Gettysburg: Day One

This year has seen me return to my gaming roots so to speak, and the ACW is one of three original eras (the other being Napoleonics and WWII ) that I played in the 70s and 80s. Had a good friend from Mississippi and together we engaged in countless games using the old JEB Rules. Since the late 80s, the large figure collection sat in its containers on the shelve untouched. I was reengaged when Cigar Box came out with a beautifully detailed battle mat (actually two) of the northern sector of the Gettysburg battlefield. I decided to redo a diorama that I had used in my US History classes. Wasn't a major step to try out a new set of rules (Across a Deadly Field), and the following is that early attempt.

General Buford's 1st Cavalry Division moves through Gettysburg and up onto Seminary/McPherson Ridges

Experimenting with lighting, this view is looking NE across Herbst Woods with the McPherson Farm on left

The Supply Wagon bringing up the rear of the column as the Troopers begin deploying on McPherson Ridge at the upper left.

Overview of the NW edge of Gettysburg, with the Lutheran Seminary sitting on its ridge with the troopers on McPherson Ridge in upper left.

General Heths' division, Archer and Davis Brigades arrive at the NW edge around 0740 after pushing back Buford's vedettes stationed along the Chambersburg Pike. (upper left corner)

Archer's Brigade reaches the main defensive line in front of the McPherson Barn in upper center of photo

Pettigrew's (center and right) and Brockenbough"s (left center) brigades move off Herr Ridge) foreground) while Pegram's Artillery pound the US Cavalry at top of photo. Archer's Brigade is exchanging volley's with the US Troopers (top right). Note the fight in upper left, highlighted in the next photo.

Davis' 55th Mississippi Regiment has to deal with troopers appearing on their flank near the Bender Farm

Unknown to General Heth, The Federal I Corps led by General Reynolds makes its appearance using McPherson Ridge to the west to screen its approach.

Archer's Brigade is sliding to its right to escape the blistering fire of Lt Cushing's 2 sections of 3" Rifles stationed on the Chambersburg Pike (left of the Barn)

This photo I took to show off the Cigar Box mat, viewed from the east with Gettysburg in upper left. Each of the individual buildings (such as the Adams County Almshouse left of center) are models of actual farmhouses, either scratch built or from Buildings in Turmoil. (which I highly recommend! The Forney and McClellan Farms are seen in upper right of photo.

A view overlooking the Confederate Pegram's Artillery Battalion

Archer's Brigade totally engaged with the dismounted Troopers in the Herbst Woods

Davis' Brigade redeploying its regiments against the Federal's right flank

on the Confederate left flank on the western slopes of Oak Ridge with the Forney Farm at the top. Federal dismounted cavalry is causing the Davis Brigade problems by threatening its flanks

Over on their right flank some more Federal cavalry is causing another Rebel regiment to deal with their flanking position as well. Towards the left is Pettigrew's Brigade moving towards Willoughby Run at the foot of Herbst Woods where Archer's Brigade is mixing it up with more of Buford's troopers.

The Iron Brigade of I Corps is preparing to move into the fight from the east slope of McPherson Ridge

And further north on the Ridge, Cutler's Brigade of I Corps is moving into position behind the cavalry as well

Davis' Brigade on the left is having difficulties as one regiment had to reform behind the Bender Farm (center left, while a second found itself in shaken form after taking fire from the troopers along the fence (center) Brockenbough and his men are exchanging fire but neither side gaining an advantage here

Things begin to look up for General Heth and his Confederates on the right (only temporarily as it turns out) when two of Buford's regiments suddenly rout...the 8th Ill 9top right) and the 8th NY (top left). Its especially bad when Archer's men charge the unfortunate Union soldiers and capture numerous prisoners! Unfortunately...

The 24th Michigan and 2nd Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade then charge Archer's Brigade (center right) and virtually destroy one regiment and sending two more reeling back, routed (far left) while capturing General Archer as well! (Just as happened historically!)

And things go bad for the forces in Grey here on the left as well. Davis's Brigade rallies one regiment (far left) while seeing another retreat back (center left). Brockenbourgh begins to take casualties from canister from the newly arrived 2 Me battery of I Corps (just left of McPherson Barn) and from intense carbine fire from the 3rd Ind Cavalry Regiment (in front of barn)

The view of General Reynolds attached to the charging Iron Brigade (Which historically led to him being shot down and killed...not this time...yet)

Meanwhile, General O.O. Howard of XI Corps is passing by the Shield's House (Scratch built from photo taken on battlefield in 1863) on the Chambersburg Pike just west of Gettysburg

Davis' Brigade has finally coordinated its action on the left flank, and begins driving Buford's troopers up towards Forney Farm (upper left)

Davis also recovers its routed regiment (lower left) while Brockenbough (center right) does the same.

After a short lull, Pettigrew has his brigade consolidated and moving into the Habst Woods. Both his and the Iron Brigade make several morale rolls after heavy volleys.

Pettigrew's ace-in-the-hole however, the 52nd NC after routing the 8th Ill Cavalry, is moving towards the Iron Brigade's unprotected flank. Only the one section of Calef's battery which is still on McPherson Ridge is watching the approaching Rebels!

To be continued...

Jutland, 1916

Having played Avalon Hill's game Jutland numerous times in the 70s and 80s, and enjoying it tremendously, I started collecting GHQ's Micronauts. Like many projects, it fell by the wayside. Last month started purchasing the new Micronauts and have filled out the German and British Battle Cruiser fleets for a table top engagement of Jutland. I'm using the original rules with increased range marker from the original game as well as slightly modified ship charts.

The German Vanguard, the CL and TB to the left and the BC Lutzow, followed by her sisters, on the right with the CL Ebling and some TB investigating some smoke at extreme sighting range

The remainder of the German BC Fleet :

View over the arriving British BC Fleet with Lion leading, screened by CL and flanked by DD

On Turn Two, CL Ebling exchanged fire with the HMS Galatea at 8,000 yds. Despite to long range (10,000 yes max for CL and DD), it scored a hit! HMS Galatea and Phoeton returned fire and scored a Critical Turret hit, but fortunately for the Germans, there was no catastrophic blast!

On Turn 3, The Ebling was joined by the CLs of her Flotilla, most notably Frankfurt and Pillau, who all were in range of the Galatea. Two hits were scored and the British CL sank beneath the waves. Before she sank, Galatea joins with Phaeton again, but this time all were misses. 

The German BC turned slightly to starboard to close the range:

The view looking over the British Fleet:

Turn 4 saw the range close to long range and the German Lutzow (at 17,000+) and Derflinger (at 19,000+) targeted the British leading ship, HMS Lion. They scored 3 hits but at that range all hits are halved, rounding down, so one score. HMS Lion, Tiger and Queen Mary all fired on the Lutzow and scored 4 hits! (rounded down to 2). This is the view for the British Fleet:

The same action as viewed from the German Fleet:

Turn 5 saw increased action as more of the BCs of both sides moved into range. As seen from the German POV, the Lutzow and Derflinger again fire on HMS Lion at 15,000 yes (no deduction now0 and score two hits and a Critical Boiler Hit which reduces Lion's movement by 3! The Seydlitz and Moltke range in on the Queen Mary at extreme range, but score 4 Hits (down to 2). Van Der Tann found that it's only target was a DD, but it missed. HMS Lion missed her shots against the Lion, but HMS Tiger scored two hits on Derflinger. At long range, the Queen Mary and Princess Royal scored two hits on Seydlitz (down to one)

And the view from the British:

On Turn 6, The German commander ordered the 11th and 12th Half-Flotillas of Torpedo Boats to the attack one from the head of the column and the second form the rear (right of photo). BC's continued to blast away at each other, with the Lutzow and Derflinger getting only one hit on the Lion. Seydlitz and Moltke were much more sucsessful, hitting the Queen Mary four times! Von Der Tann missed the Princess Royal at long range. HMS Lion and Tiger smashed the Lutzow with 3 more hits, while the Queen Mary and Princess Royal landed 1 hit and a Critical  Engine hit on the Derflliger, dropping HER speed by 2. The "Little Boys" got into the action as well, with Frankfurt putting one shell into HMS Phaeton, which missed its shot back at the Frankfurt. The German TBs beginning to make their turn prior to their torpedo attack, but HMS CLs Birmingham, Dublin and Cordelia, smashed a shell into a TB, sinking her! (Top left of center)

Turn 7 and the battle cranks up tremendously as more and more elements were thrown into the fray. This overview shows the whole battle at the end of Turn 7, The Brits at the top, Germans at the bottom:

The German BCs score heavily this turn with the Lutzow and Derflinger landing 3 additional hits on Lion, nearly destroying her fighting capabilities. (only one gun remaining!) But its the Seydliz, Moltke and Von Der Tann which inflict the heaviest blow yet. They score 5 hits on HMS New Zealand which overwhelms her Protective Score of 4 in one turn (From the Jutland Game), causing a huge explosion, sinking the ship! (seen at right of British battleline and right photo). Meanwhile the German TBs G41, 86 and 87 amazingly put five torpedoes into HMS Tiger, seen second from left in British battle line!  (rolled a two on the torpedo chart!). The British 9-10 Flotilla passes to the right:

HMS Lion and Tiger added 3 more hits on Lutzow, almost putting her out of action. HMS Queen Mary and Princess Royal score two more on Derflinger while HMS New Zealand and Indefatigable add two hits on Moltke.

On the northern flank of the fight, German 12th Half-Flotilla begins its run at the British and exchanges fire with the approaching British Destroyers. V69, V45 and V46 score a hit (and only one is necessary to sink her) on HMS Moorsom, while V50 and V39 sink the Laurel. (both sinkings seen top center of photo) HMS Moorsom, Laurel, Lyiard and Liberty all miss on their return fire! Not going well for the Brits at this point!

It doesn't get any better at the southern edge of the battle where CLs of the opposing forces lash out at each other. The Frankfurt misses the Phaeton (where only one more hit would have sunk her!), but the Pillau and Wiesbaden score 2 hits on HMS Birmingham sinking her! (seen top center of photo)(Two hits in one turn sink light cruisers) HMS Phaeton and Birmingham succeed in getting one hit on the Pillau, while HMS Dublin gets one hit on the Wiesbaden.

At this moment, HMS Phaeton spots and reports smoke to the south (its the German High Seas Fleet!). Orders were just being transmitted for the Battle Cruiser Fleet to come about and take a northern heading to escape, what with Lion nearly finished offensively at least, Tiger and Queen Mary in difficulty and New Zealand gone.

The only good news for the British is the arrival of the 5th Battle Squadron consisting of the powerful  fast battleships of the Queen Elizabeth class, consisting of Barham, Valiant, Warspite and Malaya:

How things looked at the start of Turn 8, and a bloody round it would be with 9 ships going down, 5 British and 4 German:

It began with the British Fleet turning to starboard as the BattleLine went to pieces with two ships (Lion and Tiger) at reduced speed. It only got much worse as the Lutzow and Derfflinger targeted the Queen Mary. Just as occurred at the actual battle, a German shell struck one of the Queen's turrets, penetrating to the magazine, resulting in a tremendous explosion! (upper right) Tragically she had moved to the port-side of Tiger to screen her as she was struggling at half speed. The Seydlitz, Moltke and Van Der Tann added 4 hits on the Princess Royal for her first damage. (just astern of the exploding Queen Mary). The Lion and Queen Mary (shooting is simultaneous) fired at Lutzow but missed. Princess Royal scored 1 hit on Moltke but the Indefatigable almost helped even the score when she hit one of the Lutzow's turrets; but fortunately for the Germans they made their save. At the upper left of the photo you can see the CLs exchanging fire and yet again, British luck is terrible. The Phaeton is hit twice, sinking her, while the Pillau and Wiesbaden miss the Dublin. The Phaeton, Inconstant and Dublin all miss their counterparts! To add to the Brits misery, the Ebling scores a hit on DD HMS Moresby and sinks her!

Seen at top-center of photo, the Indefatigable also sinks the V69 when a shell hits a torpedo just as the German TBs begin their run. G37 wastes its torpedoes at the Barham (out of the range of 6,000yds, at upper right) and V45, V46 and S50 launch theirs at Indefatigable but they miss. HMS Barham and Valiant each sink a TB, S50 and G37 (no better targets were available). A nasty fight erupts between British DDs and German TBs (about center photo). In the exchange, The British lose Liberty and Landrail, while the Germans see G86 go under:

Turn 9 saw the Lutzow pull out of the battle with severe damage, while the Derfflinger slowed down to allow the Seydlitz to take to the head of the battle fleet. (Seen left of photo) British DD were moving up to scene their BCs (top left) while German CLs were closing in for the kill (left edge of photo). German TBs (center) were about to finish off two lone British DDs which had attempted their own torpedo run the previous turn:

Seydlitz fired its forward guns on the Princess Royal but still scored two hits (very close range now), while the Moltke and Von Der Tann landed two hits on Indefatigable. Those two British BCs could only score one hit on the Seydlitz (British shooting continued to be poor). Ebling missed the Termagant, but Wiesbaden sank the Obdurate. Pillau and Frankfurt scored a hit on the Dublin, but she remained afloat. Dublin got a measure of revenge by scoring a hit of her own on the Frankfurt

Meanwhile, the fighting was furious between British DDs and German TBs. Both British ships (Lydiard and Morris) went down in their futile attempt to get within torpedo range, while the Germans lost the G87 to the Falmouth. The 5th Battle Squadron tries desperately to add its firepower to the crumbling British hopes, but the range is just to far, and the Barham's shells fall short of the Seedily

With their BC fleet battered and in disarray, the Admiral orders a smokescreen so his ships can withdraw. The German Admiral, seeing the fresh 5th Battle Squadron approaching, decides the victory so far is good enough, and orders his ships to head south (towards the High Fleet, which historically lead to the second stage of the Battle of Jutland...but thats for another day.

Losses for the battle for the British amounted to 2 BCs, 3 CLs, and 8 DDs. German losses amounted to only 6 TBs! British gunnery (or lack thereof), certainly doomed this Fleet!

Battle of Trafalgar, 1805

A project I started way back in the 80s, and then moved on to other projects. Almost on a lark, decided to flesh out what I had started, by putting together about 14 additional models. Still more to go but here is what it looks like so far:

This is a view from the north, with the British fleet to the left and the Spanish-Franco to the right. HMS Victory is top of center

A view now from the south. You can make out the two British lines closing on the enemy. HMS Victory top of center with Royal Sovereign almost dead center.

Looking over the British Fleet from the west. The massive Santisima Trinidad can be seen top left with a reddish tint.

View of the vanguard of the Spanish-Franco Fleet, with Santisima Trinidad upper left of center, with HMS Victory top center. Those slips of papers w/o models refer to the future expansion of the battle. Another Spanish 74 and a French 40 gun frigate have now been ordered. Some additional rigging needs to be done as well, but there is an end in sight!

Battle for Nha Do, 23 Feb, 1950

Following on General Giap's successful trial run with his new division at Pho Lu, 8-13 Feb, 1950, he began pulling his troops out of the region to move them towards Colonial Route 4 on the northeastern border of Indochina. The small post of Nha Do was literally on the way, so it was attacked. The battle turned out to be bigger than he planned. The photos below show the model battlefield that will be fought over this coming Wednesday and a report will follow. *NOTE, my VM commander was sick today, so game has been rescheduled for next Wednesday.

Looking north past the French fort to the village of Nha Do at top of photo. A French T'ai battalion with attached irregular forces hold the position. A VM regiment will attack from the tree line north of Nha Do, while a second regiment will be located about middle of the photo.

Village of Nha Do from the west, with the French post in upper right corner.

Sub-hamlets to the south of the post as viewed from the west. Its the dry season so the paddies (for the most part) are dry as well.

On the 23 of Feb, 1950. General Giap was moving his men eastward following the successful attack on Pho Lu. In the next valley on their way towards their goal of Route Colonial 4, the Viet Minh launched a hurried assault on Nha Do. At the bottom of photo is one battalion moving on the French post, but look carefully at the top and you will see another full regiment moving across the valley floor to attack from the east:

A regimental 57mm RR is firing on the western bunker (just off the top edge of photo) held by the Tai's troops in the post:

After the first hour of fighting, and the Viet assault troops smashing through the barriers surrounding the post, the French air support from Hanoi finally arrives. Two P63 Kingcrobra's drop bombs and strafe the massed VM, first to the east by the village:

and then to the west of the post. Here the casulties are severe as the VM were badly bunched up:

Wider angle view of above, but still a lot of VM out there!:

At the eastern edge of the post, the waves of VM are breaching the barriers as well. The bunker there as been all but silenced as its roof was smashed by concentrated 81mm mortar fire:

But then, after an hour and 20 minutes of heavy fighting, the first of the reinforcements arrive! The 3BCCP begins its drop west of the attacking VM, trapping them between the air drop and the post itself. You may notice the three Ju52, which the French were still using in 1950, calling them Toucans. Notice the VM at the top of the photo still assaulting the post:

This photo is just to the right of the preceding shot. The 3BCCP find themselves closer to the VM support weapons then the regiment itself:

A Spitfire Mk IX races over and bombs/strafes the now retreating VM on the west flank, as they desperately attempt to make it to the safety of the jungle:

The final turn of the game sees the 3BCCP overrun all regimental/battalion mortars, MMGs, and a rearguard VM company as the remainder of Giap's battered forces escape to the east. It proved to be a very close affair for the French,  just as it had occurred back in 1950. Unfortunately for the French, the next season's campaign on Route Colonial 4 would lead a massive French disaster that would almost end the four year war. More to come!