Second Quarter 2001 Game Reports
June 16, 2001 - EPGS
Playtest of the Shako Napoleonic game for Historicon - scenario here
The battle started with a bang as the first French infantry division wasted no time in charging the Spanish division in front of it. The French cavalry swung around on the right and chopped up several Spanish battalions in successive charges. Meanwhile, the encircling Spanish division came on behind the last French division and was held up for three turns by a single battery defending a bridge, losing the grenadier battalion in the fight. Finally the battery was swept aside and they charged forward where the Swiss mercenaries in Spanish employ met the Swiss mercenaries in French employ and the latter surrendered en masse. The French cavalry finally impaled itself on the reserve Spanish division and retired but the main Spanish line was broken and the French reinforcements arrived to open the road through Baylen. Neither side won a decisive victory.
Black Cross/Blue Sky
We played a couple Battle of Britain scenarios in the evening (before the flood waters rose). The first scenario had a mixed bag of British planes trying to stop He-111's, they were partly successful. The second scenario was a bombing run by JU-88's on an airfield but we didn't finish this as the weather situation went to hell-in-a-handbasket.
June 23, 2001 - Scott Landis' house
We playtested the ship portion of the Midnight Massacre for Historicon. The Union ships were trying to force their way past several Confederate gun emplacements and a fort, not mention several ships. The first Rebel gun battery did some heavy damage to the first Union ships. They also came under heavy fire from the fort when they stopped to remove the cross-river chain blockades. Much fun was had by all the players as the Rebel ships came out, a torpedo launch dove into the Union formation and ships began ramming into each other. A fire ship pulled by a tug tried to get a Union vessel but was blown to bits.
The climax of the battle
#1 - Seen from the Rebel end of the river. The large fort is to the right and a small battery above it at the far end of the table. The Hartford (sailing ship in the middle) mixes it up at close range with a cotton clad, an engine-less ironclad that has been pulled out by the tug, and a tinclad. The tug is going for the second fireship.
#2 - At the Union end of the river, two city class ironclads and a double ended paddle wheeler have battered the first Rebel battery into rubble.
#3 - Another double ended paddle wheeler trails behind a turreted monitor and starts firing at the fort. The monitor is mixing it up with a Manassas class ironclad, while on the right is a mortar schooner that has been battered by the engineless ironclad and is sinking. The small boats in the middle of the river held the chain blockade.
The fort
We give Scott a lot of grief but he's done a great job with this fort. Here's a view showing the causeway, another from a higher angle, and another. A view from inside the fort. Some more pictures showing various details (picture1, picture2, picture3)
The ships
Some great looking ships painted by several Rogues.
The Pirate Ship - it wasn't in tha battle but it looks great! (picture1, picture2, picture3, picture4)
