Pictures of Our RFandF game

Here are some pictures of our Regimental Fire and Fury game held on January 27, 2012 at Manhattan Beach Middle School.

The game gets started.  The Confederates on the left, the Yankees on the right.  The objective of the game was to gain control of the bridge seen in the upper middle of this picture.  Just click on the pictures to enlarge them.

This is from the Confederate left flank.  Hood's division, made up of crack troops, is taking on a larger number of green Union troops.  The South's rather aggressive tactics proved to be their undoing in the end.

On the Rebel right, the two sides came into conflict very quickly with the men in grey getting the upper hand.

A lonely rebel battery from Hood's division holds an intersection.

Hood's left flank is collapsing.

Towards the end of the battle, the Union had gained control of the bridge and thus secured the victory.

Unfortunately, our game was rather short.  But we did get familiar with the rules.  All 13 players felt like they were involved in the action and had a good time, so we considered the event a success.

Great game today

13 kids showed up today for a game of Regimental Fire and Fury.  Six Confederate brigades were given the task of holding off six large Union brigades, the major prize being a bridge over a small stream in the middle of the table.

Our time was short, and this was the first go at these rules for us.  Despite that, we were able to get through six turns in a little over two hours.  The Rebs did a solid job of holding back a disjointed attack on their right.  On the left, however, Hood's division lost sight of its major objective, which was capturing and holding the bridge.  The much larger Union regiments, though mostly green, were able to drive back a skeleton force while troops from the center were successful in capturing the bridge.  We had to end the game just as things were getting pretty interesting.  In the end, though, it was clearly a Union victory.  I'll post pictures over the weekend.

Game coming up

The club I have started at school will be putting on its second game on Friday, January 27, from 3:00 to 6:00 P.M.  We are going to try out the Regimental Fire and Fury rules to see if they are a little easier for the students to pick and if the game moves more quickly.  There will be room for twelve players, though I am sure we will have more show up than that. 

Today at nutrition there were 20 kids that showed up to get an overview of the rules.  I have some painting to do to make sure I have enough stands for a decent scenario.  I am just finishing up Hood's Texans and the Louisiana Tigers.  Next up will be the Iron Brigade and Berdan's Sharpshooters.  I hope to have at least 150 stands per side as well as 12 artillery stands per side.  If I am really fast, I will also paint up some more Union zouaves, but that might be too ambitious.  I'll post pictures soon after the event.

Merry Christmas

I hope one and all had a very Merry Christmas and took a moment to remember the reason for the season.  As the day draws to a close, I am so thankful for my family.  I wish everyone a very prosperous New Year.

Regimental Fire and Fury

I just received my copy of Regimental Fire and Fury in the mail in time for Christmas break.  I have been putting together some bases fitted to RFF to try out the rules.  They are fairly simple.  The book is well illustrated and gives examples.  The support page is also helpful.

I really like the fact that I can create labels for units.  I had fun doing various units at Antietam.  I have also been able to adapt several of the scenarios from Undying Courage by Scott Mingus to the RFF format.  It's easy to do; you just have to double the ground scale and number of figures per regiment.  It makes for much smaller battles, but I like the larger units.  They look great on the battlefield.

I am going to keep at it and hopefully have some pictures to share in the next couple of days.

First After School Event

I just got home from my first after school military history in miniature event.  24 eager kids showed up, including four girls.  I had to tables set up.  I was able to get most of it ready in the 45 minutes of my planning period.  The boards I purchased worked out real well and I was incredibly pleased.

The Seven Years War game pretty much ran itself.  Several of the kids have taken my summer class and knew the rules well enough to teach them to the newbies.  I took the ACW game and had 14 rookies.  They caught on pretty quickly and everyone seemed to have a great time.  We were able to clean everything up and be out the door by 7:50 P.M.  All in all, I would say it was a tremendous success for having so many kids and a relatively short time to play.

Here are a few pictures:

The ACW game gets under way

The SYW game

The table set-up worked out very well

The cavalry prepare to lock horns

The Confederate side giving their orders

Event this Friday

This Friday after school I am having my first wargaming event.  It looks like we'll  have a great turnout.  There will be two games, one a SYW game that some of my experienced student will run and then an ACW game that I will oversee. 

I handed out over 25 permission slips today at our weekly meeting, so I could have my hands full.  I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them over the weekend.  It seems that there is a future for our beloved hobby.