Cory Ring’s 25mm ACW wargaming

Tennessee wargamer Cory Ring is a long-time member of the Johnny Reb Gaming Society. Among his primary hobby interests is American Civil War miniature wargaming using the popular Johnny Reb 3 rules system. He was kind enough to send me some photographs of one of his 25mm games in progress.

Rebel artillery prepares to fire at a distant Union line.  The officer’s cool judgement will assist in the accuracy of the fire (a +1 modifier to the die roll on the combat results table in Johnny Reb 3).

Huge Antietam game at Tin Soldiers of Antwerp – The Set Up

Just a few of the thousands of miniature soldiers in the collection of the members of the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp gaming group in northern Europe.

Patrick Roovers of the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp, Belgium, sent me a link to his club’s website with dozens of photographs of a huge Antietam wargame they ran recently at the clubhouse. TSOA used Johnny Reb 3 as the rules for this massive engagement, which, as you will see from his photos, took thousands of miniature soldiers and dozens of gamers to play on a very large series of terrain tables.

For dozens more photos of the set up, please visit TSOA’s Flicker photo gallery.  In my next post, I will show some photographs of the first night of actual gaming.

Massive Johnny Reb III game to be held in Belgium

For those of you readers in Europe (or with enough funds and time to fly over from the states), the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp invites the public to its 2nd American Civil War weekend to be held May 30 through June 1, 2009. The club will host a massive Johnny Reb III event based upon the September 1862 Battle of Antietam (a.k.a. Sharpsburg – the subject of my Undying Courage: Antietam in Miniature wargaming scenario book). The gaming will last for almost three full days (details will be provided upon registration). The gaming layout will be a whopping 18 feet by 12 feet, using 28mm figures and accessories.

The best news??? The price of admission and playing in what promises to be Europe’s largest JR3 event is nothing. That’s right – free! Simply get to the Tin Soldiers of Antwerp’s clubhouse in Belgium, knock on the door, smile, and warm up your dice.

For information or directions, contact Andre van Gils of the club at andre.van.gils@telenet.be

I’m jealous! I’d love to see this layout in person, but I will settle for photos I am asking Patrick Roovers to share with us after the game.

For pix of last year’s mega Gettysburg game, please CLICK HERE.

Bill Witthans’ Johnny Reb 2 after-action report

The 1st Louisiana Zouaves cross a contested bridge near the Pennsylvania-Delaware border following Robert E. Lee’s smashing victory at the Battle of Gettysburg and Meade’s subsequent retreat. Note the excellent details on these figures!

Bill Witthans is a Southern California wargamer and miniature figure painter who also is a talented photographer.  He and his friends in the Bengal Club LA have been playing American Civil War games using Fire & Fury and Johnny Reb 2, as well as other wargaming rules and periods. He recently found this CHARGE! website from the Johnny Reb Gaming Society and subsequently sent me an e-mail to introduce himself. He  sent me a link to his interesting website, which is chockful of photographs of miniatures he has painted, as well as several wargames in progress.

An interesting photo technique; this picture was apparently taken by a miniature combat photographer perched on the mountaintop behind the lines. Bill’s site has several such black-and-white “period” photos in the spirit of Matthew Brady.

I don’t know if Bill knew I have written a new book on the “Louisiana Tigers” of Harry Hays’ First Louisiana Brigade, but here is a close-up of his 1st Louisiana Infantry from Colonel Jesse M. Williams’ Second Louisiana Brigade. By the time of the Gettysburg Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia had no zouave units, but the miniatures make a VERY colorful addition to the gaming table! The original “Wheat’s Tigers” have long been a popular topic for books, paintings, model soldiers, and miniature wargaming.

Do you use order dials for Johnny Reb 3 or chits?

One of the most critical parts of the Johnny Reb gaming mechanism is marking orders for individual regiments (or collectively for a brigade). A number of different methods have been used. In the very early days, some gamers made foam cubes, marked on each side with one of the six key orders (Form, Move, First Fire, Charge, Conditional Hold, Hold, and Disengage). The desired order was face up, covered with a piece of paper or a chipboard chit. Later on, GDW included pre-printed order chits, with one order per chit, and these were distributed in the game boxes; additional chits could be ordered or bought at participating gaming retailers. Some people flocked the backside of the chits to make them look better on the gaming table and help them blend in for photography.

A couple of years ago, a Midwestern gamer began creating and selling Fox’s Bases – magnetic disks marked with the six JR orders, with another magnetic cover to mask the order. These were flocked. They were initially popular, but because of health issues, Rob had to curtail his activities.

Now, the Dial Dude has decided to adopt Fox’s Bases concept and further improve it with covers that have flags for easy ID. A full report will be in the August issue of the hard copy CHARGE!, as well as ordering information and, if all goes well, free samples.

Do you use Fox’s Bases, chits, cubes, the new improved disks from the Dial Dude, scraps of paper, or some other method to mark your orders?? Any photos of your games with markers that you want to share?

Jerry Merrell’s 15mm JR3 game of Houter Junction

Johnny Reb gamemaster Jerry Merrell wrote, “Here are a few pics of a JRIII game we ran here in Missouri 10 days ago. It was Scot Gore’s Houter Junction scenario found in the files section of the JRIII Yahoo Group. 12′x6′ table. 14 players. 22mm figs. Players could communicate with each other only by written message via courier. This produced the difficulty, miscommunication and frustration one reads about in accounts of Civil War battles. I thought you’d like viewing the pics.”

My Johnny Reb 3 game at Cold Wars 2009

My game at  this year’s Cold Wars was a hypothetical scenario based upon an idea that came from my newly released book on Jubal Early’s Division / John Gordon’s Brigade and their invasion of Adams and York counties in southern Pennsylvania. Early’s target was Lancaster, the home of Cold Wars, but his plans were thwarted by the burning of the world’s longest covered bridge over the Susquehanna River (the old stone piers you still see today off to the south from the U.S. 30 bridge). (Photo by John Mayer of Round Top Miniatures of Gettysburg, PA).

The game was based upon the premise that the Rebel scout / spy Harrison was killed or got lost and never made it to inform Longstreet and Lee that the Army of the Potomac was near. Lee follows through with plans to move on Harrisburg, while he keeps Early at York to protect the vital roads north to Carlisle and Harrisburg. In reality, the Union V Corps on July 1 marched through Hanover, PA (15 miles southwest of York) before turning to Gettysburg. In this scenario, they are directed on to York, where Old Jube awaits. (Photo by John Mayer).

Cold Wars 2009 photographs

Andy Turlington, Ashley Johnson, and the Southern Maryland Partizans presented this Johnny Reb III game of the 1862 Battle of Cross Keys during Jackson’s Valley Campaign. Note the very nice Union flag adorned variable orders markers!!!

Andy’s game description from the PEL: The Shenandoah Campaign was coming to an end. Two battles remained to be fought, Cross Keys on 08 June, and Port Republic on 09 June. Jackson had two armies heading his way in June, Shields and Fremont were both closing in on his position. He found a location between Port Republic and Cross Keys where he could control the only bridges that would allow the two Federal armies to join into one. To this end, Ewell’s Division was ordered to delay Fremont’s forces from continuing towards Port Republic, while Jackson prepared to fight off Shields.

Some more 15mm cavalry photos

Some of you have asked me to post a few more photos of my cavalry scenarios, so  here goes!

Crossed Sabers all-cavalry scenario book on sale!

The Johnny Reb Gaming Society publishes an all-cavalry scenario book entitled Crossed Sabers:  Cavalry on the Road to Gettysburg. It consists of more than a dozen scenarios for Johnny Reb 3 from the Gettysburg Campaign, including several from Brandy Station, as well as Upperville, Aldie, Middleburg, Gettysburg’s East Cavalry Field, the Battle of Hanover, etc. It’s only $15 postpaid right now for the next 2 weeks. Place your orders now! Send an e-mail to scottmingus@yahoo.com for ordering details.

Confederate cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee charges Union cavalry at the July 3, 1863, Battle of Gettysburg in what later became known as East Cavalry Field. Lee’s charge would be met by a counter-charge by Michigan troopers under newly appointed Brigadier General George Armstrong Custer.