Roads to Gettysburg July 2nd 1863

The second of July 1863 will to go down in history (at least this time line) as one of the most costly in American military history with the Confederates losing well over 2,500 men and the Union nearly 6,500 troops. This nearly matches the historical losses that occurred during the historical Pickett's Charge.

This reversal of fortunes was to the advantage of the Union. With General Ewell's Corps, General Stuart and Hood's Division have been cut off by Union forces and the rest where being encircled by the Union forces. Most of the troops on both sides are disorganized and exhausted.Some divisions are reduced to the size of 1862 brigades.

All that is but General Reynolds I Corps. His troops and the artillery reserve have recovered and are waiting to get back into the fight. They are able to either assault McLaws division or to cut off the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia. These troops, the cavalry and Sickles III Corps recovering will cause a great of trouble on the third and fourth of July.

Any bets on which infantry division will make it to the Potomac River first?

Roads to Gettysburg - 1st July 1863

The first of July 1863 was less successful for the Confederacy in my game than the historical events.  After attempts to pull back General Hood and the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia, Gereral Lee is left with a less than optimal situation.

The force deployments include;

• Sedgwick north of Frederick containing Stuart and Ewell
• Hancock and Sedgwick surrounding Hood in the Catoctin Mountains
• Army of the  Potomac holding the remains of the Army of Northern Virginia

Will General Lee make it back to Virginia?

Nova: First Air War

I have been waiting through the summer for this Nova episode and it was worth the wait. We have here not only vintage film of World War I but a group in New Zealand building replica aircraft based on period plans.

The aircraft are than tested against each other in evaluation and mock-battles. There are also scenes in this documentary of the aircraft  at air shows.

In the collection the company, The Vintage Aviator, have BE2c, SE5a, Camels Eindecker and Albatross aircraft.  All in period colors and markings.

I found this episode to short, as they cover the entire war in an hour so much of the video is more visual than factual. More in depth in the individual periods would be welcomed. Nova could easily have done three episodes, Fokker Fodder, Bloody April, Strategic Bombing, and The Elites (SE5a and Fokker D.VII).

Well worth watching but it could have been so much better.

I rate this as a 3 1/2 out of 5.
First Air War 
Nova Transcript

We had a plan

Well both sides had a plan but it did not work out for either side.

General Sickles was to advance to the crossing sites on the Potomac and take them as the Army of Northern Virginia was heading north cutting of southern supplies. The problem was the army never moved north and Sickles was not able to advance very far.

The rest of the Union forces was going to head north to engage the enemy, but instead came on to the map turned left and went after the majority of the southern forces along the Catoctin Mountains.

Now the Army of Northern Virginia was to fight the Army of the Potomac in Maryland but the fight in the mountain valleys was difficult and troops were seperated with General Hood caught in Federick.

Is there a chance for either side to pull out a victory. Possibly but it is too difficult to do a blow by blow. Will have to do a replay I believe. Stay tuned.

1939 Battle of Westerplatte

When I first heard of the movie 1939 Battle of Westerplatte I was intrigued. This is a little know engagement in a campaign that most students of World War II do not spend a great deal of time on.  As I had family living in Poland at the time any movie of the conflict is of interest to me.

This is a battle on a small peninsula on the Baltic between Polish and German forces. German naval infantry, SS troops and field artillery were pitted against 200 plus Polish garrison troops. In this lopsided battle the Germans also used the pre-dreadnought Schleswig-Holstein to fire at at Westerplatte.

The Poles held out for seven days longer than any one assumed possible; a moral victory for the Poles that had little to cheer about.

Now for the movie, it is almost two hours long and filled with the chaos of war.  Some reviews fault the production value of this but I felt it was as real as a movie could get. The battle scenes where designed with cinematography in mind and not actual tactics in action but it is a movie. I did like the artillery scenes as they limited the use of gasoline in their pyrotechnics and looked real.

The length of the movie comes about because there are many scenes dealing with Major Henryk Sucharski and Captain Franciszek Dąbrowski having command issues with leadership and the surrender. While important to the film, these scenes were over played.

The Poles had several cloth colors used in their uniforms giving painters many opportunities.  As a reference this makes it a must have for those gamers interested in this period.

I will take the time to learn more about this battle as I can see engagements from it being put on the table for Chain of Command.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Nautical Porn

The title of naval porn was my first thought for this piece, and than I Googled it. Not a good idea. Don’t try this at home with the kids around. 

By naval porn I meant nautical as in ships, old ships, really old ships. These are ships with breach and muzzle loading guns and thick (crappy) armour. Think pre-dreadnoughts and armoured cruisers, warships no self-respecting naval wargamer would want in their fleets.

Well all but me, I have always admired these designs. They were artistic and had a mechanical beauty to them. Today we look at the poor damage control, protection, fire control and wonder why anyone would have wanted to use them in combat. Do not think 2015, but 1915.

These designs that I am talking about were thought of in the 1880s and 90s and with the coming of The Great War were seen by many as antiquated hulls only worth the value of say you have a couple of dozen extra battleships and a few score of armoured cruisers. But these death traps were more than just numbers but an active part of all navies in general, and the Royal Navy in particular. And the Admiralty was willing to send them into harms way.

While I cannot prove this, I have always felt that these old warships were best the best way to see combat. There was the hunt for the SMS Goeben and clearing German raiders from the sea. British used them on the North Sea patrols and at the Dardanelles.

My version of nautical porn is what most wargamers would want in their libraries. With the Internet books can seem passé but these are great titles than anyone interested in the era would want to have. For me this is my top five list. And there will be other lists as well. 

The Great War List
Conway’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1860-1905
This is the pre-dreadnought with all of those wonderful and wacky warship designs. Some of them even worked.

Conway’s All The Worlds Fighting Ships 1906-1921
Here we have the great battleships, HMS Dreadnought, USS Pennsylvania and the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Yes I am biased. What is missing, cruisers, many navies the French and US included sort of forgot about cruisers.

British Battleships 1889 – 1904
A grand study with a great deal of detail on the battleships of the Royal Navy from the beginning of steel warships to the end of the pre-dreadnoughts with the Lord Nelson class.

Naval Weapons of World War One by Norman Friedman
My go to reference for weapon systems of World War One and the pre-dreadnought era. This could be a coffee table book in a nautical geek’s house.

British Cruisers of the Victorian Era also by Norman Friedman
This one is currently not in my collection, yet. But for those that have read this far down the list you have already understood my appreciation for these armoured cruisers. This needs to be a coffee table book in a nautical geek’s house.

Please let me know if there are any titles from the period that you do not want to live without.

Enjoy.

Roads to Gettysburg - 24th June 1863

Taking this classic Great Campaigns of the Civil War for a spin using Alt-History for the backdrop and support. Orders are based on conversations with both gamers and students of history.

Both the Confederates and Union forces have orders that they are to follow. From the beginning of the campaign General Rhodes appears to be on a mission to raid the farms of southern Pennsylvania. Already General Ramseur's Brigade has been dispatched to raid and levy Greencastle and Waynesboro.

To Greencastle  was rushed a brigade of infantry to protect the town from Grumble Jones' cavalry. Instead Knipe ran into Rhodes's division with appropriate results.

As the campaign is starting questions are asked. Where is General Stuart and the Union Army of the Potomac? Any thoughts where battle will be joined?

General Rhodes comes to a fork in the road. June 24th 1863. Guesses on the direction he will take?