Altar of Freedom & Longstreet Bases

I haven't posted for a bit about my ACW doings, so I thought I'd share my latest thoughts/plans.  I'm still playing away at the FDWC club campaign of Longstreet, and the Longstreet rules do seem to be excellent in my opinion.

However, my own taste is for large-scale battles in ACW and this is not what Longstreet is really intended for.  I had been pondering scale-changes etc. to try and do a big battle in part, but then a friend at the club put me on the the rule set 'Altar of Freedom' which is available at 6mmacw.com and from (I think) Iron Ivan.  

This does things at my favoured scale of 'one base per brigade' and the emphasis is very much on flanking with divisions and corps, while trying to manage your prickly corps-commanders so they do what you want.  

The rules themselves are pitched at 60mm x 30mm bases of 6mm soldiers, but of course I couldn't bring myself to restart ACW collecting in 6mm!  Instead I would use my numerous unpainted ACW 15mm models I've been nabbing off ebay, which proved to be available in such quantities I could do even the biggest battles from the Eastern Theatre (Gettysburg, inevitably, is the largest game).  So, how to base them in a way that lets me do Longstreeet, and also Altar of Freedom, and - if at all possible - sticks to the intended base-size for each?

The result, courtesy of a lot of well-priced stuff from Warbases, is the above.  I'm basing the infantry on 25x25mm bases for Longstreet use, then sitting two bases on a 60x30mm 'sabot' base for Altar of Freedom.  The slight overlap in sizes also gives me space to write brigade names & modifiers, as a nice extra bonus.  Artillery and supply-limbers are on 50x25mm bases normally, and so also work on the same AoF footprint.

With a scenario and game in mind as my objective, I'm now off painting and basing to get them on the tabletop as soon as I can!

Spotsylvania, Early 1864

1864 has dawned, and it is time for the Confederacy to be finally conquered!  Hardtack's division is with Grant's Army of the Potomac, and taking part in the Overland Campaign.  This game sees our man somewhere close to Spotsylvania, where he has been ordered to take up position on some tributary to the Po river, and deny the rebels a chance to cross.

Very wooded ground, of course - and with streams breaking up the Federal side

Hardtack splits his force into four, putting one on each of the three fords he can find, and keeping the fourth back in reserve (the large and untested 70th New York.)

"First order of business: dig in everywhere!"

It soon becomes apparent that the left-most ford is actually far larger than previously thought, with many more crossing-places.  It also sits rather forward of the rest of the line, and this inevitably becomes the region targeted by the Confederate advance.

The crossing is watched by a group of veteran regiments: the 122NY, the 27PA, and the 1/11MA.

The Rebs come charging ahead, before all units have even managed to dig in.

The Federals dig in while just inside the woods, to save themselves casualties from the enemy artillery.  Hardtack also doesn't much about, and orders all the reserves he can to rush to the scene.

Firing begins across the rebel ranks

Things soon become desperate - the tiny 122NY is routed by the throngs of rebels, and while the 27PA keeps solid, the 1/11MA goes charging out under the leadership of it's glory-hunting "hero" Colonel!  

"Back into the river with them, boys!"

Elsewhere, a second rebel force tries to approach the central ford, btu swiftly gives it up: artillery crouched in the woodland, and the crossing practically encircled by the zig-zag trenches of two Colored regiments, just playing something is unwise enough to try a crossing.

"Washington this way!"

Over on the critical left, the 1/11MA was facing a disaster from rebel fire, but thankfully the steely Hardtack's 'Drillmaster' tendencies pay off, and they are able to fall back swiftly and in good order, back into the trees.  Rebel casualties keep on steadily mounting from the draining Federal fire, while reinforcements are getting close.

The Confederates just can't break through the wood

A panorama of the entire field

A desperate rebel charge with cold steel is met with a stone wall-like defence: rebels fall back in confusion, and the blue line holds!  Just as the Reb attacks peter out, the 70NY & 31VT arrive on the scene to relieve the battered 1/11MA.  

"Hurrah!"

Charging back into the rebel bridge-head, the fresh troops sweep through the thick smoke of the rebel defensive fire and charge home.  The Confederate attack has collapsed, and been routed back over the river!

"A Victory!"

The field at the close of day.

For the first time in a while, Hardtack has a victory to boast of - and quite a good one too, featuring successful defences and also charges back from his own side.  The Confederate forces do seem weakened now, what with their deck-sizes being plagues by shortages, and also a judicious bit of sabotage from cavalry raiders where appropriate!  The victory gives Hardtack his full promotion to the top of his military tree, a 4-Eagle commander.  

His division has to say goodbye to the disbanded 122NY, but at least the 70NY have seen the elephant and proved themselves capable troops.  One thing that all his victory produces is evidence that everybody loves a winner - he gains a 'Friend in the Statehouse' when his state's Senator decides that associating with Hardtack might not be such a bad thing, and begins pulling strings for him.  A fresh infantry and cavalry regiment are added to the division, to boost it up, plus Hardtack finally gets some further artillery reinforcements in the shape of two new Light Rifle sections.  Ah, friends in high places!

eBay & Campaign Indecision

Following on from last week, I was pondering my notion for a campaign in a more 'narrative' style.  As I wrote, I had considered putting together an ACW campaign to use my 1/72 figures in a more 'old-school' style of game.  Problem is that the notion is just as applicable to the other campaign I am progressing, the Wars of the Roses.

I spent about a week pondering the two options, weighing up the pros and cons of each.  The end result: both options have lots of 'pros' and very few 'cons'.  Nice, but not helpful about making a decision anytime before the sun burns out.  

Things came to a head when I was browsing on eBay.  I know that for wargamers, the phrase "I was browsing on eBay" ranks alongside "I set off alone to explore the haunted house": a danger signal that no good is on the way!  I found a sale, for a mountain of plastic 1/72 ACW figures.  I put in a bid, sensing it could well be a bargain.  The rest of the week was spent in a state of constant mood-swings.  

What was I buying them for?  What would I do with them?  I already had hundreds - what would hundreds more do?  I couldn't even fit them all on a table!  But imagine having them.  They'd be great!  I'd never need to buy any more ever again!  I could do Charles Grant-style massive units - think of the visual effect!  

Of course, the other question was "What about all my Wars of the Roses plans?"  I really wanted to do that too, but which one would get the first go?  Fate would have to decide.  

In the end, by the time the eBay sale ran out I had reached such a state of indecision that I had hidden my mobile phone from myself, so last-minute emails wouldn't tempt me into upping my offer!  I was outbid right in the closing minutes, and then experienced the usual mix of relief & regret that accompanies every eBay bid I ever make.  So, the ACW plans have instantly receded into the background.  Wars of the Roses have taken pole-position, and I have sent off for some new figures for them instead.  What a way to run a (miniature model) war...  :-)

Shelton Railway Cutting, 1863

After being denied a victory at Hackett's Farm, then mauled at Gettysburg, Hardtack is feeling a bit dejected.  Enough of all this defending and getting buffeted about - next time he's going to attack!  

Unfortunate, then, that the next game would be the railway cutting...

In late 1863, Hardtack brings his division up and discovers a Rebel force defending the line of a railway embankment - a formidable position, and one he intends to assault immediately, with extreme violence.  Victory or defeat is an irrelevance by now: he wants prestige, glory - epic renown!

Dodging a wood near his setup zone, Hardtack moves up in column.

The waiting Rebels

The Confederates have a veritable grand-battery of artillery present!  Hardtack has virtually nothing, so there's no chance of sitting back for a fight - it's a straight-out rush to close the distance as soon as possible.  

The terrain in front is painfully open - only a small hillock for cover

As the columns move up at the quickstep, the Rebels reveal they have heavy rifles and start banging away at the columns - Hardtack is a distant, but dense, target.  

Much like the man himself.

The plan is to march in column across the enemy front, get behind the cover of the hill, left-turn into line, and then move forward in one compact mass to strike the enemy line with repeated charges.  

However, long-range fire was not part of the plan.

Things go quite painfully slowly, with a constant drain on Union units as casualties slowly mount - and they're not even in position yet!

"I knew I should've done their parades under live fire..."

Finally, the Union line is ready and begins moving forward - largely side-stepping the guns now, but the Rebel infantry are ready and waiting.

Oh, it's all going wrong - but at least, hopefully, in an epic manner!

Almost there - regiments are losing bases every turn to this ridiculous artillery fire - shame that Hardtack is learning all the problems of attacking (concentrating your force, using covering terrain to stop line-of-sight) in 1863, rather than 1861 when everybody had far less artillery to point out mistakes with!

Critical musket range - almost in charge range!

At the crucial moment: disaster strikes!  Some slack-jawed yokel with Secessionist sympathies has tipped off the Confederates to all the good advantages of the ground, and the Federals run straight into a killing-zone.  [Or, to put it in games-terms, I held two cards which would allow me to make a move-and-a-half, plus fire and charge.  Enough to give me a crucial edge over the last few yards - or would've been, if the Confederates hadn't played 'Southern Sympathizers' and removed them from my hand, right before contact!]

Shelter, at long last!  Some welcome defilade behind the embankment.

Musketry fire breaks out, with each side shooting over the railway-line. Finally, some Rebels are dying! 

To make things even worse, the insufferably smug Col. Mottram leaps up onto the tracks for all manner of heroic posturing - and somehow doesn't get shot down.  Hardtack can't catch a break, today.

Violent work - the old 122nd NY is wiped out altogether, the survivors pelting off to the rear.  The heroic Col. Ganderpoke is among those dead on the field.  

Oh, it's all just too horrible!

The subject of many a Lithograph, no doubt (Symbolism, anyone?)

Robbed of his chance to charge, Hardtack can only watch as the Confederates duly pile on the misery by doing so themselves!

"Don't you know playing on railway lines can be dangerous?"

The chance of repulsing the attack briefly flickers up, but although the 1/11th Massachusetts veterans do their bit, and so do the 13th Delaware cavalry, the colored recruits of the 154th New York have clearly been put through too much for one day - they are pushed back by the Confederates after a close fight.  

Still, they do gain a hero in their Colonel, so at least that's something.

It's over, and the result is a terrible, terrible defeat.  Hardtack's division has been mauled, and undeniably given a first-rate whipping on the battlefield.  

Hardtack never thought he'd look back on the Gettysburg wheat-field nostalgically...

Back, then, to camp for the winter.  Although he took a lot of losses, he actually doesn't lose any regiments wholesale - although the survivors are largely a more sober, circumspect bunch, unsurprisingly.  Two new large regiments, the 70th New York and the 57th Pennsylvania, are attached to his division to help bolster it.  Also, at long last, he gets two sections of Parrotts which give him a (solitary) full-strength battery of guns.  Hardtack is also moved enough by the experience of covering open ground to hire a Scouting expert, to try and give him some more information on future battlefields.  Following in the footsteps of Colonel Mottram, another glory-hunting Hero colonel gets himself transferred into Hardtack's division, to head up a regiment.  At least Hardtack's command has a reputation as a fighting force, to be attracting all these fire-eaters.  

The Wheatfield, Gettysburg, 2nd July 1863

At the end of January - yes, I know, what with all the WOTR stuff it's taken me ages! - the Falkirk Club (FDWC) held a big Sunday bash for the Longstreet Campaign.  The result was a day-long multi-player fight, where we decided to add a bit of historical relativity by modelling on the second day at Gettysburg - four Union players holding Sickles' Salient around the Peach Orchard and the Wheat Field, against five attacking Rebels.

A massive, L-Shaped table required!

Looking north up the Emmitsburg Road - the Peach Orchard on the right; and the Sherfy Farm just visible opposite, among general farmland.

Hardtack himself took his place in the line, and was assigned the Wheatfield itself!  Somehow, it was pretty much inevitable that he'd wind up here, what with an artillery train the size of his.

Looking east along the Millerstown (Wheatfield) Road - more farmland, the small Stony Hill, then the Wheatfield itself along with Rose Woods next to it.

The multiplayer game did create one strange aspect - having to consider neighbouring brigades, and not just contracting your front to help yourself out, and leaving a friend's flank up in the air.  Definitely a bit of a mental adjustment from the one-on-one games fought before now!

HArdtack sets up in the Wheatfield and faces off against the Rebels emerging from Rose Woods.  Further back, other Federal brigades defend the road.

More Federals defending the Peach Orchard

The battle started off pretty badly for Hardtack, as the Rebels opposite him threw most of their weight at the end of his line, striking the two weak regiments - the 8th New Jersey and the 27th Pennsylvania - on the end of the line.  

The biggest disaster came on the right-flank of the Wheatfield however, as it turned out that the Rebels had assembled an artillery battery along the edge of Rose Woods - incredibly, it was even bigger than Hardtack's!  The massed cannon swiftly began pounding away at each other, but the Union guns were slowly hammered flat all through the day.

The Artillery batteries face off - it's like a duel, but far bigger!

Confederates take the Stony Hill objective out-house.

The Rebel line kept on moving forward in the field, while the Union kept falling back to deny them a 'killer' charge.  The constant drain of skirmishing fire weakened both sides, but the tide was undeniably pro-Confederate.

Hardtack's left gets hit by Tweng's brigade on the left, fighting back through the field.

The 8NJ and 27PA steadily give ground, with their neighbouring units falling back to maintain the line.

Elsewhere, Rebels break into the Peach Orchard

Lunch-break!  The Union line still holds, but now dented into all sorts of strange shapes - and there's a lot of Grey on the table!

Violent clashes neighbouring Hardtack's force as Schimmelfennig resists Bee's brigade. 

More Peach-Orchard combat.

More Rebels!  An extra brigade marches on.

Hardtack is almost losing the Wheatfield now, having given ground all the way back to the objective marker.

As above, but the 27PA gets pushed back in the middle of the line

A large panorama of the Peach Orchard, with the two fighting lines swaying back and forth.

Hardtack's veterans were finally compelled to relinquish their hold on the Wheat-field, but only after about ten turns of fall-backs and delays.  The Rebs finally charged in with 'Cold Steel' to rout the 27PA and 8NJ - battered out of existence, they fought down to the last!

The end!  the 8NJ and 27PA get forced out the field with heavy losses.  

Another 'big' view of the Peach Orchard from the south.

The break limit for Hardtack had definitely been reached, but the larger game meant that overall the game kept running - giving him time for a last-minute bit of destruction.  The 122NY regiment, under the command of the hero Col. Thucydides Ganderpoke, could now swing round and counter-charge the exhausted rebels - he duly did so, throwing them back temporarily and regaining the objective marker, but he was now isolated in a sea of Grey.  It was only going to be a forlorn hope, but it saved a bit of pride for the new-frantic Hardtack, at any rate!  

Hardtack is defeated, but the larger game runs on - his remaining regiments turn and engage the bunched Rebels.

The 122NY gets a charge in, routing an exhausted Rebel regiment and momentarily re-capturing the Wheatfield objective.  Nice, but it's all just ego-soothing by this point!

Unsurprisingly, the 122NY got hit from front and flank, so all six bases fled - about four hundred men.  A wise move, but a pretty poor show after two or three other regiments in the area have fought it out to the last. Let's just be grateful that the newspaper-men will only care about the heroic bit at the start...

The 122NY gets the predictable counter-attack that routs it.  Still, that's an Epic Point in the bag, and right now I'll take all I can get!

Battery B is cut down by flanking rebels - yet more guns lost!

The end of the day.  Barring the Colored 45th MA regiment that sat out on the flank, there's not much left that's recognisable from Hardtack's old Brigade.  

Hardtack: "The map's that way up?"

It's over then, and Hardtack has been beaten - not just beaten, but his division has been trashed and blasted out of all recognizable shape!  His vast artillery-train of experienced gunners: gone. Prestigious old regiments like the 8th New Jersey or the 83rd Ohio: gone.  It's enough to make his little lead heart skip a beat.  Of the entire force it was the veterans in the filed that took most of the losses - the only relatively decent-shaped regiment is the 45th Massachusetts Colored infantry, who sat out on the flank for most of the day, covering the neighbouring division's flank.  

So, back to camp and to re-shape his force.  Only a lone battery with a single gun-section of Light Rifles has been salvaged.  The Delaware cavalry have at least toughened up to veteran status, thanks to their energetic charging on the far flank.  Most other 'old' regiments are ground down to nubs - 3 or 4 bases, basically.  HQ sends fresh drafts of reinforcements, attaching the 31st Vermont regiment, and then also the 154th New York Colored Infantry Regiment - combined with the survivors of the 45th MA, this means Hardtack's division is a remarkably mixed force - predominantly white troops, but not far off a 50:50 split.  Given that Hardtack is a crusty old pre-war army man and not an Abolitionist (he lacks the character card, although it would aid him greatly) this probably means a few teething troubles integrating them all - at least for a while.  Not that he has much choice, however.  Lee's army may have lost at Gettysburg ultimately, but the war still goes on!

Oh, and fate has one last cruel trick to play on him - the 154th NY arrives with, of all things, a ready-attached Hero (courtesy of a campaign card).  Its Colonel Elijah Mottram, possibly the smuggest and most irritating man in the Union army, whose sole purpose is to irritate Hardtack.  Presumably it'll be off to the front again before long, just so Hardtack can get some peace and quiet.