| Pvt Snuffy | 21 Apr 2019 9:28 p.m. PST |
Was reading a great book about the "border wars" between the north and south in the early 19th C. and finished a long passage on the Kansas fighting. It sound like it might be a great gaming venture, with varied forces, asymmetric warfare, a wide variety of weapons, and lots of motivation. Plus the US forces and federal types provide a sort of 3rd party. Has anyone gamed this before? What are the best resources for the military aspect of this [which includes political and social events of course]? I was thinking it would make for good "large skirmish" size games, The Sword and the Flame type level of rules, where a Unit is about the size of a company or two of infantry. Ideas welcomed! |
| rustymusket | 22 Apr 2019 4:45 a.m. PST |
It appears the new Osprey fules, "Rebels and Patriots" would be good for this period. I have read through them and my copy is on order. |
 Jeff Ewing  | 22 Apr 2019 6:54 a.m. PST |
Wargames Foundry has a lot of colorful figures for this conflict, which is somewhat puzzlingly listed under "Old West:" link |
| Lion in the Stars | 22 Apr 2019 10:33 p.m. PST |
Well, 'Bloody Kansas' is kinda the earliest part of the Old West. Not sure I'd want to game it, personally, though. Way too much bad blood and outright crimes. |
| Cloudy | 23 Apr 2019 8:06 a.m. PST |
Ditto the "outright crimes ". John Brown was a murdering zealot and deserved every bit of what he eventually got. |
| Aethelflaeda was framed | 23 Apr 2019 8:50 a.m. PST |
A murdering Freedom fighter from the same ranks of Nathan Hale. Yes a zealot, but of good motives and guilty of impatience and means to end a greater evil. |
| Trajanus | 23 Apr 2019 11:24 a.m. PST |
Yeah, not sure about this as a period. Feels a bit like gaming Terrorism for my money, regardless of which side your playing. |
| Cloudy | 23 Apr 2019 12:52 p.m. PST |
I believe that the only thing that Hale shared with Brown was a dangling at the end of a rope and eventual martyrdom. |
| Aethelflaeda was framed | 23 Apr 2019 1:29 p.m. PST |
Both were executed for a cause, rebelling against a government, that they felt was behaving oppressively to a population who had no representation in government. |
 deadhead | 27 Apr 2019 6:43 a.m. PST |
Well the Kansas/Missouri Border War has often been discussed here. Thoroughly unpleasant business, but, if one can game Hue 68 or even modern Afghanistan, at least this is a long time ago now (not quite "Early 19th C" mind you!)
You can get some colourful units and indeed the Osprey book "Tactics of…" ELI174, is just what you need.
Some TMP links that I used;
TMP link
TMP link
TMP link |
| Lion in the Stars | 27 Apr 2019 8:22 p.m. PST |
It's like gaming the Ostfront in WW2. Neither side is particularly attractive to play. Which is terrible, considering that I almost certainly have family on the Free side. |
| Basha Felika | 04 May 2019 1:07 p.m. PST |
What would be useful books on the subject – sounds an interesting if somewhat controversial campaign to game. |
| deadhead | 06 Jun 2019 1:20 p.m. PST |
See the links above. Some every helpful suggestions regarding reading on the conflict. Guerilla Warfare is rarely other than controversial and what went on between Missouri and Kansas was particularly nasty. Quantrill and Anderson seemed jolly unpleasant coves by all accounts. But if you are a dice thrower, great thing is relatively small numbers involved, highly mobile warfare, some rather fetching embroidered shirts and no lack of nice figures |
