Some Ideas on How To Run

an

American Civil War Campaign

 

After purchasing the Peter Pig Civil War Battles rule set I wanted to run a simple yet detailed campaign that would produce battles that fitted within a Campaign; something where the battles would mean something and encourage the players to not fight to the bitter end and withdraw if it meant they could stave off an overwhelming defeat.

 

I did some initial research on the WWW to see if someone had a system I could lift and use without having to re-invent the wheel. After all I am fairly new to the hobby (after a 20 year break).

 

After much searching I hit upon the following rules by Terry Callahan at http://metroeastgaming.org/homerule.htm This web site is run by the Metro East Gaming Society and the whole web site is well worth a visit as it is really well laid out and has plenty to share with the whole wargaming fraternity. However the down side was that there was no map from which to run the campaign. After some detective work I tracked Terry down to the “Omaha Historical Wargamers” and Terry very kindly sent me a copy of the map hand drawn on hex paper. The scanned image I will gladly send on to any who want it.

 

This map was very detailed and a tad too detailed for what I was looking at doing. So after some more searching for maps that I could use I stumbled across the game “Bobby Lee” by Columbia Games. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/82 This game just hit the spot in that it concentrated on the Eastern Theatre and even had the ability to transpose battles to a tactical scale in game. The map was just the right scale for what I wanted and you can see it below: -

This image was not taken by my camera but is taken from the engine that is known as Vassal. This was the clincher in being able to run a campaign with the minimal of book keeping and any that is required is on the computer. In today’s age of computer moderated games Vassal is an absolute god send. http://www.vassalengine.org/community/index.php

 

For those that don’t know what Vassal is it gives the ability to play your old board games on line against an opponent anywhere is the world (with an internet link and PC) and not have to worry about the cat messing your board up while you are at work. (Or Wife / Mum with vacuum…)

 

Now this is only possible if some kind soul has spent some time learning how to create the module in Vassal and doing all the hard work for you. In this case Stan Hilinski is the man to thank for his hard work. You don’t need the game to use Vassal but if you like the game I would suggest you buy it as a courtesy to the Designer. It does allow you to try / look at games that have modules before you shell out your cash. I won’t explain how you access it as it is all explained at the web site and if you use this link you can see an entire list of the games hosted there. http://www.vassalengine.org/community/index.php?option=com_vassal_modules&task=displayAll&Itemid=30

 

So armed with the board game and after a trial play with a member of my local club I set about constructing the campaign. This really was a easy as opening it up on Vassal and printing off some JPEGs showing the Union and Confederate forces revealed. See the following image: -

The beauty with Vassal is that it allows you to turn over counters for each side so you can take a snap shot with either sides forces hidden. This then allows you to give each side their own maps to allow them to decide where they want to move their forces.

 

By using the rules of Bobby Lee you get Supply, Victory and Rail movement as a part of the game. This makes it very easy to run the whole campaign with the correct background rules that have been play tested and proven to work. The other benefit is that all results are record within Vassal and you save these on the computer. No mess with pen and paper.

 

All you have to do is send the players the PDF of the rules (again found on the web) and they can read up on the movement and supply elements of the rules. The rules work on wooden block counters that represent Cavalry, Infantry and Artillery. Each block is rotated to show its strength level. So you get a unit with 1 - 4 strength points. The blocks are combined via stacking and moved around the board as per the mechanics laid out in the game.

 

I have trialled this system by using it to run a weekend multi player gaming session at the Shed. The week before the players were briefed and maps sent out and turns taken. These moves produced a summary battle report which I sent out as a JPEG to all the players.

From these initial moves we kept on playing until a large battle was created by the strategic moves. This battle was fought out at Manassas Junction when the Union force attempted to take control of the junction and continue to cut supply to the Confederate force stuck at Harpers Ferry.

 

After the image above was taken the Confederates had forced out the Union forces from Harpers Ferry but were in turn cut off by a bold Cavalry move down the Turnpike. This and an envelopment of Manassas Junction cut supply to Harpers Ferry. Some smaller battles were resolved quickly using the tactical sub game within Bobby Lee, it was the big battle we wanted for the table.

 

To translate this to CWB all we had to do was take the largest force which was 17 strength points and make that equivalent to 600pts which is a medium size game in CWB. The opposing force at 16 pts was pro rata to have 565pts. This gave a good game which the players could get stuck into. Play the game until one side retreats or the day ends and then back to the board game. Repeat until you have played the whole of the Civil War to the end. The following are some photos of that weekend. If you want to see a report and more photos  of the weekend follow this link: - http://www.scrivenshill.co.uk/AARCWBCampaign.htm