Today, after a long pause in my blogging, I'm taking a new blog post away from writing and family to instead post about a tabletop wargame with miniature soldiers.
Yesterday, a friend, who was in one of my junior high classes back in the 70's, when I was young green naive teacher, and I gamed a piece of the battle of Gettysburg.
General Longstreet Michael and General Sickles McBride gamed Sickles Salient with Brigade Fire & Fury rules. We were both near-beginners with the brigade version of the F & F rules. Nonetheless, we blundered along without too many pauses to check the book.
The battle went along historical lines. The initial cannonades had minor impact, causing various batteries of both forces to fire with damaged guns through the whole game. The Union's reserve triple battery in the center of the salient proved a tough nut.
The Yankee infantry were not so tough, the scenario design causing them to go 'worn' after a single lost stand. Those guys knew they were stuck out way too far. So the blue infantry brigades fell back all along the line, eventually losing the wheat field to the Rebs on our last game turn. Six hours to play 5 turns, the first two of which were cannonades only. Like I said, our pace was that of learners, not gamemasters.
The rules do have a nice flow to them and I now realize that Brigade Fire & Fury rules better duplicate the long ribbons of Civil War infantry formations than any other rule sets I've played, including Regimental F & F. That surprised me.
Finally, as the Union commander, it was great fun to launch Vincent's Brigade off Little Round Top and smack Law's Brigade in the flank down in the Valley of Death along Plum Run. Less fun to see several other brigades refuse to hold the line after losing a stand.
All in all, it was a very enjoyable day.
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