ACW: Pea Ridge

Possibly the first historical ACW battle I ever wargamed was Pea Ridge, the biggest battle of the war west of the Mississippi, fought in Missouri in 1862. In a nutshell (pea-pod?), Confederate General Earl Van Dorn launched an audacious attack with his Army of the West against the rear of Samuel Curtis's Union Army of the South West, encamped on the escarpment above Little Sugar Creek; in a two-day battle, the Union counterattacked and drove the tired, hungry and poorly-led Confederates from the field; Van Dorn's battered force was subsequently transferred east of the Mississippi.

On that occasion all those years ago, we were not using miniatures but playing the SPI boardgame. Now at last I have fought it with figures. This was Crispin's latest creation as part of our project to design scenarios for all the major battles of the American Civil War. Both the scenario and his custom battlemat were beautifully crafted. They produced a wonderfully tense and absorbing game.

Ten photos briefly recount the action. Some reflections follow.

I thought this was a particularly lovely battlefield with all its colourful patches of woods. White lines are roads and tracks. The seven victory locations are marked with red stars. (The US gets to move its camp during the game.) The Confederates need to hold only 2 for a draw and 3 for a win at game end, so although the Rebs need to move initially and seize a few, they can then go on the defensive, as the onus will be on the Union to take them back.

Two of the four US divisions start on-table, top centre of pic. The other two march on from the top edge halfway through. The two Confederate columns under Price and McCulloch march on via the two roads on the bottom edge on Turns 1 & 2.

The pink counters on some of McCulloch's units indicate that half his force is Fragile. Furthermore, most of the Confederate troops are rated Raw, whereas the Union is all Trained. 

 This quality advantage will tell.

I was Price, facing Mark; Phil was McCulloch, facing Dave W. Crispin GM'd. All the figures are Baccus 6mm from Crispin's collection.

Price's column seizes Elkhorn Tavern and pushes up the track through the woods to the left of it. Mark's Union columns are visible in the distance. Our main advantage was plentiful artillery, so my basic plan was to park my guns on the objectives and dare the Union to brave the cannister.

On our right, McCulloch occupies the line of woods in front of Foster's Farm. Unfortunately, he's done so with dismounted cavalry who only have short-ranged weapons, as indicated by purple counters. These are going to be outranged and outgunned by Dave's riflemen and artillery. Phil and I had talked about using our more numerous cavalry to get around flanks and pin the enemy that way, rather than stand-up fights. Oh well. At least there's one Confederate cavalry unit following that plan, upper left. This is Albert Pike's brigade of Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee Indians.

As well as establishing guns on two objectives, I wanted to set up a line in front of them to disrupt and delay the Union advance. It wasn't easy in the difficult wooded country, but Mark's troops weren't moving as fast as he'd have liked them to either. Top left you can see my only 2-base cavalry unit trying to pester the Union flank. They managed to distract the opposing Union cavalry for most of the game.

Over on our right wing, Phil's line looks solid now - everyone has moved up, his guns have deployed, and his Injuns have descended on Osterhaus's 1st Brigade and pushed it back Disrupted (yellow counter).

Unfortunately, Dave's guns are on line too, and his mass of infantry is about to scare off the Indians and smash into Phil's left wing.

With my forward line having obliged Mark to deploy, and my sharpshooters having driven back his guns, it was time for me to fall back on my main line of resistance. Getting that battery up onto Big Mountain on my right was important to protect my right flank. That infantry unit by it will climb the mountain as well next turn.

This was a real game of chess in the woods. Understandably, Mark didn't want to take on that formidable gun line directly. One large brigade is out of shot to the right, trying to clear me off Big Mountain. He launches an assault through the trees between my battery positions. That US unit with a green counter is armed with deadly breechloaders. That firepower hurts and they will push my infantry back, but my line holds.

Interesting things happening in the centre. Look towards the top left and you will see the remnants of Pike's brigade. His Indians have rallied from their initial rout and snuck through the gap in the Union lines, hoping to find plunder and scalps (and Objectives) at Pratt's Store and the Union camp. Mark has been obliged to divert a 3-base brigade (left centre) to deal with them. The US fire will finally see them off but they have played a useful part and written their own story.

McCulloch pushes for victory! Actually, not McCulloch - he got killed on Turn 3. Anyway: by now, the Union has battered a lot of Phil's units and has captured Foster's Farm. Phil sends his last two intact brigades in to retake it. The odds were good but the dice were not. With that repulse, the battle was effectively over on our right wing. The question now was whether we could hold on the left.

The usual last-turn drama! Mark had cleared Big Mountain (top right) but too late for the brigade there to reach the Elkhorn Tavern. The previous turn, he sacrificed his cavalry charging my massed guns. This meant his infantry among the trees in the centre could renew their charge without being cannistered, wipe out my small infantry unit there, and follow up onto my gun line. Although that assault bounced off with heavy loss, it did oblige my guns to limber up and find somewhere safer.

Consequently, with his final move, Mark was able to send one 3-base brigade (the one that had seen off Pike) into a frontal assault against my fragile Missouri State Guard. He pushed the Guard back and took the Tavern.

I was left holding the two road exits (left edge and bottom right corner, with my artillery streaming towards it), meaning we Confederates had hung on for a draw. Yeehaw!

Reflections

Fencing (1). Snake rail fences and a tavern nestling among the rich greens and browns of extensive Missouri woods - it really looked lovely, a striking sight to greet me when I walked into the village hall. The aesthetic matters and it was a pleasure to play on this battlefield.

Fencing (2). I really enjoyed fencing against Mark in our chess match in the woods. He's a sharp player who I knew would take full advantage of any errors I might make in my defensive deployment. The wooded terrain and steep hills limiting visibility made it tricky to cover the approaches and avoid exposing any flanks. It was just as tricky for him, trying to find a way to get at me without being cannistered to bits. Consequently, every move mattered and every turn was full of tension. The pleasure of this mental exercise matched the pleasure of the aesthetic.

Character! This is hardly the first time I've been pushing the blue and the gray around in the woods. Still, a couple of elements gave it a very distinctive and different character and feel from the usual. One factor was the poor quality of the Confederate troops (a boot that is more often on the other foot); another was the particular layout of the terrain and the victory conditions that made it a special tactical challenge; and then of course Pike's brigade doing their thing.

Creative Comrades. These days I am writing about one scenario a year. I don't need to do any more - I am surrounded by clever creative friends who keep churning them out, and painting new armies to fight them, at an impressive rate. Crispin excelled himself this time. Bravo!

Why do some battles become favourites?

Last Sunday, Anton and I laid on a Franco-Prussian War game for a couple of new friends, Malcolm and Ian. When we were deciding which battle to offer, it was very simple: I immediately thought of Loigny/Poupry.

French garde mobile in the quaint little village of Loigny. Baccus 6mm figures from my collection.

Field from Hotz Mats (no longer trading). Roads by Rob Owens of Rob's Scenics.

Building from a set of ornaments picked up at a country fair.

Looking back through this blog I see posts about playing it in 2022 and 2023 (the latter also prompting a "Reflections on Wargaming" essay). As the 2022 report notes, apart from the playtests before publication in 2014, I had already played it several more times since. Evidently it is a favourite of ours.

Why should such a relatively unsung battle - a French repulse in the unglamorous republican phase of the war - keep drawing me back to it? (Literally as well as on the tabletop - I visited the actual battlefield in 2024.) Rather than just list its virtues in isolation, I thought it might be interesting to see how its characteristics compare with other much more famous 'favourite battles'? By which I mean, not my personal favourites, so much as those that seem to get most attention from wargamers. I'm thinking of the likes of:
- Waterloo and Borodino for the Napoleonic period;
- Gettysburg and Antietam from the ACW;
- the Alma and Balaclava for the Crimea;
- and Blenheim for the 18th century.

Let's look at some important features of these battles in both historical and game terms and see how they all measure up.

1. Epic History!

The most famous ones are generally also among the largest and most consequential: both sides' main armies in a clash that is seen as either a crucial turning point or a climactic end. (This latter factor is why a battle such as Resaca in the ACW, which was just as large as Gettysburg though not as bloody, hardly impinges on most wargamers' consciousness at all. It was a speed bump that changed nothing.)

The Crimean battles are exceptions, as the largest engagement of the war and arguably the most important was actually the battle of the Chernaya. They are famous for other reasons: Balaclava has no fewer than three famous episodes within it, the Charge of the Light Brigade obviously being #1; the frontal assault on the heights at the Alma has a certain legendary status too. (The Chernaya remains relatively obscure among us Anglo-Saxons as it features hardly any Brits.)

At about 35,000-45,000 a side, Loigny/Poupry was only medium-sized by FPW standards. However, it is a turning point of sorts, in that the French repulse here was the highwater mark of their advance during the Loire campaign - and it was a close contest that could conceivably have gone the other way. It also has one notable dramatic episode at the end, when the Papal Zouaves attempted to storm Loigny.

2. Great Generals!

Famous battles are fought by famous generals. This verges on tautology. Napoleon vs Wellington; Bobby Lee; Marlborough - all famous. (As for McClellan and Raglan, you might say infamous.) Kutusov and Meade play supporting roles. Tallard, Menshikov, Liprandi: more like bit-parts.

One of the French corps commanders at Loigny was Antoine Chanzy. His is a less familiar name than most of these above but deserves to be better known. He is something of a hero of mine for the way he subsequently held his 2nd Army of the Loire together during his determined fighting withdrawal down the Loire.

3. The Battlefield!

The terrain shapes the battle; the battlefield gives it its character. All our famous examples feature famous locations. Waterloo has the bastions of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte in front of its ridge; Borodino is all about the Raevski Redoubt (in a lot of wargamers' imaginations, at least); more Russian redoubts on the heights above the Alma; the Gettysburg 'fishhook' and all its landmarks; Antietam's Bloody Lane; Balaclava's valley of death; the two villages anchoring the French line at Blenheim.

Loigny/Poupry is unremarkable by comparison. It was fought on a relatively flat and open plain, dotted with a dozen villages. However, from a practical perspective, its plain terrain is a major virtue. Doing large historical battles properly often requires quite a complicated terrain set-up: a jigsaw of hills, a patchwork of woods, a network of streams and rivers. As Loigny is so quick and simple by comparison, that makes it particularly good for a Monday night at the club, where we have to factor in the set-up and take-down time. That is definitely a significant contribution to making it a favourite for us. (It was also a snowy winter battlefield, an aesthetic plus as far as I'm concerned.)

4. The Armies!

Tabletop wargamers want to get troops on the table. The more varied and colourful those troops, the better. Characterful and unusual units add a lot to a game.

Waterloo is hard to beat in that respect and Borodino not far behind. Napoleon has his Imperial Guard in all its glory, while Wellington has the most variegated and motley of allied armies. ACW can be a bit drab - all that monotonous blue and gray - mitigated for our US brethren by being able to point at their local regiment or the unit great-grandpappy was in. The Alma and Balaclava are a proper parade: not only does one side get three different armies, but each army has multiple different types of unit. Blenheim has lots of 18th-century peacocks in tricornes and lace.

Loigny/Poupry can hold its own in this respect. The German side is not just a lot of pickelhaubes in Prussian blue, it has the Bavarians to add colour. The French are more varied. Their infantry is a mix of newly raised garde mobile and regular regiments' depot battalions, further spiced by the presence of the Foreign Legion and the Papal Zouaves. Assorted cavalry livens up the picture as well.

5. The Drama!

Famous battles tell famous stories. As well as strong characters (the famous generals), these stories have multiple chapters, twists and turns, and moments of high drama in which other particular characters may step forward for their moment of glory. I hardly need to list these for the battles we've been examining. Instead, let me generalise and say that they all have some ebb and flow, fortunes swaying from one side to the other until their grand finale. For wargamers, ideally this means they translate into close and exciting games on the tabletop.

Loigny/Poupry does tell just such a story. It's worth going into this in a little detail and explaining why it is such a good game to keep replaying.

Multiple Chapters. This battle lasts a day and a half. Both sides receive reinforcements in several echelons, mostly on the second day. The Germans start with just most of a Bavarian corps on the table; the Hessian and Holstein divisions then march up on the Bavarians' left, with the remainder of the Bavarians arriving on the right. As for the French, they too have just one corps initially, but two others join them as the game progresses. This reinforcement schedule has a couple of benefits. One is that it means the shape of the game changes as it goes on, which is always good for keeping things interesting. (See my essay on Changing Situations Mid-Game.) Another - a definite advantage when there are newish players involved - is that the players can get to grips with the scenario situation and the game mechanics gradually, rather than being overwhelmed by having to order 50,000 men around from Turn 1.

Twists and Turns. Although the Germans are on the defensive, the fact that more than half their army has to march on obviously means the German players get to do some manoeuvring. And it's not simply a case of marching directly into a pre-ordained defensive line without much thought. There are three objectives to defend and different ways of defending them - plus, of course, much depends on what the French attackers do. The French, meanwhile, have to advance and develop their attacks to take a couple of those objectives. The French have several different routes to victory, while the Germans, as mentioned, have different ways to defend. The many possible interactions between the two sides' different plans produce twists and turns that can play out in multiple different ways. The existence of these different options therefore means the scenario has a lot of replay value.

Moments of High Drama. Historically, the grand finale was a dramatic one alright, when de Sonis led the Papal Zouaves in their vain attempt to storm Loigny. This is exactly the kind of last-gasp assault that we see all the time in BBB scenarios!

To Sum Up:

Although Loigny/Poupry was not among the largest or most consequential battles of the FPW, it has enough merits in all the other respects to deserve the attention it has had from our group. I commend it to anyone else who wants to wargame the Franco-Prussian War.

I'd be very interested to hear from you all, a) whether you think there are other features that contribute to making battles into 'favourites' and b), which are your favourite battles and why.

The Game

Just for the record, here are a few photos of the Loigny game (including a couple labelled up at great pains for the greater enjoyment of my reading public) so you can see how that went. No extra reflections this time as you've already had the major one above.

The two wings of the battlefield. Pics not perfectly aligned but I hope they give the idea. Situation around Turn 4, morning of Day 2, when the German reinforcements have just arrived and French 15 Cps is about to march on.

A better view of the right wing, a couple of turns later. 1st Bav Bde is now isolated in Faverolles as French swarm past it towards Loigny (left of pic). On the right, German 4th Cav Div sacrifices itself charging Barry's French regulars to cover 3rd Bavarian Brigade as it occupies Nonneville.

The centre, penultimate turn. Some Holsteiners are backing up the Bavarians in Lumeau, bracing themselves to receive the inevitable French assault. Elements of French 15th and 16th Cps converge on Lumeau either side of the march columns of De Sonis's 17th Cps. (By this time, Loigny has fallen to the French garde mobile, as shown in the pic at top of this post.)

The grand finale. That unit in line left centre of pic is a Hessian brigade that has thrown itself across to help protect Lumeau. That meant only the one French assault column centre of pic managed to reach Lumeau. It was repelled. Final score: a draw.

Loigny/Poupry is one of the scenarios in the BBB rulebook, now available in pdf from SkirmishCampaigns.

Not so one-sided: Uclés (1809)

The impending BBB Peninsular War scenario book will include a lot of battles where the Spanish army fought alone, without its British or Portuguese allies. One of these was the battle of Uclés in 1809.

Before I launch into my report of our game of Uclés, I just want to smuggle in an honourable mention of the Royal Engineers museum in Gillingham. I did a day trip there at the weekend. It is an absolutely splendid place, stuffed full of unique and fascinating artifacts, and with a very decent AFV collection outside. Highly recommended. Two hours wasn't nearly enough to take it all in so I will have to go again. Here's just one pic to remember my visit by.

Now back to Spain. Sir John Moore's incursion had distracted Napoleon's attention and many of his troops to the north, leaving Madrid exposed. The Spanish Army of the Centre advanced on Madrid with Venegas's corps in the lead. Victor concentrated his forces against Venegas, who made a stand at Uclés, where he was enveloped and overwhelmed. He lost half his force; French casualties were negligible.

On the face of it, this looks very one-sided and unpromising as a game. (Though see my Reflections essay on "Wargaming one-sided wars".) However, when Mark examined it, he saw that it had potential. Specifically, the fact that the impassable River Bidija divides the battlefield into two presents both sides with decisions about how many troops to commit to which half - in effect, making it two-sided. And, as so often, of course an inevitable defeat in real-world terms can be turned into a fair contest in game terms by judicious setting of victory conditions.

Here's how it went for us, this time with some lovingly crafted labelled pics as well as the usual annotated photos. Reflections follow at the end.

Bird's-eye view of the battlefield, which is roughly 10km x 7km. This is a small battle by BBB standards: each base represents 300 men; each side has fewer than 50 bases, as they had under 15,000 men a side.

The Bidija bisects the battlefield and can only be crossed at Uclés or the bridge at the righthand (south) edge. Uclés nestles in the gap where the Bidija cuts a steep ridge into two: the Sierra del Pavo and the Cerro de Uclés. The Spanish main line sits on these ridges. An advance guard holds the village of Tribaldos. Venegas himself has his HQ atop the monastery in Uclés. Most of the French army arrives from the SW corner (bottom right of pic). On turns 7 & 8 of this 9-turn game, Ruffin's division will arrive behind the Spanish right flank.

Victory is determined by seven Objectives (white counters): Tribaldos; two for Uclés (one each if it is contested); one for each of the two ridges (held by whoever has most units on it); and one each for the Spanish army's two possible escape routes, either to the NW (near where Ruffin appears) or across the bridge to Rozalen. The French need four of these to draw and five or more to win.

The Spanish centre around Uclés. Dave W commanded the Spanish left in Uclés and on the Sierra del Pavo. I took the right on Cerro de Uclés, including our cavalry, and the advance guard. All figures are Baccus 6mm from Mark's collection. The pink cubes denoting 'Fragile' troops betray the quality difference between the two armies. Our Spanish army has a few good units but is a very mixed bag.

By contrast, most of the French are veteran, some of them Aggressive (green cubes), and some of their cavalry rated as Shock (purple counters), seen here enveloping Tribaldos on Turn 2. (Note the scratchbuilt church from the talented hand of Colin the Wargamer.)

I did contemplate abandoning Tribaldos immediately but we decided it was better to force the French to deploy and fight for it, which would cost us troops but them time. I was facing Will, while Crispin took the French right against Dave. The first French assault hit Tribaldos on Turn 2, Latour-Maubourg's heavy cavalry descending on my left flank while Pacthod's tirailleurs harried my white-coated defenders (two 3-base regiments). My lefthand regiment was forced out. The righthand one held on but suffered losses to musketry.

Meanwhile, some important action was going on in the top left corner of the above pic. On Turn 1, I had pushed our advance guard cavalry around Pacthod's right flank to pin or divert one of his regiments. When this turned against my cavalry, they evaded across the Bidija bridge. That obliged Puthod to fight his way across, instead of being able to race along the road in march column - more precious time expended.

Now we see the other side of the Bidija a turn later. The AG cavalry rallied and charged Puthod - a good call as they had a 50/50 chance of driving him back across the bridge to have to fight for it all over again - but it didn't come off. Puthod's lead regiment rallied in turn and here advances to drive the blown cavalry from the field (which will take another turn). This lets the rest of Puthod's brigade, led by some of Latour's dragoons, march rapidly to the eastern end of the Sierra del Pavo to avoid its steep slope. At left of pic, Dave's leftmost regiment is about to head down the ridge to confront them.

The fall of Tribaldos. Will commits Pacthod to support Latour's renewed assault. This is too much for my gallant defenders. The depleted regiment in the village is swept aside; the flood pours onto my veterans behind; they are driven back, then routed as well. Have they bought enough time, or will their sacrifice have been in vain?

About Turn 3, Dave and I made a major strategic decision. Tribaldos had held out as long as we'd hoped, but my cavalry's subsequent screening skirmishes along the stream behind it had not gone so well, nor had our other cavalry's delaying action at the Bidija bridge. Under pressure on both wings, we decided to abandon the west bank (the foreground) entirely and pull my right wing force into Uclés, freeing all of Dave's troops to fight for the Sierra del Pavo. This picture shows that plan being implemented. All my troops made it across the river except that two-base cavalry unit lower left, of which more later.

A close-up of my beautifully choreographed mass flamenco into Uclés. White-coated infantry, yellow-jacketed dragoons, sombre brown militia, light blue light infantry - it's a very pretty army.

View from behind the now rather abbreviated Spanish line with just a couple of turns to go. Dave's troops on our left are making valiant efforts to keep the French right wing at arm's length from Uclés, while our right in the town presents a formidable front against any French assault across the bridge there.

While all our left wing is disrupted by its exertions, the French right musters all its strength for one massed coordinated assault (good movement rolls compensating for an earlier turn when it was briefly paralysed). This proves irresistible and all three Spanish regiments are swept away.

Dave is left with just one regiment (lower left of pic) to cover the rear of my town defence. Will's best troops move up and form assault column. Their first attempt will be rebuffed but will cover the deployment of his guns in cannister range.

Once deployed, the guns delivered a devastating salvo that rendered my foremost regiment Spent. It did not survive the ensuing French assault on the final turn and is no longer visible in this picture. The other key to the French success was an infantry regiment joining in from the other side of town. It was able to bypass the defenders on the Sierra because they were busy fending off the rest of the French right wing.

Although we still had two Spanish regiments in Uclés, these were not enough to expel both the French units that had broken in. The town ended up contested, worth one Objective each. That gave the French a total of five, enough for victory. However ...

... remember that tiny fragile 2-base cavalry regiment I told you to pay attention to earlier? Here it is on Turn 7, backed up against the Bidija, about to be trapped between the force preparing to assault Uclés (top left) and Ruffin's arriving division (top right). The solution? My caballeros made a mad dash through the gap in front of them - and headed for Tribaldos.

Fortune favours the Fragile - they got the rolls they needed on Turns 7, 8 and 9, and Will's artillery was unable to stop them - they had just enough movement to leap into Tribaldos, on the French line of communications, retaking an Objective and salvaging a draw. Viva el rey! Viva españa!

Reflections

Battlefield geometry. It's a truism I've quoted before: the terrain shapes the battle. In this case, the distinctive terrain - the river bisecting the ridge and dividing the battlefield - definitely made it a distinctive and interesting game.

Last-turn drama. Mark was unsure whether the victory conditions were pitched right, but they turned out perfect. The luck of the dice seemed reasonably evenly distributed. It could hardly have produced a tighter or more dramatic finish, so let's call it good. Classic BBB.

Labelled photos are hard work (well, not so much hard, just time-consuming) so somebody had better say nice things about them if you want me to keep doing them in future reports.

Four playtests to go? Not of this scenario, but of the remaining ones to be polished before the Peninsular War collection is complete and ready for publication. (On which note, I should mention that BBB and its scenario books are now available in pdf as well as print.) Hoping to get the book out before mid-year ...

BBB now available in PDF!

Here is the official announcement of the good news from our publisher, SkirmishCampaigns:

===

SkirmishCampaigns: Bloody Big Battles now in PDF!

BBB PDF Order Page

YES, the Bloody Big Battles! rules (BBB) and scenario books for a wide range of 19th-century and Napoleonic wars are now available in PDF

BBB Scenario Books

• Bloody Big European Battles!

• NAPOLEON'S Bloody Big Battles!

• Bloody Big Battles in INDIA!

• Bloody Big Balkan Battles! (1912-1913)

• Bloody Big HUNGARY '48 Battles!

• Bloody Big Peninsular Battles! (1808-1814) (forthcoming)

• Bloody Big Battles in Africa! (1801-1901) (forthcoming)

• Bloody Big Civil War Battles! (1861-1865) (forthcoming)

BBB was published over 10 years ago in 2014. The fact that 1000s of players have joined the BBB io group and Facebook page tells you it's popular. The fact that it hasn't needed a second edition tells you the rules are solid. The universally positive reviews of the game are collected on the BBB Blog

BBB ticks the boxes for all kinds of wargamers. If you love history – it's all about the history. If you want a challenge and a contest – BBB's tightly designed, well balanced scenarios will give you that. If you just want a fast and furious game – BBB's slick and quick mechanisms make the game rock on so that the situation changes every turn, and they inject just enough unpredictability and fog of war to make it surprising and entertaining while staying historically plausible.

Now we are making it easier for more of you to enjoy BBB:

• The rulebook and four scenario books are all now available in PDF.

• We have added two brilliant small ‘training scenarios' to the rulebook.

• We have added new bonus scenarios to three of the scenario books.

• We expect to publish two more scenario books in 2026 (Peninsular War and Battles in Africa).

• Scenario books on the American Civil War are also nearly complete.

• Scenario books for other wars are also in preparation.

New BBB players will find they have joined an active, friendly and supportive community. Your fellow players in the BBB io group and on the BBB Facebook page will welcome and help you, as will the very responsive BBB team. The annual BBB ‘Bash Day' conventions are great occasions if you can get to them. We hope you will enjoy BBB and we look forward to meeting you!

For more information

Little Big Horn - in the Sudan!

I drove a six-hour round trip for a three hour game. It was 100% worth it. The occasion was the latest of Dr Mark Smith's legendary Christmas Specials, delayed to brighten up January, because that suited everyone's calendar better. (For previous Christmas Specials, use the label search here.)

I arrived to be confronted by a spectacular 12-foot table:

Mark informed us that this represented the Wadi Alqlilkabirbwq, a tributary of the Nile. The situation was an Anglo-Egyptian expedition in the Sudan during the Mahdist War of 1881-1899. The British were trying to capture the Khalifa after the battle of Omdurman. I was 'Al Marara', one of the four players on the Mahdist side, alongside Crispin, Phil and Will. Nick, Bruce, Dave W and Dave T were the infidel British.

Nick and Bruce were Captain Benjamin Young and a German guest, Major Count Betreffnein. Their substantial cavalry columns arrived near our right flank, where my camp was. Figures are Baccus 6mm from Mark's (rapidly expanding) collection.

Dave T was Colonel Armstrong, the British C-in-C, leading another cavalry column dashing along the heights towards the other end of our extended encampment along the river.

All I had on-table initially, apart from my herds, was one contingent of dismounted cavalry, well-armed with modern breechloaders. A couple of moves later I had mustered four units.

Similar story for my neighbour on my left, Maynum Hirsar (Crispin). Our initial mission prioritised defending our camps and our cattle.

Phil and Will (Aswad Nasr and Quadeem Dub) were further along the river, out of immediate danger.

Nevertheless, Dave T made rapid progress along the heights, so Phil and Will had to react.

The central British column arrives, containing all the precious supplies, commanded by Captain Dougalson (Dave W).

As Nick's camelry approached, I moved two units of rifle-armed dismounted cavalry to lurk in the vegetation along the river.

Allahu akbar! Nick duly sprang my ambush. My warriors fired a volley and charged. We drove the infidels back with heavy losses. We mustered more cavalry and followed up.

Taking a long view ... seen from the quiet end of the table, but not for long. Will's force will shortly ascend the heights to take on Dave T.

Order, counter-order, disorder - 3 or 4 turns in, we were each given a new set of personal objectives to replace the ones we'd had at the start. Initially, our Mahdist objectives had focused on defending camps and cattle, while the British objectives were about discovering and capturing these. Now it was all change: having found how strong we were, the British orders had changed to holding the heights, while we needed to take them. This generated a lot of radical changes of manoeuvre! Here we see Nick's and Bruce's columns trying to break contact, cross the ford, and head for Hills 1 & 2 at top right of pic.

Dave W's supply column had made steady progress to mid-table, but Dave was now feeling very much left in the lurch as everyone else hightailed it for the hills, while he was being harassed by Phil and Crispin in front and had the prospect of more Mahdists appearing behind him.

Fortunately for Dave, I and Phil now largely ignored him in favour of dashing across the river to attack the hills. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the Mahdist of them all?"

Apart from Dave W's supply column in the river angle top left, all the Anglo-Egyptians are now atop the hills, while most of our Mahdists mill about trying to ford the river to get at them.

The first layer of hills is edged by an escarpment, scaleable only at the breaks marked by small brown patches. You can see two of these right of pic, in front of Hills 1 & 2 (the crests with white labels). This presented me and Phil with a ticklish tactical challenge: how to get up these breaks, which were in rifle range of the hilltop defenders, and then mount a coordinated assault.

A glimpse of the action at the other end of the pitch. Dave T's camel corps was fending off Will's Mahdists OK. However, Crispin changed axis, ignoring Dave W's supplies, to turn up behind Dave T. Not only that, but a random event gave some of Crispin's men the latest repeating rifles! It went badly for the Anglo-Egyptians here after that. 

A small victory for Will, too, as he overruns a stray baggage column ...

... capturing some splendid victuals. (It was supposed to be a Christmas game, after all.)

Phil and I had managed to negotiate the breaks in the cliffs and get our forces onto the scarp. With time running out, we mounted a massed charge on Hill 1. Note the British commander (the German, Betreffnein) who has fallen over. Random events dictated that he hit the schnapps flask hard and spent most of the battle drunk and incapable.

Our charge succeeded and swept the infidels from Hill 1!

Mark then totted up the scores. The most successful individual players were Crispin for the Mahdists (thanks to his murderous repeating rifles) and Dave W for the Brits (who kept his precious supply column largely intact). Adding up all the individual scores on each side, they came to 9 points each - a draw!

Arguably, Dave W deserved another victory point, because he was the first to tumble to the fact that this was a disguised scenario. I think he spotted it when the objectives changed and the Brits had to bail out and head for the hills. Mark had taken the situation from the Battle of the Little Big Horn and transposed it to the Sudan. If only my Arabic had been better, I'd have realised all the Mahdists' names were translations: Maynum Hirsar = Crazy Horse, Aswad Nasr = Black Eagle, Alqlilkabirbwq = Little Big Horn, etc. There were clues in all the Brits' names as well: Benjamin Young = Ben-teen, Dougalson = MacDougal, and of course Armstrong was Custer's middle name.

Reflections

Disguised Scenarios. I'm well aware of the concept but I've rarely played one. This worked really well, for me at least: I wasn't familiar enough with either the Sudan or LBH to spot the disguise, but I know enough about them to appreciate the conceit. Had we all known it was LBH from the start, of course the Brit/US players would have acted much more cautiously and been better coordinated. As it was, the disguised set-up plus the divergent personal objectives created the right historical situation. Genius.

Changing Situations Mid-Game. The abrupt change of orders/objectives partway through was not only important to create the right situation, it also helped to throw spanners into works and force major new decisions on players. This is a great ingredient in a game and something I've discussed before in one of my "Reflections on Wargaming" essays, "Changing Situations Mid-Game".

A Unique Tactical Challenge. The endgame threw up this unique tactical problem for me and Phil of how to get up the scarp under fire and then assault the heights. This exemplifies how historical scenarios can produce the most uniquely interesting challenges, at least as good as anything I might be able to invent. This is one reason why we love fighting historical battles.

Camels Galore! Exotic troops always enhance a wargames table and camelry are definitely exotic. I don't think I've ever seen so many camels in a game. It was a treat.

Roleplaying in Wargames. Even in regular BBB games, people are generally happy to metaphorically don the right headgear, slip into role and talk like their historical counterparts. In Mark's Christmas games where we all have our individual objectives, it gets really personal and the banter flows. There were plenty of remarks about the infidels' malignity and confusion, aspersions cast on fellow officers, and the like. It all adds to the occasion and the experience.

Roll on next Christmas!

PDF editions of the BBB rules and scenario books are about to be published. As PDF is not subject to the same page limitations as printed books, Mark and I are discussing the idea of publishing his Christmas Special scenarios (which are each very long because of the many individual briefs) as a collected volume. Watch this space!