First Manassas 1871

Battle of First Manassas  July 21st 1871

(also known in northern parts as 1st Bull Run)

Confederates hold a vital hill which must be held as well as the adjacent hill on it's left.

Victory goes to the holders of one or both of these features!

Graham and Nick command the Union forces gathering at the foot of Henry House hill.

More troops cross the river on the left to bolster this great attack.

Confederate commanders (John and Andy) have their infantry deployed

in the cover of the hill out of direct range of the Union gun batteries.

In preparation to defend the right flank of the main hill top 

Andy advances the "Reb" infantry regiments to the ridgeline.

Andy also covers the right flank brigade covering the open approach.

The Bluecoats mass their brigades for a huge attack on the front.

Awaiting the onslaught! Steady lads.

Further reinforcements arrive by the central turnpike and stream

crossing point (the only place suitable for artillery).

Let the battle commence! Union troops advance and the guns erupt in violence

Smug Union officers grin/gurn? at the reporters.

John's brigades advance to support the batteries.

Closer they come, batteries ripping the Union line

apart with ball and then cannister.

Graham advances another brigade across the stream and begins

a determined and strong thrust at the enemy's open flank.

A dynamic move... what does he intend?

A move to capture the vacant right hand hill?

The action is intense with cannister , muskets blazing and casualties rising

Will the Union troops stand? 

Their guns blast one more volley at the ridge before the hill is

 concealed by Union regiments advancing. Time to move forward?

Here come the flanking regiments

Their intention is clear now. 

An audacious march beyond the Reb lines.. 

followed by forming on the flank and seizing the day.

Is there any stopping them?

With masterful timing John chooses to unleash JEB Stuart's cavalry

Down the turnpike they charge onto the exposed

 and extremely vulnerable flank of the leading regiment.

War is hell. Broken lines, retirements and still the guns flame

On the far flank Nick and Andy are locked in a fight to the death. 

Andy being closer to the shroud but not stitched in yet!

To add to the intensity Paul marches the Reb reserve brigades

 up the turnpike and occupies the objective hill on the left.

And what say you of Brian? 

Well with his brigades and huge battery of Union guns he is on a frolic of his own!

That's it! he captures those meadows and orchards without any trouble.

Beautiful lines sir.. watch your feet don't get wet!

"Here we are the Rebs" shout.

The centre retires from the Union side as the stubborn flank is worn to a standstill.

Nick's position making some progress without knocking out the opponent off the hill.

Cracking game by all. Brian and I had a relaxing and non too 

stressful watch as the others kicked 7 bells out of each other

Another great scenario from Dave

Carry on Up the Tiber 215 BC

Having marched on Rome, Hannibal finds it too strong to 

take so decides to slip away and find winter quarters.

The two consuls decide to intercept him. 

They leave the old men of the Triarii in camp and march hard 

to catch Hannibal as he crosses the Tiber to safety.

Terrain

Woods    Light troops only

River      Only crossable at fords (1/2 movement)

Hills       Rolling     

Objectives

Romans: Cut off Hannibal's retreat and/or destroy all or part of his army.

Hannibal: Ensure you keep your army intact and your path of

                    retreat open    

 

The battle opens with the Romans on a parallel race with the Punic horde.

Consul Brian leads the head of the Roman Allied force across a ford

and finds the Carthaginian column of Spanish on a rise. 

Consul Graham has successfully formed his strong Roman forces on the flank of his enemy. 

Will they prevent  Hannibal's (Paul) intended retirement? 

What can Hannibal do to achieve his desired withdrawal?

Can Andy hold the hill/ford to prevent the army being split?

Brian's Allied Hastati and Principes rush to cross and 

support their cavalry and light infantry on the far bank.

Commander Andy's Spanish troops are atop a hill guarding their

ford and the only route for the rest of Hannibal's army. 

More Spanish and elephants march to support them.

Hannibal acts.

The cavalry at the rear of the column are ordered forward. 

They thunder towards the Roman foes. 

Outnumbered, the Roman reel from the onslaught. 

Can the Roman rear cavalry survive ...  the other Roman flank cavalry rush to their aid? 

Meanwhile the Carthaginians form line to oppose the advancing Hastati and Principes

The Romans are attempting to match the Punic frontage while they 

maneuver forward as their velites seek to close with Punic lights on the hill.

Andy and Brian feed infantry, cavalry and elephants into the meat grinder. 

Success and failure are shared by both. 

Units attempting to retreat are hampering the supports from advancing. 

Lines are a luxury neither commanders have. 

But not without some Punic treachery! How so?

 

Light infantry are quietly slipping into those woods. 

They pose a threat to the Allied legionary forces with those open flanks...

 no shields can save them from javelins thrown from this direction!

Brian is forced to use precious Hastati to guard the flank.

Hannibal has sent African infantry pikemen outwards on both flanks.

Can the Roman's prevent the move and stop such encirclement? 

They hurl Velites to meet the threat and the Principe's line splits in two! 

Hold the flanks is the cry... but will the Hastati centre hold too?

The elephants are repulsed... but not decisively....

It's time for the African pikemen in the centre to attack now, pinning the Hastati to front.

Desperation ensues.. 

The right of the line stops the outflanking African infantry dead. 

They retire back to the ford.

But how fares the Roman cavalry holding the flank?

They run !

Punic cavalry rush beyond the Principes guarding the flanks. 

The rear of the army is exposed! 

Woah, woah and thrice woah!

Morale breaks the centre of the line and leaves

 the strong flanks looking vulnerable and isolated.

BUT

Now what I haven't mentioned throughout this faithful recollection

 of this game is the somewhat uncharacteristic manner in which the dice fell for Hannibal.

Modesty usually kicks in but out of the 16 units that Graham commanded, 

I only managed to kill a meagre 8 of his units officers.

But you'll not hear any mention of fortune, luck or other excuses from me. 

Probability is to blame.

Which brings me to the finale.

Hannibal Barca, strategic genius and magnificent leader of the Punic armies

sadly took badly to a scutum blow and had to retire from the field. 

Now some may say he is dead but that's not been confirmed categorically. 

Suffice to say most of his army decided they'd hurt the 

Romans so much that they wandered off to grab a late tea.

That's my excuse and I'll not hear a word to the contrary ha ha.

A great scenario by David and well played by all 

 

AI AI Oh

 I had already appreciated that this new fangled Artificial Intelligence (AI) could help me with wargaming/history research and creating illustrations. As well as assisting me at work which is obviously why I have it. 

I got AI to help me plan a battlefield walk. And I had toyed with the idea of playing solo games with an AI opponent. Then I read an article in the latest Miniature Wargames mag about using AI in wargaming. It was the author’s lack of expertise combined with his success that made me think that I need to use this powerful tool more!

For the recent Vapnartak show I put on a participation game based on the final naval battle of the Boshin War in Japan. I’d already laminated illustrations and written a “handout” for folk to photograph as is the modern way. As it could be considered an obscure conflict I decided to use AI to create more information for people to read. 

I asked the AI to adopt the persona of a military historian with an interest in the Boshin War. The AI scours the internet for everything it can find on the subject and places its new expertise at your disposal. Off we went.

AI’s attempts to create a map of the battle were farcical! It was all wrong geographically and showed movement of ships over land for pity’s sake. I tried a few different ways of prompting what I wanted, but to no avail. I gave up on that. 

Instead I asked the AI to create a summary of the naval aspect of the war. This it did very well. I added illustrations to the text it created and laminated it. With that I had a nice reference for people to read and for me to wave around as I explained the game and the war. 

The AI offered a few more ideas. Asking whether I wanted this, that or the other. I took it up on its offer to create pieces of fiction as though written as firsthand accounts by participants on both sides. These were pretty good. A couple of errors were easy to spot. It’s very true that you need to review and edit what AI creates. Again I added illustrations for interest. You could of course ask the AI to do this. 

My mate Glen and I had a game in mind and Glen came up with the general idea for a scenario. He was surprised when I said I’d get AI to write the scenario for us. 

I gave the AI the basic ideas Glen had for the scenario, along with the website address for the rules we’d be using and asked it to take on the persona of a wargamer and a Whovian! (Sorry serious wargamers!)

The scenario it came up with needed a few iterations of prompting and pointing out that what the AI had created wasn’t how the rules worked, but we got there in the end. Again I added illustrations for interest. 

And the game played well. The mishap table which was the AI’s creation, tweaked by me, rather than something in the Doctor Who Miniatures Game rules, was very entertaining as The Doctor fluffed examining a frozen Tomb Cyberman…   

Giving the Cybermen intruders time to overpower the crew and break into the med lab just as The Doctor was on the verge of success. 

Since I can point the AI at the DWMG rules on the internet, I can get it to draft future Doctor Who scenarios for us. I can even ask it to reference episodes of the tv show. 

Asking the AI to take on the persona of a wargamer and expert on any aspect of military history you choose, you can get it to create scenarios or even campaigns without reference to any particular set of rules. It’s far more than a search engine. Powerful stuff this AI and not something to cause us to hide behind the sofa…

Thanks for reading!

The old Roman road.E.C.W. 1644.

Last night we had a terrific game using my 25mm E.C.W. war figures.Andy and Dave were the Royalists,whilst Brian,Graham and I were the Parliamentarians..................

Top photo is the scenario,bottom shows the initial troop dispositions-Royalists on the left.

The battle begins-our plan was just to attack the defences,whilst holding the flanks with our cavalry-what could possibly go wrong??-Dave and Andy look grim(!)

Action all the way-fire-fights, melees and cavalry charges-proper stuff!

This is Brian and Andy's flank-their cavalry battles went on the whole game,nip and tuck at every turn,in the background you can see Brian's Dragoons about to be ridden down by Andy's "Lobsters"

Dave and I were having our own little battle-twice he put his Brigadiers into a melee to stabilise the fight,only to get them both killed!!!-this caused the defence to collapse(you can see my "Lobsters" advancing to take advantage of the situation)-but what of the central fight?

Despite being cannistered and shot at from behind the defences,Graham did manage to breach the barricade,but then was repulsed by fresh troops! isn't war hell?? after losing all his infantry he then fell back on his guns to assist Brian who was just holding his own(steady!) by this time it was just about certain that the Royalsts couldn't hold onto their position,but Andy and Brian still had fresh troops and fought on!!

"Lobsters" shooting at a defensive knot of white coats,before taking on Dave's last cavalry regiment-he actually put the King(yes the King!) in charge of them but to no avail.We all agreed that the Royalists should retire(it's good being retired!) and the Parliamentarians declared the winners-hurrah!

This was a good game enjoyed by all-roll on next week-something very strange but maybe feasible could be on the table-we'll see!

 

Battle of "Kalistra River" 218BC.

I have been trying out my new armies(aren't Elephants a bugger?) and had this very interesting battle/game.Both Roman and Carthaginians are approaching the river Kalistra,hoping to force a crossing-the photo's tell the story.................

 Bottom photo shows the terrain,before that the two armies facing each other!

Top photo shows "nearly there!" bottom shows the first clash,both sides suffered casualties from pilum and impetus.

Bloody Elephants!!!!

Top photo shows both first lines retiring(it's good being retired!) to reform behind the second line. Middle photo shows the second lines engaging-a real dice tussle followed... bottom photo shows the Romans breaking the Carthaginian line,so all was lost,and the Romans claimed a well deserved victory.

We will be playing tonight(Sunday 9th)-an English Civil War game-report will follow!

Back!

I haven't been too well lately,but it has given me the chance to do some painting,ie Republican Romans and Carthaginians in 15mm for my solo games.................

The figures are,Roman,Irregular and Lancashire Games,the Carthaginians are Lancashire Games only. With over 200 figures per side,plus Elephants and Cavalry,it was an arduous task,but it kept me sane(?) for a couple of weeks!!

A few more shots showing the collection-my painting technique is very simple-bash the colours on,varnish(gloss) and get them on the board!

Top photo shows my ever growing collection of 15mm figures bottom photo shows the Republican Romans and Carthaginians about to "get to it"

Now that I'm almost at peak fitness,and have eventually "cracked" how to get photo's onto the computer,I will endeavour to get the blog up and running again.