Tuesday, June 23, 2020

ACW Battle Report - Vicksburg Revisited

County guidelines here in California finally got to the point that I could host a wargame at my place with the group.  We of course practiced safe measures as much as possible (face masks when not drinking beverages, etc.).

We played this past Sunday, with Roy Scaife, John Lantz and Dan Kerrick playing the Union forces.  Matt Hilzendrager and myself played the Confederate forces.

Through a withering fire and very hard fought melees, the Union forces achieved a decisive victory, push the majority of the Confederate positions back.  Unlike the first game that we played, the Union forces double timed across the board as much as possible, which put a lot of pressure on the limited Confederate forces.  In the first game, the Union forces focused on leap frog advances to try and leverage shooting casualties to soften up the Confederate units - however, nothing beats the cold steel of melee!

It was great to get back to moving figures and rolling dice!

I setup the table on my backyard patio - and put up some hasty tarps to provides shade throughout the majority of the day - this actually worked out really well.  Just one corner of the table had sunlight at the very start of the game (early morning).



I made this victory point tracker board.  As VPs got earned by each side, we stuck a die in each of the slots to mark the points.  I liked how this worked out and plan to do it for games in the future.


A lot of pictures below ... enjoy!

Fancy pictures below using my SLR camera and my backdrop ...
















Less fancy pictures below using my SLR camera but no background --- focused on the parts of the table that had sunlight ...











Finally, some action pictures taken with my trusty mobile phone ...






















If you've made it this far - huzzah!  Thanks for reading and checking out my blog!

While COVID has kept me indoors, I've not been doing nothing.  I have been playing a lot of board games - but I've made a lot of progress on my AWI project as well - more on that soon.

31 comments:

  1. Awesome Jay! Nice setup and minis as I’ve mentioned before. But even more importantly this is exactly what I thought of doing for a handful of friends and we can push some toy soldiers around once again. We all agreed to wear masks, we just need to get Michigan weather to cooperate and get it done. Your post gives me heart that I can make this happen.

    Cheers
    Kevin

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    1. Heya Kevin! Excellent ... more work to setup/cleanup, but was worth it to play a game. Would have used the garage,but the table for this scenario is too big, and I'm replacing the floor in there right now. Hopefully with summer now here you can get a nice day to play :-)

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  2. Amazing table with huge amount of fine details, well done. Very impressive ! Felicitation, keep safe.
    Mathieu

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  3. I use to play 28mm with across a deadly from J. hill, wic systeme did you use here ?

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    1. This Hallowed Ground ... home brew ... link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2obrwky763cvcpw/thg_playsheet_v4.4.pdf?dl=0

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  4. A stunning sight Jay! Great stuff.

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  5. Amazing! Love the table! Who is the manufacturer of the civilians? Is it Foundry?

    Best wishes,
    Jan

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    1. Thanks! Civilians are a mix from Old Glory (https://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=WBS-74) and Great Escape Games (http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/deadmanshand/dmhminiatures/civilians.html).

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  6. great stuff and glad to see the weather obliged - lifting of UK restrictions mean the Shed should be back up in action soon

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    1. Thanks!! It will be great to see the expanded shed back in action :-)

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  7. Looks most excellent.

    I was thinking of setting up a gazebo on our patio and doing the same this summer.

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    1. Thanks Paul! Sounds like a plan ... my hasty tarps did good as a temporary solution. Building a gazebo, that's going the extra mile :-)

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  8. Magnificent game table! Everything looks cool!

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  9. Great looking game and love the idea of outdoor gaming, lots of lovely detail which must have taken an age to set up but worth it 👍

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    1. Thanks! Devils in the details, eh! :-) Was worth it. I enjoy the look and feel of a game just as much as actually playing it.

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  10. Lovely table and troops, and very well thought out concept for FTF gaming in the era of COVID.

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  11. Brilliant set up with amazing scenery & miniatures. I especially like the observation balloon Intrepid. The pictures have an evocative light about them too. Great stuff all round.
    Best wishes,
    Jeremy

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    1. Thanks Jeremy! Finally got a decent picture of the balloon :-)

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  12. That is a sensational looking game Jay! Troops, terrain, siege lines, chevaux de frises, town, civilians and that marvellous balloon!

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    1. Thanks James, a lot of details layered in there :-)

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  13. A lovely looking game Jay...
    A sat outside in the sun...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! Was so very nice get game in and get outside :-) One of the benefits of California weather - very consistent nice weather.

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  14. What a great looking table!! Awesome representation of the Vicksburg area. Amazing work!

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  15. Recently discovered your blog and am impressed! I'm primarily a Napoleonic buff but am interested in games of all sorts. Was very impresses with your figures and your terrain. I expect to be a regular visitor to your site

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