Thursday 13 September 2012

Gettysburg Day two "The Wheatfield"

After a quick change over (or it should have been quick but I was reading the map  upside down when we were laying the hills) we were ready to start the next game, "The Wheatfield". I took control of the Union 3rd Corp 1st Division and Kiefer had control of three Confederate brigades from Hood's  Division.


The Battlefield shown from the North's perspective the famous Wheatfield is  top right. The main objective is the Stony Hill in the centre. 



Graham's Northern Brigade advance  in two lines, with the front line entering the woods in Skirmish formation. 


The 40th New York are the first to come under fire in the Union first line near Stoney Hill.


The 1st Division Commander Birney (bottom right) keeps a watchful eye on his Left Flank Brigade Commander, De Troiband, who is rated poor and cautious.


Both Generals  have to make a mad dash back to the Union second line situated on the road next to John Rose's farm as the Rebs manage to break through the Union
 first line.



The  Rebs  push on, and  start to cross the  open terrain by the  side of Stony Hill. The Union second line begins to pour heavy fire on the advancing grey hordes.



On the Union right flank the Union brigade under General Ward are faring better, with the Confederate attack slowing down due to having to traverse rough and marshy ground.


Although taking large casualties the  Confederates attack an Union artillery battery and overun it and penetrate the Union second line. The rebs are in full control of the objective in the centre, Stoney hill. Birney orders Graham to charge the Stoney Hill but they are easily repulsed.


The advancing confederate Infantry have effectively cut the Union positions in two.


The second Union line on the left flank being cut off from the other two brigades begins to rout. With the Confederate troops being well in control of the centre objective the game ended. Therefore the score was now 1 game won each, with the decider played immeadiatley afterwards "Pickets charge".


5 comments:

  1. Great looking game Phil. I've always fancied trying ACW.... Another project to think about.
    What do you think of our Mighty Potters signing Owen by the way?

    Steve

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  2. Hi Steve, Ive played ACW before in 6mm at Stoke Wargames group in the 80's , but it was only 6 months ago with Kiefers influence I decided to try it in 15mm, now im hooked. On the subject of Owen will just have to see if he can keep fit and if Pulis will actually drop his goldenboy Walters.

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  3. Ahhh, Stoke Wargames Group.. The memories. I remember going there during the mid 70's on a Friday night. If I remember rightly there was a cracking little chip shop just below wasn't there?
    I also remember attending the convention at Longton Town Hall where Waterloo was played out. That was fantastic and really inspired me at the time.. even though I was but a spotty teenager.... Golden days.

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  4. yep thats the one, the guy who owned the chip shop moved to another chip shop just up from my house on Meir Hay. Its the first place we visit when we go back to Stoke. Funnily enough I remember going Longton Town Hall as a youngster for a convention and watching them play the Battle of Gettysburg. I went to the club at three different periods of time the first when I was about 14 and played 15mm Napoleonics there was loads of blokes there and it was a great atmosphere, but there was other distractions such as Shellys and the Place up Hanley duck. The second time was in my early 20's and I thought I would try ACW becuase they played my then preferred scale 25mm but when I got there the had gone to 6mm, although we did have some good games and there was a guy there who use to smoke a pipe. Everytime time now I smell pipe smoke (which is pretty rare in Spain) it takes me back to that room. I left again due to having kids etc. I finally went back in my mid thirties and tried Napoleonics, but there was only two guys playing and the rules were so complicated (we had to use calculators) and one turn would take a whole night so I packed it in. Still lot of good memories though.

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  5. Jeez!..Yes, I remember the pipe smoker too!.. When I went there was Napoleonics upstairs in 25mm on a huge table .. a fantastic sight. That too was played using complicated rules and games lasted for an eternity. It had a great following though with the same dozen blokes playing every week. Downstairs was ACW or WWII in 6mm which I really enjoyed watching at the time. I'm sure the guy that ran the WWII games was Colin(?), a really nice bloke and massive WWII fanatic.The terrain was fantastic and they were a great bunch of blokes. The last time I went t was full (or so it seemed) of Goths playing Sci-fi and fantasy role playing.... Do I need say more? Needless to say I never went back.

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