New Crimean War 15mm Russians - Minifigs

Bought some Minifigs Crimean War Russian infantry on eBay. Painted and based them while waiting for my next order from Old Glory 15s (Rank & File) to show up. That order has more infantry, artillery, dragoons and Cossacks. Some of those infantry will have spiked helmets. The flags are by Maverick. Some of the infantry below are in advancing pose, most in muskets at trail, both very similar.

I have a Turkish army that has not seen action yet. In the past we have played the 1854 Caucasus battle of Kurudere without either of the actual combatants. Once these are complete we can try again with actual Turks and Russians. I made an error with the initial Turkish deployment last time. Rules used: Bloody Big Battles. I also hope to run the more usual ones like the Alma, Balaklava etc. Right now my plan is to use Napoleonic British and FPW French. Perhaps the bug will bite me and I'll paint up actual figures from that period. Though my shelves groan, both with figures and books. 

Petersburg Campaign II: KABOOM!

We played Chris Pringle’s evolving draft scenario for the Petersburg campaign again. Andrew (his first shot at this scenario) played Grant and I Robert E. Lee again, struggling to keep my great-great-great grandma in chattel slavery. I upgraded the Confederate forts with some Sculpey works, might make some more before the next game. Otherwise, resin earthworks by the now defunct Musket Miniatures (RIP) are used for entrenchments and rifle pits. This scenario allows you to play 8 months in around two hours.

 

The previous game saw Petersburg taken by storm. In part, this was due to crossed wires about zones of control (ZOC) rules for this scenario. In regular BBB, assaulting a unit negates the ZOC, so other units can move past. In this scenario, units in any kind of works retain their ZOC so no deep penetrations of works are easy. This change would make the previous game’s storm unlikely. That’s why testing is good. 

Andrew deployed with most of his troops facing my forts. He’s pretty aggressive, so I deployed everyone facing him. Mahone (all CSA units in italics after this and in photos) was prepared to move out against the expected thrust west towards the Weldon & Petersburg RR.

Andrew, perhaps influenced by the result in the previous game, made his main effort during the first strategic phase in frontal attacks on the Petersburg forts. Some attacks were stalled by defensive fire. Others closed but couldn’t overcome the -3 modifier for attacking forts. The one close call against Bushrod Johnson’s Division, supported by artillery, failed due to Johnson’s aggressive factor. He used up about half of his allowed 30 activations. A couple attacks on the 3^rd turn were defeated with loss, retreating far enough to expose his Line of Communications (LOC) to Confederate scouts and raiders. You don’t have to actually move units onto the LOC, just have the ability to do so not blocked by enemy units or ZOC. Teamsters and mules can be stopped by small parties of armed men. This put his count of objectives at minus two. He declared an end to the first phase. Done after the second turn, his objective count would have been zero. 

I extended my rifle pits westward, as did he.

 

On the 2^nd strategic phase, he deployed three units on his left flank, Hancock and two raw LOC units. He left the other 4 seasoned corps in the entrenchments facing Petersburg. I put Mahone and Grimes aggressive divisions on my right. Lee stayed around Petersburg, for longer than I should have. A furious fight broke out on my right. The weight of numbers began to tell, but Andrew was burning through activations as I held on for dear life.

He had a unit that might have made it into Petersburg unopposed, but Hoke rallied after defeating some LOC troops and moved to place the threatening unit into his ZOC and squashed that. With only 2 activations left, Andrew stopped an explored his options. Given the redeployment between strategic phases, I would obviously put a garrison into empty Petersburg. It would all come down to a coup de main. I forget what he did with his 29^th activation, but The 29th activation failed, as Wright's VI Corps wasn't ready on time. As a result, the 30^th activation, on the 9^th and last possible turn, Warren’s V Corps, without help from Wright, had to assault  the fort held by Heth, preceded by the mine explosion, hoping for a big enough win to exploit into ungarrisoned Petersburg.

 

KABOOM! We got to use one of the explosion markers that the late Tom Loback made.

Perhaps one of the division commanders sought solace in the bottle (the dice were unkind). The sole result: the attacking force was disrupted before the assault continued. Warren’s troops tumbled back into their entrenchments without heavy losses, but the game ended with Union objectives taken at minus one, a Confederate victory. He had picked up one on turn 4 by cutting the Weldon RR. He needed 5 for a win, 4 for a tie.

 

As in many BBB scenarios, the win means I did better than Lee. A real strategic win would see Grant’s army destroyed or seriously crippled, highly (insert your adjective of choice) unlikely. But I could claim a win, keeping my ancestor under lock and key a while longer.

 

Sunday afternoon quarterbacking: I think Andrew burned up too many activations in his first strategic phase, and his 2^nd strategic phase offensive had too many of his raw units while the old hands watched the enemy forts. I kept Lee watching them for too long when he was needed at the right flank, where the fur was flying. Oh yes, not having a garrison in Petersburg nearly did me in. Andrew was not pleased seeing that +1 aggressive trait show up again and again. My three aggressive divisions saw a lot of combat; one being eventually destroyed in the second strategic phase.

 

 

I am hoping to run this again on October 11. I will be playing on the Union side. Guaranteed. I owe it to G-G-G grandma.

Edit: I should specify that the game took just about two hours, start to finish. And the scenario is great.

China’s Civil War: a Social History 1946-1949 (a belated book review)

I read this book back in August and owe a review. I was inspired to get the book after viewing Tsui Hark’s 1984 comedy Shanghai Blues, set in 1947 Shanghai (my father’s home town). Behind the comedy, the film portrayed runaway hyper-inflation, frequent power outages and veterans living under a bridge. I know a little about the civil war before the Japanese invasion but next to nothing about the later phase. A member here suggested Diane Lary’s book of the title above. Got it on my Kindle. Here’s my belated take.

 

Chiang Kai Shek, leader of the Guo Min Dang (GMD) was convinced he lost because the Soviets aided Mao Zedong’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Mao assumed it was the result of the inevitable victory of Communism. Diane Lary writes neither was the case. The Soviets did help the CCP, but they also handed captured Japanese arms to both sides after the end of WWII. They also looted machinery from Manchuria wholesale, since the Nazi invasion had done severe damage to their industrial base. The Japanese conquered Manchuria and built factories. In time the US bombed those factories and then the Soviets looted them.

 

Basically, Lary portrays the war as being Chiang’s to lose. He saw himself as a military man, and was jealous of his few generals who showed promise. He largely ignored societal problems behind the front line. A number of his generals were old warlords who were only tenuously allied with the GMD, mainly concerned with looking out for number one.

 

China, which wasn’t all that developed to begin with, had suffered massive losses to the Japanese. Millions of people had been killed, the economy up-ended and material damage of all sorts in quantity. The very social fiber of China was torn apart. Chiang had received a lot of military aid from the US. He built up his army and didn’t pay much attention to social matters, apart from exhorting people to struggle to victory. Soldiers were traditionally seen as a necessary evil, akin to locusts. The GMD didn’t do much to change this.

 

Chiang maintained large armies but had little trade or industry to support them. This led to massive inflation. In 1947, a US dollar yielded ~200,000 yuan. It currently gets about 8. The urban middle class, who should have been the GMD's natural constituency, was mired in poverty. People with jobs were paid daily and rushed to buy food before the currency depreciated further. The higher echelon of the GMD was blatantly corrupt. Plunging deeper into poverty while seeing this did not do wonders for the civilian morale.

 

The CCP was banished to rural northern China. This partially inoculated them from the inflation, since they lived by a barter economy. The CCP made a point of instructing their soldiers to treat civlians with respect, a change from tradition. This led to admiration from the people that largely stood until Tiananmen Square. But I digress.

 

Chiang’s armies marched into Manchuria, beating the CCP Armies in early fights for the cities with superior firepower. The CCP troops faded into the countryside and began to block roads and railways, ambushing troops who left the cities. A prolonged siege of the cities led to a series of surrenders, with massive numbers of troops lost. Many were enlisted into the CCP armies. During the Japanese war, many Chinese soldiers had fought for the Japanese when they looked unbeatable. The GMD approach to these “puppet troops” was execution. The CCP allowed them to redeem themselves by joining the CCP armies. Some of them would show the enthusiasm of new converts. Later, many of these troops would be sent to Korea during that later war.

 

The GMD disaster in Manchuria was followed by other similar debacles in northern China proper. Exhortations to the troops to fight on was undercut by the manic shipping of gold, art treasures and anything not nailed down to Taiwan. My wife yearns to see the museums in Taipei. If only we could be assured that things wouldn’t heat up while we were there…

 

Many people, disgusted with the corruption of the GMD threw themselves into working with the CCP for a new China. Many of them would survive the Great Leap Forward and other catastrophes only to come a cropper during the Cultural Revolution. These days the CCP is rife with corruption.

 

Anyway, the disastrous state of China after Japanese occupation, combined with Chiang’s focusing on military matters to the exclusion of all else, and Mao’s ability to turn liabilities into strengths made for the GMD defeat.

 

A postscript: one of his best generals, Lin Biao, supported Mao during the Cultural Revolution, until he suddenly tried to flee to the Soviet Union and died in a plane crash. Details are still murky. Your guess is as good as mine.

Edit: perhaps after all of this I should say the book was well worth the read.

Bunker Hill National Park

 A short trip to Boston recently included a visit to Bunker Hill National Park. Most of the battlefield is covered by the buildings of Charlestown, which arose after being burnt down during the battle, spreading over the area. But Breed’s Hill (where the battle was actually fought) is steep enough to gain some insight into the battle. It would take a sturdy fellow indeed to run up that hill. Add a heavy pack, include numerous fences and you have slow going.

 

I hadn’t realized that the regulars wore their packs during the first two assaults up the hill. Howe had them shed the packs before the third attack. Less burdened and facing opponents low on ammunition, they stormed the redoubt, clearing it with bayonets. The militia fought with clubbed muskets,  few having bayonets. My wife’s ancestor fought in Stark’s New Hampshire Regiment by the banks of the Mystic River.

 

The museum there has a good account of the battle and an illuminated, narrated diorama with hundreds of model soldiers. Not sure if they were 6mm or slightly larger. I didn’t think to ask until I was miles away. 

Blue lights shine on American lines, red on British.

There are also displays in the museum showing how Charlestown was founded and how it grew into the modern era. Considering how built up the area is, it still increased my understanding of the fight. And it’s a moderate walk over to the USS Constitution. All told, worth the detour.

Petersburg Campaign via Bloody Big Battles

We played Chris’s draft scenario of the Petersburg campaign, 8 months in a fairly short game. It was quite a dust-up, with both sides quite worried about enemy threats. We spent an hour before the game discussing the special scenario rules. They are unusual, for this most unusual subject. Bill played Grant, ably seconded by his son Mathew (a grown man. Bill and I are old guys.).

On the first strategic phase they cut the Weldon RR immediately and kept it by the second turn, earning 2 objectives. They also stormed one fort southeast of Petersburg, trying unsuccessfully for another on the third turn before declaring an end to the phase. I think they would have done better to declare an end to the phase right after the 2^nd turn, although that is moot. I should keep an online record of Union activations, objectives taken and turns played. My paper one got messed around some. I also forgot to count Hancock’s first retreat as one more US activation, little though that would matter.

After the first phase I pushed my rifle pits aggressively forward, placing Bushrod Johnson and Hoke’s divisions out on my right to threaten the Union left. As it turned out, that was an error. One look at my right convinced the Yankees to try their luck directly against Petersburg. On the second strategic phase, after taking several perimeter forts, they stormed the town on turn 6. I made the mistake of including a spent unit on the final defense. That -2 insured the town fell. One of those divisions off on my right would really have helped. My attempt at a counterattack foundered when a series of crappy movement rolls saw disrupted units rally in place and those in good order refuse to move. Mahone’s division was the sole exception. It made a long march from my right, and made a long-shot solo counterattack on Petersburg. Burnside’s IX Corps repelled the attack. The ignominy, defeated by Ambrose Burnside!

I got the combat result the less numerous player never wants to see: a tie with both sides losing a base and then having another immediate assault.

The game lasted 2 hours and 33 minutes, 6 turns, about 25 minutes per turn, including photo time.

The Union used up 22 activations of the possible 30. I think the ability of the US to make coordinated assaults due to good movement rolls was more important than good combat rolls, though they had some of those too.

With firing so reduced in this scenario, we weren’t sure how to handle going low on ammo. We decided that any infantry unit that ended it's movement not in an assault recovered. 

We had questions about the Union LOC, the result of crossed wires. That's why it is called testing. Cleared that up with Chris post-game and it should open the game up considerably. 

The game was a blast. I hope to run it again in a few weeks, hopefully with emeritus Fencible Dennis and Fencible Andrew.

Minute Man National Park – and Bloody Angle

I recently spent a day exploring Lexington, Concord and the Battle Road in Minute Man National Park. For those not steeped in the lore of the American Revolution, that is where the fighting broke on April 19, 1775. A short recap: British General (and Royal Governor) Thomas Gage sent an expedition of 700 troops to raid a Massachusetts militia supply depot, 18 miles from Boston. Fighting erupted at Lexington where a single militia company was shot up, and again at Concord where most of the supplies had been removed before the British column arrived, and some 500 militia had shown up. After that, more militia kept arriving and firing at the regulars while they marched back to Boston. Basically, the grenadiers and light infantry marched 18 miles to kick a hornet’s nest and then headed back being stung the whole way.  

 

The Lexington town visitors center has an excellent diorama of the first encounter on Lexington Green. Concord has a diorama of the terrain between the two towns. Last year I drove by and the National Park building at Minute Man Historical Park was closed due to extreme heat. Google said it was closed again this time but fortunately was wrong. There was a good 20+ minute film about the day. A musket demonstration was due soon nearby.  

 

Volunteer Ed Hurley portrayed a local militiaman. Before he loaded and fired his replica Brown Bess, he explained how the locals had gotten angry enough to take up arms. While the issue of taxation without representation was the original cause of agitation, the closing of Boston harbor in response to the Boston Tea Party was what really riled people up. Bostonians rich and poor were penalized heavily as trade and work dried up. The farmers inland were also affected. There was no market in town for their excess crops and livestock, and no place to buy trade foods from abroad, or items manufactured there by artisans like Paul Revere. Gage had also replaced local government and judges with his own choices. Those elected by the locals continued operating as a shadow regime. The powder keg was set, and the Concord raid lit the fuse. I had not considered the effect of the closing of the harbor on the farmers before. Though the British raid began in darkness, it was clearly no surprise. Church bells pealed through the night, along with warning musket shots in the distance, as riders pelted down the roads. After Jim's fine program, another started within 20 minutes.

 

Ranger Jarrad Fuoss led a walk of Elm Brook Hill, better known to AWI gamers as the Bloody Angle, even if that’s more of a Civil War label. Recently the area was surveyed with Lidar and then extensively searched with metal detectors, yielding musket balls and some buttons. While some militia may have fired .69 caliber balls as the British did, most had.50 caliber or smaller balls, making it clear where militia shots had landed. The area was much less wooded in 1775, some 80 percent of current woods not present. Only patches too rough to farm or the odd orchard were present. The British column had advanced guards, flank guards and rear guards, about 50 yards ahead of or alongside the main column. Since half the troops were light infantry, many were available for such duty.

 

The Bay Road back to Boston crossed Elm Brook at a bridge and rose up the hill, making two turns. The first batch of militia musket balls turned up around A, where the rear guard held back the 400+ militia (1) pursuing from Concord. About 150+ Woburn militia (2) were on a wooded ridge, adding their fire against the rearguard.

Battle Road, Bloody Angle (not to scale)

To the surprise of the searchers, few turned up around the right-hand bend in the road. But further along, another batch of shot was found, where another road cut in from the north. The Reading and Billerica militia (3), some 300+ who had not been at Concord, had rested and refreshed themselves from the long march and then moved down that northern road to move into position against the Bay Road. The Woburn militia on the wooded ridge moved east along the ridge (4) to take the British under fire. It is not known if they engaged the British advance guard, flank guard or the rear guard. Ranger Jarrad said ~8 British soldiers died on this hill, suggesting total losses of perhaps 25 or 30 on this half mile of road.

Many musket balls landed some 50 yards from the road, indicating that the targets were the guards, rather than the road column. This indicates that the militia were further away, perhaps 100 yards from the road, despite film depictions of them lining the road itself. Below is a picture of reconstructed roadside fences.

Battle Road fence

Those who owned roadside property were required to build these “horse-high and hog-tight” to keep livestock from running off the road on their way to market in Boston. One advantage the militia had was plenty of locals who knew the roads, while the British had to stick to the Bay Road, and it was obvious where to go if anyone wanted to get a shot at them.

This was one of the bloody sections of the 18 mile retreat. Jarrad noted that because the terrain was so much clearer, the British could see thousands more militia heading to fight them, not a soothing sight. Some 4,000 militia got into combat, while at least another 2,000 didn’t get to fire before the pursuit ended in the evening.

 

Another rude surprise for the retreating column waited west of Lexington, where Captain Parker had rallied his Lexington company from their morning defeat. Along with other arriving men, they laid an ambush from a hill and fired into the Regulars. With many officers down, low on ammunition, tired, hungry and thirsty, the redcoats broke formation and started to run. They soon made it into the ranks of Lord Percy’s 1,000 reinforcements. A couple blasts from his 6 pounder artillery pieces scattered the pursuit. The militia soon recovered and resumed their incessant sniping. Serious fighting broke out at Menotomy (now Arlington). Action was house-to-house in some cases: buildings were burnt by the British. All during the action, militia companies would engage the British. Once the column was past, many would then leapfrog east parallel to the road to set up for another go. Any bridges or other choke points would see increased action. Here’s a link to the helpful National Park Service map of the fighting along Battle Road:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord#/media/File:Concord_Retreat.png

When it was over, some 93 militia had been killed or wounded, and almost 300 British soldiers. Assuming that the 4,000 engaged militia fired 10 rounds each, that would be 40,000 rounds for 300 hits, or over 133 shots for each hit. So much for tales of all the American sharpshooters. The raid, intended to destroy an arms cache and defuse possible hostilities, had failed to do either, and given a beating to the grenadiers and light infantry, the cream of Gage’s army. A growing army of militia began to besiege Boston. Eight years of hard war followed.

 

Ed was assisted by a park employee in period dress. I didn’t get her name. She was a guide at the Hartwell House where the tour started and knew plenty about the house and the owners, some of whom fought that day in their own yards. She also served as Ed’s safety helper and drill master during the musket demonstration. I thank them all for an excellent and illuminating presentation.  

 

Do check with the National Park Service at the park for info. Google was wrong. It’s worth the detour.

McPherson’s Ridge via The Devil to Pay

Saturday last week we played Brad Butkovich’s scenario for McPherson’s Ridge, July 1, 1863. It is part of his Summer Storm, Regimental Wargame Scenarios For the Battle of Gettysburg, available from Wargames Vault as a PDF. Excellent, well researched regimental ACW scenarios are his stock in trade. 

Previously we played a smaller scenario based on Davis’s attack on Cutler’s brigade, from a scenario found on the internet. Brad's scenario includes all 4 brigades that met at the early Gettysburg clash. Davis’s brigade started much closer in this and his regiments were much larger than in the internet scenario. The original plan was to have two brigade commanders and I would try to run a pair of brigades. But Andrew was recovering from a bug and didn’t want to share it with us. Thank you, Andrew. I'm a old coot and eschew contagion. Jay and I each ran a pair of brigades, CSA for him and USA for me.

Brad’s scenario suggested that the open woods should cost a minimal penalty. I should have listened. Meredith’s Iron Brigade moved very slowly into contact, what with the various woods and fences. On with the game: 

Errors in photo text are always obvious after hitting save. See next photo.

We only played three turns. As you can see, a lot can happen each turn. The game is designed for each player to run a brigade. Before each chit pull, there is the option to skedaddle, to run away in disorder without needing to use a precious order. Both Jay and I forgot to use this at critical times, I think due to the confusion involved in running two brigades. My crack 6^th Wisconsin was trashing a disordered pair of Confederate regiments, probably started when Jay failed to skedaddle. After thoroughly dusting those two regiments, I forgot to have the 6^th skedaddle and they were soundly beaten by a flank bayonet charge.

 

Archer was slowly being pushed back by Meredith. Davis beat up two Union regiments and was then thumped by the 6th Wisconsin, which was whipped in turn.

 

We had reached a point where both sides were not capable of much further effort without a lot of rallying and reorganizing. Jay had a single regiment in good order. I had three small ones. Each of us had their right flank mauled.

I lost about 480 infantry and a section (2 guns) of artillery. Jay lost about 320 infantry. We thought it was a tie, with any advantage going to Jay.

 

The scenario calls for both forces to fight it out until both sides think the game is over. That’s what we did. We talked about perhaps putting in geographical objectives, but the ones we considered would have made a tie also, since each had their flank beaten back. 3 turns took us 3 hours. I think it would have gone in almost half the time with two more players. As usual, The Devil to Pay was a hoot. I’d like to try the scenario again sometime, hopefully with 4 players. That seems to be a big ask these days, between family obligations of various Fencibles and the amount of time I spend out of town.

 

I would use Brad’s suggestions next time: increase all movement by 2 inches and only penalize woods and fences 1 inch each, get the game moving. This is because Brad has so much terrain. I ran out of fences and had to use stone walls as fences. I also realize that treating Meredith as a 1 order leader was a bit much. While he was no live wire, he wasn’t a real dunce either. That’s it for the AARs for a while, since we head north Friday for a while.

 

I owe book reports on 3 books, one about the Petersburg campaign, one about Benedict Arnold’s navy, and one about the Chinese Civil War 1946-1949. We’ll see if I manage to get those done. Holding your breath might well be fatal.