Chickamauga using the classic Fire & Fury Scenario

Below is an AAR from Bill Moreno about a recent game at SMG's new gaming club house. The War House or Das Kreig Haus! This battle was fought out over a weekend with multiple club members showing up for either one or both days.

Here is a view of the entire table from the loft. All the green areas are woods which restricted everything, ie - movement, sighting, and fire combat. Bill Moreno on the right and Bill Pritchard on the left.

A close up of the Rebs attacking the Union position.

A view from the edge of the woods looking at the Union troops manning their position prior to an attack.

                 Chickamauga using the classic Fire & Fury Scenario
As promised, here is the AAR for our club's annual ACW Weekend. This year I ran Chickamauga using the classic Fire & Fury Scenario. Here is the AAR, picture book style.
By: Bill Moreno.

Opening moves contemplated by CS Command, club members John Rosasco on left played Bragg and Bill Pritchard on left played Bishop Polk.

CS Left advances against Wilder's brigade. They lost three stands immediately to the Spencer-armed brigade. 

Confederates advancing past the Brotherton Home.

 Heavy fighting around the Brotherton home saw the Yanks getting the worst of it early on in the battle.

AP Stewart's Division advances in the center. He attached himself in one of the melees and was captured.

States Rights Gist's Division about to hit the Yanks left flank. 

No action took place around the mill as the Yankee right was quickly bent back towards the center. 

Wilder slowly pulled back while a timid Confederate brigade still picks the lead out of their shell jackets from the first round of combat with Wilder. 

CS advances in the center suffered from poor dicing on both days of the event. The Yanks were able to pull troops out of the center and send them to their left, which was under heavy pressure. 

A view of the center and left shows the exposed flank and heavy fighting off to the Union right. 

Constant action on the Union right made for some heavy casualties and weak combatants on both sides. 

The fighting goes to and fro on the US right. Neither side was able to gain a decisive advantage for much of the game.

 Chaos for the Union left! The CS player has troops in the Yankee rear atop Snodgrass Hill!

A US Counter-Attack on the right regains the Lafayette Road for the time being.

 Confederates counter the Yankee thrust and bend the Union Line back upon itself again.

Wilder re-engages at a critical moment causing more Confederate casualties.

The Yanks are able to regain stability on their left with some localized counter attacks. 

The CS player in the center again has no luck with dice. After temporarily gaining the works, they are almost immediately hit and forced back in the Yankee side of the same turn. 

The Yanks now mount a counter-attack against the Rebs on Snodgrass Hill.

On the right the Yanks assemble a formidable gun line, which again saw the CS player lose three stands and the ensuing melee.

 Govan is surrounded atop Snodgrass Hill and is swept from the field. The hill is once again in Yankee hands.

The CS attack in the center runs out of steam.

Granger arrives and the CS players concede. Final VP tally is US 64 CS 44. Also of note was the capture of both Sheridan AND Forrest.

Hope you enjoyed the AAR. We will run this again at Historicon.

F-154 This Terrible Sound – The Battle
of Chickamauga
American Civil War; 2 PM; Length: 7 hrs; Hosted by: William Moreno;
Scale: 10mm; Rules: Classic Fire & Fury; Sponsor: Good Ground, LLC;
Prize: Bases or 10mm Figures your choice; No. of Players: 10.
The grandest of battles in the West was full of colorful
characters, heroes and goats, and some of the fiercest fighting
of the American Civil War. Come join the maelstrom fought over
custom terrain with Cracker Line and Plank Road Miniatures
from Good Ground, LLC.

http://www.crackerlineminis.com

G.I. BLOOD'N GUTS - a Panzer Korps scenario book review

       G.I. Blood’N Guts, a Panzer Korps scenario book

I have recently received this scenario book, the sixth in the Panzer Korps series. This scenario book is very well done and laid out in an easy to follow format. The scenarios have obviously been extensively researched and thoroughly thought out. This module contains scenarios for the U.S. forces during WWII as the title implies.

As you can tell by the rules title this is not a skirmish set of rules, nor is it a company or battalion level game set. These rules are used for large operational games with divisions and corps maneuvering around the table top. In my humble opinion the rules are very playable, very fun, fast moving, and successfully give the feel of commanding an army during WWII. The scenario books can be easily adapted for other rules sets as well. 

The (11) scenarios are as follows:

Pacific: Henderson Field 1942, & Peleliue 1944.

North Africa: Sidi Bou Zid 1943 & Kasserine Pass 1943.

Sicily: Counterstroke at Gela1943.

France: The Atlantic Wall 1944, Battle for Vire 1944, & Battle of Bayon 1944.

Germany: Breaking the Siegfried Line 1944, The Huertgen Forrest 1944, &

A desperate Gamble the Ardennes west of Bastogne 1944.

The scenarios are set up with several sections, though the lay out for each scenario is not identical, each scenario will have ALL the pertinent info needed to play and enjoy each game. Each scenario starts off with the historical description of the actual battle with a brief synopsis of what happened, why, and which forces were involved. The next section is usually the “Map Notes”. Here you will find specific rules and modifiers for the local weather at the time of the battle and how it affects movement, visibility, cover mods, etc. This section will also contain troop set up, troop entrance locations, and the time of day the battle commences. Following this is the “Victory Conditions” section with a very clear cut explanation of the results required for one side or the other to be declared the winner of each battle. The remaining sections don’t always follow the same order but are still very well done, extremely descriptive and historically accurate.

The Maps themselves are great, very detailed, historically accurate from what I’ve found, and rather easy to replicate on the table top due to their simple layout in design. Here is where I have my ONLY criticism of this book, I’d love to see the maps in color! The legend and the graphics are well done enough to differentiate terrain items but it would be a huge step up to have them in color, just my personal preference. That being said, you can’t have a historically accurate game with out wonderful maps such as these.

*Here is an example map from the book but taken off the internet in color.

The meat and potatoes of each scenario is of course the OOB’s. These show the level of detail and the huge amount of research that has gone into making these scenario books, and all of the Panzer Korps scenario books, the great value that they are. Each scenario has amazingly detailed OOB’s for the forces involved which includes amongst other items, attached support elements, command structures, FO’s, off board artillery, and the special factor in the Panzer Korps rules set, the decorated leaders included in each force. Each sides OOB will contain all the units involved in the noted battles, special notes for each force which may contain air assets, communication notes, reinforcements schedules, option items, notes on why certain units were included or excluded, etc. etc. This is another great bonus of the book and once again shows the huge amount of research that went into this title. In closing I can honesty say that I highly recommend this Panzer Korps scenario book and I look forward to getting all of their scenario books and playing all of the battles, one day.

Here is the Panzer Koprs website, TMP link, and there is also a very active Yahoo group that supports this rules set.

www.panzerkorps.com

Yahoo group: PanzerkorpHQ

http://theminiaturespage.com/news/1972799212

Cheers,

Jeff

Sgtguinness.blogspot.com