American Civil War Battle, Bull Run 1861, all Union and Confederate forces assembled

 Time for a Grand Review!

More than 20 years in the making.

Union (left) and Confederate (right)

their 'comic' version

Just the Union command of McDowell

Beauregard's Confederate command

Each force contains at least one 'uniform confusion' brigade of a selected regiment from the command that wore tunics most often associated with the other army.

here Heintzelmann's 3rd Division of Howard's brigade
is seen in front of the Army of the Shenandoah

now Tyler's 1st Division of Keyes' brigade
is seen in front of the Army of the Potomac

I ought to be able to tell them apart on the tabletop, though still be able to use them as opposition forces if needed.

Then the new markers got put out to show I have enough for all forces to identify that they are fully loaded with first shot.  Spent and Worn conditions along with things like ammunition depletion.

little pins with green beads on them

that 'hook' over the unit id label
the pins are also metal, so they will be
magnetic and work with my other systems

comparison with unit IDs

... and without unit IDs

the forces are prepared

Much of the battlefield environment is already in hand, you can see the woods depicted in the images.
My next constructions will follow the urban environment, most of it already in hand, just needing to be constructed and finished.

the Sarissa Precision models railway
for 15mm has begun ...

ACW Union 2nd Division for 1st Bull Run

Two decades after starting this project, abandoning it at one point, it feels great to have this first Division of 15mm troops finalized.

The 2nd Division under Colonel Hunter
ready for the tabletop

 

Keen eyed readers will see the new 'label' markers and holders.  I have used some 'cubes' that my son asked me to generate for his games uses and there are plenty of extras.  So I have put them to some use here as 'weights' and supports for wires to hold the letters and 'pins' (in this case with green glass beads on them - to indicate fresh and loaded weapons for 'first fire'), there are more glass beaded pins with orange, red, yellow, two different blues and purple colors - something that can be separately defined.

painting in progress

the game set of these minis includes casualties and
a 'chicken dancer' for a disorder marker

there's just something about that interim moment
of the troops mounted to the bases

the moment again captured from overhead

here seen fully flocked, the casualties off to the
right of the image

Well, that's the first of many divisions.

I start 1st Division and Union Army HQ this week.

I may be ready to put something on the table in January of February at this rate.

Fire & Fury Brigade in 15mm & THE WAR DUNGEON

On the road this time with Rob of Codsticker Historicals,

We traveled south of Nanaimo to THE WAR DUNGEON a creation of our host McLean, with family memorabilia included in the WWII section which also had WWI and Korea zones along with a supporting 'general' area with the television & sound system and the storage of his own miniatures collections.

McLean had done some re-arranging to have the 6'x7' table ready to go for the coming game.

My command was to be that of Longstreet at the Gaines Mill battle of June 1862, before Richmond, the high point of the Peninsula Campaign.

Part of Nate's collection, I commanded Longstreet's Division for this battle

The strategic situation, from Fortress Monroe to Richmond, our battle location in orange circle.  Map from Columbia Games Bobby Lee

Our game table location had a wonderful 'sample' trench leading into The War Dungeon as he calls it.

Then once 'inside' you see a WWI section:

Then into the WWII section, where the displays had been re-arranged to allow the 6'x7' table to be set up.

The RCAF uniform belonged to McLean's grandfather a bomber pilot, who painted silver bombs on the back of his flight jacket.

Finally going further into the rooms was the Korean part of the exhibit.

The circling back there was the media room with television, sound and a seating space along with the owners miniatures collection for games.

an avid re-enactor for a number of years McLean still has his kit

WWII German and Russian forces, then some 40K below

So there was plenty of military inspiration surrounding us so none could help but be distracted during lull times on the battlefield.

view from behind the union lines, the Boatswain Swamp flowing out to the lower left of this image, had a 'fortified position' at the edge of the hill and swamp that was the critical location of the Union position

further to the union right at start, mostly empty ground as the forces were going to arrive to fight on this ground

Hill was forced to attack on the first move of the game

the swamp defenses were just too much to overcome without a good artillery pounding to soften them up, Hill was repulsed

arriving confederates

a young history enthusiast was great to have at the table for the game, he certainly had an excellent macro camera for capturing the details on the 15mm miniatures

about an hour later, Hill was pushed back and many of the union forces were pouring in from the center right, seen here at the bottom right to the center of the photo

McLean had painted a brigade and they were now on the table for the first time, lower center of the image

later still, now my command, Longstreet, had begun to arrive and the clash of arms had begun in earnest on the union right

Longstreet formed up a gun line to pound the Union reserves in behind the works

center of the field, dominated by the Boatswain Creek/swamp/woods and two bridges - and you can see more of the collection behind the tables here

18h00 the BIG TURN as the entire confederate line advanced as one to slam into the union lines in all areas

close combat was initiated everywhere all at once!

the confederates on the union right had been pushing back forces since 17h00

confederates had crossed the creek in the woods and now ran directly into union Zouaves guarding the bridge

formed up Longstreet and Hill were to go in together

into the union works at the swamp's edge

creating one massive close quarters combat zone

the union had pushed out one more force to 'hopefully' repulse the veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia

the combat spectacle of the attack was good

battle progressed across the whole line

many great photo moments presented themselves

including some with terrain adding to the effects

 

a lone detachment of union cavalry performed a suicide charge ...

fired upon from front and flank the unit disintegrated before reaching the confederate forces (outlined in grey here)

 

now after 18h30, here the swamp lines had been breached in two places and ANV Veterans were pushing union forces off the hill

here seen are the veterans of ANV having cleared the work at the south end and now moved up the slope to shove union brigades out and away from the creek

clearer picture of same zone as above

final positions as of 17h30 as the twilight descended over the field, with confederate forces occupying the critical works and more confederates nearly reaching the only line of withdrawal for the union the victory for the confederacy was declared and all players shook hands

north wing

Hill's troops falled back

wider view from the south hill where Longstreet and Hill attack started

union lines hemmed in on two sides

a mass of union troops all worn and huddled together for mutual support

a union vedette that had side-stepped to escape confederate batteries enfilade fire

the far north woods

across the confederate lines looking south

the only union brigade still near the Boatswain creek, held a corner of the works and the bridge till dusk and the general retreat orders were sent

Overall we re-created history driven by the terrain that Rob had built based on a number of accounts and a topographical map of the area.

The attack of Longstreet went in 1 hour earlier than it did historically, yet due to the rules constraints I saw no way to 'take the works' in just one 1/2 hour 'turn'.  It needed at least two or better four (which it turned out we had as I did not fully understand the details of 'dusk' turn).

Excellent day, McLean has a really cool "War Dungeon" that could support many different games.

I suspect we will be returning again soon.