A (small) Railway Incident

Introduction

In my imaginary state of New Wiltshire, the American Civil War is being fought primarily between General Gilder (CSA) and General Wise (USA). General Gilder's army marching towards Washington is constantly short of supplies. On hearing of a large depot full of food and ammunition on the edge of Scrubyville (County Featherstone), the General hits upon a bold plan and despatches 2 regiments of infantry and a squad of his favourite cavalry to capture the 10:00 train to Scrubyville Junction...
This battle drew inspiration from the Railway Incident Tabletop Teaser by C.S.Grant published in Military Modelling in March 1979. PW rules were used with the following variations. Infantry Regiments had 10 SPs, the cavalry squad 4 SPs and the Junction box guard unit had 2 SPs. Cavalry took 1 grid square move to dismount and fight as infantry (and vice versa). After the enemy was sighted from the Junction box the guard would roll a dice each turn to see if they got a telegraph through to the town. The captured train would arrive on turn 6. It would take 4 unhindered turns for a regiment to load the supplies onto the train. It took 1 turn to disembark a regiment from the train during which they could take hits but not return fire. Exhaustion Point was set at 50% hits.

Game

Scrubyville Jnc.

Junction box guard

Town garrison

Confederate cavalry race up the line

Dismounting they attack the guards

End of turn 2, the cavalry have taken hits and the town has been alerted

End of turn 5, CSA cavalry have captured and changed the points

Turn 6 the train arrives and 1 regiment disembarks

Union forces in position start firing on the disembarking troops

The train rattles on into the station and the second regiment climb down into the face of the Zouaves 

The remounted cavalry head for town

The Zouaves have fallen back from fierce CSA melee and meet the bold cavalry!

Turn 12 - the Zouaves are still fighting the remaining cavalry and the train is nearly loaded!!

The train, now full of supplies moves out leaving the soldiers to fight their way out

The Zouaves have finally killed off the cavalry

With what can only be described as a rebel yell, the CSA regiment forces back the Zouaves

The remnants of the other CSA regiment fall back under fire and eventually leave the field

The Zouaves continued to fall back and at turn 16 the battle was over

The Union Colonel wonders if he'll have a commission tomorrow morning

Invasion

Introduction, in which the scene is set

The little Kingdom of Nearsea (so named due to its proximity to a large body of saline water) is a "flickering light in a dark and chaotic world", according to the Church that is. Currently it is threatened by an invading force of "Wild men" from the East. This large group of wandering peoples is an amalgamation of tribes who have been forced to migrate by something clearly more aggressive and unpleasant than themselves. Led by their Paramount Chief, Ragnar Greybeard, they are now drawing nearer to the Kingdom looking for somewhere to settle. Hearing that the people of Nearsea are a tough breed, Ragnar has employed the services of a Giant from the Northern Isles, Angus the Terrible (who it is said was personally responsible for the Great Stool of Scooone).
Ragnar and a force of his men, accompanied by Angus, approach the town of Homlett from the hills to the North. The local Lord is Sir Edmund (Overprivileged) who's serfs saw off the Hungry Trolls (see below).

Ragnar Greybeard and bodyguard

Angus the Terrible

Game

Peasants move their kine into the town

The two forces (note the half built wall on the right - an attempt to keep out the migrants)

The enemy approach

Ragnar holds back hoping the Giant will do the work

First blows - the peasants hold their ground - the townsmen tackle the giant

On the right peasants and woodsmen hold firm too

The Wild Men fall back and regroup

Angus is taking hits from front and flank

Ragnar joins the fight

The centre collapses

The left flank weakens

Turn 6 and the Barbarians are through the wall and in the town

Turn 9 - the defenders are just hanging on

but the enemy are beginning to fire the town

Angus takes another hit, goes berserk and leaves (see house rules)

Sir Edmund and men have reached the end and flee the field

The men of Homlett kept the enemy at bay long enough for the towns folk and peasants to flee South, but now the deserted town is at the mercy of the Wild Men, or migrants (depends on your point of view). What does the future hold for Nearsea?

One Basic Battle

Rambling Intro

Like many people, I started wargaming armed with some boxes of Airfix 1/72nd scale figures and some library copies of Donald Featherstone's marvellous books, and (again like some others I think) that is where I have often returned, in spirit at least. It's a "happy place".  Anyway, it came to my attention recently that it's probably nearly 40 years since I played an American Civil War game in 1/72nd scale (I've played some 2mm ACW which was fun but not quite the same) so I thought I'd put this right. Following is an infantry skirmish in what is likely to be a familiar setting to many, using The Portable Wargame rules.

Game footage

Both Confederate and Union forces started with four infantry units and a commander; the standard bearer was just for the look of the thing and didn't count towards strength points etc.

The battlefield in Battles with Model Soldiers

The Gridded field of conflict

The two forces rush for the cover of the wall

End of Turn 1

Turn 2 - Union troops take the wall but also some casualties

Turn 5 - The exposed Rebels start to wilt under sustained fire

Turn 6 - The Confederates fall back but are rallied again and again

Turn 8 - Disaster for the Union as their Commander falls

Turn 9 - both sides reach Exhaustion Point. The Game is over.

Short, sharp but satisfying - the three S's of Battling with Model Soldiers? Perhaps not for everyone, but I enjoyed this fast little action. I think I'll count this a draw. The South lost more men but the Fed's commander fell so they could take no more decisive action. 

Next time, some more PW Fantasy! (Hopefully).