The Band Back Together

 Both my sons have been spending a lot of time with me recently and Stewart, the one who wargames, has made efforts to meet me across the table on more occasions than before. He let me know he wanted to fight a large, probably two day American Civil War battle this weekend, I offered two scenarios and he left me hanging on which he wanted to play. By the Friday I was chomping at the bit to get on with the terrain and setting up, but he still refused to choose, despite coming through early and working from my computer. The Memsahib forced me to go out for a bite to eat then dragged me around a couple of garden centres, then I got home. If you are of a certain age this is where the picture goes fuzzy, some wooooo, woooo music is heard and you appear opening the door to the Bunker.....

 Stewart had started building the terrain on the table and there was another guy standing beside him, I was nonplussed to say the least until my brain identified Mark Armstrong, a JR player from years ago, I couldn't believe it. I was then told we were going to fight Gaines Mill from 1862 by Paul Stevenson, Mark showed me the map and I thought that is huge, too large for three or us, should I try to contact some of the guys from the club, even if short notice. About 45 minutes later Davy, Billy and Robert came through the door, Stewart had teased me with their arrival but I had dismissed it as Robert had only just had knee surgery and I know he was having a hard time with pain. The band was well and truly back together, all in the one place after our last gathering in my loft in Carluke decades ago, I was truly overwhelmed.

The band.

Ready to go.

Even more Rebs.

We spent most of Friday afternoon getting the terrain built and organising the troops required for the battle, 15 Union brigades and at least 18 Confederate brigades, it was obvious quite quickly we would never get them all on the table in two days, but we got ready anyway. Myself, Robert and Davy played the Yanks and Billy, Mark and Stewart were the Rebs. The Union troops were on a plateau and the Rebs had to drive us off, they were going to need some luck as the ground was covered in Federal blue, nearly all behind hasty works backed up by artillery. 

The Reb right (Billy).

The Reb left (Mark).

Reb centre (Stewart).

Stewart and Mark.

The good guys, Davy, me, Robert.

The game started and the first problem from our side was that our left flank was under intense artillery fire which in many cases enfiladed our position, this was made worse by Stewart's green artillery batteries acting as though they were elite and causing high casualties on anyone they hit. Robert took most of this fire and it caused him to pull back in an attempt to straighten our line and try and stop the flank fire. I had the division in reserve and the cavalry, the latter I sent to protect the Union right from being flanked, I then sent one brigade to help Robert if needed and another to the edge of the plateau beside the small stream the third formed a line behind Davy's troops. I had taken command of Robert's right hand brigade otherwise I would not get into the battle for a while, I pushed this forward to contest the woods adjacent to the small stream to my front, with one of the reserve brigades to help. The Yankee artillery now began bombarding their opposite numbers and Billy's artillery battalion on our left was almost wiped out, Davy and I did the same to Mark's battalion on our right, only Stewart's green devils were left as a viable threat.

There Robert, there!

The Confederates advance.

John Wayne and the cavalry move right.

Billy gets ready to assault.

Stewart in trouble.

The Reb infantry now came on with the intention of closing on the high ground, shot and shell flew everywhere, Mark now received a division as reinforcements and began to muster it for an assault on the Union right. At this point the Rebs had no thought of a Federal attack and I thought I could catch Stewart off guard as his brigades were the closest to my line. I threw the 4th Minnesota in a charge down the slope, this turned out to be fatal for Stewart's green brigades as several regiments routed while the attack stopped the advance in its tracks, his dice failed him at this critical moment. The Rebs now tried to strike back against the lone Yankee regiment but things again went awry and although the 4th were dispersed they had shattered the enemy completely.

Around this time we called a halt as none of us, apart from Stewart, are spring chickens and we had the pub booked for dinner. The recrimination phase now began as we supped a few beers and enjoyed our meal.

Pressure mounts on the Union left.

Quicker lads, quicker.

Mark is thrown back.

Union right survives, just.

Traffic jam in blue.

This morning we opened the fight at 0930, Billy was in a fight to the death with Robert, Stewart was trying to recover but was again ignored by Lady Luck as two brigadiers and his division commander were struck down by sharpshooters, maybe even the same one. His efforts to rejoin the fight were now well and truly over as he disengaged the survivors from in front of my line, his artillery though were still a formidable threat and that corner of the plateau was a death trap for my boys. Mark now threw caution to the wind as time was running out and we were finishing at lunchtime, his whole division gave a Rebel Yell and launched themselves at Davy's thin blue line in a series of wave attacks. As the smoke dispersed Mark's division lay wrecked in front of the Union line, the survivors hurrying back to the shelter of the woods behind, Davy and Robert and I sighed in relief as Davy's die rolling only just managed to win the contest. 

We were never going to finish the game but it became evident the Confederates would never be able to achieve their aim of sweeping the plateau clear of Yankees, even if we had played long enough for two more Reb divisions to turn up, on the Union side we could not physically get our fourth division on the table as we had retreated on the left leaving hardly any room for what we had never mind more troops. Despite it becoming obvious the game was too big it did give all the players something to do from the start, we all suffered the highs and lows dealt out by the rules and the dice gods, there were cheers, insults and great banter flying to and fro.

I had my moments but did manage an inordinate amount of double sixes, Mark suffered from some less than useful dice at wrong moments and might have given Stewart a run for the unluckiest roller on the table. Stewart suffered most from the fickle dice gods and could do nothing to stop his brigades from dispersing. I don't know how Billy and Robert fared but from the language it was intense on that side of the table.

Look away now or grab a tissue, maybe a couple. This weekend was a meeting of passionate wargamers and good friends from all over the country organised by my son to give me a game to remember. My wife also deserves a mention for looking after us. We swapped health stories in the pub like the guys in Jaws showing their wounds, we remembered what happened and who did what in games long gone, we have plumbed the depths of despair as snake eyes turned up time after time and punched the air as we led our wee sojers to victory. What great people and what a great hobby. We are not the band after all, we are the Old Guard.

A very satisfied bunch.

 

All over, thanks everyone.