Sunday 29 September 2013

Civil War Battle Day

I travelled down to Weymouth on Friday to play in the Civil War Battles Day in Bournemouth on the Saturday. As ever Martin was a genial host and after a quick Chicken Jalfrezi, we settled down to a playtest of PBI 3. This is the re-write of Peter Pigs company level WW2 rules. I wont say too much other than it was interesting.

We got up bright and early on Saturday morning and along with Nigel H, Stewart M, Chris C and Martin G I headed over to Bournemouth. I think there was 12 of us in all, with Ralph leaving at lunch time to be replaced by Rob Roriston. 

 We played doubles for both games, with around a corps per side. Martin is wearing the rather fetching forage cap. Here he is playing alongside John, with Mike and Mark the Rebel opponents.
 Stewart Meecham and Peter Sides are in the process of stuffing Chris Cunningham and Nigel Heals. Peter is clearly thinking up a master plan.
 Things hot up as Peter stands up for a better look.
 I teamed up with Colin Eaton for both games. We played Rebs on the defensive. This is the morning game where we played against Miles Milton and Ralph Ashdown. It was slow going as we stuggled to remember some rules but we enjoyed the game.
 Above you can see Miles' Iron Brigade which took a hell of a drubbing trying to cross the fence and attack the Rebs in the wood.
 I think this is back to Martin and John v Mark and Mike.
 Union troops take the hill! Give hell Billy Yank!
 Colin got into the spirit of the day wearing this officers kepi. Chris makes a grand sweeping gesture stating "We'll be in Richmond before Christmas!"
 Tough boys from the Tallahasee Thrashers hold the fence line. Union guns caused mayhem on them.
 Jonny Reb musters behind the ridge line, preparing to sell their lives to protect States Rights. In true rebel yell style, instead of waiting for the blue bellies to attack, the Rebs got their dander up and charged forward. Many sons of the south fell. Who knew that charging a Union battery across open ground would end in such carnage?
 An endless tide of Union streams forth, taking the fight to the Confederacy. Looks like Marks shirt in the background, commanding with dash and elan.
 Here we see a little documented event during the Civil War. Lt Gen Goddards Vriginia brigade assaulted a Union camp somewhere in the Valley, catching their commanding officer taking his morning ablutions. The sight was enough to stall the attack as the troops didn't know where to aim.
 Some dashing Southern cavalry galloping to glory.
 That endless tide of blue. The south appears doomed.
 Lt Gen Goddard hangs his head in shame as another falter test fails. Rob tries to look nonchalant, but inside he is a whooping and a hollering!!
 Peter v Mark. They normally face each other using tanks and machine guns playing PBI, but turned their hand to a more gentlemanly form of war. Things look tense here!
 The winners, Stewart and Peter. Well done men!
The team, minus Ralph and Mike. Chris Cunningham gets the prize for looking smartest and Nigel the tallest.

Personally I had a great time. Lunch at the nearby Harvester was good.. My two games ended in a win (albeit we only managed 3 turns with the countdown still in double figures so that game could have turned very easily) and a losing draw in a blood bath of a game in the afternoon. As ever with these games it wasn't about winning but about having a good laugh and enjoying each others company.

Hopefully more to come soon.

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