Gettysburg scenarios from Enduring Valor run at Fall-In by Jim Kopchak

Thomas Smyth’s brigade of the Union II Corps prepares to move out to seize the Bliss Farm in this portion of a miniature wargaming layout by veteran gamemaster and rules author Jim Kopchak of Parma, Ohio.  Jim is an old friend of mine, having played in several of my playtests of what became my Enduring Valor: Gettysburg in Miniature scenario books. While designed specifically for Johnny Reb 3, the popular scenarios can be readily combined, modified, or otherwise adapted for other rules systems, including Jim’s Civil War Commander rules.

At Fall-In 2009 in Gettysburg, Jim presented a game based upon a couple of scenarios from Enduring Valor, Volume 2 from the July 2, 1863 attack by James Longstreet’s Confederate forces upon the Union line on Cemetery Ridge from the Spangler farm northward to the outskirts of Gettysburg.

My 15mm Battle of Monocacy wargame at Fall-In 2009

Part of the Union VI Corps line along the Georgetown Pike. This is Truex’s brigade in action defending the turnpike against the Louisiana Tigers. The veteran 8th Illinois Cavalry is in the foreground.

I ran a 15mm miniature wargame of the Battle of Monocacy at the annual Fall-In convention in Gettysburg on November 5.  The rules were Johnny Reb 3, and the scenario featured three Union players (1 brigade of Lew Wallace’s army and 2 brigades of the VI Corps of the Army of the Potomac) against five Confederate players (John B. Gordon’s division, McCausland’s brigade of dismounted cavalry, and one of Rodes’ brigades).

The Confederate right flank is shown here (Clement A. Evans’ brigade of Georgians).

The scenario was written by author and wargamer Scott L. Mingus, Sr. and appears in the current issue (#25) of the CHARGE! newsletter, published each quarter by the Johnny Reb Gaming Society.

First Division Museum at Cantigny

Author and blogger Scott L. Mingus, Sr. stands in front of one of dozen or so World War II and World War I tanks that on the grounds of the First Division Museum at Cantigny, a fascinating free museum in Wheaton, Illinois.

I am in Chicago on business this week while visiting suppliers and customers and speaking at the Specialty Papers Conference 2009. I took an afternoon to meet with my good friend and long-time wargame scenario book publisher Ivor Janci and his charming wife Frani. Ivor and I toured the First Division Museum, which is on the grounds of the estate of millionaire newspaper baron Robert R. McCormick, who owned the Chicago Tribune and became known prior to World War II for his isolationist ideals.  During the first world war, he served in the 1st Battery, 5th Field Artillery Regiment, with the First Infantry Division and served in several battles, including Cantigny in northern France. He later named his sprawling estate for the battle and the grounds now house the wonderful First Division Museum.

The museum boasts several excellent walk-through dioramas featuring “The Big Red One” in action in World War I in the trenches, in World War II at D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, in the jungles of Vietnam, and in Desert Storm.

Collectors Showcase 55mm collectible ACW toy soldiers

I was fortunate to be a guest author / signer at the recent Gettysburg Militaria, Relics, and Book Show at the All-Star Complex near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. My host was Jim McLean of Butternut and Blue, a Baltimore-based dealer of toy soldiers and Civil War books. Among his specialties are 55mm figures from The Collectors Showcase, which are among the finest (and more expensive) collector figures on the market today.

I had a chance to look over several of these figures that Jim had for sale on one of his vendor tables in the dealer hall at the All-Star (the soccer barn). The attention to detail is unbelievable, and the quality of these metal castings superb. While not cheap (a 3-figure set of infantry retails for $79.50 US, for example) the value per dollar is high relative to many other makers of this generic genre of 55mm – 54mm Civil War figures. I think some of the competitive figures on the market today are rather cartoonish and not well proportioned, but The Collectors Showcase toy soldiers are indeed as advertised “fine museum quality.”

A wargamer’s delight: Brad Gottfried’s new series of map books!

The Maps of First Bull Run: An Atlas of the First Bull Run (Manassas) Campaign, including the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, June-October 1861 is a new Civil War book by veteran author Bradley Gottfried.

As a long-time Civil War buff and miniature wargaming enthusiast, I am always looking for well-crafted maps that depict the deployment and movement of troops during various stages of Civil War battles. Often, period maps are lacking in detail or intermix movements from throughout the various stages of the engagement, often “muddying the waters” in terms of gaining an understanding of which regiments were in what position at what time in the battle. This new book is an invaluable resource to help demystify the often fluid situation at First Manassas where positions often changed hands, troops were shifted frequently, and official reports and records unclear in recounting the timeline of what transpired that summer day.

For sale: another complete set of the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion!

Another long-time CHARGE! reader and wargamer contacted me to ask if I would publicize the fact that he is offering for sale a complete, 128-volume hardback bound set of the The War of The Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. This is the 1971-72 republication (a limited edition of 1,500 copies) published by the National Historical Society. The books have been opened and read, but are still in excellent condition. As he is selling his home of 30 years and downsizing, the seller is looking for a new owner for these valuable reference and resource materials. These could be purchased and donated to your local historical society or library if you so desire.

Please contact Scott Mingus at scottmingus@yahoo.com to be placed in direct e-mail contact with this wargamer, and help him out if you can.

15mm Artillery Figures from Scale Creep Miniatures

Mark Severin of Scale Creep Miniatures in the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area was kind enough to send me a few packs of his new line of 15mm artillery pieces. The figs came well packaged and in a timely manner. Each gun pack has a pair of very nicely sculpted miniature Civil War artillery, which are easy to assemble. Well cast and well molded, the guns fits together nicely with minimal effort. The castings are of high quality pewter alloy, with little flash and no signs of miscasting.

Great new FREE Civil War museum now open in Gettysburg

This new museum is facinating and well worth a visit by wargamers during the upcoming Fall-In wargaming convention. It is stuffed full of neat artifacts that are unsual and interesting.

Best selling book Manhunt to become HBO miniseries

HBO Developing Lincoln Miniseries Project reunites Homicide’s Simon, Fontana

By Marisa Guthrie — Broadcasting & Cable, 9/15/2008

HBO is developing Manhunt, a miniseries from David Simon and Tom Fontana about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the frantic 12-day hunt for his killer, John Wilkes Booth. The project reunites the network with the creative forces behind two of its former critical hit series—Simon created The Wire and Fontana created Oz—as well as the two writers themselves. Simon and Fontana have not collaborated since Fontana turned Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets into the cop drama Homicide for NBC. “The chance to put another project on the boards with [Fontana],” Simon told B&C, “there’s something psychically cool about that.”

The would-be mini comes at a time when HBO has continued to find critical and viewership success with miniseries while struggling to mount new, enduring series hits. HBO posted a less-than-spectacular open for its most recent series debut, the heavily marketed vampire drama True Blood, which attracted 1.4 million viewers to its Sept. 7 premiere. It was an anemic debut compared to recent HBO drama premieres including Big Love (4.6 million), Rome (3.8 million) and the failed John From Cincinnati (3.4 million).

It also comes on the heels of another HBO miniseries in the American history genre, John Adams, which enjoyed critical and viewership success, and piqued Fontana’s attention. A history buff, Fontana’s historical métier is the American Revolution and the Lincoln assassination. Fontana, in fact, grafted his Lincoln obsession onto one of his Homicide characters. Simon also possesses more than a passing interest in the Lincoln assassination. “So when HBO did John Adams, I was like, ‘What? You did John Adams without me? How is that possible?’” Fontana told B&C. Executives at HBO Films brought Manhunt to Simon, and Simon says he knew whom to call. “I have hundreds of books about the Lincoln assassination,” Fontana says.

The mini is based on James L. Swanson’s best-seller. HBO Films optioned the title from Walden Media, which scooped up Manhunt before it hit stores in 2006 with the intention of turning it into an action film. Simon and Fontana are writing the miniseries script, and if production is greenlighted by HBO Films, will serve as executive producers along with Lawrence Bender and Kevin Brown and Walden Media. Representatives for HBO and Walden declined to comment. Simon and Fontana will explore the assassination not from Lincoln’s or Booth’s point of view, but through the eyes of the little-known players, according to Fontana. “If you use Sept. 11 as the touchstone,” he explains, “I don’t want to see the story of Sept. 11 told through Rudy Giuliani’s eyes. I want to see it told through the fireman and the teacher and the guy working in the bakery on the corner and the wife sitting in Connecticut wondering how her husband is. That’s the approach we’re taking.”

When the project was being developed as an action picture, Harrison Ford was attached to star as the heroic cavalry officer who finally corners Booth near Port Royal, Va. That option ran out, and it’s highly unlikely that he will be re-approached given the new direction of the project in Simon and Fontana’s hands. Says Simon, “I don’t do action.” For Simon, Lincoln’s murder took on new relevancy with the Bush administration’s post-9/11 policies. “People have been fascinated by the Lincoln assassination since it happened,” he says. “It’s a pivotal moment in American history. The stakes were extremely high for the nation as a whole. The characters are grandly dramatic. So there would be reasons enough to be interested even if it were all an anachronism. But I don’t think it is an anachronism. If you look at everything from Guantanamo to the Patriot Act to the debate over military tribunals versus civil prosecution, there’s a lot of analogous stuff.”

Specialty manufacturers to organize new kind of military history event

New York, NY— On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered to the American Revolutionaries at Yorktown, VA, effectively ending the American War of Independence. To commemorate this event and celebrate America’s rich military heritage, W. Britain has teamed with Osprey Publishing and Casemate Publishing to organize the first-annual Military History Weekend in Williamsburg, Virginia. It will be a two-day affair, October 17-18, at the Hospitality House in downtown Williamsburg.

“We have felt for a long time that fans of military history need an event that bridges the different segments of the hobby, notes W. Britain general manager, Richard Walker. “In the one corner you have ‘metal heads’ like me who paint and collect toy soldiers. In the other you have Ph.D. historians who chase down things like the names of General Washington’s body guard. And in between you have reenactors, wargamers, and armchair historians. There are plenty of shows that serve each of these groups separately. We hope that our event will be the kind of ‘big tent’ under which everyone can come together.”