Originally posted on the Facebook A Gentleman's War Group: Inspired by Ross Macfarlane's
reports of battles along the US Canadian border, I collected enough
Fort Henry Guard figures to try out a Battle of Ridgeway game with the
addition of unhistorical artillery and cavalry on both sides. I played
remotely with David Smith, a retired history teacher and wargamer who
has written several articles on the Fenian Raids. I used TSATF rules,
since we both know them well and I thought that the way in which the
majority of hits result in wounds would better mirror the historically
low causality rate of the conflict. The two sides were evenly matched
and that resulted in both sides trading volleys behind stone fences. The
cavalry played no part and the artillery was pretty useless until the
last turn when David put my artillery piece out of action with 2 hits.
We called the game in the Canadian's favour after the Fenian's sustained
27 casualties, 9 of whom were KIA. You can see I recycled my ACW
"Ragged Rebs" for the Fenians, only adding some green Fenian flags. I
thought the contrast between the varied action poses of the Fenians and
the stolid poses of the Canadians worked well. I used big white casualty rings so that David, who was playing the Canadians, could be them on his screen. 1 ring signified a wound, 2 a kill.
Anxious to know how you guys performed this remote game?
ReplyDeleteGreat looking game on a very interesting conflict! Well done!
ReplyDeleteMarcel, we used Zoom, but we could have used any of the other apps available. I set up an iPad on a tripod with a view of the game table from my opponent's point of view. I have found that putting a background around the table helps to cut out visual clutter. The rules we played are driven by turning playing cards, red for British, black for Fenians. First all units move and then all units fire. Whenever a red card card came up I asked my friend what he would like me to do. Sometimes I had to move the iPad around to show him the situation from a different angle. I also measured distances and told him when units were in rifle range. I then moved his units for him and when he fired or took fire, I knocked over or put rings around the casualties. I've learned that too much terrain blocks line of sight causing a real "fog of war", so the host needs to play like a gentleman and not pull anything sneaky. I hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteGreat addition Nick. It clarifies interesting parts in this approach. Pretty sure I will try something similar in the near future. Nice, nice. Looking forward to it allready. Thanks for your add-on text. Greetings!
ReplyDeleteNever heard about this conflict. Intelligent re-use of the Confederate figures, and inspiring to think about to try to set up a remote game myself. Well done! Again!
ReplyDeleteA great looking game. I really like the long, not-so-thin, red line!
ReplyDeleteRegards, James