The Greasy Grass

[Gallowglass]

Given the date (132 years ago yesterday and today) just wondering if anybody's gaming anything Plains Wars related?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Bighorn

[Cory]

We gamed the Battle of the Rosebud this past weekend, a battle just days before the Custer fiasco.

Next week we'll be doing a scenario of Crow vs Cheyenne and Sioux in the weeks following the battle that one of the players put together from the Crow history archives.

[Gallowglass]

We gamed the Battle of the Rosebud this past weekend, a battle just days before the Custer fiasco.

The Rosebud is a fight which seems to get overlooked a bit when looking at the Bighorn campaign. What rules are you using, if you don't mind me asking?

I have LOTOW (good game, bit too small scale for what I'm looking at doing), Warpaint (seems interesting) and I hope to get hold of a copy off the RAFM " Yellow Ribbon" rules soon.

Any thoughts?

[Malamute]

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on Yellow Ribbon if you get hold of a copy. I have heard everybody over on TMP rave about them, but I have never seen them.
I have "Pony Wars - or B troop aint comin back" from Tabletop games (I think) its one of those rule sets that I have had for years and years and never played. It was designed for 15mm and used large numbers of figures. Probably why I never used them.It has a definate Holywood slant as well (Which I like) inclduing such things as the Lone Ranger, the Warwagon etc. Not too historical me things.

I have also have Warpaint but have never played them either.(do you own lots of rule systems that you have never used?) from my memeory of reading them its two games using the same system, one is for larger battles and the other is skirmish based. I am sure there is a Rosebud scenario in there. I'll see if I can find them and have a look.

[Gallowglass]

I have also have Warpaint but have never played them either.(do you own lots of rule systems that you have never used?) from my memeory of reading them its two games using the same system, one is for larger battles and the other is skirmish based. I am sure there is a Rosebud scenario in there. I'll see if I can find them and have a look.

Yep, there's a Rosebud scenario. I'm trying to work out what I need to pull together to game pretty much all of the Black Hills war: Powder River – Rosebud – Little Bighorn – Warbonnet Creek – Slim Buttes – Cedar Creek – Dull Knife Fight – Wolf Mountain

As to whether I own lots of rulesets that I don't end up playing, I'm on a twelve step programme, but I keep falling off the first step.

[Cory]

For the Rosebud game I wrote a set - okay I scribbled notes on a pad. I have LotOW and Yellow Ribbon and Pony wars and several others, but none seemed to be what I wanted. In the long run I wasn't much happy with the rules I used either, but the players all had a ball. The rules focused on command and control of a splintered US force while under continuous assaults.

For next week's game we'll use LotOW with some house rules to reflect tribal focused warfare.

Later this summer I intend to run a 28mm Reno and Benteen focused little Big Horn game using Science vs Pluck.

As to figures needed for Rosebud we normally use 28's so we went 15mm with ACW union cav standing in for Crook's forces at a 10:1 ratio - 24 4 fig stands plus 12 stands of teamsters (we used ACW artillery crew stands and some 15mm Cowboys) plus 8 3 fig mounted stands for the Crow.

As we only had forty or so indian stands left each stand of the Sioux/Cheyenne simply represented "passels of redskins".

[joroas]

The problem of B Troop is that it was set up for a campaign game with random events and reinforcements, not for an historical reenactment..........