Welcome to the Jungle - Lizardmen vs Beastmen - 2,500 points with the Old World

A Beastmen brayherd, led by their fearsome Doombull, advances into the fringes of the jungles of Lustria. The ancient Slann has long foreseen the intrusion, and his lizard minions are waiting for them... 

...an Old World bash, just for fun. We rolled randomly, and would be fighting along a 6 x 4, so tight on the frontage, but with more depth. The basic lists where (roughly);

Brayherd
Doombull (General, leading Bestigor)
Great Bray Shaman (lvl 4)
Bray Shaman (lvl 2)
2 x Wargors (leading Gors)
2 x 30 Gors (full command)
1 x 26 Bestigor (full command)
1 x 16 Ungor (full command, skirmishers)
2 x Razorgor
Chaos Giant
Ghorgon
Cockatrice

Lizardmen
Saurus Old Blood on Cold One (General)
Saurus Scar Veteran on Carnosaur
2 x Skink Priests (lvl 2)
1 x 24 Temple Guard (full command)
1 x 24 Saurus (full command)
2 x 16 Skinks with javs (skirmishers)
1 x 10 Cold One Riders (full command)
1 x Jungle Swarm (4 bases)
1 x 4 Kroxigor
Bastiladon (Ark of Sotek)

 

The battle lines are drawn, but scouting skinks are already behind the beasts (sneaky geckos). The discs are our unit actions for the turn - we use a unit by unit activation system... not the RAW turn sequence. 

 Little subtlety of tactics here, in the first turn both sides advanced at the march in what was looking like a pitched fight in the middle, with the exception of the scouting skinks behind the Beastman lines after deployment (and a Shaman), who emerged from the undergrowth, ran up to throw their javelins (there would be a lot of that), and the Shaman’s spell slowed the Bestigors down. The Carnosaur riding Scar Veteran lined up the Chaos Giant for a ‘Harryhausen-style’ monster bash - yippee!. The Old Blood on his Cold One (not stupid) had the Ghorgon ahead of him. On each end of the Beast’s lines, the Razorgors ran forward.

Turn two, and the ‘killing-stuff’ would get started in earnest. The Carnosaur rushed the Chaos Giant, who met it and with one almighty Strength 10 swing of its club scored a hit, and a D6 wounds. 6! Ouch. One dead Carnosaur and it hadn’t even had a chance to get its wicked claws out - this is by far the best thing my giant has ever done, beyond getting shot by war engines. Its moment of triumph didn’t last long, because the charging Kroxigor hammered it (literally with big hammers) and did 6 wounds as well, and the giant fell down dead, again! It did wound a Kroxigor as it fell on it though. Still, an epic start.

The monster fighting continued as the Old Blood charged along with the Basilodon, into the Ghorgon, and its mighty ‘killing blow’ swing cleaved the Old Blood in half… one shotted again! The Basilodon’s tail-wacks and poisonous serpents (and skinks) did a few wounds as well… that fight would continue. Good start for the Beastmen, except a Razorgor wen down full of poisonous javelins, and the other got busy eating serpent swarms as fast as it could… which wasn’t fast enough.

Behind, the skirmishing ungor had run back to deal with the skinks, but a hail of javelins killed 8 of them! Ouch… and the Bray Shaman, also targeting them with ‘the Summoning’ magic missile found his spells dispelled, or failing, and was generally useless. The Great Shamans ‘steed of shadows’ carried the central Gor block right up to the Saurus’ and the big central melee would start their next turn, after the Cockatrice vomited on the Saurus, and killed 1 (wow!).

By turn three is was all in (almost), Gors charged, Cold One Riders lowered spears and charged, primal fury saw most get into frenzy and in a landslide of attacks, most did zippo against the Lizardmen’s good (too good?) armour saves. Hand weapons did almost nothing, and the obsidian hand weapons then cleaved down Gors en masse. The Cockatrice had charged the flank of the Saurus block to lend a hand, and did its usual no damage, it did turn 1 Saurus to stone though… nice new statue for the Slann

Behind, the Ungor found themselves complete outmatched by skink skirmishers and broke and ran from the failed panic tests… the Bray Shaman cast again, whiffed, and would be next for the pin-cushion treatment. Skinks move 12”, can still throw with no modifier for the running about, always stand and fire, ignore cover, scout… what! Wood Elves wish they could skirmish this well.

Anyway, turn 4 and the grind was on, and it was only going one way. The central Gors and Cockatrice (now charged from behind by the returning Kroxigor), were badly beaten to a pulp and all ran. The Cold One Riders vs Gors was closer, but still a Lizard win and the Gors FBIGO’d, and would continue to do so, but they had no hope of winning, after their Wargor leader was killed in challenge by the Cold One champion… the Ghorgon was also killed by poisonous snakes, and the wheels had come off completely.  

All that was left to resolve was the big Temple Guard vs Bestigor clash, once the serpent swarms had been dispatched. That clash, which I though would be close, with maybe the Doombull’s violence swinging it my way, resulted in a kicking, when the Saurus arrived to aid, and the Kroxgor, (after pursuing broken Gors), again had a flank charge and lumbered in for big hammer squishing time. 15 Bestigors died… and the unit broke… game over. The Beastmen had nothing left, a few Gors had fled the table, but the Temple Guard pursued the Bestigor (and Doombull and Great Shaman) and caught them…

On VPs, it was a massacre… few of those Beastmen ever returned from their intrusion into the jungle! We called it on turn 5… a stonking win for the Lizards.

We used the Old World Renegades rules for the Lizardman army lists for this game,and, well, I have issues! Still, it was fun, which is all that really matters.

The action...

 

Skinks and one of their Priests are behind, emerging from the undergrowth, for a javelin in the ass...

Lizard lines, Cold One Riders on the right, then Skinks and Kroxigor, big blue Saurus block in the centre.

Beast centre, Chaos Giant, Ungor skirmishers (anti-scouting-skink screen) and central Gor block.

Razorgor is pepper by javelins... 2 wounds taken, as the two flanks close in. The big pig was shot down next turn.

Carnosaur scar-veteran lines up the Chaos Giant, for a monster bash... only to be hit, very hard, by a very big swing of the club and one-shotted (this is by far the best thing a giant has ever done!). Bosh! 6 wounds... Stitch that! Kroxigor then got their revenge and beat it down with great weapons.

Ungor turn around and run back to get those skink scouts... and 8 die to poison javelins... they charge, lose and run... useless.

They break, and run, even as the Bray Shaman repeated fails to cast 'the Summoning' at the skinks (3 fails), before himself being javelin'd down... also useless!

Second monster bash, Ghorgon vs Bastilodon's charge... but the Ghorgon can't get the 6 for a killing blow... and again poison does its work, eventually bringing the Ghorgon down.

Gors go into frenzy and charge the Saurus in the centre, as the Cockatrice is in in the flank...

Cold One riders are just too tough for Gors, with 2+ armour saves, and the Gors wtih zippo AP... all those attacks, no kills... but they can hold them up and hang on with repeat FBIGOs.

The Saurus eat more Gors, same story, 3+ armour saves, vs no AP... just a losing fight... these lizards grind hard...

After slaying the giant with their great weapons, the Kroxigor reform behind the central melee, about the swing it hard (by swinging hard) from the rear charge.

On the Beast's right, the Bastilodon's many poisonous attacks have done-in the Ghorgon after a long fight, whilst the Razorgor can't eat enough snake swarms and is losing... until the Bestigor charge in an axe those pesky snakes to death. Just the Temple Guard next... a big clash.

The last stand of the Bestigor, suddenly surrounded by Temple Guard, Saurus and Kroxigor in the flank. They'll kill 12, but lose 15!... it's over... the Beastman herd has been utterly destroyed.

The unfrenzied Gor hold-up the Cold One riders, but again, they are losing the grind. So far, 1 dead rider (in about 80 attacks!)... eventually the Gors are worn down and break... fleeing the tabletop. The dice is to remind us the Gors needs 5s To-Hit, due to the Sun Banner (we forgot the first turns), but it didn't help the Gors much. Another 1 sided melee, that would be theme of this battle.

 

Soldiers of Rome, Castra Deva mini-campaign, games 2 and 3.

 It’s been a few months, I have not got much gaming in of late, life got busy. We have managed to get the next two games of our Soldiers of Rome campaign played, so here are the AARs. Hopefully, November is quieter and the dice can get rolling again.

Game 2 - Punitive Raid
The Roman garrison at Castra Deva, having been attacked on the road by the locals, have dispatched a force to burn a local village in an attempt to show them the ‘error’ of their anti-Roman ways, cow them by showing there will always be payback for the rebels. This was another Raid scenario, with the Briton’s little hilltop village in the centre of the table and the Romans coming from either side, mostly with lighter auxiliary forces, including 2 auxiliary cavalry units. A single cohort would conduct the main attack into the village, as an unstoppable phalanx.

The locals had arrayed themselves in defence, armed civilians, slingers, bowmen and in the centre, the nobles. As the Roman advance began, auxiliary archers winging arrows into the village, the Celts responded by sending a cloud of skirmishing slingers and archers out to meet the cavalry. They were my diversionary force, so job done! Now, not to die in the diversion.

The slow, oh so slow, heavy infantry cohort lumbered on, flanked by auxiliary spearmen, and first encountered armed peasants, which lasted about 5 seconds… cut down and routed without breaking stride - a ruthless sacrificed screen. The advance continued as the nobles were lined up next.

Meanwhile, the Celt skirmishers had closed in on the cavalry and were inflicting a lot of damage on the auxiliary cavalry, and their rookie commander ‘Publius  Aristos’. Mishandling of the cavalry (they should have just marched away with their ‘gallop’ move and left the skirmishers with no enemy to fight), meant they took a lot of cards to keep on the field.

Back at the village, the local nobles had been charged by the legionaries and the fight was on. The wall of Roman steel did their thing, and ground away hard, wearing the nobles down. They would win, and see-off the best the Celts had, but too late…

Disaster engulfed the cavalry, as sling stones, arrows and then javelins massacred them. Even Publius Artistos, fighting hard to prove this name, was shot down and the entire flank was gone. That was very costly, 2 auxiliary cavalry lost, one in a bloody massacre, and their commander too… and thus the Romans had suddenly lost, the Britons still had 5 VPs left. The punitive raid had bitten-off more than it could chew. The garrison legate would have to write a scroll back to Rome to report the sad loss of a bright young noble son of Rome in his first deployment! We must have revenge for Aristos!

It’s 1-1 after the first 2 games. 

The auxiliary cavalry flank, and the skirmishers that did them in. Beyond is the village on a hill, dead centre.

Cohort and auxiliaries lines attack from the other side.

The cohort faces the nobles, backed by warriors. The auxiliary spears do their bit and get stuck in to.

Warriors and spears face off. The Britons are urged on by their mad druid-ess... wearing deer antlers, and not much else.

The death of Publius Aristo... in a cloud of thrown javelins.

Game 3 - Battle of Rhudall Heath
Time to take that revenge. The garrison commander, ‘Quintus Eugramus’,  has now dispatched a stronger force, with orders to bring the rebellion to end and kill the leader. After the failed raid, morale at the Deva camp had slumped, it was raining, cold, and the pay and wine shipment had been delayed (mutinous legion was in play). Young Aristos had been a popular officer, the men mourned him. This would be a small field battle, as the glum-faced garrison marched out to meet the rebels at Rhudall Heath, on the muddy road south-east from Castra Deva. Ground selected, by a stream with a low hill, on which the scorpios were placed, with cohorts blocking the road. The Celts arrived, all woaded-up and shrieking, led by the mad druid-ess. It was light force, all skirmishers (no straight lines here), but moving quickly.

The battle saw the Romans start well, marching up on the left, and their Scorpios finding the range and hammering Celtic warriors at range. On the left (the main Roman advance), the first Cohort engaged, first a horde of armed civilians (these Celts are ruthless using them as screens to absorb damage), followed up (as a screen for) the naked fanatics. These fought with wreckless fury, with multiple berserker attacks, and the first cohort had to stay strong. They did, killing with gladius and pilum until the fanatics were all dead! Meanwhile, the flanking cavalry (the last survivors from the raid), got some revenge on more armed civilians, a quick charge and a ‘levy panic ‘seeing them off. The Celts, out flanked had to turn to face the cavalry, whilst their warlord commander fought for his life but saved himself. Archery and scorpios continued to hurt the horde on the Roman right, but the centre was quiet. How, seeing two cohorts un-engaged, the Roman commander (me) made a mistake, he turned to march them to the right, and they suddenly found themselves with wardogs (held back) and chariots on their flank and rear. The cohort was caught and charged and found itself in big trouble. The centre commander was attacked by warhouds and only just survived. Next turn, he didn’t, the rapid dogs dragged him down screaming! The cohort broke under the sudden assault… what!

On the right, more fanatics had charged across the stream and were throwing themslevs into the auxiliary spearmen that screened the archers, but their furious attacks were too much and the spearmen went down, in a massacre, leaving the archers to face the naked lunatics next. The wheels had suddenly come off, the centre had broken and the Celt’s relentless attacks saw off the archers, whilst the isolated cavalry were also routed (I keep getting them killed) and ended the battle. Disaster again! The Britons had won by just 2 VPs, the ‘mutinous legion’ had effected my boys, and the ‘galloping’ dog-chariot combo-charge had been very costly. Defeat for the jaws of victory, in a close, tense and fun game.

The survivors would retreat the Castra Deva, and report. The rebellious horde would not far behind. The situation was now urgent. Legate Eugramus, the garrison commander, would need to call out the entire legion, and get his armour ready. Next comes a large field battle in game 4. These Britons need a strong lesson in Rome’s military might…  but they are sneaky devils.

It is now 3-1 to the Britons on campaign VPs. 

Roman right, scorpios, archers and spearmen defend the low hill, fronted by a stream.

 

Center and left cohorts, facing the mob. 

Auxiliary cavalry deal with the levy troops... after they panic. But then are in trouble as they get surrounded and shot down (again). A new plan for these is required.

First cohort smash into the fanatics and warriors (in support), and kill them all!

But disaster to the right, as the naked fanatics scream across the stream, and smash the auxiliary spears. The cohort and their commander get themselves outflanked, with dogs biting them in the arse - a terrible death for a Roman officer, as dog-food.  

The massacre of the spearmen, trampled by sheer weight of numbers. Archers firing into he melee did not help either... they did more damage to the spears than the fanatics.

 

Operation Mercury campaign - Game 4 - Dropzone south of Platanias

The airborne landings on the map had placed some of Major Stenzler's 2nd Battalion (1st Sturm Regiment) in the valley south of the coastal village of Platanias, unfortunately, on top of an outpost from the NZ Maori battalion billeted at the village and within distance of reserves reaching them from the village. So, this fight would be another Airlanding scenario, with my elite FJ hitting the ground to face veteran Maori infantry, reinforced by a Matilda (one of two hidden somewhere on the map), and local Cretan partisans, now out in force hunting down the invaders. From GoogleEarth, we could see it was very green, heavily olive-groved, and the stream (irrigation channel) was heavily overgrown with bamboo(-like) reeds. We set the game at 400 points, both with some reserves to move on in later turns after the landings (we judge this from the campaign map).

 

After the defenders had deployed, with not many units, but it did include a FO team on the hillside, talking back to the battery in the hills above them, and a Maori patrol on ambush fire (after watching the JU-52s stream overhead), we placed objectives (drop canisters) and the FJ could begin to jump on to the table. First in, the platoon HQ, which was immediately lost, wiped out to the man before hitting the ground, and thus result in me losing my 1(1) officer and pulling a 5 BR counter (terrible start!). So 0 officers now, and a D6 command points, this would be wild!

The other squads landed, lost a few men and were all pinned - scrambling for their weapon canisters and ammo. Turn 1 for the defenders. Well, with 3 orders, they just radio'd up their guns and fired into the olive groves, resulting in a direct hit wiping out an MG-34 team... the counters were mounting fast for the Germans. Terrible start continued. 

Turn 2, and more FJ drifted down, one squad landing perfectly and quickly getting the Maori patrol under fire and pinned in the reeds by the stream. One MG-34 had landed almost on an objective and thus claimed it. First counter to the defenders. Turn 2 for the defenders was the same as 1, more off-table artillery fire, which didn't do much damage, but the Maoris got unpinned.

Turn 2 saw the first reserves arrive, an extra FJ squad moved on from the east, with a sniper team and the MG-34 schwere-MG team and their loaders. Again, orders were very limited (2) so not much got done, a bit more rifle fire and the sMG team got into place. The rifle fire pinned the Maori patrol again.

Turn 3, and first few of the defender's reserves arrived, Cretan locals, out for blood, but the rest of the Maori platoon had either got lost, or got caught up fighting other paratroopers closeby. The FJ final rolled well for orders (a 5 - wow!), and scurried about, got to some objectives and got other units on ambush fire (the HMG mainly). As the resrves trickled in, one Maori squad walked right into the HMG team. Spliting off their Bren team, which tried to get the HMG pinned, the others went for a bold close assault. That involved rushing a HMG and loader team on ambush fire - crazy! Well, it got messy. The HMG ambush fire failed it first spot to see the maoris coming through the undergrowth (they were in an area of broken ground), but then saw them and the ensuing bursts killed 5. 2 men made the assault, and killed 3 FJ (lost the loader team) and only another 1 was lost in the close fighting as grenades were thrown and bayonet's fixed. Savage stuff. 1 Maori was left, but passed his morale test - nutter. The HMG team was pinned... eek! Meanwhile, the Cretan partisans had found another MG team and took it out too... it was getting messy.

Following this, a timed Bf-109 strike swooped down to bomb the bridge but failed to have any impact (beyond 'under air attack' giving them a counter), and the first Maori patrol, now unpinned, moved out to claim an objective canister. They would play for that, as MG and rifle fire cut them down next turn, leaving just their Bren team to return fire (it had split off earlier). Behind them, the rumble of a tank engine approached as the Matilda rolled in, down the slope towards the stream bridge.

Desperate times for the FJ, whose excellent BR (elite) was keeping them going. The sniper pinned Cretan partisans with suppressing fire, as they tried to close assault another rifle team,who opened up an PB range and wiped the locals out... revenge. This was feeling like jungle fighting against banzai-Cretans and Maoris. The Matilda used its sole co-ax to no good result, but was then hit by a 37mm AP round, again from ambush. It pinned the very surprised crew. 

Then and fight with the HMG crew and single Maori resumed, as he assaulted again, tossed his grenades and wiped them out - a hero! Another Cretan squad had moved up and assulted another rfile squad, which had been prone and pinned most of the game, the resulting fight was a draw, 3 losses each, but both were elite troops and re-rolled their morale, so no pins, and try again next turn. As Brens roared and MG-34s (the few left) returned fire, it was these Cretan mad-men that won the day, another close assault saw them take-out the rifle squad and with that, the FJ BR was broken. The landings here had been defeated, and the survivors would have to pullback (on the map) to regroup in the hills. There would no quick rush to Platanias... or to overrun the artillery battery in the hills above (just off this tabletop).

Much fun, it was a jungle-fight, but weirdly, with an airborne landing at the same time! These games are so random and so much fun, who knows what will happen? It's wild, with very random orders... but this ends our Campaign Turn 2, so on to Turn 3, (around midday on Day 1 of the landings). I need to mount a serious attack on the airfield and Hill 107, because without taking them, the operation is doomed. That will be my focus, all out effort on those two, the action at Platanias is a distraction (literally).

NZ Maori patrol, in the reeds, getting pinned.

MG-34 team set-up after their landing, crawling through the olive trees, to try to get a LoS.

Bf-109 buzzes in low and bombs the stream, but misses...

FJ reserves move on and take cover behind a stone wall. They can grab the drop canister objective, but lack of orders leaves them stuck in place.

Last to arrive, AT support with kettenkrad tow, up the lane. Work cut-out with a Matilda to counter.

Cretan partisans assault an MG team and wipe it out. Crazy locals, it's like a jungle fight, with banzai-cretans.

Matilda arrives up the lane from Platanias, but that footbridge bridge won't hold it. We said it could ford the stream instead, as difficult ground.

PaK-34 set-up and a long range suppressing shot scores a hit, surprising the hell out of the Matilda crew - clang!

Pinned it... as it crossed the stream. It got a bit stuck, but not much of loss, with a single co-ax MG to use, and 2 pdr AP ammo! Still, first tank-action of the campaign.

 As it stands on the campaign map (blue are FJ, red are the Creforce units so far revealed, pink the battlefields so far). 

Ambush on the road to Castra Deva, with Soldiers of Rome

This is the beginning of a mini-campaign (series of 5 battles), using Soldiers of Rome for an uprising of Britons vs the Roman garrison at Castra Deva (Chester). It began with a first raid, with the Britons as the aggressors, as a military column is attacked on the road. Discontent amongst the locals has erupted into violence.

As a raid scenario, with two smaller forces, the Romans set up around the road as the Britons attacked from both sides. The Roman centre was secured with their tough veteran legionnaires, 2 scorpios, and auxiliary archers. The front had auxiliary spears and another legionary cohort. The rear had auxiliary spears and the trailing allied locals, a few who have stayed loyal.

The battle began with the Britons rushing on, and the rear of the column was soon under heavy pressure from mobs of slingers and then bowmen, as these skirmishers pelted the auxiliary spears, who could only hold, rally well, and take it – they did, very well, brave lads (and a lot of good dice from me). The Britons leader had his nobles rushed into the centre, but his supporting chariots didn't get going, and the nobles found themselves hit hard by scorpios and archers, and then charged into an solid wall of vet legionniares, who quickly hammered them, and broke them. Their leader, trapped in combat, would soon follow, a disaster for the locals... and their morale looked shaky. At the head of the column, the auxiliary spearmen turned and faced the onrushing celts and more supporting chariots, and did well to hold them in a attritional fight, but their 'Rally' card kept them in the fight too. At the rear of the column, the auxiliary spearmen and their loyal locals held up well, but unable to catch the skirmishers, eventually the spearmen broke. Trouble here was averted as the scorpios both turned around, as did the archers and they out-shot the enemy levy in a missile duel. Slingers then bowmen broke and ran, when a 'Levy Panic' event saw the next mob of slingers also run... that was it for the Britons. The Romans had held,  a pretty immovable object today, having lost a few auxiliaries, but were still in good shape. Solid victory for the Legion. 

That begins the mini-campaign (we've just following the one in the Soldiers of God rulebook). Next, the Romans will launch their own punitive raid against the locals in retribution for the ambush, and burn a local hilltop village - to see if that cows them (obviously it won't). This will escalate the uprising into the first pitched battle, which is game 3. 

A few shots of the failed ambush... 

Romans deploy from the road to face the attack. Auxiliary spearmen at the front.

Attacked by mercenary spears and chariots, the auxiliaries hold, despite much intimidation from the Britons.  They Rally well each turn.

Skirmishers are little threat to the legionniares, who face them down, but can't catch them. So stalemate here.

The mob of bowmen, slingers etc, and the rear spearmen, eventually pelted into rout.

Joy-ride, the chariots that raced about, but never got into action... they had fun anyway!

McPherson's Ridge, ACW demo-game at PeachyCon'26.

This scenario was based on the first day of Gettysburg, at McPherson's Ridge (and farm), with the US cavalry holding the ridge against the arriving Reb forces, with their own infantry of 1st Corps arriving to reinforce the out-numbered cavalry troopers - an escalating engagement for the low ridge (and the same demo-game from Partisan in May). It was demo-game at local gaming convention (PeachyCon'26, for local mate and wargaming Youtuber, Chris Peach). It was run by Dave Andrews (another former GW mate) and I got to play as the Union, as he commanded the Confederate attack. 

As is often the way at conventions, playing becomes secondary to the general wargaming chat around the table, but we did get to play most the game, roll some dice and have an agreed upon conclusion, it was pretty obvious who the winner was anyway. 

As a brief breakdown, the initial engagement saw the first Reb brigade advance on the ridge rapidly, with the dismounted cavalrymen inflicting some early damage. How long to hold was the question, until mounting up and pulling back... as to stay was to lose them all, especially once the second, then third Reb brigades deployed. The ridge would fall, that much was clear from turn 1, but could the Union counter-attack with their arriving infantry brigades to retake it by the end of the game?

So, phase one saw the cavalrymen blaze away, force a few Reb regiments back with their fire and battery, then, mount up and begin to withdraw, escaping away under some fire, with one regiment and their battery damaged, but none lost. Meanwhile, the Union infantry was racing up the board in march columns and then deploying into fighting their lines.

A brief pause in the fighting followed as both sides got into positions and the Reb brigades moved up behind the first, with the cannons still roaring.

Then phase 2 began, the crux of the battle, was the two sides infantry fully engaged in a hot firefight. It got bloody, but the Union lines were inflicting the greater damage, and their battery's counter-battery fire on deploying Reb guns saw one battery break and another suppressed. Denuded of most of their cannon support, the Reb boys were at a disadvantage in the attritional battle, and they were beset by active and effective Union skirmishers in the woods on their right. These managed to slow deployment here, at McPherson's farm, and give the Union line another slight advantage. They paid for it with heavy loses though.

After a couple of turns of heavy fire, several Reb regiments had to pullback and rally, one broke, but with more coming up to take their place. Rather than continue the war of volleys back and forth, they pushed down the ridge's slope (typical Reb aggression) to try and drive the Union off at close range. In punishing close range volleys, two more regiments soon broke and the Reb tide was turned. 

Now, still with their guns in close support, the battered Union front line regiments could fall back to be replaced by fresh ones in a 'transit of the lines'. Fresh regiments could now hammer the last Rebs, and the Rebs were all out of fresh troops. As we ran out of time on the day, it was obvious what would happen. The Union's coming advance would now drive the Rebs off McPherson's Ridge. We called it there, end of the event and time to pack-up. A great day gaming and chatting, a top game, all played with Dave A's superb collections of terrain.

The eye-candy... 

Union infantry move on, behind the cavalry deployed on the low ridge (beyond the cornfields). Rebs down the far end.

Union cavalry troopers hold the ridge to start with, a thin blue line.

First Reb lines deploy, to lead the attack. 1 of 3 brigades in action.

Their guns arriving up the road, but trying to deploy under Union counter-battery fire was costly.

1st Corps, on the way to the rescue.

Their commander watches on from the apple orchard, with a clear view of the cavalry in action ahead.

Reb commander arrives and urges his boys on, and up that ridge.

The Reb's close in and the cavalry troops get the order to mount-up and fallback (it only looks like we are running away!).

Action at McPherson's Farm (buildings are scratch build replicas). Reb's get the worst of it...

Rebs in full attack, the ridge is full of them, but the Union are deployed and ready below. Now the volley attrition begins to hurt... but who can take the pain best?

View from behind the Union lines, up the table. The last Union reserves are still marching up 'at the double quick'. The wagon is the war photographer, Roger Fenton... another scratch-built replica.

 

We plan to do something else next year for PeachyCon '27, so many choices... hmmm, maybe Nam??