Grid Wargaming

Extract from the Diary of Lieutenant George Smith.

N.S.H.A; 5th (British ) Division;

Esper 2260.

This is the 5th year of my Tour on Esper. So far, my Company is in one piece. There have been no attacks by E.T,s and so far no Merc Companies have come calling.

You never know why you are sent somewhere. We are six Light Years from Earth. Only the big Corporates can run Intersteller flights using Light Speed.

They can only do two flights. One out fully loaded ,one back travelling light. The engines and the crews burnt out.

The N.S.H.A.; the NATO Solar Human Army becomes your home. The joke is that the NSHA means, Never Seeing Home Again.

They tell you that you will see home again on Rotation but they never tell you when the ship is due. If ever. Even the Brass don’t know.

The people here have a history like Earth but without the heavy industrial, and with basic Tech..There is a story they were planted here by some other Race.

Apparently, we are here to “ maintain a presence” and there is some mineral here that the Suits want. We get on with the locals and there has been some fraternising but we have to stay Frosty.

We have two small Warships on Orbital but they don’t see everything. We have APC,s , Armoured cars, Artillery ( who control the Drones) and an Engineering Section and that’s it. No Big Stuff and No Bots. We didn’t rate the expense. There are still 500 of us on station.

Almost like a Recon. Our arses are fried if the shit hits the fan and something comes in all stomping.

The Brass didn’t give us any Clues and the Colonel is not saying much. I don’t mind maintaining a presence. What concerns me is any other “ Presence” that we might come across.........,

This blog is my personal interpretation of the historial action as a wargamer. Any errors are my own. The positions of the formations and the numbers involved are also my best guess due to the limited information I had access to.

At this time skirmishes and partizan activity were taking place all over Missouri in order to secure the state for either the Union or the Confederacy. In the South-Eastern part of the State, the 1st Division of the Missouri State Guard were raiding Union Facilities. General Merriwether "Jeff" Thompson led this formation aided by Colonel Aden Lowe.

The Union Army sent Colonel Joseph B. Plummer aided by Colonel P. Carlin to bring Thompsons actions to an end. When the Union force advanced to Fredericktown, Thompson,s force was pushed 12 miles south. Thompson did not want to give up the town so, after securing his supply waggons, he decided to lead another attack against the Union position.

In order to lure the Union troops forward Thompson positioned one Regiment forward of his main line with an old 12lb field gun hoping to spring a trap-----,

Here are the armies positioned for the battle;

Confederate Forces; 1st Division; Missouri State Guard.

1st Division 1,500 = 1.5 x 20 = 30 points.

Brigadier Merriwether "Jeff" Thompson @ 1 point.

Colonel Aden Lowe @ 1 point.

1st Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.

2nd Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.

3rd Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.

4th Missouri Line Infantry Regiment; 2 x 2nd class infantry stands @ 2 pts = 4 points.

1st Cavalry Regiment; 3 x 2nd class line Cavalry stands @ 2 points = 6 points.

2nd Cavalry Battalion [ Stoddard County Rangers ] 1 x 3rd class Cavalry @ 1 point.

13th Missouri Light Artillery [ Harris,s Battery] 1 x Heavy Artillery stand @ 2 points

" " " " [Harris,s Battery] 1 x Light Artillery stand @ 1 point.

2 x Supply Waggons @ 1 point = 2 points.

Union Army; South Western Missouri.

1,800 = 1.8 x 20 = 36 points.

Colonel Joseph B. Plummer [ Commanding] @ 1 point.

Colonel William P. Carlin @ 1 point.

8th Winsconsin Infantry; 4 x stands of 2nd class Line Infantry @ 2 pts = 8 points.

11th Missouri Volunteer Infantry; 4 x stands of 2nd class Line Infantry @ 2 pts = 8 pts.

17th Illinois Infantry; 4 x stands of 2nd class Line Infantry @ 2 pts = 8 points.

1st Indiana Cavalry Regt; 2 x stands of 2nd class Line Cavalry@ 2 pts = 4 points.

Captain Stewarts Illinois Cavalry; 1 x stand @ 1 point.

1st Mississippi Light Artillery Battery; 3 x stands of Light Artillery @ 1 pt = 3 points.

2 x Supply Waggons @ 1 point = 2 points.

This is the map;

Notes;

This is a Regimental level game. A slightly alternative method is that the stands of each Infantry Regiment when moved, must stay in adjacent squares to each other even diagonally.

If one stand of a Regiment suffers a "MOVE BACK" as a result of FIRE or COMBAT, Then on the movement phase of the next Game-Turn the stands of that Regiment must be moved to be adjacent to each other.

According to the maps I have seen, the Cavalry Regiments were operating in independant Squadrons/ Companies ? therefore the Cavaly stands do not have to be adjacent to each other.

Dismounted Cavalrymen are classed as skirmishes so can move in any direction.

In regard to the Artillery, The Confederate Artillery positioned their guns individually. The Union Artillery were kept together.

I,m surmising that because this action took place early in the War and in the Western theatre, where both sides suffered supply problems, All the weapons would be smoothbore.

Also, I don't know if the Light Artillery had horses or not so I went with the two square move distance.

The battle was fought on a 3 foot x 2 foot (90cm x 60cm) board

Credits,

The figures used in the scenario are a mix of Peter Pig and Miniature Figurines with some Essex Miniatures, all 15mm.

The flags are from the Peter Pig range as are the Supply Waggons.

The Hills are mostly by Brian at Essex Miniatures. One hill was made from a garden kneeling pad from Wilkinson’s Stores!

Most of the wood outline bases were made by S and A Scenics with some made from cardboard.

The buildings I think all came from Peter Pig. The roads are made from thin cardboard.

The snake fencing was made by MBM Scenery in 10mm.

The trees were made by various manufacturers.

The square bases were cut from picture framing cardboard 40mm square ( one and nine sixteenths of an inch Imperial) and the round MDF stands are from Minibits.