Greg Dieckhaus brought out his Wofun 18mm ACW flats today for a rules learning session at Miniature Market Cave Springs and it turned into quite the experience for all the players.
Mark J and Steve T took command of the Rebels, while Mark W and Steve L directed Union operations.
Some Rebel Zouaves.
Union Artillery on the hill.
Rebel Infantry deployed in line on Greg’s 3D printed movement trays.
The game system is very simple with just a few steps to each turn. The sides roll for initiative before fire and then exchange pleasantries if they are in range which was managed by range sticks. Range and movement were measured by the number of base widths. The range sticks being marked in the correct increments.
After fire is completed by both sides then a second initiative roll is made for movement with the higher roll proceeding first as with fire.
Three hits to a unit will remove a stand and pennies represented an accumulation of hits. Cotton balls marked units that fired. Those that had engaged in musketry had a reduced movement rate.
As this was a rules learning session. Greg ran the game with balanced forces so that each side started with no advantage over the other.
The Union units were edged in black making them easy to identify from above.
The lines close for fire. Melee combat in these rules is not generally favorable to the attacker as the defender holds an advantage on the dice roll per stand. It is best only used to finish off a unit or when it can be flanked which appears to lean towards historical accuracy.
The game ended with a Union Victory as the dice were favorable to the boys in blue today. The above Confederate unit is about to receive fire from two Union units. One front and the one at the top at short range with a bit of a flanking shot. This spelled the end of the Confederate right as this unit then failed morale and ran taking a damaged unit behind it along the way.
It was great fun with WoFun, bringing not only some very nice looking miniatures to the table, but an easy to learn set of rules that we all hope to play again in the not too distant future.
Thanks to Greg, the players and the fine folks at Miniature Market – Cave Springs for their support.
Applauding Greg’s approach here – easy-to-understand/execute rules, with good-looking miniatures that can get onto the table asap – for getting that game on!
Dave,
It was an excellent walk through of some very playable rules for the era. Figs looked great and gave us a nice representation. Greg’s 3D printed movement trays were a very nice addition to the table top, making the game move along very smoothly. Got a kick out of his unit causality markers being the “historically accurate” Lincoln pennies which worked out well and really didn’t detract from the look and feel of the game.
Kev,
Greg’s Lincoln pennies – what clever thinking!
Here’s that link to your TMP Clubs’ posting for Greg’s game – for viewing what basing wizardry can be achieved with the WoFun flats (to access the Analogue Hobbies link) :
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=585116