"Bigger than Gettysburg: Chancellorsville (1863)" Topic

We took on the challenge of translating this 4-day, 15-mile, nearly 200,000-man battle to the tabletop. Really pleased with the results. Photos and report here:
link

Chris, what a terrific AAR and commentary!

I think your game table looked good, but having a dedicated roll out mat with the roads already printed (and stationary) on it would be ideal – as you mentioned.

Aren't multiplayer games so much fun?! Thanks for taking the time to craft your game, execute it, and report on it with your insights included (fine work all around).

Thanks, FlyXwire! Yes, I do prefer multi-player and very rarely play one-to-one. Luckily I have a couple of very good groups to game with, where we can nearly always muster four to six players or more. It makes it more social, less 'raw' than head-to-head, and of course generates plenty of command confusion and dissension and recriminations. :-)

I had a search through TMP for Chancellorsville:
TMP link
Only found two attempts at fighting the whole battle, one by our Swedish comrades in 2015 on what looks like an 18'x6' triple table:
TMP link
and one at the Wargames Holiday Centre back in 2011 on a modest 28'x15', with 150 sq ft of woods:
link

Has anybody else out there fought the whole thing?

Chris, would it possible to get a page(s) view describing the unit scaling mechanics for Bloody Big Battles?

Maybe a link? Or even a scan of the pertinent pages? (I've not joined the IO Group yet, but would find this as important "entry point" info to the rules)

p2 of the BBB rulebook says:

"1" on the table generally represents 150 to 250 yards or
metres on the battlefield, but can be more. One game turn
is normally 1 hour of battle, but may be as little as 30
minutes or as much as 2 hours or more. The elastic
scale lets us ‘stretch' the smaller battles, and compress
the larger ones, so they all fit a sensible playing area. […] The basic element is a base representing 1,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, 24 cannon or machineguns, or a General; or in larger scenarios: 1,500 infantry, 1,500 cavalry, 36 cannon or machineguns; sometimes even more than
this."

In practice, many scenarios have been created that stretch the elastic much more: bases 250 men or fewer, or 3,000+; game turns as short as 15 minutes or as long as 4 hours or more; 1" representing 500+ yards or more.

The troop, ground and time scales don't all necessarily scale in direct proportion. It depends on factors like the terrain, the weather, the intensity of operations, etc. As much art as science in deciding what works for a given battle.

By the way, collected reviews of BBB can be found here:
link

Thank you Chris!

I'm intrigued…..and will check out those review links too. :)

Very nice,
"Good to see ACW mini games on a miniature gaming site!!
Roll those dice…

Great stuff. Thanks.

Thanks, guys. Writing these reports does take a chunk of time so it's always nice to hear they're appreciated.