Saturday, March 5, 2011

Little Wars Gettysburg (part 3)

Cemetery Ridge and the Irish Brigade

The town of Gettysburg at the north edge of the table

General Lee at his HQ near the Lutheran Seminary.


Not a glam shot, but a good view of the entire table.



Preparing for Little Wars (part 2)

Early's Division eyeing the defenses on Culp's Hill

The defenses up close. (I made the breastworks pieces out of model railroad cargo logs.)

One of the new Iron Brigade units that Scott MacPhee did recently holding the saddle between Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill.


Cemetery Hill ready for the attack. I scratch-built the Cemetery Gatehouse out of boardgame counters from the game Oasis.

Cemetery Hill/ Ridge. You can see the 14th Brooklyn Zouaves off on the right there.

Rebel units looking across at Cemetery Ridge

The Wheatfield there in the valley I made out of a coconut mat and some model railroad fencing.

Anderson's Division waiting for Longstreet's attack to go in.


...and waiting.

Longstreet's boys almost ready to go.

Charge!

Sickles men in the Peach Orchard and Wheat Field




Preparing for Little Wars

I'll be running a game at Little Wars again this year on Saturday, April 9. Last year I did the Battle of Ligny. This year, I'll be doing the Battle of Gettysburg: Day 2. The rules will be my Civil War adaptation of Command and Colors: Ancients.

Preparation:

  • I've ordered new buildings to increase the number if my Civil War era buildings (which look different from Napoleonic era buildings). My building scale is 6mm, which may seem odd with 28mm figures, but I'm trying to create a tabletop that represents the entire battlefield, which would be impossible with 25mm buildings. I figure that since each figure represents approximately 300 men, that it actually makes sense that the figures are over-sized.
  • I purchased and based alot of trees
  • I purchased and flocked quite a few new hills
  • I also commissioned a few new units and casualty figures from Scott MacPhee (the genius figure painter who did all of my Civil War figures earlier this year.
  • I researched the orders of battle and starting positions of all units: Each infantry stand is equal to approximately 2 brigades.
  • The final step was to do a dry-run setup on my table. Here are some pictures:
The Luthern Seminary (great building from Total Battle Miniatures in the UK)


Notice the new casualty figures. I plan to place one on the table every time a unit is eliminated. That way, as the battle goes on, and units come off the table, it won't look as empty, and it will be apparent where the hard fighting took place.


Confederate troops of Rodes Division waiting in Gettysburg for their chance to storm Cemetery Hill.