American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Hi guys --

Maybe for Christmas we can give each other a few stories. Which should include a few laughs! So what's your favorite memory from gaming with the club?

I'll have to think about that one, but for now it's from one of my training games against a new officer. I took the Yanks at Antietam, and my very first shot was at 5 hexes by one of those 50-man regts with Hooker. Got a hit. Killed the leader.

And just like that I had to claim, being the good Reb officer that I am, that J.E.B. was D.E.D.!! [B)]


#2 would be a tie between a live over-internet match with BG Schlueter (talk about tension when it's happening right in front of your eyes!) and getting knocked out of this year's Lead Mule at Blackburn's Ford. I cleverly set up my line at the creek, which of course you cannot move across so I knew he couldn't get in behind me, and he cleverly moved up to the creek and ford and ZOC-killed me. I forgot ZOC's *do* extend across creeks! [:0] With a stack of Longstreet's finest gone, that was all she wrote...

Now surely there are better stories out there???

--- Sean



Brig Gen Sean Turner
3rd Cavalry Division, "Yankee Thrasher"
I Corps
Army of Alabama

Three from me. The first was my training game in the Club, back in the summer of 1997 (my gawd!). It was against a really nice guy named Boyd Denner. He was my first human wargame opponent, since playing Avalon Hill games as a kid with my Dad. We played BGN's Carnage In the Cornfield and I was absolutely awestruck at watching these turns, authored by a real person a thousand miles away, unfold right in front of me. It was amazing and, obviously, addictive. Boyd stayed with the Club for about a year and a half. I still wonder how he's doing.

The second was learning TalonSoft tactics from John Curley. John was an armour officer in the US Army. I think my association with him tracked a real-life rise from Capt. to Lt.Col. Anyway, he could fight these games like no one... I mean NO ONE... I've ever seen. It wasn't just ZoC's, though they were a part of it. The only term to describe it was "surgical". It was awesome and kind of scary. He was rhe best mutli-player game commander I ever played with, using .jpg converted bitmap images, complete with all the arrows, markings and objectives you'd expect to see on a real field map.

The third was probably a couple of years ago, playing a mutli-player tournament game with Garry Cope as my partner. It was a variation on the Gettysburg map which, after our building up a healthy deficit, saw us orchestrate a complete surround of the Union command on the last 4 turns. With the reduction in melee strength for the Union command being "isolated", we whupped 'em on those last turns.

In reality, there's probably a hundred others, most of which have the human element as their best features. Lots of great friends hereabouts. Wonderful thread, Sean. [8D]

Gen. Den McBride
ANV, C.S.A.
Sec. of War, ACWGC

Positive: Battle of Gettysburg, Longstreets Corp attacks III Corps on Little and Big Round top. Meanwhile II Corps sweeps around Big Round top and hits him in the flank. Result, Longstreet and most of his senior staff are carted off to prison and his entire Corps is eliminated.
Negative: I'm playing Chickamauga against Mike Laabs (a truly tough opponent. About dusk of day one it's been a back and forth bloody battle but I still fealt good about my chances (though in retrospect I meleed too much on day one) and Mike finally puctured a hole in my line. He then proceded to hound and expand that breakthrouch relentlessly throughout the night. My army remained divided in half. I was miserable. But I have to say, it was a pleasure to watch him keep the initiative and punish me. Really, a great tactical battle.

Major General Don Golen
Army of the Potomac, USA!

Two memories jumped to my mind when I read Sean's stories. I'll share those, as well as what I WANT for Christmas![:D]

My most prominent memory was my first Multiplayer game, in the 5 Battles tournament organized by Charlie Greco and Isaaco Ubaldi. I was paired with Larry Quick, and we were fighting at Out of the Mist. Similar to Den's experience, Larry's stong suit was webpages and the like, and I was the tactics guy. We would have elaborate strategy discussions, he would post maps on a webpage, and it was almost like being there and giving orders. What a thrill for an armchair general! The gravy was that we won handily, decimating AP Hills Corps with our cavalry and mostly Wadsworths boys. If you haven't played a multiplayer game, you are missing a key part of the experience. I'd love to play more and with different teammates.

The second memory was a gmae against Sean Turner. He was the first Reb I fought, and we were matched at 1st Bull Run. Err, I should say he was matched, I was OUT-matched![:D] That was my first realization that people were not going to be as predictable and ponderous as the AI. He set me up for ambushes, baited me this way and that, and all the while set up a flank attack that was crushing. He won handily.[:)][:D][:(][B)]

The third is a tribute to a friend and long running opponent. MG John Dragan and I have been playing continuously since I started in the club 16 months ago. I recently looked up how many turns we had played, and it was over 500. The best part about playing against John is that we talk about everything BUT our game in the emails trading turns. I can tell you quite a bit about John, and I've never had a chance to meet him.

What a club. My wife doesn't think much of it, though![:D][8D][:0]

As for what I want for Christmas, Sean (we are again matched up at a Pea Ridge Campaign...) here's my list: (sung loosely to the 12 Days of Christmas)

5 ZOC Kills
4 unguarded arty tubes
3 lone leaders
2 Brigades routing
and
a decisive Union Major Victory

Merry Christmas all!


Major General Jeff Laub
I Corps, Fighting First
Army of the Potomac, USA
http://www.geocities.com/laubster22/I_Corps/

Goes back to 1997 when I first got a PC and the BG: Gettysburg. Found an opponent at the old Talsonsoft site, named Pat Blackman, who later would help Doug a lot (from my understanding) on the HPS Campaign Gettysburg. It was my first ever game against a human.

I had done OK on day one as the Reb and nearly took Cemetery Hill but he counterattacked with, of all things, frickin XI Corps down between Culps & Cem. Hill. That was about the same time III Corps hit Pender's Division from the rear coming up the Emmittsburg Road (JEB's fault for not letting me know there was union infny coming...). So I had planned to hit Cem. Hill really hard on day 2.

Opened Day 2 up with a huge arty bombardment of Cem. Hill and actually drove off all his arty from high fatigue and losses. So what does he do? Moves up most, if not all, of his reserve arty and there were more guns than before. So as I see how this is going I send Longstreet on his march south (just like real life) with the remnants of Heth's division as a screen between Longstreet and the Yanks. However, my goal wasn't a repeat of the historical attack but I intended to go do what Hood wanted to do to begin with and "go around that big hill". I used Heth's troops to act like I was going to attack along the historical axis. It took almost all day of course. I had both Hood and McLaws on the back side of Big and Little Round Tops placed just where I wanted them. On my next turn the attack would have been launched. He had completely taken the feint with Heth's men and was deployed, mostly, in the woods near Devil's Den. Then on his turn, he moved a regiment backwards (facing Devil's Den) across the top of Little Round Top into the left hand side of my lead brigade.

All hell broke loose. He turned everyone loose on my butt. He'd been moving two corps over to "overwhelm" my attack. I still took the hill and cut the Taneytown road. His email was so funny. "Where the **** did they come from?" As we were finishing off that day's action I used some of Ewell's men to take Sheep Heaven and Wolf's Hill and threatened the Baltimore Pike. He had no more reserves to hold up there so the road would have been mine. He conceeded saying that in real life with one of two roads out cut by the Rebs, Meade would have had no choice but to retreat during the night. Especially since the only other road out was in grave danger of being cut the next morning.

I really respected his viewpoint. He played not just within the game confines but with a reality based view of how the game's results would have forced real world situations.

This is why I've always like playing with Rich Hamilton. We always seem to play with "how would this play out" in the real world. We've stopped many a game that still had a lot of playability but no historical relavance.

Lt. Col. Patrick D Gambill
Army of Northern Virginia
Jackson's Corps (Reserve Division)
Old Blue Light Brigade
"Never Take Council to your Fears!"