ACW with Bloody Big Battles.

[has.been]

Having experienced BBB recently at their event day in Daventry, I purchased a set.
I had hoped to (eventually) play a game, maybe with figures garnered from various
2nd hand Risk games. That has not happened as both Vodkafan & myself have been
busy with other things.
Then Flatpack kindly offered his venerable 15mm ACW collection.

Wonderful I thought, a quick visit to the BBB websites, 'for extra free scenarios!' &
we would have a game... Not to be. 
I could not find any ACW scenarios. Did see lots of teasing pictures of games though.

Plan 'B'
Drag out the ACW books I have & translate it into a game.
This is where I gained a great respect for Scenario writers. :
On the details books contradicted each other, or omitted information I needed.
The more I searched the more 'interesting' things I found. These all diverted me from
the task... At Val Verde Confederate Lancers were met with a Union Square when they charged. 

Eventually I pulled my finger out & settling on Manassas/Bull Run (1st... interesting side note,
if you do 2nd you should include the monument they put up after the 1st  )

To make use of Flatpack's troops I changed the ratio from 'I base = 1000 men' to =500.
I feel the game flowed quite well considering three of the four players had NEVER played
BBB before, & my only experience was the two games I played in at the bash.

I will leave it to the players to add their views & hopefully pictures.
Naming the guilty:-
Bob (Flatpack) Union. [Sherman's, Tyler's & Hunter's Brigades]
John 'Killer'      Union  [Heintzelman's & Porter's Brigades]
Ian (Westbury) Confederate [Early's & Kirby-Smith's Brigades]
Me (Has.been)  Confederate [Evan's, Jackson's & J.E.B. Stuart's Brigades]
NB I let the others choose first...Honest.

550= The Stone Bridge
551= Henry House
552= Union troops reach crossroads of Warrenton Turnpike & Lee'sburg Rd.
553= Blue-coats atop Mathew's Hill.
554= Porter's Brigade starting to outflank the Rebs on Henry Hill.
555= Jackson's Brigade advances.

[has.been]

556 & 558 = The fighting at the Stone Bridge. Praise to Bob who didn't accept that he was
                    outnumbered & outgunned (I had cannon!) and launched several attacks !!
557 & 559 = The Armies close.
561 & 562 = Jackson's brigade launches an attack, & though those Damn Yankies 'persuade'
                    my Zouaves to not press home their attack, the rest of the brigade go in
                    with Cold Steel, & the centre of the Union brigade break (OK retreat).

At this point we had to call time.
It wasn't wildly different from the real battle.
The Union made good advances & got reserves onto the table quicker.
Jackson (lets call him Stonewall  ) steadied the line.
Lots of fighting at the Stone Bridge.
Confederate reserves were rushing onto the field from Manassas Railway Junction.

I think we (impartial I ain't  ) would soon have had them Blue-Bellies on the run.

[mellis1644]

That looks great and I have to agree with the oddness about the lack of scenarios/or even support books for BBB and the ACW. You would think with that being such a popular period and the ruleset seemingly focus on the period that it would be a natural fit - but no, there a re a few scenarios out there but not many.

[has.been]

Mellis, well done if you found ANY scenarios, I couldn't.

[mellis1644]

I think there may be one on the facebook page but yeah seems very odd.

[flatpack]

My blue boys struggled today against the rebs.

We pushed and pushed on our left flank, having quite some success crossing the bull run river.


Constantly attacking the confederates defending the bridge.


In the centre of the battlefield, we massed our troops.

Steadily building up our troop strength.

Our cannon took up a good position on the hill.


We finally drew the rebs on to us.


We fought gallantly to hold the centre ground.


JC and his troops tried to hold our right flank.


Unfortunately more Rebs started to arrive as we had to call it a day.


The game was fun and it flowed.
We started to pick up the rules after the second move.
We did struggle to remember what phase of the move we were in, so we need some way of remembering/identifying this ?
Thanks for the effort you put into the game Pete.

[has.been]

You are welcome Bob.
Nice to see your figures in action. How long since they've been out of the tool-box?

You'll have to get some cavalry though.
The only Cav. in today's game (J.E.B. Stuart's) was made up from spare mounted officers.
Might be why they failed to get onto the table. Too many chiefs...

[ChrisBBB]

Very happy to see that Bash Day inspired you to fight this ACW action, and that the game was fun and flowed well. Pics look great!

There are 15 ACW scenarios in the BBB group files (including one for 2nd Manassas). You have to actually join the group to get access. Then you will find them in the folder "1861 American Civil War":
https://groups.io/g/bloodybigbattles/files/1861%20American%20Civil%20War

[flatpack]

Thanks Chris
I can confirm I’ve used that link and we now have access to the ACW files for future games.
Cheers

[has.been]

Thanks for that Chris, got it now. 

[ChrisBBB]

Cheers, chaps. Happy gaming!

[vtsaogames]

Re game sequence: when you are the active player, try to ignore the defensive fire phase. When you are the passive player, wait anxiously for the defensive fire phase. 

[Westbury]

As Early/ Kirby-Smith I reckoned on gaining & holding Henry House Hill and then see what happened, as it turned out not a lot 
My 'success' was entirely due to the caution of my opponent, if he had assaulted my positions when he first was in range I'm pretty sure the hill would have been in Union hands.
Regarding the rules the gang has already chatted about it so no point repeating that conversation. As Bob said it flowed but the sequence took some getting used to. I don't think it captured the 'magic' that is the ACW but if you want something that gets a reasonable number of figures/bases on the table and can be done in under 3 hours then this will do.

[Westbury]

The closing stages including Pete's excellent map.

[ChrisBBB]

As Bob said it flowed but the sequence took some getting used to. I don't think it captured the 'magic' that is the ACW but if you want something that gets a reasonable number of figures/bases on the table and can be done in under 3 hours then this will do.

Thanks for posting. "This will do" is better than "this won't do", so I'm glad you got an OK game out of it, at least! I'd be interested to know what 'magic' you think is missing. Are there particular objective things lacking, eg, important tactics not represented properly, troops not behaving as they should/did? Or is it more an aesthetic preference, eg, that you like more focus on individual regiments, or commanders' personalities, etc?