Review of "Heartland - the battles of Kentucky and the Tennessee" scenario book

Some time ago, Partizan Press released their ruleset for American Civil War, called “Guns at Gettysburg”. Shortly thereafter came the first scenario book for the system, called “Heartland – The Battles for Kentucky and Tennessee”. Since I am something of a compulsive collector in regard of scenario books, I couldn’t resist the temptation and ordered it almost immediately after it became available.

As it is implied by the title, focus of this book is put on the struggle for control of Kentucky and Tennessee during the early stages of the war. Engagements in the book take place between November 7th 1861 to October 8th. Each scenario consists of a short description of general situation before the battle, scenario objectives, detailed orders of battle on regimental level (including number of figures per regiment and classification of the leaders/units according to “Guns of Gettysburg”), a map and several paragraphs describing the events during the real battle and its aftermatch.

Following scenarios are included:

Belmont (7th November 1861) - small scenario with six infantry regiments and a single artillery battery on the Union side and ten infantry regiments and single battery on the Confederate side. Some fortifications are required for the terrain setup.

This one strikes me as perfect beginner scenario for two players that are just starting with the period or a ruleset. I plan to use it in my next game with ‘They Couldn’t Hit an Elephant’.

Logan’s Cross Roads (19th January 1862) – medium size scenario. Union side includes ten regiments of infantry and four small batteries. They are opposed by equal number of Confederate regiments and artillery, but the Rebels also have three small regiments of cavalry.

Breakout at Fort Donelson (15th February 1862) - medium size scenario, where a green force of eight infantry regiments supported by three batteries tries to stop a frontal assault by twelve Confederate infantry regiments, supported by two batteries. To add to the misery of the Union side, Forrest is also present on the field with some cavalry.

This one looks to me like a foregone conclusion, but I’m the sucker for last stands and will be setting it up as soon as I make some field fortifications for the fort.

Assault on Fort Donelson (15th February 1862) – small, but interesting scenario where eight Union regiments supported by skirmishers and two batteries try to breach the fort. They are opposed by nine Confederate regiments and two batteries.

Interesting scenario, but one which will put some demands on my terrain supplies. Lot of field fortifications is needed to play this one.

Shiloh Church (6th April 1862) – large scenario, in which twelve Union regiments take the brunt of initial Confederate assault during first day of Shiloh. Confederates field whooping twenty infantry regiments and six batteries.

Fortunately the terrain isn’t very complicated. If you have enough miniatures, this one could be a great weekend game.

Hornet’s Nest (6th April 1862) – second scenario based on Shiloh and largest scenario in the book. Twelve Union regiments supported by three batteries stand up to twenty-one Confederate regiments supported by whooping ten batteries of artillery.

Richmond (30th August 1862) – medium sized scenario with eight infantry regiments, two batteries and two cavalry regiments on Union side and twelve Confederate infantry regiments, two batteries and two cavalry regiments.

This one seems really easy to set up for a quick afternoon game.

Munfordville (14th September 1862) – small scenario where three Union regiments aided by some skirmishers, token force of cavalry and a single battery try to hold strong fortified position. On the opposing side are six infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments and two batteries of artillery.

Another scenario requiring a lot of fortification terrain pieces, including a blockhouse.

Iuka (19th September 1862) – medium size scenario and first scenario in the book with characteristics of a meeting engagement. Union force consisting of thirteen infantry regiments, one cavalry regiment and two artillery batteries are on a collision course with Rebel force consisting of nine regiments and two batteries.

Hilly terrain and lots of woods should make this scenario very interesting and re-playable.

Battery Robinett (4th October 1862) – medium size scenario dealing with one of main events during battle of Corinth. Union is on the defense here with eight infantry regiments supporting six entrenched batteries of artillery. Confederates field equal number of infantry regiments and are supported by two batteries.

Another scenario where one side is entrenched, making special demands on terrain setup.

Hatchie Bridge (5th October 1862) – a meeting engagement scenario dealing with the aftermath of the clash at Corinth. Ten Union infantry regiments, supported by a cavalry regiment and three batteries duke it out with six infantry regiments, some skirmishers, cavalry and six batteries on the rebel side.

Setup for this scenario is quite original and I think it may have a lot of replayability.

Peter’s Hill (8th October 1862) – a true meeting engagement, with both sides more or less blundering into each other in an attempt to occupy high ground position. Eight regiments, two cavalry regiments and three batteries are fielded by the Union. Confederates have seven infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments and two batteries at their disposal.

This scenario definitely caught my interest because of relatively uncomplicated terrain setup and variable entry times for most of the units. I think there is a lot of potential for total chaos in this one and that’s my favorite type of scenarios.

Chaplin’s Hill (8th October 1862) – here we have a straightforward ‘bash and mangle’ affair with twelve Union regiments and two artillery batteries confronting fifteen Rebel regiments and four artillery batteries.

In contrast to two previous scenarios, this is a classic set-piece assault on formed infantry line. However, terrain layout produces some interesting problems for both sides.

Invasion - a theoretical scenario with chess-like qualities. Both sides command equal forces of six infantry regiments, two cavalry regimens, and two batteries of artillery and have to achieve similar objectives. Terrain is a mirror image of itself along a diagonal line. This one seems to be a perfect choice for a tournament scenario, if such were ever played within ACW setting.

In addition to the scenarios, Partizan Press took the opportunity to include couple of pages of extra rules for ‘Guns of Gettysburg’. This fact alone should make this scenario book a must buy for players that use that ruleset. At the same time I must add that “Heartland” can be used without any problems with any regimental ACW ruleset, since figure ratios are provided in the book. Additionally, conversion table for Johnny Reb 2 should make it particularly easy to use “Heartland” for players that still play this classic ruleset.

What about scenarios then? I hope that my short synopsis gives a pretty clear view of the content – most scenarios have OOB’s hoovering around eight infantry units per side, which means that they are playable during an afternoon. Also, there is a lot of variety in the character of the scenarios and I do believe that everyone will be able to find at least a couple of scenarios that will catch their interest. At the same time I need to point out that five of the scenarios require fortifications of one sort or another, so you better have those walls and abatis pieces ready.

Two minor negative remarks: as far as I could see, there are no instruction in regard of the table size. While I assume that the scenarios are to be played on a 4’ by 3’ table, it would be nice if it was clearly stated somewhere in the text. Also, there are some typesetting errors in several of the OOB tables – misaligned rows that can cause a little consternation.

Regardless of that, I think that “Heartland” is an excellent scenario book and can recommend it to anyone interested in the period. Considering moderate size of most of the scenarios, I also think that it is a rather good starting point for people that are just beginning to assemble their ACW armies.

Guadalcanal by Richard B. Frank

The other day I’ve finished “Guadalcanal” by Richard B. Frank. I won’t go into the details of the book – Guadalcanal should be familiar to most wargamers, at least in broad strokes. I would however like to recommend this book to anybody with interest in the Pacific theatre of World War II and especially to people that wargame this period.

There are several reasons for my unreserved praise of this book. First of all, it gives a very detailed account of all aspects of the campaign – land combat, struggle in the air and clashes at sea. Second, it is based on primary sources of both sides and gives equal space to American and Japanese side. Furthermore, Frank narrative is very rich in detail, but remains very accessible.

From wargamer’s perspective, this book is a dream – there is a lot of material for scenarios of all possible kinds – control of Guadalcanal was contested at land, sea and in the air and ferocity of that struggle was equally intense regardless of the location. What’s even more important, Frank provides both the maps and orders of battle for both major clashes and minor incidents. And as a final cherry on the top, he also gives us excellent descriptions for all commanders involved in the campaign.

Lesson learned

Well... yet another change of layout - this time good, plain black. No it's not a reflection of my mood, but forced necessity. Earlier today I took a quick pick at the blogg and imagine my suprise - most of it was plastered with adds for Photobucket, encouraging me to create proffessional account. The explanation for this phenomenon was quite simple - custom template I've used has all of its graphic elements posted on Photobucket and owner apparently reached his bandwidth limit.

The lesson is learned - I'm sticking to a plain design with no frills. Sure, the page looks slightly boring without all the fancy gradients, but at least I am in control now. And I have to admit that I like the way pictures pop out with that black background.

Adler ACW range review redux - part 4

This is the final, at least for the moment, part of my review for figures suitable for the Union troops.

Regimental command strip

Regimental command strip ACW20A consist of one officer, one drummer and two flag bearers. As can be seen in pictures above, I always add one such strip to all of my units.

This strip and its sibling with figures in hats are perhaps the only source of problems in the entire range. Reason for those problems is quite obvious - flag poles are quite easy to break off, and I did receive strips with poles that were weakened by the transport or where poles were already broken off. There is really not much one can do about it, the metal used for figures is quite soft and any prolongated parts will have tendency to break off. My advice is simply to order twice as many command strips as you need and select those with strongest poles. Extra cost is negligable and you will save yourself a lot of grief.

ACW20A - Command group in kepis

Union artillery

ACW artillery in Adler range is limited to smoothbores and Parrot guns. Crews are also limited to two variants, one in hats and the other in kepis. For Union artillery I use strip ACW19A, but I guess you could mix both variants for the sake of variety.

ACW19A - Artillery crew in kepis

Union battery ready to open fire

Final comment on Union infantry

It is perhaps needless to say that strips with numbers 1 and 2 make up the bulk of my Union regiments. I would however like to recommend to everyone to at least order some samples of figures in Collector series - even at this scale they will add a lot of variation to your units.

Other that that, Mr. M, how was the ruleset?

Following Sunday's event, it would perhaps be a good time to write couple of additional words about “They Couldn’t Hit an Elephant”. My first impressions were confirmed – it is very playable and relatively simple ruleset. Before our game, I’ve prepared a set of two Quick Reference Sheets and a page listing possible actions for each of the players. Quick walkthrough of basic principles took about half an hour. Then we started to play and after a couple of turns, things flowed rather smoothly.

Our game also confirmed the fact that as in any other ruleset from TFL, cards and luck can sometimes make or break you. The infamous sudden death card, called ‘Coffee’ in TCHAE, didn’t bother us so much for the simple reason that I’ve inserted two of those in the deck. However, cards limiting actions of generals of certain type (‘Cautious’ and ‘Political’) can, with a bit of bad luck, still ruin the day for individual players. In Sunday’s game, player handling the Union brigade in the middle that was completely neutralized by ‘Cautious’/’Political’ card being turned over and over again just before his turn. Word of advice – be very careful with use of a single general with this attribute in your OOB, unless you dislike the player that will assume this command.

As always, some mistakes were made. The most important one in our game was the fact that I’ve forgot about the rule prohibiting use of multiple pips for movement, once a unit reached certain distance from the enemy. This seemingly small mistake made it much easier for units to get into close combat. On the bright side, my mistake may not have been a bad thing, since gave us experience with the rules that handle melees. As it turns out, bayonet charges are very unpredictable in “TCHAE” and should not be attempted by those faint of heart. At the same time, certain critique can once again be raised against the layout of the ruleset. My mistake could have been easily avoided if the ruleset made clear connection between movement rates, infantry fire ranges and the above mentioned restriction.

So what did my friends think of “They Couldn’t Hit an Elephant”? It will come hardly as a surprise that P, who was forced to suffer wrath of Confederate artillery without being able to do much about it, wasn’t very happy about it. T’s opinion was a little more of a surprise – he found randomness of TCHAE somewhat annoying and missed the detail and period flavor of “Long Road North” (my previous choice of rules for this period). L-A, Ha.and He. were much more positive – they liked the confusion created by the card draw and appreciated uncomplicated game mechanics used in TCHAE.

In other words, THAE didn't receive standing ovations, but neither did I hear any petitions for ritual burning of the pages. Personally, I have to say that this ruleset grows on me. There is certain elegance in those hidden relations between different mechanics of the game, although I wish they were clearly stated in the text. Also, what I saw on the table reminded me in many respects of the accounts by Shelby and Sears - confusion, units that moved erratically, heroics of the officers that changed the tide of battle... So with some tweaking, THAE has the potential of being a lot of fun.

Terrain

Union blinds on the move

Closing with the enemy

On to the top

Meanwhile, on the other hill

Mr. Elephant meets my friends

Introduction of “They Couldn’t Hit an Elephant” finally arrived last Sunday. Two Confederate brigades were to stop four Union brigades in their attempt to push their way across the gaming area. Wanting to make things slightly more interesting, I’ve added couple of twists to the scenario. Unknown to Union CinC during his planning phase, one of brigades under his command got lost during the advance to the battlefield. There is a very prosaic reason for this decision; one of Union players had to cancel and I needed to jump in instead. However, I wanted to ensure that my “familiarity” with the setup wouldn’t spoil the fun and decided to play as passive role in the game as possible.

Confederate side was served their own surprise – initially there would be only one brigade on the table. Arrival time of the second brigade was unknown to players on the Rebel side. Furthermore, I planned to give fair warning to the Union brigade commander on the flank that would be hit by Confederate reinforcements.

On the paper it actually did sound like a pretty good scenario – I imagined that Union troops would hit outnumbered Confederates in force, only to be distressed by sudden appearance of additional enemy troops on their flank. As everybody knows, things seldom turn out as planned, especially when you use TFL rules.

Stage 1
Union commander decided to enter the field on broad front – three brigades in line, with the fourth in support (my ‘no show’ command). Initial orders were to take holding positions along southern edge of the field, anchoring one flank on a nearby height.

At the same time Confederates attempted to show strength, moving the blind with “real” brigade into central position, while making best possible impression with dummy blinds.


Stage 2
Having assumed the intended holding position, two of Union brigades were either spotted or unmasked the blinds voluntarily. Confederate blind on the right was exposed and removed. Long range artillery duel started, causing some casualties and some consternation among one of Union regiments, but otherwise causing little damage. At the same time Union commander on the right flank received reports about substantial Confederate reinforcements moving rapidly toward his position.


Stage 3
Union brigades on the left and in the center receive orders to advance on Confederate position. Rightmost brigade moves rapidly and infantry on both sides start to exchange fire. Brigade in the center never moves out of its position. Confederate artillery fire starts to take effect, demoralizing one of the blue-clad regiments.

New arrivals show up on the field – lost Union brigade shows up, but far away from the expected entry point. At the same time, Confederate reinforcements show up on Union right flank. However, two of the rebel regimental commanders misunderstood their orders and got separated from the rest of the brigade. This causes some confusion and puts severe strain on newly arrived Confederate brigade commander.


Stage 4
Union assault on the left flank advances to contact with Confederate units on the high ground that dominates left portion of the field. Rebels are thrown back and appears to rout, but a courageous colonel manages to stem the flight and rallies the troops. Union right prepares for inevitable assault of Confederate reinforcements. Union center fails to support their comrades on the left, but the attached battery knocks out one of rebel guns.


Stage 5
What seems to be the final push on the Union left smashes into the battered Southern line. Amazingly, the line holds and same soldiers that were on brink of collapse just couple of minutes ago manage to throw back the blue onslaught in disarray. As so many times before, inexperienced troops can be very eager, but can also turn out to be very brittle tool.

Indecisive assault on the right flank ends in stalemate, while Union brigade in the center finally starts to show signs of activity. Unfortunately, it’s too little and too late, as both sides decide they had enough for the day.

Devil lies in the detail

Sometimes even a small detail can enchance the game experience - custom made quick reference sheets for each player, measurement tools specific to the ruleset, perhaps nice labels. In my case it's the movement trays - because of the lack of space and cost, I mostly use 6mm miniatures for games that are really intended for 15mm or 28mm. The end result is that bases are small and fiddly, which in turn results in lot of mishaps when they are moved on the table. Obvious answer to my problems was of course making a bunch of moving trays, but I couldn't decide on what material to use - thick cartoon, metal sheets, plastic...

In the end I've decided on using plastic. Bases themselves were cut out of 1mm thick plastic sheet, which is easy to cut with common kitchen scissors. Plastic sheet this thin is quite woobly, so I stiffened it with 1.5mm square profile rods from Evergreen - just front and the sides. Since bases for both my ACW and Napoleonic miniatures are 1.5cm wide, I've made a bunch of bases for various number of miniature bases. One important thing to remember is to add 3mm to each base width to compensate for width or the rods. In fact, I've added 5mm, as my miniature bases aren't very precisely cut. Better to have few milimeter gaps, than an unusable base. I've also decided to add 5mm to the shorter side - this will give me space to add labels with unit names and maybe some basic data. Self-adheseve label paper will be perfect for this purpose.

OK, so it's nothing revolutionary, but I'm quite pleased with the end result and somewhat suprised over how little time it took. I've made about 30 bases in about 2 hours. A quick spray paint job and I'm done.