How to make a good game out of Cold Harbor (ACW, 1864)

[ChrisBBB]

Does anyone ever wargame Cold Harbor? I searched the web and could hardly find anyone gaming it. Is it because it’s too much like a Union version of Pickett’s Charge?

We had fun with it by expanding it to cover not only the climactic assaults but also the several days of smaller actions and maneuver leading up to it. Full report here:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2024/10/acw-cold-harbor-more-than-just-frontal.html
(with lots of more serious pics than this one)

[vtsaogames]

Got my attention. Have to play Spotsylvania one of these days.

Not so sure about the noodles...

[EnclavedMicrostate]

Presumably one of the tricky things for Cold Harbor with BBB is that it's not just the ground scale that gets compressed, but the time scale too, as you noted. And as we discussed when I visited back in March, that kind of temporal abstraction seems to be the way to handle longer, more siege-like actions – Vicksburg or Mukden, or perhaps the Taiping sallies out of Nanjing in the 1860s...

[ChrisBBB]

I enjoyed the game more than the noodles ...

Yes, time-, ground- and troop-scales all need to stretch to accommodate a battle this size. The two strategic redeployment phases ("Night Intervals") really help.

Mukden is too huge, I think. Probably split it into three linked scenarios with options over which units go to which scenario, and perhaps variable objectives too.

Looking forward to seeing that Nanjing scenario!

[vtsaogames]

Probably split it into three linked scenarios with options over which units go to which scenario, and perhaps variable objectives too.

Ooh, there's an idea!