Evolution of a Longstreet army

So I am gearing up for my game with John this Thursday, our first game of 1863,  I took a look at my "Army" and notice something interesting. 

I started the War as the senior Colonel of a Brigade of 4 regiments, three infantry and one Cavalry supported by a battery of light guns. They were in truth the Texas Brigade the 1st Texas, 4th Texas and 5th Texas made the infantry.  The Texas Lancers provided the cavalry and the (fictional) 1st Texas Light Artillery rounded out the force.  That force had a total of 41 bases.  

Moving forward to 1863 my commanders rank is Major General (3 Eagles in game terms).  In the Confederate army that usually means command of a Division.  Take a look at the current force roster.

My current "army" is only 7 bases lager than my original force (48 bases vs. 41 bases) but the make up and character are quite different.

This force now represents a division quite well as three Brigades of infantry make up a typical Confederate infantry division.

We have 3 brigades of infantry (all under strength but functional).

 First we have the Texas Brigade the 1st Texas, 5th Texas and the 3rd Arkansas (12 bases).

Second we have the "Deep South Brigade" the 17th Alabama and the 18th Georgia (12 Bases). 

Finally we have the the Louisiana Brigade made up of the Tigers (8 Bases). 

 Now my army also has artillery that while a little weak for a full division makes sense its even an almost 50/50 mix of rifles and smooth-bores. 

The Cavalry naturally would not belong to the  division it self but we can assume they are Corps assets that have been working with our division for some time you could even call them a Cavalry brigade (10 bases).  

Sam Mustafa has worked out quite an elegant campaign supplying me with a force that evolves in character as the campaign progresses but stays manageable for the player.

Shameless Self Promotion

Hello folks I have a number of items for sale on eBay I wanted to give my blog readers a little extra insensitive.  If you use the Buy-It now option on any of my items and send me a message saying "Fencing Frog Blog Fan" I will wave your shipping costs.  Please note this is only if you use the buy it now option.  

Whats for sale?

the 10th Tenseness Sons of Erin regiment 10 stands worth of Confederate troops on magnetized 1 in Square bases. Great for Longstreet or Fire and Furry.

A pair of buildings from JR Miniatures.

And these two Black Scorpion miniatures Cowboys.

Raising Money for the Muscular Dystophy Association

You May remember my dear friend Andrew Triggs who passed away last year after a 36 year battle with Muscular Dystrophy.

 This year my college classmate Toni is getting locked up to raise money to help send kids with Andrews Condition to Camp.  Please help Toni raise her bail and help these kids. I was the first person to make a donation.

Rocky Ground for Longstreet

An important form of terrain in Longstreet is rocky ground.  I've been using pieces available at the Hobby bunker pieces like this one.

 The problem is this piece looks like it should block line of sight but the terrain type does not block line of sight in Longstreet.  So I set out to make my own.

 I picked up some simple wooden bases at a craft store I would have preferred something a bit more irregular but these will do.

 I used a mix of static grass regular old pebbles form the back yard and some aquarium gravel (that I painted gray).

 This one is simply aquarium gravel with gale force 9 gravel coverage and some tufts of grass. The advantage of this piece is that figures can rest on top of it with out any issues.

 another variant of the first this time the aquarium gravel was not painted this time

 This time its all large pebbles.

 These table level shots who have these are an improvement over the game store's option as so far as Longstreet is concerned this doesn't block line of sight though you can easily imagine a skirmish line using them for coverage.

 You can see some more pictures in on face book.

Fencing Frog goes into the Realestate market.

I'm putting these two buildings up for sale on eBay.  Both are JR Miniature and are 15mm scale.  They are a little small (especially the Stucco Villa) for 15mm but are still a functional size for the scale.

The first building is from their North Africa range, its a great piece.

 The sand texture is a future of the building and one of my favorite details.

 This is the Stucco Villa its on the small size but its a handsome building I think it will work better with 10mm or 6mm that 15mm.

 even at 15mm scale it works well as part of a village.

 I like the brick showing through he stucco even if the exposed pieces are a bit too "regular."

You can bid on these an the Fencing Frog eBay site.

Swamp for Longstreet

Swamps are a terrain I don't have but you need them for Longstreet especially for that poor survey card.  The Base is a piece of leather remnant and the rest is paint with some odds and ends left over from other projects. Let me know what you think as I plan to make some more.

Louisiana Tigers

 These will be my final full sized Confederate unit for Longstreet.  I will be building some smaller Confederate units but more are not needed at this point.

 The Louisiana Tigers, also called the Tiger Rifles or Tiger Zouaves are one of those colorful early war units.

 They had quite  a battle field reputation fighting fellow Irishmen from the Union Irish Brigade at Bull Run.

 Off the battle field they were a constant source of discipline problems not surprising as most of them were wharf rats from a city like New Orleans.

This was a fun though complicated unit to paint they have already seen action and have done quite well thus far.

Longstreet Battle 3 Post battle (What Elephant?)

Well the post battle process was unkind to my battered Texans again.

The 4th Texas was wiped out by Typhoid fever and the 5th Texas and 3rd Arkansas lost two stands each, the 1st Texas, Texas Lancers and Hampton Legion all lost one stand each. Sadly I have not been able to draw a single "see the Elephant card" so even when I win I will keep bleeding stands after each battle.

One the Bright side I got another transfer card so I can add another 6 stand unit of Seasoned Veterans.  I also got "a valuable experience card" I drew Political Savvy a nice card but not my preference.  I used my Bounty card to build the Texas Lancers up to 5 stands and one of my artillery cards to bring the 3rd Arkansas back up to 5 stands.   I also got a new Light Rifle and a Heavy Rifle so I have been able to bring my guns up to strength.

The 17th Alabama joins my army as Seasoned Veterans via the "Transfer Card"  with 6 stands and the 18th Georgia joins as Eager Recruits also with 6 stands.

1st Texas has been reduced to 4 stands and is now Seasoned Recruits; 5th Texas has been ground down to 3 stands and is also Seasoned Recruits; The 3rd Arkansas is standing at 5 stands and still Seasoned Vets with Sharpshooters attached.  The Louisiana Tigers are a powerful Eager Recruits with 8 stands far and away my largest force. Cavalry has two units each with 5 stands of Eager Recruits for both the Hampton Legion and Texas Lancers. The First Texas Light Artillery has two Howitzers; while the Palmetto Artillery now has two Light Rifles and one Heavy Rifle. Finally the Bath Artillery has one Napoleon.

All and all its a fairly strong force though my Texans are now more of a weak spot than the strength they have been.  Not getting to promote any troops to Veteran has been an issue one I really hope will fix it self next game.

DGS Freeblades figure

While Attending Total Con I got a chance to take a look at a new game called Freeblades published DGS Games.  Free Blades is a skirmish level war game set in a high fantasy world called Faelon.  I was impressed with what I saw.  The game had a mechanic that was vaguely similar to Hordes and Warmachine (though I don't believe it has the lose your leader lose the game mechanic) a very successful model and a fun one to play unlike those games I immediately fell in love with the figures so much so that I bought one to paint up even though I had not Idea what I would do with him (and I was tempted to buy more the figures are that good)!  I snapped these pictures at Total Con they were painted by the folks at DGS.

The Barbarian Urdaggar some of whom can change into animal shape.

 I believe these are the Grular who have steps horsemen flavor to them for the Mongol fans.

These are the Trilian which I believe are this game worlds elves or possibly the Faeries.

This one is borrowed (with out permission, but I hope they won't mind) from the game designers own gallery to highlight one of the things I really like about this line of miniatures, the female characters. This Enchantress isn't dressed in some long slit skirt and cleavage showing bodice but in a practical out fit a real adventure, traveler or warrior of either sex might wear and this is typical of all the the female character miniatures I got a look at.   OK at last here is my own work

The scale is 32mm and was purchased from Greenfield Games at Total Con. This is one of the Bandit factions.  I imagine this guy as a tough woodsman who has just put some fellow on the ground and has now drawn his knife for his "intimidation check."

I love the patched long coat, its practical not flashy it might look a bit more "old west" than "Medieval" but in fantasy world who cares.  Actually I picked this fellow because he reminded me of the Iroquois character from the movie "the Brother Hood of the Wolf".

I hope to see this game at the Hobby Bunker, Three Trolls, The Whiz and/or Game Castle in the future.

Hobby Bunker Longstree Campaign (3)

John and I met for the 3rd game in our campaign the second game of 1862. This time we rolled the Outflanking scenario.  John won the scouting roll and elected to attack. We both agreed that this was the most interesting scenario we have played so far.

Terrain placement created a screening woods in the center as well as some rocky ground.  Above my troops are ready to advance on the open objective on my left flank.

The 3rd Arkansas and its sharpshooters hold the wood line covering the objective with in my set up backed up by the 5th Texas, two guns and the three remaining stands of the Texas Lancers.

John marches on with most of his force focused on my left while...

leaving a few small units on the right to keep me honest.

Both of us advance on the left racing (in a slow stately fashion) for the objective.

The confederate General(one of my objectives) watches the Yankees approach.

Ranging shots on the right (hey lost stands are lost stands) but no damage is done.

John strikes me with the "couldn't hit an elephant" card and I roll a 5... I lost two Rebel yell cards and a retrograde card I was planning to use to get the Louisiana Tigers (above) into position.

Johns cavalry sweeps around and drives back my guns, I lost the not to be mourned six pounder.

My own cavalry has worked its way around on the flank... John used poor survey but he placed it near the objective... it caused me a lot of headaches latter but he could have used it to protect the guns.

The Hampton Legion strikes John's batter of three Heavy Rifles taking one gun and sending the rest packing for the rear.

You can see the rocky ground John placed my boys are still trying to get were they are going and the large size of the Tiger battalion is causing me difficulties negotiating the ground.

On the right the Texas lancers have sent John's little cavalry unit running giving me cavalry in the back field on both flanks. I send the 5th Texas marching or the other flank (though its too far to go)

John earns his Epic point taking the objective.  I'm trying to get in position to retake it.

The Arkansan boys advance as the Texas Lancer maneuver behind the 6th PA (right) and 12th NY (left) the 2nd Cavalry with one stand is running for its life.

The 4th Texas has also emerged from the woods so John has infantry and a limbered artillery unit between the Hampton Legion and 4th Texas (and looks properly concerned)

the 3rd Arkansas eliminates the 12th NY by fire.

John Freezes the Hampton legion with old rivals buying him self some time 

On his turn John launches a massive charge (25 stands) he drives back the boys from Arkansas on the right...

 

and the 1st Texas Boys on the left.  It earns him two Epic points my casualties thanks to good cards are low only 3 stands and I am now ready to launch my own attack (1 epic point), using the Rebel Yell!

The Arkansas boys and the men of the Texas Lancers catch the 6th PA in a vice breaking that unit.

The Louisiana Tigers charge furiously over the rocky ground and strike the Garibaldi Guards on the flank.

I get six kills breaking the unit, John sacrifices the unit because he is short on cards and could only save one stand any way.  John has lost 18 stands (the shatter point is 21) I roll a 5 on the victory check and his army breaks.  John gets a total of 5 Epic points (2 for his charge, 2 for the game and 1 for taking his objective).  I earned 4 epic points (1 for a charge, 2 for the game and 1 for victory).  This put me at 14 points for the campaign and John at 12.  In the post battle process John drew the "name in the papers card" and since he is apparently on the cover of Harper's Weekly gets 3 additional Epic points putting him one point a head of me for the campaign. (and things just get worse from here for the CSA) I will post the rest of the post battle stuff latter. This was a very enjoyable game and could have gone either way John as in a pretty good place to make my forces pay if he had gotten one more turn but he didn't get that chance.