6mmACW | 10 Dec 2013 9:33 a.m. PST |
Last night we fought Glendale (Frayser's Farm), with McClellan's army retreating down the Peninsula. To make it extra interesting, we experimented with the classic matchbox system, creating a double-blind scenario with no GM or referee required. Reading about this battle in the history books always made me feel like Glendale was a huge, missed opportunity for Lee
but when you play the scenario with fog of war, it's harder than it looks to capitalize. Photos and full AAR are here: 6mmacw.com/glendale-aar.html
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mad monkey 1 | 10 Dec 2013 9:53 a.m. PST |
That double blind system was pretty cool. Great looking table and figs. |
darthfozzywig | 10 Dec 2013 11:59 a.m. PST |
Looks like a great game! Can you tell us more about how you made your trees? I'm pretty interested in these rules, actually. I love me some Fire & Fury, but I just don't have the space (16' x 8') for Gettysburg, ya know? |
6mmACW | 10 Dec 2013 12:36 p.m. PST |
Hah, yes, I know. I too enjoy playing Fire & Fury, but don't quite have the necessary miniatures, space, or time to play Gettysburg or the other really big engagements. There's only so much you can do in a few hours on a 6'x4' table. Hence these rules. But I've you covered on the trees. There's a full photo tutorial on the website, explaining how they are made. Final product is awesome, but it's not what I'd call the most enjoyable terrain project to undertake. If someone comes up with an easier way to attach the clump foliage, durably, to the canopy sections, I'd love to hear about it! |
darthfozzywig | 10 Dec 2013 12:50 p.m. PST |
There's a full photo tutorial on the website Hah, yeah, you mean under the "6mm Terrain Tips" tab on your site? The one that was staring me in the face but I completely missed? That one? Thanks. :) |
darthfozzywig | 10 Dec 2013 12:53 p.m. PST |
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Pizzagrenadier | 10 Dec 2013 1:23 p.m. PST |
6mmACW puts on some great looking and enjoyable games in our club. Glad to be able to play in them. Was sad to have missed this one though :) The double blind system has been working great and we are coming up with a ton of ideas of how to use it for different scales and periods. We tested it on some 28mm WWII squad level skirmish action and it worked great for that as well. My force was genuinely flanked through some woods (a few of my riflemen passed them without even knowing it). It made for a really tense and challenging game. Can't wait to use it again. |
darthfozzywig | 10 Dec 2013 1:56 p.m. PST |
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nsolomon99 | 10 Dec 2013 9:08 p.m. PST |
Presumably this system would also work for napoleonics I'm thinking? Where did you say it came from? Something from Donald Featherstone, bless him? Do you remember which of his books? Have you written out your house rules for scouting, etc and would you be prepared to share them? Great AAR report, loved it. Nick |
Trajanus | 11 Dec 2013 4:02 a.m. PST |
War Games Campaigns by Donald F. Featherstone Published by Stanley Paul & Co Ltd, London 1970 Pages 5 & 6 So anyone under 43 – literally before you were born! No doubt Don is up there in Wargames heaven smiling that its still doing good service! |
6mmACW | 11 Dec 2013 7:45 a.m. PST |
Yes, the matchbox idea is 100% from Featherstone's book. We've tried it twice--the first time in a 28mm WW2 skirmish game, and the second time for our 6mm Glendale scenario. It worked in both, although scouting and line of sight are easier to deal with in smaller scales. For the 6mm battle, our rules were very, very simple. All units could move 1 map grid at a time (6" in tabletop terms), and after moving to a new grid, you could look inside all adjacent matchboxes. If you see anything inside a box, all miniatures from both sides go on the table (attacker first, defender second). You can be deployed anywhere you want within the 6"x6" area. Once the minis are on the table, normal movement rules applied (which in our rules meant units could move 8" instead of the map grid 6"). If you "stumble" into an enemy, literally by moving into an already occupied box (happened several times), the attacker deploys first, and the defender was allowed to deploy within 2" of the attacker if he so chose (in Altar of Freedom rules, 2" is canister range, so that's a nasty surprise). We kept any advanced spotting rules to a minimum, but if your unit was on a hill, we allowed an extra grid space of spotting distance. Also, no one was allowed to spot inside a grid of woods. Wooded areas can only be spotted if you move directly into them. There are lots of opportunities with this system to do advanced scouting with cavalry, etc., but for our playtest we went very basic. I think it would work great for Napoleonics, naval combat searches, and all sorts of genres. |
darthfozzywig | 11 Dec 2013 10:07 a.m. PST |
But where to get all of those matchboxes?
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Pizzagrenadier | 11 Dec 2013 10:34 a.m. PST |
There's a good story to go with buying hundreds of boxes of matches at a dollar store. He got quite the stink eye from the cashier :) I wonder if our club is on some watch list now
No one "needs" that many matches. |
Pizzagrenadier | 11 Dec 2013 10:37 a.m. PST |
Of course, it also caused quite a lot of brainstorming in the club about more permanent rigs for this. I want to have a mahogany wood, brass furniture, felt lined drawer system custom built (I'm only sort of kidding). We are also looking at plastic drawer cabinets
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darthfozzywig | 11 Dec 2013 2:07 p.m. PST |
LOL Dollar Store watchlist! That's bad news for sure. I want to have a mahogany wood, brass furniture, felt lined drawer system custom built (I'm only sort of kidding) You should talk to these folks: geekchichq.com They could make a super-nice one. |
vtsaogames | 11 Dec 2013 7:41 p.m. PST |
Hmm, if you're using a hex mat, offset the boxes like bricks. |
CSCaptainDave | 23 Dec 2013 8:02 a.m. PST |
Once you saddle a commander with ratings that were uncharacteristic of his historical abilities and applicable only to that particular occasion, you tie yourself to recreating the same historical outcome. Some Generals exhibited certain characteristics consistently throughout their careers and deserve ratings like "Hesitant" and "Tardy". Those were not characteristic of General Jackson, and applying them to him is only a mechanic to influence the outcome of this scenario. A much more entertaining battle would be more of a "what if" battle where Jackson is not exhausted and behaving below par, but aggressive and attacking with his usual skill and daring. |
67thtigers | 23 Dec 2013 8:35 a.m. PST |
Glendale found Jackson slow and hesitant IRL, as he was throughout the whole campaign. He simply didn't do what Lee ordered him to do. Of course this has a real reason. White Oak Creek could not be bridged for artillery, and Jackson refused to advance without his guns. Actually prudent, but Jackson was a much more prudent general than he is credited with. |
darthfozzywig | 26 Dec 2013 4:41 p.m. PST |
A much more entertaining battle would be more of a "what if" battle where Jackson is not exhausted and behaving below par, but aggressive and attacking with his usual skill and daring. That would be entertaining, but "more" is highly subjective. Personally, I'm a little tired of how many wargamers (over)rate their favorite generals, or rate them at the peak for everything. :) |
louislouis | 27 Dec 2013 5:26 a.m. PST |
Imho one of the strength of the Altar for Freedom rules are the scenario-specific characteristics of the commanding officers, while Jackson is "stalwarts" and "leads from the Front" at Second Manassas, he is "tardy" and "subordinate" at Malvern Hills. I already ordered the pdfs, the scenario pdf is too cheap for all the information in it. I am looking forward to refight Gettysburg, loved the video AAR btw. That got me hooked, especially the guys talking after the game. cheers |
CSCaptainDave | 23 May 2014 12:03 a.m. PST |
The matchbox double bind system is ingenious! I am going to have to make one of these. I also fully enjoyed the "period" synopsis with typical Union doublespeak like "performed ably" while retreating, "fighting withdrawal" for running for your life, and "clear Union victory" for not being totally destroyed. Good job! |
donlowry | 23 May 2014 9:20 a.m. PST |
I'm guessing that each stand represents a brigade? And the figures are 6mm? |