Black Powder ACW at the Harrogate Wargames Cub

Last Saturday was the annual X-Mas holiday big game at the Harrogate Wargames Club.  Organised by John Savage with input from Theo Street who then umpired during the day this was the American Civil War (ACW)  being re-fought in 28mm scale.  Forces for the day were, Simon, Chris, John E and Gavin on the Union side and myself, Mark, Bill, John S and Mick as Confederates.  The results of two small battles before lunch (one a draw and the other a Union victory) 'Front Royal' and 'Mcdowell' were fed into the one big game in the afternoon - the '1st Battle of Winchester'.

Here are a few pics :)
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The start of the first battle I was involved with.  Viewed from the Confederate side we had to  force the Union from their positions and try and exit units off the board.
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Mid way through the game the my Confederate Infantry engage the Union troops across the river whilst Marks cavalry circle round behind.  We ran out of time before I could really force the issue.
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Pics now from the big afternoon game.  The Union defence line can be clearly seen.
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The Union stage a surprise attack on the Conferate right flank.
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The crux of the battle taking place on the left flank as the Union line starts buckling under the pressure.
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Black Power ACW - Part 2

Back on the 22 March I posted about an American Civil War (ACW) game I was having at my gaming club Link. Well, as planned we continued the game the following week. I was holding out quite well until I screwed up series of critical dice throws and of my 2 Regts failed their Morale rolls, and fled the field of battle. Here is a photo just after this critical moment, with the way seemingly clear for the ungodly Unionists to advance up the hill and win the game.
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Fortunately our overall commander on the Confederate side (John multiple rule-sets Savage) had foreseen such an possibility and had ordered me to move a couple of cannons up just in case. I had been quite happily bombarding a Regt of Chris's cavalry at long range and through a combination of skilful dice rolling (snigger) had kept them out of the game as such. John S however saw the greater danger in the centre, so following his orders I had moved them across to support.
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This happened to be incredibly timely as when the Union advanced after my two Regts fled I was able to give them a blast of canister in their flank. This pic shows the Confederate team in various poses just before I fired (chuckle).
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Their forward Regts did not take it well, and promptly broke and fled the field. At this point the Umpire ended the game (as it was getting pretty late) and called it in our favour, just... My thanks to Theo for organising such a great scenario, and for being such a a good umpire, and my thanks to everyone else for such an enjoyable game.  I'm now going read the rules in detail, and look forward to the next game. -

Black Powder ACW Game

Last night I played my first proper game of the Black Powder rules published by Warlord Games. My friend Theo Street had done an excellent job of generating a scenario for us loosely based on the First Battle of Bull Run 1861. Myself Andy B, and John S were the clean living Confederates on the left flank of the Confederate line, taking on the corrupt Northern scum in the shape of John E, Steve, Simon A and Chris J who have flanked crossing the Bull Run creek. The Union forces can be seen crossing the Bull Run Creek from Sudley Mill with Sudley Church clearly visible.  We each had a Brigade (or 2) under our command, and a persona on the battlefield. Myself, I was the famous Stonewall Jackson :)
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The Confederate battery is positioned further east covering the Stone Bridge with Union forces visible having crossed Farm Ford.
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I’m afraid I don’t have time to write up a full AAR, plus the battle is still under way and we will continue it next week. Suffice to say though it must rank as one of my top gaming nights ever. Fabulous banter round the table and wildly varying dice throws at critical times made for an incredibly entertaining game with a perfect blend of Strategic and Tactical decisions having to be made on some great looking terrain. I’m indebted to my friends for the loan of a Brigade of troops (3 Inf Regts of 24 Figs each and 2 guns + 1 mounted C/O).  Deep into the game although they have taken some casualties, all my units are still intact. Inspired as I am, I’ve been and ordered the rules from Amazon. I'm now seriously considering whether to buy the Brigade pack from Perry Miniatures, which at £45 for over 100 figures looks excellent value for money.