Me and Khayman met today at Challenges Games and Comics for our once a month historical meeting. We played my Oeversee 1864 scenario (see the Material for Wargaming page for link). It was quick game, with Khayman's Austrians hampered by bad dice rolls, but able to clinch the draw in the final turn. A flanking cavalry manuver from him drew away half the Danish force, which helped isolate the remaining Danish unit protecting the road. We were done in 1 hour. The dedicated mat really looked nice!
I finally forced myself to sit down and finish my draft scenarion in LJdPB format for BBB, Olustee 1864. A bloody knife fight in open terrain, this was a Confederate victory and the only major land battel in Florida in the US Civil War. You can find it in the Material for Wargaming page, the BBB Groups io file section, and at this link.
Enjoy and a Happy New Year to all!
The 2nd Meeting fo the Atlanta Eastside Light Irregualrs was a blast. Me, Robert, and Khayman came together at Challenge Games and Comics and I hosted with my LJdPB Gribomvo 1897 scenario using Bloody Big Battles. I took command of the Ottoman defenders, and Robert and Khayman too command of a Greek brigade each. Khayman drove twards Hnaopoulo and Gribomvo, while Robert to to the bridge. All in all the game was fun with the Greeks attaining victory at the start of Turn 6. Both players were new to BBB but quickly grasped the rule (helped by the detailed QRS made by one BBB groups.io member).
The dedicated mat and terrain got good comments, and the rules were also praised for their ability to give a good game, and provide players with options. All in all a good end to the year.
Photos
Set up and Early Stages of the Game
During my four day move from Elko, NV to Atlanta, GA, I decided to take a break and visit the Stones River National Battlefield. While I knew about the battle, I had never researched it, but it was on the way, and I had visited Kennesaw in the past. A fast visit, to what is a nice, compact battlefield with a small museum. Was not able to walk the grounds (did the car tour) but will definitely visit again.
Here is a video
Here are some pictures
This Tuesday we had a double whammy. Two games at XP, and for a day that on the colander is called WH40k day, not a Citadel Miniature in sight!
We began with Darren and me playing my Bloody Big Battles, Le Journal De Petite Battailes format Gribomvo 1897 scenario. I took the Ottoman side and Darren the Greek side. This was Darren's second game of BBB. He focused the Greeks on converging attacks on Hanopoulo and Gribomvo and won. We both rolled pretty high and there were a lot of spend and ammo low units, but ultimately the Greeks powered through.
I went to XP on Tuesday and set up both my Gribomvo 1897 LJdPB BBB scenario and my Combat Patrol Set up. Usually Vern comes by and he does not play 40k, but he had a mishap, so I played a game of Combat Patrol with Darren. He played the new Tau Combat Patrol and I the old one. We narrated it as a Farsight Enclaves vs .Ethereal battle. In the end I lost decisively, though we both lost most of our forces (My ghost-keel survived, and his Devilfish and breachers) . A good game.
Then Darren obliged me and we played a bit BBB only getting two turns in, but hopefully helping him get the logic of the rules.
Here are random photos from both games.
After two years, I finally got a chance to play some Bloody Big Battles. The plan was to run a remote game with others, but technical difficulties meant I had to solo it, while the other watched and listened. I ran my draft Gribomvo 1897 scenario. I was able to play four turns before having to call it quits. The scenario is difficulty for the Greeks, though I do think a Draw is doable. I am very happy with the terrain setup, which only took 20 mins to put together. I am definetly going to run this for the local group.
Greeting to all, and a good start of Lent for Orthodox Christians.
This week I did three hobby things:
1) Painted a proxy miniature for a commissar for 40k. The miniature is the Khurasan Miniatures Genocidal Overlord which is a great sculpt. I added a green-stuff hussar pelisse, and Perry Miniatures War of the Roses hanger sword in the scabbard. An easy miniature to assemble and paint.
2. Finished my Gribomvo 1897 dedicated terrain set. Now I can run a demo game at the club, and also remote games. I used office depot cork tiles for elavations.
3. Played a four player, two team game of Combat Patrol at Table Top Simulator. I do not count this in my hobby playing, as no physical figurines or markers were moved, but we had fun, and I was on the winning team (Tau and Dark Angels). A learning game for two of my mate. We will play again.
Gaming schedule should be good. Tomorrow I am running a demo on Saga: Age of Magic. Saturday maybe a learning game of CP for others. Then we have Legion Imperialis campaign, Xenos Rampant, Underworlds, and then back to CP.
Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2024 brings you all peace, love, health and prosperity.
I was able to finish most of what had in progress for 2023 before the turn of the year. This makes me happy. Among those was finally finishing Shenandoah Summer: The 1864 Valley Campaign by Scott C. Patchan. This is a great book on a less well known campaign of the US Civil War. It covers the Jubal Early's Shenandoah campaign between his evacuation from the skirmishers at Fort Stevens , and the arrival of Phillip Sheridan. The epicenter is the 2nd Battle of Kernstown, a nasty Union defeat, were Early out-generaled George Crook (more well known for his involvement in the wars with Native Americans, and then his advocacy on behalf of their rights).
My interest for this campaign is that there is an Altar of Freedom scenario for this battle, and that it fits a 36x36 inch table.
Patchan is a an excellent writer with a good knack to know how to balance the big pictures with tiny details. His writing is brisk and he brings to life a campaign that is dotted with many interesting brigade and division level actions (though once must keep in mind, that in many cases US Civil War brigades were the size of European battalions, and divisions the size of European regiments and brigades).
You have the Battle of Cool Springs, July 18, 1864, a Confederate victory, but also an excellent example of how even the tiniest terrain detail, a wall in this case, can make the difference between destruction and salvation. A dogged Union defense along a stone wall with their backs on a river, avoided the kind of catastrophe that happened in Ball's Bluff.
Then you have the Battle of Rutherford Farm's, July 20, 1864, were once more terrain determines victory and defeat. In this case a subtle terrain feature divides Ramsuer's veteran division as it is attacking a inferior in numbers and experience Union force under Averell, who then proceeds to beat the Confederates. One of those battles that show that veteran status does not always determine the worth of soldiers.
The Confederates get their blood back at 2nd Kernstown, were simply put Crook drops the ball. They inflict a stingy defeat on the Union side, which leads to a route by the support elements, though Crook did show grit in helping arrange a retreat that saved his army.
Then we get the Chambersburg Raid, and Averell's revenge for it in the "Battle" of Moorfield where the numerically inferior Union cavalry surprised the unprepared Confederates and routed them without mercy (this one would be a very one sided scenario).
Thus a very rich campaign especially for players seeking tough but interesting scenarios at the command level of brigade and division. Patchan spends time conducting a proper analysis of the reasons for victory and defeat for each action, and then makes a good argument about the limitations of Early when it came to grasping what exactly his task was. I would say he is fair to both sides. He does focus a bit on Colonel James A. Mulligan who died at 2nd Kernstown.
A very good book that got my excited for my build for 2nd Kernstown.
Having finished my current crop of painting projects, I decided to take stock of the state of my collection. I moved back to the US in August 2022 after nine years in Turkey (which were good wargaming years thanks to Onur, Nacho, Doruk and all the people that are in the hobby there).
In January 2023 I prepared a budget that would cover my plans for the next five years. Using that as a benchmark, let us see where we are.
Let us see what I got, what I will need to budget for until 2028, and what changes I am making.
Ali from Iliada Game Studio was nice enough to gift me some of his lasercut, soft mdf infra structures from his ancient world line (Click here).
While a bit of a challenge to put together, they look great once placed on a base with flocking and vegetation. They come already painted. They will be used for my 10mm games. I highly recommend them.
I salvaged the presentation post for mine and Chris Pringle's Bloody Big Balkan Battles! scenario book from the Old Site. You can reach it as a page on this new site, or by clicking here.
I finally got the chance to play a face to face historical game since my last one in Istanbul/Constantinople in January 2023. Vern, our resident GW master (he has many collections from various GW games), was willing to accommodate me. We played a minigame scenario with the Neil Thoma's Wargaming 19th Century Europe rules, using my 10mm 1897 Greek and Ottoman collections.
Now Neil Thomas rules got me into 19th century wargaming, but quite quickly after I used them, I got Bloody Big Battles , and it won me over. I am not disparaging the NT19TH rules. They are great for what they are aimed at (an introductory set) but I also will not delude myself. They are thin gruel compared to BBB. But BBB does require dedicated terrain, and until I get a board for Grimbovo 1897 made, I cannot really do them justice. When rich broth is not available one must enjoy the thin gruel. And enjoy we did.
I kept the force similar, three infantry units, one skirmisher unit, and one artillery unit per side. I more or less set up the table as close to the sample scenario map in the rulebook. I commanded the Padishah's askerlik, while Vern commanded my countrymen.
The game went fast, after a bit of explanation of rules, and ended in a draw. We both ended up focusing on one of the two objectives (the village), which changed hands twice. It was quite bloody with the Greeks losing one infantry unit and their artillery, and the Ottomans losing their skirmishers and two infantry units.
Unfortunately I did not take good photos. But here are the best of the bunch
Other hobby news
1) Started painting the Tau.
2) Finished reading Xenos Rampant. I am very excited to try it.
3) Rebased the Greek and Ottoman cavalry.
4) Order some movement trays for my 25mm stuff and model trees.
I was able to get some things done this week
1) I ordered and got Xenos Rampant
2) I glued the Tau Breacher team I had gotten to support the local store. They were destined for Kill Team, but will also be used for Xenos Rampant
3) I glued the 10 Poxwalkers I had gotten to support the local store and complete a 500 point 40K Death Guard force. They will be used for Xenos Rampant.
4) Rebased all my 10mm Greek and Ottoman 1897 infantry from 20x20mm to 40x20mm bases. I still need to a) rebase the calvary on 40x20mm bases and get dismounted models (with one exception during the First Battle of Velestino, Greek and Ottoman cavalry fought dismounted. While Greeks can be covered by ACW Union in kepi calvary, Ottomans in 1877 or 1897 version are not served by any existing range b) extend the artillery 25x25mm bases to 40x25 bases (maybe adding cassions).,c ) limbers for all my guns.
Then is the need to extend the collections so that I can fight Domokos (I have enough for the LJdPB Grimbovo and 2nd Velestino Scenarios)
Pictures below of my revamped infantry
The next draft scenario in the Le Journal De Pettite Battailes framework, powered by Bloody Big Battles is now ready! Fight the Battle of Gisikon 1847, when decisive action following a brilliant campaign ended the Sonderbund War in Switzerland with miniscule losses. A campaign that justifies putting Federal commander Guillaume Henri Dufour among the greats of military history, and one of the few to come the closet to living up to Sun Tzu's call to win a war without fighting.
You can find the Scenario though this link LJdPB Gisikon 1847 , which is also posted in the Wargaming Materials page of this blog. It is also uploaded to the BBB Groups.io website.
Here is an update of what I am doing
1) Printed and played Brave Little Belgium
2) Rebasing! When in lack of action or money, a wargamer can always keep themselves active with rebasing. (Or perhaps it is the curse of the idle minds). Since I decided to focus on smaller table scenarios and actions, I wanted to rebase my Greek and Ottoman 1897 forces from there 20x20 mm square bases to 40x20mm bases, as the second are more accommodating to spectacle. I have rebased most of my Greek infantry and need to do the Ottomans. I will need to purchase some more figures to bring the armies to a look I want (including 1) limbers or mule trains for guns 2) dismounted cavalry 3) more irregular infantry).
That is the news.
In the old Leadhead PhD I had made a number of posts on a fictional US-France war over Mexico in 1865-1868. I now saw that the wayback machine on the internet archive had saved part of it. I quickly made it into a pdf and uploaded it to my google drive. You can get it by going to the Material for Wargaming Page of this blog or directly at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b6dbx2leqtkxh6Ij-Gg-IxcJwQJdx2EZ/view?usp=sharing .
The remote game we had with Vincent really has fired me up! I now have at least one confirmation that the philosophy of LJdPB places BBB again within my reach. And it has led me to ambitiously consider multiple scenarios. I probably am biting more than I can chew, but darn it, it feels good to be fired up!
Here are some scenarios I am thinking for future treatment under LJdPB (these are separate from the 1919-1922 scenarios) . If you want to help with designing some of them, feel free to contact me at ktravlos(at)yahoo(dot)com. I am looking at scenarios which saw roughly 10,000-60,000 men combined for both sides present and were there is at least enough info for a 1000 men per base scale, and that can be played in 3x3 table (the goal is about 10-20 bases per side, scales can be 500,1000,3000 men per base).
One or Two Scenarios from the First Carlist War (need to get sources)
Gisikon/Gilsikon 1847 "Henri Dufour's brilliant victory"
Goito 1848 "The Futile Victory"
One or Two Scenarios from the Frist Schleswig-Holstein War
Olusteee 1864 "Seymours Southern Folly"
Curupaity 1866 "Desperate Assault by the Paraguay River"
Avay 1868 "Caxias closes the trap"
Tarapaca 1879 "A desert defeat for the Chileans"
Chalchuapa 1885 "End of Rufino Barrios"
Concos and Placilla 1891 "Civil War in Chile"
Driskos 1912 "The Redshirts shed their blood"
I was honored to get a chance to playtest the LJDPB Oeversee 1864 scenario with the indefatigable Vincent Tsao (he blogs at the Corlears Hook Fencibles ) . The game was over zoom (we will explore Discrod for future games). It was excellent. I took the Austrians and Vincent the Danes. I made severla mistakes and the game ended in my defeat. But it was a good test of not just the specific scenario but the whole logic of LJdPB.
1. The scenario ran fast. We were done in an hour and several minutes.
2. The low number of units made it easy to keep track of the game even online
3. Of course the low number of units does mean luck will have a bigger impact than in a normal BBB game. But the short play time permits determined players to run the same scenario twice. There is a DBA logic here, which I think works.
4. All in all I am happy. This worked exactly as I had it in my mind. It is a very different way to play BBB but there is still the BBB spirit of rewarding good tactics and punishing bad.
5. The scenario is balanced for the Draw result, but an Austrian victory would be hard. Still I aim for balance on the draw result.
All in all a good quick game! It was really nice to meet Vincent face to face even if remote. I might in the future organize a remote multi game day of LJdPB scenarios.
Vincent wrote a AAR at his blog at Corlears Hook Fencibles
After a very very long time, I got to play a game of BBB with Nacho. We ran Vincent Tsao's Champion Hill 1862 scenario. We used my old 10mm ACW Pendraken collection (now gifted to Nacho) .
We had a blast, once more appreciating what a great operational level system BBB is for 19th century, early 20th Century gaming. I commanded the Union and Nacho the Rebels. I lost too much time with traffic jams, and then his unit on Champion Hill proved more stubborn than historically, while Bowen's unit held fast forcing my lines back. In the end I took the hill, but could not push on for more objectives. A good balanced scenario. Losses were comparable for both sides, about the equivalent of ten thousand men, but of course this will be more heavy for the smaller Rebel army.
The Table set up
Union reinforcements
Another action shot
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