With all this ACW Action Going On it’s finally motivated me to resume construction of my 28mm ACW forces – I’ll be building both Union & Confederate Forces to provide opposing armies, and as originally mentioned I was looking at building these forces initially for Fire & Fury (for both Brigade & Regimental level games). However now that Sam Mustafa has Longstreet due as the next game in the Honour series I’ll be looking to build them principally for that but still compatible for Fire & Fury as well (and obviously they will be usable for Black Powder and similar if needed). I started this project about 4-5 years ago and got a portion of the troops painted up but then ground to a halt – however I’ve now started basing the painted troops and have more under-way, so here’s some photos of the initial portion of my Union forces…
Tag: 1863
Marching On Richmond: Winter 1863
After our Bristoe campaign we moved into our winter quarters in early November 1863, however shortly after we were involved in the failed Mine Run Campaign through the wilderness (vaguely familiar terrain), but after it’s inconclusive result we soon retired and then encamped at Brandy Station, in Virginia, until the spring. During the winter my division suffered much attrition, but the men were cheered by the arrival of fresh units, including the smart looking 5th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment (finally we would have our eyes back, something we had missed since the 5th Cavalry had departed us in mid-1862), and Battery A of the Maryland Light Artillery, as always with our artillery a fine looking professional formation. Being an ex-Artilleryman I was much impressed by them, as with all our fine gunners!
Marching On Richmond: Bristoe 1863
As previously described to my readers, we had been recovering from our battle that was the preview to the great fight at Gettysburg. We had steadily but slowly pursued General Lee into central Virginia, but then in October he had suddenly turned around and marched North again, endeavouring to turn our western flank and get behind us (to cut us off from Washington). Retiring along the Orange & Alexandria Railroad we shadowed Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia as both armies moved north.
Marching On Richmond: Fall 1863
Following on from our action on the Gettysburg-Hanover railroad, a major action was fought by the Army of the Potomac against General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia – this epic 3 day encounter was thought to have decided the war, but as usual the Confederates managed to slip away from us and retire to the safety of Virginia with our pursuit proving cumbersome and erratic. The outstanding performance of our new commander (General Meade) at Gettysburg was somewhat tarred by the escape of Lee and ‘his boys’ and we spent the next two months playing a very ponderous game of cat and mouse around Northern Virginia! However good news had come from the west, at the same as we were at Gettysburg, my namesake General ‘Ulysses’ S. Grant had defeated the rebs at Vicksburg, and finally wrestled control of the mighty Mississippi – the Confederacy was cut in two. Shortly after General Grant was promoted to command of all the U.S. armies and headed east to join us, basing himself with the Army of the Potomac.
Marching On Richmond: Pennsylvania 1863
A few weeks after our defeat at Chancellorsville, as we were reorganising my division as previously described, General Robert E. lee suddenly invaded the north again, this time heading for Pennsylvania! By the time our army was aware of his manoeuvre he had a sizeable head start, but we hurried after him with much greater vigour than previous occasions, heading through Maryland into the heart of Pennsylvania. As we neared the end of June our commander (Joe Hooker) was replaced by yet another new commander, General George Meade was now head of the Army of the Potomac. However meanwhile, unknown to us, General J.E.B. Stuart had taken his cavalry off on a wild raid deep into our territory, effectively leaving the main CSA army blind, and as a result we blundered into him in late June catching up on part of one of his corps, and forcing on them a hasty defensive battle. We were several miles north of a town called Gettysburg, along the Gettysburg-Hanover railroad, and the date was the 30 June 1863.
Marching On Richmond: May 1863
Following our army’s defeat at Chancellorsville and our withdrawal back across the Rappahannock we again had a period of some inactivity, during which we reorganised our forces and received further replacements. My Division were in fairly good spirits (as we had been victorious at the Cornfields), but we had a large number of men who had succumbed to injury, wounds, or illness during the previous campaign, and despite the Summer weather attrition had taken it’s toll. However we had also heard the enemy had suffered a great leadership loss, the great Stonewall Jackson had apparently been shot by his own men (a sad end to a great warrior). It was at this juncture, and in anticipation of a new summer campaign in the coming weeks, that I took the difficult decision of merging some of my regiments, their numbers having fallen to only that of the strength of 1-2 companies, and therefore their combat effectiveness was becoming questionable. To try and reduce the resentment this would cause the regiments that were broken up were sent as replacements to their closest ‘neighbouring’ regiments – in the hope this would smooth the transition.
Marching On Richmond: The Cornfields 1863
After our breaking from winter quarters we began a march once more into Virginia, tasked with joining the balance of the army of the Potomac that had wintered in the vicinity of Fredericksburg, and was now under the command of Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker. By late April the army was fully assembled and our new commander was preparing to launch his grand offensive, which you will of course now know dear reader culminates in the great battle of Chancellorsville, and we were to be in the vanguard. Setting forth on the last days of April we had crossed the Rappahannock and now pushed our columns forward through the wilderness and outlying Confederate Pickets, and headed South-East, towards the open farmland in the rear of General Lee’s army at Fredericksburg. Sporadic actions developed over these days but it was on the 1 May 1863 that the first serious clashes occurred, and we were involved…
Continue reading “Marching On Richmond: The Cornfields 1863”
Black Powder ACW at the AWC
On Sunday a couple of the guys at the AWC played their first Black Powder game set in the ACW (American Civil War) – I was unable to attend, but Lee Heath has posted a brief report and a couple of photos on his blog Project Black Powder. I’ll be looking forward to hopefully getting in on the next game and maybe I should make a start on basing up my painted 28mm Union & Rebel troops (who have been actually waiting for the balance of the figs to get painted before I base them but perhaps I should forgo that and just get on with basing them)… Continue reading “Black Powder ACW at the AWC”
Regimental Fire and Fury finally released!
At HistoriCon in late July Rich Hasenauer’s Regimental version of Fire & Fury was finally released! This is something many of us ACW Gamers have been waiting for for sometime and finally it’s here.
A Hardcover 96 page book with the same standard of colour photos & illustrations as was present in the original Brigade level rules. I’ll be looking to acquire a copy of these ASAP and see how they look – it’s also incentive to resume progress on my 28mm ACW armies! Continue reading “Regimental Fire and Fury finally released!”
Fire & Fury: The ACW in 28mm
This is an all new section – during 2009 I’ll hopefully be building brand new Armies in 28mm for use with the Fire & Fury (both Brigade & Regimental versions of the rules). Previously I played Fire & Fury extensively in 15mm, from when it was released in the early ’90s until about 2000, at which time I sold all my 15mm ACW forces & terrain. I am looking forward to getting back into it in 28mm. Continue reading “Fire & Fury: The ACW in 28mm”