From Sharpsburg to Antietam.

Last weekend a number of gamers from around New Zealand gathered in Christchurch to refight the battle of Sharpsburg or Antietam.


Below is a taste of what the game looked like.

For many more photos and a very short report follow the links,

John's photos and report, and my photos.

Towards the end on day two.

I really must get some sponsorship for this!

The table setup.

 The tables running around the back were for the Union reserves to move along before entering the fight.

Check out the links above for more......

Black Powder A.C.W.

Another game with some of the lads.

This time it was an American Civil War game. More or less equal sides with each player commanding a Brigade of infantry and a couple of guns.

Rules were Black Powder.

This was an opportunity for Brad and Clinton to try out the rules with their freshly painted ACW troops.

 Martin's Union boys awaiting orders to advance.

 Both sides were looking to capture both the hill and the farmstead.

This was the position at the kick off!

 Both sides ready to move off. Confederate above, Union below.

Rebels crossing the river on their way to taking the hill.

General Brad's Texans! With no flag to encourage them forward they refused to advance any further.

General Clinton's boys lining the fence.

The Union won the race to the farm and soon occupied the area.

The hill remained in question as both sides chose to stand back and try and weaken the other with mostly small arms fire before charging over the top.

Another look at Brad's Texans. (They did look very nice)

From the Union side.

Bringing up the big fellas behind the hill.

Mr Lee directing things from the middle of a ford!

The Rebel centre.

The Rebel yell went up as the Confederates surged forward to attack the farm.

Shortly afterwards they surged straight back and right off the table! Leaving a great big hole in the Rebel lines. This was to leave the Reb's having to withdraw to fight another day.

Union troops celebrating their win over the Confederates.

 Big thanks to Martin for acting as umpire for the game.

Borodino Refight.

This weekend in Christchurch NZ saw a huge Napoleonic re fight of the battle of Borodino. With over 5000 troops and more than 150 guns a large number of New Zealand wargamers converged to play this epic game.
 There is an excellent battle report on Craig's blog
 http://craigswargamingblog.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/borodino-20120-report.html    
with another bunch of wonderful photos.
This was a fantastic way to spend a weekend, playing with the wee chaps and meeting a great bunch of guys.
Below are photos from the game showing just how big this game was.

Looking from the French left after the first turn.

From behind the Russian right.

A view down the table from the Russian right.

The French right flank.

Troops from the French right flank advancing.

French centre and right.

French left wing under pressure

 

The Commanders at the end of the game.

Several of the Commanders had already left by this stage, some had flights to catch back to their home towns and others could not make it back for day two.
An awesome sight to see so many Napoleonic troops on one table.
Thanks to John and co for organising this event.




Chris Packer who was Napoleon over the weekend managed to find time amongst his command responsibilities to shot  some video footage of the game. The link below is for the first part of 9!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nglNHTaYJU&feature=youtu.be

more to come.

Enjoy.