"*Gettysburg 160th* project peek" Topic

Hey All,

I've been working on a little game for the 1st day of Gettysburg, and it looks like it'll be ready to play this July 1st – on the 160th anniversary of the start of the 3-day battle.

The figs here are 10mm Gordon & Hague miniatures, remounted into tighter lines on brigade half-stands. The bases are scaled to fit the battlefield mat, and include the majority of the forces that fought mid-morning to mid-afternoon on the 1st day of Gettysburg (the game area featured being W & NW of the town).

I'm modifying a set of rules that were adapted by George Arnold from the Battle Cry board game (Commands & Colors system), so this project is a real hybrid mix of board game rules converted to inch measurement, and then applied to use for this little 3D battle project (which will be played on a 3ft. X 4ft. fleece printed mat, with hills underneath to replicate the famous topography).

I'll double back here and post some pics when I host the game come July – maybe sooner.

Thanks for checking out the project's progress.

That looks like a great project! Thanks for sharing.

Sounds very cool! Best of luck with your project.

Nice work!

Oh my gosh, we're on the same page these days!
I'm ALSO building the rolling hills of Gettysburg day 1.
The areas where Heths division attacked first corp and Barlows knoll.
I'm doing it in 15/18mm scale / size so 5 x 6 ish.
Doubt I'll hay it all done by July though. 😀

Good luck with your project. I'll be interested in seeing how it turns out.

-Stew

Looking very good, congrats!

Thank you all!

Stew, I've been very happy lately to have arrived at a gaming strategy, to get some rationality out this hobby collecting ……this what a friend has labeled the "off the shelf" plan (getting the disparate collections into ready-play scenario kits).

All these 10mm ACW figs above have been sitting around ready to play something!

Realizing that for these figs, and for many other collections getting dusty, it's because I've been 'worshipping' some sort of falsehood – that keeping my collections versatile, and uncommitted to any particular scenario, I've actually been relegating them to non-use.

Now the plan is to go through these dusty boxes, and mate them up to single scenarios, which I can then pull off the shelf anytime, and everything will be ready to present (terrain, rules, player aids, all packed together each as a kit). This just seems the right thing to do now.

I guess it's like cycling through some favorite board games enjoyed – pull one down off the shelf and set it up for a revisit (but of course these will be miniatures games instead).

Now maybe there's a little more emphasis then on making the terrain look pretty sharp, and work tight for each game collection, after all, it's going to be the "Final" version, but to me, that's the reward of just a little more work involved – get the collections ready to play anytime – as a battlefield in a box – right out of the box, and off the shelf ready to go.

Sorry for the long-winded reply here guys, but I'm happy to have some gaming plan now.

Stew, looking forward to seeing your project hit the table too!

An admirable project. Keep us updated.

martin

Will do Martin, and thanks!

Very nice work indeed.

I am looking forward to the battle report .

Best wishes,

Chris

Nice job of painting and organizing. Rally 'round the Flag!

TY Chris and Shagnasty!

Guys,

We were able to test this 1st-Day at Gettysburg scenario and rules this weekend, and it all worked very well – just a few more definitions to add to the 2-page QRS, and the package will be ready for the main event in July.

Some pics from our session:

Very cool FlyXwire. At first the words on the mat threw me off but then I felt it gave a real Army general view. Like troops on a map. Kinda kriegspiel ish. 😀

By the by. I started my Gettysburg project. Not nearly as far along as you though. Can be seen

link

-Stew

Stew, very perceptive on your part – as that's exactly what I felt the project had evolved into, but after I had built it……it's very much Kriegspiel like.

The map image comes from the PC game Ultimate General: Gettysburg, from screen-captures, reassembled digitally, and with all the 3D troops and victory pts., etc. removed before printing. I debated whether to digitally scrub the terrain labels out, but then thought this would help place players right into the game, and since that would be a lot less work for me to leave them on the map image (maybe even giving the smaller board a more *Epic* feel).

Hey, those F-Fury maps look very accurate, and size up well with the ones I researched from for my unit placements and the elevations – (their afternoon map).

Checking your progress, you're doing smooth work – especially on your hills – I know how much dust comes off those modelled slopes using a reciprocating sander (my little dust bag never captured any of it) – best to just leave that exhaust port on it wide-open! :)))

Working digitally, then to full-size scale, I printed out my map image on paper, and worked up hill templates to mount and cut the flexible foam ridges from.

These ridges are glued to the underside of the mat now – it's not a "roll-out" style mat, but a folding one (w/an open split hinge on the underside, for easier storage).

That's a good idea to glue the elevations under the mat. I'm assuming your using the coach foam? Makes set up pretty easy.

Thanks Stew. (I'm using this flexible cushion foam for as much as possible now)

The large 20+ figure 10mm bases obviously provide more room for battle, but I'd see them as difficult to manipulate in detail on the field.

Well, these bases are pretty easy to manage – and their movement rates are fairly low in-game, so intended movements and combat occurences do stress deliberate consideration.

Since the bases represent demi-brigades, which join to operate as larger brigade formations, maintaining multiple stands in alignment and proximity is part of the simple command & control mechanics…..with retreats, refusing flanks, spreading stands out, etc. resulting in command friction, and these situations do affect a brigade's ability to perform the limited amount of orders being issued from the division, corps, or army-level command stands in the scenario.

How do you change formation? Line to column? Just move sideways right? And chits for casualties?

For road column movement, that's indicated by stands aligned sideways on a road, and an extra road rate is granted only when starting and staying on a road.

Units only fire, or fight melee from their frontal facing [off the frontal stand edge]. Frontal base contact is needed to initiate/perform melee resolution. Multiple stands within a brigade that are touching another brigade stand fighting melee, add a modest dice modifier (as combat supports).

There's no tactical formation changing within each single base, each stand is considered as being a footprint occupied by a few regiments. The ground scale is 1" = 100 yards, so an individual stand's frontage could reflect skirmishers out front, followed by a moderate-sized regiment, and supported by another in echelon (the figure arrangements on each base are just for looks, to show some variety, and not strict unit formations).

The overall size of historic brigades can be adjusted as needed, as an example, by adding more stands to form larger brigades (in this 1st-day at Gettysburg scenario I have Pettigrew's Rebel brigade as a 3-stand unit). Frey's Brigade (formerly Archer's – who was captured in the morning fight over Herbst Woods), is only a single stand in my scenario here.

The little flags on each base label are used to track strength losses, so no chits, and the player's use dry-erasable pens to track combat casualties.

Final board work here……and now it's ready for prime time.

Really nice work Fly. Looks great. 😀

Thanks Stew.

I see you've been making progress on your Gettysburg setup also!

link

Thanks Fly. I'll be sure to post some pics here on TMP when it starts looking more like a battlefield and less like pink foam. 😀