American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Gentlemen
I have been looking at the HPS GB disk for a weather scenario but don't see one. Patch 1.02 states that one of the changes was a weather feature. Am I being stupid or blind or both - I cannot see any weather scenarios?

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General Stewart Stiles

Army of Northern Virginia

There are indeed no stock weather scenarios for Gettysburg. I did a weather mod on every single scenario and campaign for the Old banshee team and it can be picked up at their site.

From the readme file:

This Mod creates a more realistic daily weather pattern based on Ken Miller's gradual dawn/dusk visibility weather files for the HPS Civil War games. Now, in addition to Ken's mod, the historical weather patterns are included for every day of the campaign between June 9th and July 14, 1863. The effects for each type of weather pattern were based, more or less, on HPS’s Antietam_Weather.pdt file provided with that game.

You will also see new Campaign games that use the weather patterns (designated by the word “Weather” in the Campaign name). The Historical stand-alone scenarios are designated as !HIST_Weather and the rest of the scenarios have a “_W” at the end of the scenario name and “Weather Variant” at the end of the scenario description.

Every single Campaign and standard scenario now has a corresponding weather variant. None of the stock files will be overwritten with this mod, you will still be able to play the old scenarios if you wish. It should be noted that many historians agree that if it had not rained as much as it did between July 4th and July 9th, Meade would have been able to engage Lee's retreating troops more aggressively, and perhaps even destroying the Army of Northern Virginia before it escaped across the Potomac. Also the documented misty summer mornings along the Rappahannock and the South Mountain passes should not be ignored by the serious gamer.

Various levels of rain, mud, mist and even the occasional afternoon thunderstorm will make their appearance during those periods of the campaign that have documentation supporting it's occurrence. The actual battle of Gettysburg between July 1-3, 1863 was not affected by inclement weather, but you will experience some minor variable visibility based on Ken's mod. You better believe that the battles occurring between July 4-9 will see showers and mud, effecting the operations of both armies. Other periods of inclement weather are:

June 13-14, June 18-21, June 25-28, June 30, and July 13. Several mornings will see misty conditions, especially after a period of rainy days.

Many letters and journals written by both Union and Confederate soldiers during the campaign are available for viewing on the internet. These almost always documented the days when they had to march through rain and mud… and I based much of my research on these and other online sources.

...The following observations of weather conditions at Gettysburg for the period of the Confederate invasion during the period of June 25 to July 4 were recorded by Rev. Dr. Michael Jacobs a teacher at the College and an amatuer meteoroligist:

"On the evening of June 25th at 8 p.m. a rain began . . . This rain continued at intervals until Saturday June 27th, at 7 a.m., the perception being in inches 1.280.

June 30:
Complete Cloud cover all day, partly cleared by 9 p.m. Wind was calm.

July 1:
The entire sky was covered with clouds all day, cumulo-stratus at 7a.m. and 2 p.m., cirro-stratus at 9 p.m. A very gentle warm southern breeze, (2 mph).
Thermometer: 7 am - 72; 2 pm - 76; 9 pm - 74

July 2:
At 8 am, sky still covered (cumulo stratus). At 2pm, 3/10 clear. At 9 p.m. cirrus clouds. Wind same as preceeding day
Thermometer: 7 am - 74; 2 pm - 81; 9 pm - 76

July 3:
At 8am, sky again completely covered with cumulo-stratus clouds, at 2pm, sky only 4/10 covered, but with cumulus or the
thunderclouds of summer; at 9pm, 7/10 cumulus. Wind SSW, very gentle. Thunderstorm in neighborhood at 6 pm. The thunder seemed tame, after the artillery firing of the afternoon.
Thermometer: 7am - 73; 2pm - 87; 9pm - 76

July 4:
Rain showers at 6 am, from 2:15 until 4 pm, and at 4 am on July 5 totaling 1.39 inches . Thermometer: 7 am - 69; 2 pm - 72; 9 pm - 70

There were slight showers on the 5th and the 7th, and on the 8th a rain from 3 am to 11:30 am measured 1.3 inches.”

We hope you enjoy these mods and if you need to contact us use this email: old_banshee@hotmail.com
The Banshee team is
Frank (Old Banshee) Mullins.
James Wilkes.
Bill Lott.
Rick DeNicolo.
Richard Simonitch.

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Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
1st Brigade, 2nd Division
VI Corps, AoS

Thanks Richard
Looks fascinating - thanks to you & Old Banshee Team for all the hard work

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General Stewart Stiles

Army of Northern Virginia

Guys, remember...
IF YOU PLAY PBEM or MP ALL PLAYERS MUST HAVE THE WEATHER MOD INSTALLED!!

Otherwise you could have reduced visibility while your opponent can see the full 70 hexes!

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Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
1st Brigade, 2nd Division
VI Corps, AoS