Battle of Stones River- ( Or Murfreesboro) December 31 1862- The battle.

 The big day was on and the table was ready ( obviously!!) when the Brothers arrived.  
For ease of identification I have underlined and italiscised the Confederate commanders

Ralph was Braxton Bragg and he then would 'step down' and actually play Hardee's Corps ( Cleburne's and McCown's Divisions) on the Confederate left. On the Confederate right Phil was Breckinridge holding Wayne's Hill. In the centre, Tom ( playing his first historical game ever- welcome to the BOWB!) was Leonidas' Polk and he played Wither's Division. Richard was his subordinate playing Cheatham's Division.

Paul was  Rosecrans and gave all his orders. He then 'stepped down' and played Crittenden controlling the Union Left Wing. In the Center, commanding George Thomas'  Corps with its two Divisions was Spyros. On the Union right Ross was McCook playing Davis' and Johnson's Division. Chris was his subordinated, playing Sheridan's Division. 

Ideally it would have been good to have had a total of 13 players- each commanding a Division ( 8 Union and 5 Confederate) but by juggling everyone around,  I made sure that everyone was into the action reasonably quickly and in the thick of it almost from the start.

I used the Fire and Fury Western Scenario booklet and transferred the Order of Battle to Rank and File which was a pretty simple process.

The table with the relative deployments - by Division.
Blue is of course Union, grey is the Confederates

The Confederate left hook- Hardee's Corps ( McCook's and Cleburne's Division)...deployment at start.

The Battle of Stones River, December 1862: The set up.

 An invite went out to all the Brothers to assemble in the understated elegance of my garage for the annual Christmas Big Bash- A large game with as many figures as possible on a 12' x 6'.

I settled on ACW, which has been a staple favourite for big games, as the period is reasonably popular with the lads and everyone has some understanding of it. We use a simplified form of Rank and File which are quick and easy to learn. 

The ironic thing about was that as I began to work on it- I realised that the setup takes almost as long as the game. 

A couple of days before the game I started preparations at 10am. When I took the final photo at the end of the post it was just before 6pm and I hadn't stopped for more than 15 or so minutes for lunch and to feed my pets. A very engrossing procedure! 

Battle of Atlanta July 22nd 1864- ACW

Some of the brothers assembled for an ACW stoush- the battle of Atlanta July 1864- using the scenario in the old Fire and Fury Western scenario booklet.  We even had Noel join us all the way from South Africa.
In this battle John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee was trying to break the tightening ring of the Union army approaching Atlanta. He sent Hardee's corp to outflank the Union Army of  The Tennessee of General James B McPherson. Cheatham's corp was to hit the Union line at the same time. Well, that was the plan, but Hardee was held up by the terrain- and some very tough fighting Union soldiers ( under Ross' command) .
Nick played Hardee with Noel, Chris and Paul as his subordinates. Cheatham's command was also ( when it finally arrived) played by Paul and Chris.  Ross was McPherson, Richard and Phil commanded Dodge's and Logan's Corps.

The game went very much as per the historical battle. Hardee's corp hit the Union flank hard, but didn't completely get around behind - so two of the encircling Confederate divisions hit the Union entrenchments and had great difficulty in dislodging the Union defenders. Two others got behind but were held up by several union brigades redeployed from the main line. In the end the Reb losses were very heavy and Hood called it a day!

View from the Confederate flank attack- Hardee's corp move didn't quite get around the entrenchments. 

ACW 28mm The Battle of Groveton ( Brawner's Farm) 28th August 1862

This was the opening round of Second Manassas and using Nick's (formerly Phil's) figures I had the table ready at the moment when Stonewall Jackson turned to his Brigade Commanders behind the railway embankment and said 'Bring out your men, gentlemen'. His artillery then fired on Gibbon's Brigade!

Zouaves march past Dogan's farm on the way to Groveton.

ACW: Battle of Port Republic June 1862

The Brothers gathered for some more ACW and the battle chosen  was Port Republic fought in 1862. One of Stonewall Jackson's battles it provided a nice compact game for 6 of the brothers. Geoff, Ralph and Chris played the Rebs and Phil, Liam and Paul were the boys in blue.

The Table- the Union at the Far end and the Rebs this end advancing.

American Civil War 28mm

 

  One afternoon recently, Phil came past with some of his very nicely painted ACW regiments. Back in the heyday of Fire and Fury, ACW was on the cards just about every week- and mighty were the battles that the Brothers fought in. 

I know my collection has sat in its boxes for too many years and Phil's also hasn't seen the light of day for a long while too! So with just the two of us one quiet afternoon we put a small contingent through their paces; 6 Regiments a side and three guns. The object being to secure the hills in the middle of the battle field and drive the Rebs....er...the enemy off. I was the Union and Phil was the rebellious secessionist ratbags that needed to be.....oops sorry.....showing my true (blue) colours again.



One of Phil's Zouave Regiments marches past the cornfield