Last week I played Gettysburg by Worthington Publishing, giving the first day scenario a run out. Here is a link to an AAR on that game.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3390103/replay-of-day-1

During the game, the Confederate brigades of Scales and Thomas assaulted Stones brigade, sitting up on Pitzer’s Hill. The attack was potentially important because it gave a chance for the Confederates to turn the Union flank. 

I took a photograph of the situation and resolved to play it out as a figures game at some future point - today the figures went onto the table to recreate the scene. The boardgame is scaled so that each counter represents a brigade. For the tabletop, I wanted to go down a level, so I did a bit of research to break each brigade down into its component regiments. 

The boardgame has divisional level artillery, but we need some of that represented on the tabletop, so each side was awarded one battery of artillery.

For terrain, the boardgame situation is dominated by a section of Pitzer’s Hill, which is in fact a long ridge. We can also see that in two corners, streams enter and leave the board, not really impacting on our action, but it is nice to have them there.

Pulling that all together, I came up with this graphic for the battle;

In the boardgame, Scales retreated, but Thomas continued with the attack and pushed Stone off the ridge. Of interest is that in the game Stone and Scales have average morale, but Thomas has weaker morale, yet it was Thomas who successfully took the ridge. Of further interest is that when the brigades are broken down into regiments, the Confederate regiments are smaller and two are much smaller, so we needed to feed all of this into our tabletop game.

Finally because in the boardgame, Scales had retreated early on, I chose to put two out of the three Union regiments, plus their artillery facing them.

Anyway, this is what the opening table looked like.

For play, I used my own home brew rules. The figures are from the Epic ACW set by Warlord Games.

Opening - The Confederate attack got underway. Scales started a little nearer the Union line, so were the first to get the brunt of Union muskets and artillery fire, which was particularly effective. The 34th North Carolina staggered back , falling through 38th and not stopping until they reached the stream. To their immediate right, 16th North Carolina, supported by 13th, ran up the hill to assault the centre Union regiment, but they were thrown back by Union muskets - Scales now needed to reorganise his lines.

Thomas, on the Confederate right advanced confidently. He had four regiments facing just one Union regiment. His Brigades morale was a little lower, but surely the numbers should tell!

The first assault by a single regiment was repulsed, but already his other regiments were moving past the Union flank threatening to undo their line.

Mid Game - Scales on the Confederate left had renewed his attacks, but these quickly unravelled and part of his brigade was falling back, with 22nd NC fleeing the field. However sheer weight of numbers was starting to impact the Union line as Thomas was successfully enveloping the Union left.

It was time for the Union line to start slowly falling back and re-adjust to face the greater threat of Thomas. The Union artillery were slow to get going (they limbered up and then failed their capability test to move) and got caught mid manoeuvre by 13th NC (from Scales brigade). It might have been expected for the artillery to come to great harm, but the gunners were not giving up that easily, there was a violent close combat and 13th NC were sent scurrying back down the hill!

The End Game - Scales brigade was now in full retreat and Thomas (Confederate) was battling hard against the Union left, but both sides were trading accurate and steadfast fire and as casualties rose, it was just a question of which side would yield first.

Thomas tried one more push with his Georgian troops, but two of his regiments were already shattered and the other two just couldn’t move the Union line. With his Brigade close to collapse, Thomas ordered the withdrawal. Stone had held on …. just!, his own casualties mounting and 150th Pennsylvania (on the far Union right) was already in full retreat.

So we have a part reversal of the boardgame situation. Scales did retreat in both games, but in the figures game Thomas couldn’t quite push Stone off the ridge.

The battle certainly went the full distance …. and some, I was unsure who was going to come out on top until the last dice were rolled. But with the lower competency / morale level of Thomas and the resilience of Stones larger regiments, Thomas was just not able to sustain the assault.

To a small degree the Union had got lucky. Their firepower in the early turns was very destructive and several of the important ‘moments’ tipped in the Union favour as a few of the Confederate assaults failed tests and became ‘half hearted’ close combats and for the most part, the Confederates were marked ‘disordered’ as they moved over the high ground (difficult terrain).

Finally the Confederates, to cap it all, were just darned unlucky when they caught that limbering artillery battery, but it escaped their clutches and inflicted so many hits on the attackers.

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Gettysburg 1863, published by Worthington Games has been on the table while I work through the first day scenario.

I have used the designers recent decision to ignore the +1 movement penalty for moving upslope while in column on a road. This allows the initial Union reinforcements to arrive around McPherson’s Ridge in accordance with the historical timetable.

I have not addressed the issue that Heth (Confederate) becomes better than his historical counterpart because he can (and typically will) use all four of his brigades earlier than was the case.

The game is starting at 0700 hours. During the course of the morning, Buford’s (Union) two cavalry brigades are pushed back from Herr Ridge. They expected this, but didn’t expect to lose their artillery (Tidball)!

Wadsworth’s division (Union) arrives just in time to support the cavalry position and Meredith’s Iron Brigade (Union) halted the Union advance.

Photo above -  the two cavalry brigades are under white ‘dismounted’ counters and Archer, has been repulsed twice, with heavy casualties. Meredith is about to counter-attack. 

As the morning wore on, it slowly became apparent that the Union had been too eager to hold the line around McPherson’s ridge. The Iron Brigade had suffered from both constant engagement and from the Confederate guns and now Early’s Confederate brigades were arriving on the battlefield from the south and operating behind the Iron Brigade. It was time for the Union to pull back and maintain a cohesive front.

They were still a little slow in doing this, but they were able to effectively fall back and frustrate the Confederate advance. 

Around 1500 hours the Union commander noted “we have formed an adequate shoulder to defend against the initial Confederate drive up Chamberburg Pike, but I am concerned that in the north, in front of Gettysburg, I am a little stretched in the face of Early’s advance. I would like more artillery”.

The Confederate commander noted “Our progress is satisfactory, but we have yet to manoeuvre meaningfully to unhinge the enemy line. I am working to turn the enemy flank, but their commander, Reynolds (Union senior officer) is a slippery one for sure”.

Just an hour later, the Union mood lowered “We may have been a little tardy in pulling back far enough and fast enough to keep the Confederates at bay. They are now mounting strong attacks on both flanks and should we not hold, I fear we will struggle to recover the day”.

But the Confederates still recognised the difficulties of the moment “We press forwards, but the artillery is not able to keep up. We find ourselves having the advantage of working both of the enemy flanks, but without the artillery, our brave infantry must endure the defensive fire of relatively fresh troops in organised lines. 

Above Photo - the Union left is being pressed - can Stone and Rowley hold?

At 1800 hours, Heth took the Confederate brigades of Davis and Brockenbrough forwards onto the cornerstone of the Union defensive line …. Wainwrights guns! Both brigades were hurled back and Heth was killed.

Around 2200 hours, as darkness descended, the Union had managed to disengage and had formed a defensive line from Culps Hill to the forward slopes of Cemetery Ridge, then turning along the flank onto Seminary Ridge and then continuing down to Spangler’s Woods (this was pretty much the ‘Fishhook’ defensive line that historically developed).

To prevent the battle settling into a frontal assault, Johnson (Confederate) is taking his division towards Spangler’s Woods in an effort to further stretch the Union line and again get that flanking position.

The casualties had been in the region of 6000 men for each side, but critically the Confederates had not been able to capture Culps Hill and Cemetery Ridge and so as night fell, the days fighting would be considered a minor Union victory.

The Union troops that had held the forward positions for too long and had been in the fight from the start, were now tiring. Buford’s two cavalry brigades (Devin and Gamble) were ‘shattered’ and the Iron Brigade had lost around ⅓ (600) of their men.

We can’t be sure what day two will deliver for either side, but the feeling is that the Union lines are solidifying and that the Confederate assault is losing its vigour. 

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I was digging through my copy of Programmed Wargame Scenarios (2nd Edition) by Charles S. Grant and came across Scenario Nineteen …. Fog of War.

The scenario book is intended for figure gamers, but this very simple generic scenario seemed perfect for running out with the Old School Tactical boardgame system.

The author was inspired by the Carcassone tile laying game, which builds up a randomly established playing area. He starts by suggesting a random way of laying down terrain on a 6’ x 4’ figures table and then determines that the players (Red and Blue) each have a mission for a platoon to reconnoitre the ground ahead and destroy any enemy encountered.

The units would arrive in a random order over a few turns on opposing corners of the table. Just  four units from a potential shopping list of 6 units, plus a mandatory command unit would be brought into play.

I am going to use a German / Soviet order of battle.

To get a randomised playing area, I took the 4 small maps from the Red Blitz module and rolling a D6, randomly selected one of them - Map 7, which has industrialised terrain. A D6 was rolled again for a 50 / 50 choice as whether to use the summer or winterised side of the map. So, Summer it is then!

Again the D6 would choose which force would arrive in the top right corner - this turned out to be the Soviets, so the German force would arrive in the opposing corner (bottom left).

There is a very small element of luck in Grant’s scenario for ambush, so each side was dealt a luck card to compensate for that.

Since this is a ‘destroy the enemy’ type scenario, I set the game to play for 10 turns and the winner would be the side that inflicted the greater number of casualty points AND controlled the crossroads located at the centre of the map.

For admin, both sides have a Gut Check value of 7 and Impulse Points of D6+2.

Opening Turns

Over the first three turns, together with their command (Sgt. Kitter & half squad), the Germans get a Sd.Kfz 222 armoured car, two rifle sections plus a mortar strike support (OBA). The armoured car, being the first thing to arrive, made straight for the crossroads and took up position there.

The Soviet command team (Sgt. Zhuralev & a half squad) arrived, followed by their BA-10 armoured car, a rifle section and a sniper. They too got a mortar strike mission for support.

The Soviet armoured car had only travelled a couple of hexes when it bogged down on rough ground (the Germans had played their ‘Rough Ground’ Luck Card on the vehicle.

The Fighting Starts.

The German 222 fired at the Soviet command group as it entered the woods by the clothes factory. The fire was supported by a mortar strike. Though Zhuralev escaped casualties, the blast area closed down Soviet movement and kept Zhuralev in place.

The BA-10 managed to get moving again, sweeping around the top of the clothes factory to suddenly appear above the 222.

PHOTO - The German armoured car has found some additional cover within the hex. Overall, the Germans are in the better positions, as the Soviets are still moving up.

It was essential that the German armoured car should be cleared from the crossroads and so both armoured cars start to trade fire - breath held on every dice roll!

The BA-10 crew became shaken and reversed to get back behind the factory, but just before it vanished from view, the 222 scored a hit and smashed the machine gun. The crew went ‘broken’ and the BA-10 halted …. Still exposed! They gradually recovered their nerves (passing an abandon test), but the 222 kept up its relentless fire, smashing the BA-10’s main gun and forcing the armoured car to retreat, taking no further part in the game.

In the immediate following moments, Zhuralev and his command team, which had worked their way into the clothes factory, were removed from play, suffering casualties from a German rifle section that that had moved up into the house sitting at the crossroads.

At this point, the Soviets had suffered too many casualties, their best means of knocking out the German armoured car had gone following the retreat of the damaged BA-10 and they had no hope of taking the crossroads within the available time and so the game was called.

Summary.

If yet another example was ever needed of an exciting action falling out from having just a few units per side, then here is that example. The action between the armoured cars gave a very good story, with more nuance going on than I was able to show here.

Elsewhere the Soviet sniper was worrying Sgt. Kittel and the German rifle sections had developed good locking fields of fire to defend the crossroads from any probable infantry assault.

The randomness of unit arrival worked very well. There is no certainty that either side will get an armoured car. The German car arriving first gave them the crossroads and then the Germans getting the ‘Rough Ground’ Luck Card just added another wonderful moment of misfortune to the other side.

The Soviets didn’t get a chance to play their ‘Satchel Charge’ card, which would have been an ugly surprise for the German player.

All told, a fine way to spend a Saturday afternoon and an interesting mixing of figure and boardgame resources.

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Scenario 1 Surprise Party

Background - The landings at Anzio caught the German and Italian forces by surprise. As the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division moved inland, pockets of enemy troops would have to be dealt with.

In this scenario, a group of Italian Coastal Defence troops and some local Germans clash with advancing American soldiers.

Map 1 - this is the scenario area. There are two building hexes that are under Italian control. The Americans will win if they can capture both hexes and that there are no good order enemy troops remaining on the board.

The American plan is to advance up the right side of the map to concentrate force against the Italian left flank and unhinge the defence, in the knowledge that reinforcements will join them higher up for the final push amongst the ruins to reach the objective hexes.

Before play the Italians drew the ‘Withering Fire’ Luck Card, which will allow one of their fire attacks to attack twice. The Americans drew the ‘Smokescreen’ card which will allow then to fill 5 consecutive hexes with smoke - which lasts for two turns.

In the opening impulses of the game, the Italians spent their Actions on trying to increase their cover (represents finding better positions within the hex), while the Americans pushed up the flank. The Italian squad covering this avenue of approach perhaps should have pulled back in the face of overwhelming numbers, but their eagerness to stand a bit longer and play the Withering Fire card was too compelling.

Lady Luck was not with them. They took casualties, then laid down ineffectual withering fire and were removed from play after taking another round of casualties.

With their flank protection lost, there was nothing to stop the American advance, now joined by reinforcements, from quickly working their way amongst the buildings.

Catastrophe! Lt. Cantatore perhaps should have moved into the adjacent vacant 1st objective hex to defend it, but instead, he order his Italian squad to fire. Their half hearted fire only served to attract a hail of bullets in return and they too were removed from the game,  the Italians were now obliged to spend their last few precious impulse points in getting other units into more forward positions to protect Objective #1.

They looked like they had just managed to do that when an American squad worked their way through nearby ruins and took the Italian squad out with a satchel charge!

The Italian situation was grave, a nearby German (half squad) unit took their LMG and set themselves up in the 2nd objective hex, their sergeant, a man called Holzer, set about looking for the best firing positions (his first roll for additional cover succeeded). The situation had developed into a ‘Last Stand’.

The Americans had become too confident and a squad moving in the open was taken down by Holzer’s machine gun nest.

The Americans played their Smokescreen card, while they manoeuvred into positions to surround Holzer.

The smoke dispersed and heavy American fire peppered the German position. A double six (nothing is going to survive that!) on the fire dice saw Hotzer’s group off and the Americans, with just one turn to spare, took control of the second objective.

I’m not sure that the Italian player has much hope in this scenario, though once the Americans were clearly going for the right flank, I should have been quicker in shifting the Italian defence to meet it.

The scenario benefits from being a short, infantry only situation and I can see plenty of players coming to this for learning or re-familiarisation of the basic system.

The next scenario in this booklet is ‘Too Little, Too Late’. It deals with increasing German resistance behind Anzio and the Americans must now deal with panzer grenadiers and supporting armour.

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This SPQR (GMT) scenario is recommended as a ‘beginners’ scenario ….. it will certainly need some skill on the part of the Roman player to pull a win from the situation.

Xanthippus vs Roman Consul M. Atilius Regulus - North Africa, Winter 255 BC,

Background - The Romans have been fairly successful fighting the Carthaginians on land and the Roman Consul, Regulus, is pretty keen to have one big engagement that will knock Carthage out of the war.

However, the Carthaginians have secured the service of Spartan’s Xanthipuss and he re-organises the Carthaginian army to a more acceptable level of training.

The set-up immediately invites concern for any Roman player …. they are desperately short of cavalry to protect the wings. Their Alae cavalry are elsewhere, so the few remaining Roman cavalry are outnumbered 8:1.

In addition, the Roman line is initially facing 100 elephants and behind them is a wall of African infantry Phalanx. Historically, the Carthaginian cavalry swept the Roman cavalry away, exposing Roman flanks, while the elephants and phalanx frontal assault shattered the Roman legions.

In my last play, I was finding it difficult, once the lines became mixed, to determine which of the Alae cohorts belonged to the Hastati group and which belonged to the Principes.

While scrolling through posts at Consimworld, I found a most helpful entry. The poster suggested that the Principes should set up on their flip side. The flip side carries a white bar, instantly signifying which units are Hastati and which are Principes.

In the simple version of Great Battles of History, the flip side of the counter is not used in the same way as the original full rules use them. Rather they use the flip side to show which units are not in command when their formation is activated.

This of course is an equally useful administrative function, so now I just use a game marker to show which units are out of command. The single effect of being out of command is that a unit cannot enter or leave an enemy Zone of Control.

The Carthaginian cavalry superiority and the resulting threat to the Roman flanks is certainly a problem for the Romans in this scenario. My solution was to pull the Principes out towards the flanks to meet the cavalry threat, while leaving the Velites and Hastati to deal with the elephant assault.

It turned out that the Romans had done enough to protect their flanks from the cavalry threat, but their front line was ravaged by the elephants.

Though taking heavy casualties, the Romans have withstood the initial Carthaginian assault.

The elephants break off the attack and retire. The main line of Phalanx and Celts have to open up to allow the beasts to pass through.

The Romans used this lull to re-organise their army. The battered Hastati fall back and the fresh Principes move up into the front line position. They refuse their flanks as a defence against the threat of Carthaginian cavalry. I very much like the way that this system is allowing proper tactics and army management.

In the Photograph, you can see that the Carthaginian main line has moved forward, ready to engage the Romans. In their rear are the remnants of the elephant corps (for want of a better expression!). The cavalry on the Carthaginian left are well ordered and positioned, ready to support the attack, but on their right, the cavalry wing and light infantry under Hasdrubal have become a little awkwardly placed - they need to sort themselves out!

The dark blue double hex long counters in the Carthaginian line are the North African Phalanx units, the single hex green units are the Celt warriors. The Phalanx blocks are hard hitters, getting a combat bonus for size and generally their Troop Quality factor equals or betters those of the Roman line - though they can be a little awkward to manoeuvre.

And so here we are, at what is essentially Phase II of the battle. The Romans are more than halfway to their breaking point, but I feel that the fresh Principes, now in the front line will not be an easy walkover for the Carthaginians - I am in the middle of this and the outcome is not certain, or at least the Roman side still feel like there is a fight to be had - good!

But, as the Carthaginian attack resumes, the Roman player gets an immediate sense of doom! The African Phalanx units carve into the Roman line, I am shocked at the effectiveness of the attack, though the Phalanx were repeatedly rolling good dice scores ….. but, it was not all going the way of the Carthaginians. On their right, the Celt infantry were taking significant losses and a gap opened in the centre, which the Romans took full advantage of, pouring through and enveloping the phalanx line.

It is a moment of crisis for both sides. The Romans teeter on their breaking point, can they push the Carthaginians over the edge before their own army falls apart?

The Carthaginians attack the Roman right with their cavalry, hoping to quickly bring the Romans to their knees, but their Phalanx units are starting to lose cohesion. The first unit is lost. Loss of these two hex Phalanx counters give double break points, each adding 14 points to the Carthaginian break score.

A second Phalanx is marked with 6 hits, 7 will destroy it, which would take the Carthaginians within 2 break points of losing the game, but the Romans just don’t have the time left to make this happen. It is tight, but they lose two more of their own units, pushing them beyond their own break point (125).

It is all over. Carthage wins, but it is so close.

If just looking at the map, it would be hard to pick a winner, but the break points tell their own tale. The high losses that the Romans suffered on their initial engagement with the elephants, made a comeback difficult, but there was enough hope to make the struggle worthwhile.

The Triarii (final Roman line of defence) have restrictions as to when they can be released and as it happens, those conditions were met in the last turn, so who knows what might of happened if these fresh troops had had a couple of turns to try and turn the tide.

There were three key moments in the game. (1) The initial elephant charge caused carnage in the Roman front rank, though the ‘nellies’ themselves suffered heavy losses (2) the Celts dissolved with surprising speed, leaving a large gap in the Carthaginian centre (3) the final tussle between the Phalanx units and the Roman Principes JUST tipped in favour of the Carthaginians ….. but on another day - who knows! 

I must say, this was a brilliant game, the best that I have played in a while, it really drew me in. It went over the four hour mark for play and you definitely need a pair of tweezers to manage the loss markers that all of the units start to carry around in this tightly packed battlefield.

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