Wednesday 6 September 2017

Catawumptiously Chewed Up!

Well today was my inaugural 28mm ACW battle using my latest armies. I started this project on the 31st August 2016 and today I finally saw both armies in use. That's the good news. The bad news was I got my backside absolutely tanned by John. I am still a little bit stunned as to how I suffered such a defeat, the final insult being my Virginians suffering from being Catawumptiously Chewed Up!
 We were using Dave Brown's excellent ACW Picketts Charge rules  and to have a brigade reach the chewed up stage, basically means there is no coming back.

We started the game with two brigades each, I had the Elite Texans, and Barksdale's Mississippians while John had the Iron Brigade and the Irish. There were an additional three brigades each off table. All marching to the sound of the guns. As each brigade arrived, we decided to dice to see what classification they would be.

 Nothing is certain in Pickett's Charge. It definantly helps if the player wins the initiative each move and gets the drop on his opponent. This however becomes harder to achieve if your orders fail to get through to the brigade commanders and they become 'Hesitant' prior to the initiative throw.
My command throws were frustratingly consistent, with my brigades going Hesitant at the drop of a hat. At one stage I was able to have two reserve brigades arrive on the battlefield in quick succession, only to see them flounder in confusion.

Below; my Virginian brigade gallantly marches onto the battlefield only to refuse to advance towards the enemy after that?

The Mississippians start to rout. They were probably sick of waiting for those damned Virginians to move.
 As the Mississippians ran through a second supporting regiment, these needed to throw to see how they felt.  Clearly a double one wasnt going to make them feel too good. So they ran to.

 Meanwhile my Louisianians entered the fray to support the Texans. Yep, they decided to have a picnic before advancing again.
             Meanwhile, the Union infantry were getting their dander up and doing a sneaky march onto my flank.
                                                   Still waiting?

 John, trying not to laugh, sends his Irish forward again. This time the Texans struggled to handle them.
 My Virginians, finally were able to shake out into a decent looking line. The only problem was they were classed as 'Green'. It should have been yellow. Just after this, John would shell the Virginian Cadets who decided that they were too young to fight, and legged it.
  On the flank, one of the Union reserve brigades appeared. Just a few zouave types. Nothing that I couldnt handle.
    One of my green regiments, reached the zenith of my success, by chasing off an Iron Brigade regiment, before the brigade decided to leg it, leaving them stranded in a cornfield, surrounded by Yankees.
    Another test, another fine double one, another regiment decides they have had enough.                                

   The Virginians, leaving the battlefield, just as I had managed to rally my Mississippians..
 Yes, you guessed it, my newly rallied Mississippians produced a fine throw. On to Richmond I think.

 The Union zouaves parade across the battlefield, looking for a rebel to shoot.

 

 Rebel, 'Man of the Match', my sniper who was attached to the Texan brigade, and manged to kill more Yankees, than ALL of the Texans combined.It was one of those days.


23 comments:

  1. Hoorah! Your ACW project makes to th gaming table. A fine looking game and collection, no doubt. The red-jacketed Zouaves look especially handsome.

    Too bad your 2D6 rolls seemed to collect in the wrong tail of the probability distribution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jonathan,
      I have a few units to paint, but I feel there is enough to have a decent sized battle.

      Delete
  2. Sounds like an interesting game to say the least and, speaking as a Union man, seems like the right result!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Strangely after a couple of bad rolls there is a perverse pleasure in the failures of my units.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Neil,
      It was very interesting, and frankly not surprising given that they were all new regiments. It invariably happens in wargaming.

      Delete
  4. I really enjoyed that and the splendid pictures.

    Do you have any thoughts on the merits of the rules compared with Black Powder? I have both sets, but have only used BP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Morning Norm,
      Of the two sets, I enjoy Picketts Charge more. Glory Hallelujah are enjoyable and give a good game.But Picketts charge has something extra for me. They just feel right. I particularly like the troop types.They all have strengths and weaknesses.The use of ADC tokens is excellent and if you are lucky? these extra tokens to implement your orders become crucial. How many times in BP has one failed to get a brigade to move.BP has a lot of merit, but for me PC add more to the gaming experience.

      Delete
  5. hey Robbie here is a tip for you, you need to roll those double one morale throws in black powder and not Pickets charge ha ha 😂 Dice throwing aside the game looks great and nice to see your figures make the table top

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha I meant double one for command rolls, rolling double one for your morale test in Blackpowder would make you well and truly Catawumptiously chewed up and most certainly would not be a good tip! maybe this is where I have been going wrong all this time 🤔

      Delete
    2. Neil,
      I couldnt throw a decent score to save my life. Everything I tried failed.A particular killer was when I wanted to 'rally' a brigade and placed all my ADC tokens on the brigade and then the order still failed. It happens, but still a great game.

      Delete
  6. Those figures look great and the table set up very satisfying.
    I think you need to find a set of rules where high numbers are bad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for that Paul, if I found the rules I would probably throw high.

      Delete
  7. Spectacular table, and - dare I say it - some spectacularly poor dice rolling!

    Must be very satisfying to be able to field both armies and have them looking as good as that. Well done sir!

    Cheers,
    Aaron

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evening Aaron,
      Its a bad general who blames his dice. I don't think I would have impressed Napoleon with my luck.

      Delete
  8. Lovely looking game, great looking figures, it seems like a theme in all your aars that you get bad dice rolls, you'd think that soon you've got to start rolling high just to even out!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iain,
      Its strange, but I knew before we had even kicked the game off that it was going to be one of those days. It still didn't detract from the game, sometimes to lose spectacularly is as good as winning, he said unconvincingly.

      Delete
  9. Robbie,great looking figures,and great looking terrain,but you should "dump" any rules that dictate what you want to do in a wargame-they are to facilitate your battle plan and not dominate to the point where,theoretically,your whole army could spend the whole game doing nothing!!-make your own rules up!
    johnc(william)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is were we differ John. I actually enjoy the uncertainty.The best laid plans and all that. It doesnt mean your ideas are any less thought out. Saying that I still like a decent traditional set to.

      Delete
  10. Robbie,fair point,well made-you and your "crew" still have a standing invite to WWG.
    johnc

    ReplyDelete
  11. A fine looking army in action there, but those dice throws! How many black cats have you run over?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. None, although I do follow the Black Cats which is as bad.

      Delete

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.
Austria 1809.

Austrian Hussars

Austrian Hussars
Hinchliffe figures

Austrian Grenzer

Austrian Grenzer
Austrian Grenzer

Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2013
Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2012

Smoggycon 2012
Smoggycon 2012

Smoogycon 2009

Smoogycon 2009
My French getting another beating