I blame the Chairman - Baccus 6mm



I blame the Chairman. At the time, Tony Baker was the Chairman of MADGamers (Maidenhead and District Gamers). I was very new to the club, and very new to wargaming. I had collected and painted lumps of metal for years, but was new to wargaming. In a fit of enthusiasm, I offered to lay on a game using the hordes of 6mm ACW figures I had painted. Good idea.

Good game, lots of interest from others in the club. And I had fun learning about wargames rules. But then megalomania set in.

“We ought to do something for one of our all day games. How about Gettysburg?” says the Chairman.

“Good idea” agrees new club member. Only later does the enormity of this moment of weakness come home. Gettysburg is big, very big. Having visited the battlefield itself, the word is BIG.

1455 Before the chaos. Looking west from Culp’s Hill towards the town of Gettysburg.

For ACW in MADGamers, we use the Fire & Fury rules. Because I like the idea of units looking like real units, with lots of figures, I had abandoned 15mm and gone for the mass effect of 6mm. After looking around at the options, I came to the decision that there was only one choice, Baccus figures. The ever helpful Mr Berry will always help to lighten the pocket of unwary gamers.

1456 View south-west from Culp’s Hill, over the Union reserves of V Corps and the massed Artillery Reserve. In the background, III Corps have moved off Cemetery Ridge and descended into the maelstrom of The Peach Orchard and The Wheatfield, to battle it out with Longstreet’s Corps.

After a couple more games, plenty of volunteers bought their own armies. Painting them was another issue. In the end, only by putting a stake in the ground and setting the date got things done. However feel sorry for John Fox and his VI Corps. He ‘persuaded’ son Gareth to paint them all, stayed up all night before the game basing all the figures, only to see Meade forget all about bringing on his VI Corps re-enforcements. Never even got on the table!

So what are the statistics? The Union army required 7 Corps, 19 Divisions, 51 Brigades, 47 artillery stands and over 350 infantry stands. The Confederates were only 3 Corps, 9 Divisions, 37 Brigades, 30 artillery stands and over 250 infantry stands. With 8 figures on a 20 x 15 mm infantry stand and 2 guns and 8 crew on a 40 x 40 mm artillery stand, this equates to just about 5,000 figures. (Many thanks to Young Chris, Russ, Tony, Gareth and John for all their efforts painting, basing and making extra terrain features).

After a couple of false starts due to work commitments etc, we finally made it all happen on Sunday 13th November. As usual for our all day games MADGamers took over the Altwood Scout Hall in Maidenhead. Ten hardy gamers assembled at 9.30 in the morning to set up tables, lay out scenery, finish last moment painting, find out their commands, receive orders and finally get to form up the troops under their command. Then on with the show!

1483 XII Corps on Culp’s Hill prepares for the onslaught.

Rather than just repeat history, we specifically chose people to be Lee and Meade, who didn’t know the battle off by heart. This led to some interesting orders being given to subordinates. As they also had their own commands to move on the battlefield, it was also interesting to see how someone can become so hypnotised on what’s in front of them, that they lose the bigger picture. A bit like real life.

1487 High Water Mark for Hood’s Division as they push towards The Wheatfield. (No teddy bears were hurt during the making of this (battle)field)

What was the result? Tactically history was reversed. Longstreet got a good kicking from Union III Corps.

1490 III Corps continue to keep Longstreet out of The Peach Orchard

When it finally arrived (good dice throwing as usual from Tony), V Corps just about finished the job off. At the other end of the battlefield, Union XI Corps managed to lose all their artillery in the very first turn and then the whole of Cemetery Hill by the end of Turn 2.

1504 Confederate artillery consolidate on Cemetery Hill.

Union counterattacks stabilised a north-facing line from Culps Hill to The Bloody Angle, while also driving the Confederates back to Seminary Ridge to the west. As far as an overall result – Union 22 Victory Points, Confederates 28 Victory Points. However the door to Washington and Baltimore was still firmly shut and Lee had suffered big loses. I declared it as a draw on the day, but a Union Strategic Victory.

The highlight? General Lee had played Howard’s XI Corps a couple of weeks before at The Battle of Chancellorville. The arrival of the whole of Jackson’s Corps on his undefended flank had the same affect on him, as it had on Howard in real life. So as Lee, the defence of his flanks was a priority – 8 batteries and most of a Confederate division spend the day pointed east out of Gettysburg town awaiting the arrival of the missing Union VI Corps. Won him the ‘Marvin the Paranoid Android Award for Paranoia’ in the after game awards ceremony at the bar!

What did I learn before thinking of doing the same again? Do it! It just needs organisation. Make sure that all the painting is actually is actually done in plenty of time, not just committed to be done. As can be seen from the pictures, we just used normal club terrain. It would be nice to do beautifully crafted battle-specific scenery but this is a one-off game for our enjoyment, not a demonstration game to be taken around some shows. Lots of confusion was saved by making sure you have all the OOB’s/commands written out before the day and use labels to identify all the units on the battlefield. It had been a good idea in running a couple of smaller multi-player games on normal club nights before the big day. It got everyone at least conversant with the outline of the rules and also looking forward to the big one. Finally, it will always take twice as long than you expected to set everything up before you get to the first move! Therefore you never get in all game moves you hoped to. Oh, make sure you organise lunch – pizza delivery services have their uses.

At the end of the day, was it worth it? Everyone seemed to have fun, a good days gaming, a chance to pull the whole club together, and most importantly a chance to have a real battle with thousands of beautiful models, really looking like proper armies. The wonders of using 6mm figures. On second thoughts, I blame Peter Berry!

MADGamers (Maidenhead and District Gamers) meet every Thursday 7-11pm at the Bridge Street Social Club in Maidenhead. As a club we play a number of different rule sets, periods etc as well as roll playing, airsofting and on-line gaming. For more information, our website address is . Visitors and new members are always most welcome.

Peter,

Other close up’s that you might want to replace some of the other shots:

1481. G. Anderson’s division pushes III Corps back to The Wheatfield.

1482. Robertson’s Brigade attacks towards The Wheatfield.

1464. Gettysburg Town – buildings by Baccus, Timecast and Tiger Terrain

1460. Union XI Corps pack Cemetery Hill

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