Historicon 2013 - Manassas 152nd Anniversary (21 July)

We had some great timing getting to the Battlefield in time to see the Gun and Musket demonstrations for the 152nd anniversary of the Battle.  During our walk of the Field we met and older Gentleman who told us a story of his Great Grandfather who fought and died here during the opening battle of the Civil War.

The artillery demonstration began with a very good narrative about the battle and the big guns that were used there.  They used a half charge for the demo and man no matter if you have seen or heard this before it tends to startle you a little.  They fired the weapon twice and on the second shot the wind had shifted into our face and the smoke and smell was pretty cool.

As they mentioned, pictures 11 more guns firing at the same time all day long.  The noise, the smoke, the repeated echo of the muskets with all the yelling going on.  It had to be pretty intense.  

The same for the 6 man musket demonstration.  Pretty cool to watch them load and reload and starting to feel the pressure they must have been under loading rounds with Rebs or Yanks closing in on you.

Outstanding day we had!  Of course the humidity was stifling, but well worth being there.

Union Parrott Rifles (Henry House)

Battery Crew?

Wife Julie and Aaron

Rebel Infantry providing firing demonstration

Matt engages the actors. (Henry House).

The Jackson Statue

Matt standing near the Robinson House on the Rebel right.

The Rebel Gun Line facing Henry House.

Julie and Aaron near a Rebel Smoothbore pointed at the Henry house about 220 yards away.

View of Stone House with Matthew's Hill right behind.

Henry House

Aaron checking out the Reb's equipment

View of the reverse slope behind Rickett's Battery and Henry house.  

Yankee view from Griffin's Battery on far right of Union Line.

Knights Cross (KC!) Pacific Battle (2 June 2013)

Jap Zero and Corsair on fire! (Pictured: Dan C., Ray G. and Doug W.  Note the Japanese Pilots were in disgrace and refused to pose for picture)

Well today we played a game of Knights Cross.  We introduced some new players to KC! and along with the rest of us we had a blast.

For the USMC Pilots we had Veteran Capt. Doug W. fighting along side his two new wingmen Lt. Ray G. and Lt. Dan C. getting some patrol time in their new Corsairs.  On the Imperial Japanese side we had Capt. Andrew san, Lt. Aaron san and Capt. Gurulesaki san flying in their Zeke's.

Cocky Lt. Dan C., going after the helpless Bombers (Kate's just out of view on left.)

Morning Patrol
As the morning sun was rising over the Pacific three Corsairs from their base at Bougainville were on patrol over the highly contested waters.  The Japanese were torpedoing US Destroyers in the area and the Marines were sending out numerous patrols to intercept whenever possible.

My Zero looking for a target.

While on this patrol Capt. Doug. W. spotted Japanese aircraft flying on the deck in the opposite direction just off his nose on his right.   At the same time the Japanese Torpedo Bombers or  Kate's spotted the Corsairs started screaming into their radios for their escort of Zekes to attack while they made a run for it.

"Tally ho!" was heard over the Corsair Radios and it was Game on!  Immediately the Zeke's turned into the banking and diving Corsairs while the two Kate's put "balls to the wall" to try and get out of there.

The Zeke's or Zero's are deadly adversaries at lower speeds where the Corsairs had to maintain a good pace in order for them to maneuver with the Zero's.  In the early stages of the battle the two new Corsair drivers were feeling out their aircraft which gave the Japanese fighters some time to try and keep them off the Kate's tail.

The trailing two Zeros trying to help IJN Capt. Andrew san who is chasing a Corsair with two more on his tail.

As the battle waged on it seemed like the Marines were a little more disciplined and maneuvered to cover each other where the Japanese were scattering to try and stop the destruction of their Torpedo Bombers.  It was to no avail trying to hold off the Marines.  Both of the Japanese Bombers were sent down in flames into the ocean.  The Japanese took a heavy toll with the American's superior (lucky?) maneuvering and getting close range shots with their six .50's.  A Zero just can't take that much damage and the battle ended with the two bombers and two Zero's lost to no losses to the Marines.

The last turn of the battle had everyone spacing out to disengage.

Aftermath
At the end of the battle the damaged Marine Flight took it back to base while the remaining Japanese limped back to their carrier to lick their wounds. With the final scoring tally of the Japanese 4 to the Marines overwhelming 11.5 it was obvious who was the Battle victors today.  (Note: for this battle we offered battle points for hitting and destroying targets.  Only kills against actual opponents will be counted for the Pacific Campaign.)

Pacific Campaign Battle 1 (USMC Victory)
USMC Lt. Dan C. 2 Zero Kills/2 Bomber Kills (Note: 7 hits on the enemy with 4 total kills)
USMC Lt. Ray G. (Note: Devastatingly good flying and effective firing (5 hits on the enemy) just missing a couple of kills)
USMC Capt. Doug W. (Note: Old Vet skillfully taking his shots and commanding the flight.  4 hits on the enemy)

IJN Lt. Aaron san (Note: 2 hits on the enemy. Spent much of the battle either on fire or smoking.  The fire itself was burning up his aircraft but he still made it back to the carrier although he had to crash land his aircraft.)
IJN Capt. Andrew san (Note: 3 hits on the enemy.  Andrew san didn't have much help from his wingmen in this battle.  Made it back to the carrier safely.
IJN Capt. Gurulesaki san.  Killed in Action by USMC Lt. Dan C. Scored 3 hits on the enemy before going down in flames.  Close range shots ripped the wings off.
IJN Lt. Gurunaga san.  Killed in Action by USMC Lt. Dan C.  Joined late in the battle and made a terrible miscalculation on the Corsairs speed and got a close range blast that ripped his wings off destroying his aircraft in midair.

Dan's New Wargame Table!

Well its only taken over 40 years of gaming and I finally have my own dedicated Wargame Table.  I still have a few things to do but its almost there!  Here are some pictures of the construction which was pretty easy after purchasing a workbench leg kit.  

So it only took about 9 studs and 3 sheets of plywood.  I picked out a pretty good grade so I had a nice smooth surface.  This set me up with a 4 x 8 foot surface just under 36 inches high.  When I finish off the last steps I will mount a ping pong table top to it.  This will increase the playing surface to 9 x 5 foot and give it some nice "lines." 

The 4 x 8 is great for most of the gaming that I do.  But, it is not quite wide enough for Naval or a good Knights Cross WWII Fighter battle.   Or even now that I have dived into 28mm Skirmish combat...I need some rooooom!

So the leg set is made of industrial strength plastic with the holes and shelf steps ready to go.  You can get the Work Bench Leg set from Rockler Woodworking store (http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=31136&site=ROCKLER).  They make it so easy!

So here is a better picture of my new Wargame area.  By the way, the table has some pretty good weight to it.  The next step is that I am going to stain the wood a darker color and add some slides on the 2nd and 3rd levels.  The slides will allow me to pull out large flat drawers to get to the terrain I will store on those levels.  I am also going to add some drink holders, pullout flat tables to put rules on, etc.   There is still much to do, but if I am going to take 40 years to make it happen, well I better do it right.

                                     

You might have noticed that a sink area went up at the same time in the background.  There will be more stuff to mount up, i.e., more cabinets, backsplash etc.  Always like to have some Coffee and cold drinks on hand for my gaming colleagues.  I had a cold water sink for coffee and tea making, brush washing, etc.  I also had to have a refrigerator installed.  I mean, like I told the Wife, "you can't be expected to leave the table in the heat of battle for very long!"

I look forward to inviting my friends in for many battles to come! I will post more updates in a couple of weeks along with a tour of the entire new "man cave."

Adelante!

Dan

DBA Tourney at Genghis Con 2013

DBA Tournament at Genghis Con 2013

John Brown coordinated the annual Genghis Con DBA Tournament.  Of course CSGA showed up to take on a little revenge from the last DBX Throwdown.  As usual it was well organized and everyone had a good time.  Here are some pictures from the event held on Sunday 17 February.  Now I didn't stay for the whole event but I do know that Roy had a tough time against Matt and John...

Battle of Zorndorf, 1758

Well the last of the 2012 Battles in Matt's Basement has been concluded.  The players that showed up went out with a fire and bayonet.  Matt usually throws down two major battles a year at his house.  So with Andrew and Eric playing the Russians and Bob and I playing the Prussians we had a great battle using the Age of Honor rules. Matt ran the game as the Game Master which kept us on track with the playing sequence and the rules differences from the regular Fire and Fury rules of which we are all accustom.

Matt describing the Battle

We all showed up around 1000 this last Saturday morning.  We lost Pat due to illness but we had plenty of players to conduct battle.  Matt very thoroughly described the battle, rules differences between F&F and went over the terrain. This was the first time I think any of us played a Seven Years War period battle.

The Russian Left/Prussian Right - Cavalry squaring off

The Russians outnumbered the Prussians and at first look thought the Prussian right flank facing those big Russian Cavalry units was going to be trouble.  The left flank had a stream along the near edge which squeezed both sides cavalry over rough going which slowed down that side of the field's attacks.   One interesting note was that the Infantry during this SYW period did not use the square regularly.

Prussian Cavalry Charge the Hill!

On both flanks we had large Cavalry charges  but without any major breakthroughs.  The die rolls were just not that great.  The modifiers were different, for example, they differentiate cavalry as Trotters, Gallopers, armored heavy, heavy, etc. Very interesting and to me resembled Regimental Fire and Fury modifiers.

Andrew checking out the Quick Reference Sheet

The Quick reference sheets are just as easy to use as the regular F&F.  Some other modifiers of note were that Prussian Line had  3 fire points on first fire and then became a 2. The Russian line are at a 1.5 but their Artillery in this period were superior.

The Prussian Left Flank Cavalry Charge!  

 In the picture above along the stream you can see where my Prussian Grenadiers got hammered by an Artillery crossfire and never made it into combat.  I kept feeding in troops to keep up the pressure and angled our reserve to the center where Andrew was fighting with "Corps of Observation" troops which fight more like Militia.  They ended up falling back due to failing morale checks towards the end of the battle.  Historically those troops fought like Grenadiers and Frederick was surprised at their tenacity.

Andrew (Russian) and Bob (Prussian) Cavalry slugged it out the whole battle.

 A the battle wore on we could see that there was not going to be a clear victory here.  The Russian flanks were still secure but the center did have a bulge where Andrew was busy dressing his Russian lines waiting for a large Prussian Dragoon attack.  I think that would have been more like the Charge of the Light Brigade because charging into a horseshoe shaped open ground was not too inviting.  So we called the battle at that point.

Russian and Prussian Cavalry Clash!

 Thanks to Matt who provided drinks and food and setting up another great battle.  I looked forward to the next SYW battle.

Happy New Year!

Dan

As the Prussian Cavalry move on the Flank, Eric (Russian) sets up his defense along the stream.

In the center the Prussians set up their Batteries to get those Ruskies out of the woods.

Action on the right center of the Prussian Line.  Bob's Prussians advance!

Andrew (Russian) counter charging the Prussian to no avail!

Hot action all along the line.

We finally called it a day after about 4 hours of battle.

GHQ Armor for Sale!

All,

I apologize to my friend for not putting these out sooner.  If you were at our CMH Vet Wars we had a lot of nice stuff being traded and sold at the swap meet.  I promised that I would post the pictures of all that Armor that are looking for a home.  This is a good time to get some GHQ World War II armor at some good prices.

If anyone is interested email or call me to let me know what you are looking for .  I will check to see what he has on hand.

Dan

GHQ WWII Armor

Tons of Armor looking for a home

German SPG

Russians!

Trays and Trays of armor

Aircraft too!