial Day is all about.  I am humbled to think that our country has been blessed with hundreds of thousands of others like him.  And I pray that I will be worthy of their sacrifice.

The link below gives a detailed account of some very brave Americans.  Take a few minutes to check it out

The Lost Battalion

Hail Caesar Battle

We are doing state testing at school, so I thought it might be nice to have a battle after we were done on Friday to let off some steam. Five students and a fellow teacher showed up and we had a good time.
      I had painted up some additional Roman cavalry, including two units of Numidian light horse, and I wanted to give them a taste of action.  I must say,they did me proud.
     It was a very simple scenario; six Gaul units faced off against five Roman. The only objective was to beat the divisions in front of you.
   On the Roman left, the cavalry off both sides, both worth two medium and two light units, advanced into contact. The Gaul's got the initial advantage, breaking a Roman medium unit.  The Gaul light units also took out two sections of scorpions, but that would be the high water mark as the other Roman horsemen came on strong and drove the barbarians from the field over the course of the next three turns.
     Over on the other side of the table, the Gauls failed three consecutive initiative rolls. When they finally got going they had some initial successes, but in the end, the better disciplined legionaires were grinding their way to a victory when we had to wrap things up.
     We all felt more comfortable with the rules and had a good time.