Garden Wargaming

A visit from the grandkids and a request for a game led to the Battle of Kung Pao Aidan, a fight between Japanese forces and a Chinese army group trying to hold the key town of Kung Pao Aidan.  The Japanese pushed the Chinese out with the help of their tanks and aerial forces.  The rules were made up on the fly and casualties taken using the M44 dice.

Because it was nice out, we made it an outdoor Garden Wargame.  That worked out just fine.

Thanks to Jim for his help.  Starting positions.

 Lots of Japanese casualties as they advance.

 The town is dug in with a light tank to help in support.  The zero took out the Chinese artillery early on which made a big difference in the Chinese ability to keep the Japanese at long range.

 The Japanese zero comes back for its second pass over the town.

ACW Naval Games

                            

Shortly after participating in the 125th Anniversary reenactment of Gettysburg in 1988, I embarked on my study of the Brown Water Navy.   This was triggered by a correction of my attitude about Civil War naval history by my fellow reenactor and Civil War author Rob Girardi during our 12 hour overnight trip from Chicago to Gettysburg.  Or course, it is dangerous to have your attitude corrected to a positive one right before entering the bookstores of Gettysburg.   I now have a shelf of books on the Brown Water Navy and a collection of miniature ships - one for every vessel that served in the US Brown Water Navy and for every vessel that might have served in the CS navy on the rivers.

While interesting history, gaming the naval battles is less than fun for the CS side.  Excellent commanders, men and equipment along with overwhelming numbers make the Union Navy hard to beat in an historical game.  Rules are plentiful, complicated or easy, but as a Reb you still end up losing after an afternoon, even when you do take some of the damnyankees with you.   My naval forces have not seen the light of day for about 10 years.

Two new board games may help change this.  Rebel Raiders is a strategic level game, with very nice graphics.  It has a tactical resolution method, but you can also use the other new game, Iron and Oak, to resolve the tactical battles.  I look forward to giving these games a try.  I hope to use my ship models with Iron and Oak.

The New Blog

I am trying to reestablish a blog after the demise of the iWeb product last year.  I did not have time to switch things over then, so I will try to add history and new stuff as I get a chance.

My plan is to use this as much to keep track of what I am working on from a hobby standpoint as much as to communicate with others.  Maybe it will prove useful to others on occasion.  At least it can be a place to house and share pictures.

Below are pictures from the Gettysburg - Longstreet's Attack game that I put on at Little Wars in April this year in line with the 150th Anniversary of the battle.