The Loose Association of Wargamers

Here's a thumbnail of a map for a Johnny Reb II game I'm planning with Bill G, an old RAEME mate. His Yanks (Bartlett's brigade plus some hangers on) want to stop a division from Ewell's Corps (they're mine) from taking the bridge and hamlet, then installing a fast food place. The terrain is my 33yo tiles, fieldworks and buildings, dragged into the light after a few years storage. Some bits have been lightened or darkened so Bill can plan his deployment.

A lot of people think JRII is over the hill, and has too many charts. This is Bill's first foray into the period (he usually does WWII, using Command Decision), so it will be interesting to see how he finds them. It's time to give the figures an airing, too. They've been in their boxes for a while.

Bill's set up the tiles- minus a row to fit the available space- and tomorrow I'll add troops, hills, buildings, fences, etc. The view is west to east, where Colonel Harland David Sanders' force, or possibly Jubal Early's, will enter to teach them danged Yankees a lesson in good manners and properly cooked chicken. This will be my first "proper" wargame (ie buried under 3,471 charts and tables- and that's just the QRS) in a few years, so I'm looking forward to it.

I have not played JRII in donkey years.

Interested in seeing how this plays out and your thoughts on the rules.

No wukkers, Ilkey. I'm hoping that I'm not regarding the rules through rose-coloured memories and we do get a good game out of it. I'll post some photos and impressions here, but I might do a full AAR, a la RMD, on my site. If so I'll link it here.

My opponent, Bill G, is an old army mate. He is mainly a WWII gamer, but also has played NMTBH and a couple of games of Green Jackets (a light version, without the card bidding), and is new to horse and musket battles. This game was set up as a training game, to see how he liked the smell of black powder and horse manure. Bill was defending an important bridge over the Bloody River, in southern Pennsylvania, 1863. To do that he had a US infantry brigade of four regiments, an ammo’ train and attached artillery and cavalry. There are also some old earthworks on the west bank of the river and some reinforcements, at least two more infantry regiments, arriving shortly. Opposing him I have Early’s Division, supplemented by Chambliss’ brigade of cavalry.

I have to seize and clear the bridge within 14 turns. Here’s the final terrain set up with houses, fences, walls and enclosed fields.
The rules are as written, with two house rules:

1. Units can’t go out of ammo on their opening volley unless the scenario states that they are low on ammo’
2. Units that have fired have a short length of black pipe cleaner placed on their command stand, as a reminder.

The Reb’s order of march, written before Bill had made his decision, has the classical cavalry vanguard, deployed as skirmishers, and two flank guards are cavalry regiments, moving in march order. The main division’s body is in march order/limbered along the road (12 regiments in total). Each brigade has an attached battery of artillery.

Bill doesn’t know what I have, just that a division-sized force is heading his way and he can deploy within six inches of the table edges to the east of the river. Bill’s first decision was whether to deploy forward or to man the breastworks and let the river and fire keep the Reb’s at bay. On turn 1 my troops have to march onto the table, thumb in bum and mind in neutral, into whatever greeting Bill had organised. They can’t start deploying until the vanguard or flank guards find some enemy (one way or the other). So Bill may be able to ambush my troops on Turn 1, but that’s the idea- get straight into the nitty gritty of the rules.

Coming down the North Road is Hays’ Louisiana brigade, led by the 13 Va Cavalry as advance guard. This force had been detached to secure the north road from US troops.

GT1

Bill chose well and a dismounted cavalry regiment (1st WV- a big unit, armed with Spencer carbines), two regiments of infantry and a gun battery were waiting when the Reb's ambled up the road, complaining about the food, the weather, why you should only use 10 herbs and spices on chicken, how the new music sounds like a tomcat being neutered while also being strangled, and why the bloody kids of today have no respect.

Then the shooting started.....

PS I doubt if anyone will be interested, but Bill's situation and forces can be read at https://dalg.id.au/ACW/ACW%20Game.doc

Rather than fill up the server I've put the rest of the AAR on my domain- https://dalg.id.au/ACW/bloodyriver.htm.

But here's a taste of the GT1 ambush:

Looking good Dal -I shall have a look tonight when I come home from work

Thanks, VB. Hopefully we'll get the game finished next week. I didn't realise how much I'd forgotten, both about the rules and what units I'd raised.

The game's on hold until the end of the month. Unplanned commitments to spouses spiked last week's game. For some reason Bill prefers a trip to the Maldives to a game of soldiers.

Strange.

Spanner wrote: ↑Tue Mar 11, 2025 9:06 am For some reason Bill prefers a trip to the Maldives to than a game of soldiers.

Strange.

A chance to research the C16th Portuguese expeditions there and start a new period?