American War - Three Ways

A few photos from various games over the last two weeks. All happen to be from the American theatre with an AWI game and brace of ACW games using very different systems.

AWI - Loose Files and American Scramble

This was very much a try-out as couple of folks have figures they rarely use and fancied trying out the Loose Files and American Scramble rules. This is a free set previously published in Wargames Illustrated and now available from Wyre Forest Gamers website.    

Hessians advance on US regulars

More Hessians

The game has three core systems:

• Movement rates are variable so manoeuvres can get broken up
• Units accumulate Disorders Points (DP) from moving, casualties and fighting. This degrades you and eventually you start to loose casualties. They can be rallied off by better troops.
• Command Points (CP) are used to issue orders and help rally off DPs. 

US Militia defending some heights

It was ok and for a free set you have to make allowances. We liked the variable movement but found the order system and CP use confusing. We'll try some other sets and may return in future if we dont find anything better.  

ACW - Rebels and Patriots

The second game was a first practise for our new campaign. We've played R&P a few times so this was mostly a reminder. We played a single large game with everyone having a couple of units. As with other Dam Mersey games you dice for activation and throw dice to shoot/fight against a target score. All very simple with all the complexity going into the scenario design.

A battered Union unit

Rebs advance on an objective

Lots of people have chipped-in figures for this campaign with Perry accounting for most of the units. Their newer plastic figures are excellent and respond well to washes for added depth to the colours. 

My Union lurking at the back

It was a simple game of capturing two objectives. The Confederates won in 1-0, partly thanks to my Union troops failing to move for most of the game.  

Confederates from Perry

ACW - Blucher

Blucher is best know as a grand scale Napoleonic system but I felt it would convert well to ACW. Partly I was spurred on by having a large collection of 15mm and being gifted my brothers. After a few weeks of rebasing this was the first outing. For scale each of the bases is 150mm x 100mm.

Union attack in their centre

Long shot of Kettle Run setup

Blucher has a big following and there is already a popular conversion set for ACW called Chamberlain. I've taken quite a lot from these in terms of weapons stats and unit trait changes. Chamberlain proposes a new command system but I've stuck with the Blucher one as it's really the core of the game for me.     

We played a simple attack vs defence scenario (Battle of Kettle Run) to conclusion over 20 turns with about 20 units a side. The game worked well and the unit base sizes seemed absolutely fine. Lots of little tweaks around unit stats/traits emerged for next time but the game progressed well. 

Union advance through the woods

In the battle the Confederates were on the defensive when a unit force arrived to push them back. Fearful of the Union shooting the Rebs decided to attack and had good success in the centre, where they broke through and were able to turn outwards to attack the remaining Union formations in the flanks. 

Confederate counter attack