Refighting The Civil War

[NH Civil War Gal]

Refighting the Civil War - Emerging Civil War

I must admit, sometimes I take my study of the Civil War too seriously. This is not only my career, but it is in many ways, my hobby as well. I love to read about obscure figures, dive into often untapped source material, and write about the defining moment in 19th century America. A thorough […]

emergingcivilwar.com

This sounds so interesting!

 

[lupaglupa]

My first thought when I saw the headline of this post was "Must we?" But I think gaming Civil War battles is pretty cool. It certainly makes you consider the ground and the point by point decisions in the battle a different way.

 

[Story]

The figures can excite young minds to read books until their eyes are bleary.

Nevermind the artistically rendered polyester uniforms.​

 

[Pat Answer]

Nice write-up, thanks for sharing!

One of the benefits of the internet has been in linking some of us old - and now some not so old - kooks who may have mistakenly thought themselves alone in their continuing to "play with toy soldiers" well past childhood.

By this point (I hope), y'all know how I feel: games (miniatures, board, computer, etc.) can be great tools to examine the military problems of yesteryear, not least because a well-designed game puts the player in the position of having to make decisions based on incomplete information in the face of not always predictable opposition. (I personally think every "armchair" critic of past generals should have to go through such an exercise, but that's for another day. )

 

[Harms88]

I was listening to a professor once who said that when he talks about Cannae, he has his students wargame the battle using Hannibal's tactics. He said what is most interesting is that no student has actually been able to not only replicate the victory in the same way, and that few have ever been able to win the battle against Rome's numbers. His point is that wargaming this battle has changed a lot of opinions that perhaps it wasn't even necessarily the genius of Hannibal that won the day, but simple dumb luck had a lot to do with it.

I've played every scenario in Battle Cry (which uses miniatures on a hex board to replicate battles) and some battles where I think I should win, such as Chancellorsville as the Union, ends up going very badly. While some I thought I wouldn't win I end up doing.

Wargaming can be a great way for us to have a paradigm shift on what this warfare we read in the books should and could be.

 

[lupaglupa]

My father and brother spent hours on the various Avalon Hill board games. Those were the ones with the hexagon pieces. I remember they played Panzer Blitz; I'm not sure which others they had.

 

[Kearny The Magnificent]

I'm a miniature wargamer as well as a hex and counter wargamer. There are a lot of different rule sets out but all of them give you victory conditions you need to use your pieces to achieve. You can play anything from a small skirmish to the entire war in numerous different scales; testing out "what-if" or "weird" (ie: steampunk Civil War or monsters like Dracula get involved) is possible if you please. I don't think any can perfectly simulate a battle, but they are still a great way to bring history to life. You get to assemble the units, research as much as you want, see how things like terrain factor in, and get to play through the difference phases of a battle.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Refighting the Civil War - Emerging Civil War

I must admit, sometimes I take my study of the Civil War too seriously. This is not only my career, but it is in many ways, my hobby as well. I love to read about obscure figures, dive into often untapped source material, and write about the defining moment in 19th century America. A thorough […]

emergingcivilwar.com

This sounds so interesting!

Don't feel bad. I still play Civil War with my 7-year old grandson, using little plastic figures of the blue and gray soldiers, the horses, a wagon, and of course several field pieces of artillery for each side.

 

[13 IL Cav & 64 GA Inf]

Don't feel bad. I still play Civil War with my 7-year old grandson, using little plastic figures of the blue and gray soldiers, the horses, a wagon, and of course several field pieces of artillery for each side.

We call the Civil War the war of Americans against Americans, and my grandson knows that the Blue side is fighting for the right cause, but that the Gray soldiers are mostly fighting for their states and homes because the war came to them.

 

[Stryker65]

I actually do this, but in word form and against myself. I create hypothetical orders of battle, and write out how the battle would go using this order of battle and a good setting. Often, I can get several pages down.

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

My father and brother spent hours on the various Avalon Hill board games. Those were the ones with the hexagon pieces. I remember they played Panzer Blitz; I'm not sure which others they had.

I remember those.

I was never a "gamer", but do remember the complex rules.

 

[RedRover]

How about wargaming with Civil War cats, like perfected by the Brown sisters...

 

[CWdiaryPA]

How about wargaming with Civil War cats, like perfected by the Brown sisters...

Very disappointed. I was mistakenly under the impression the mini soldiers were to be cats rather than men

 

[RebelWeber]

Don't feel bad. I still play Civil War with my 7-year old grandson, using little plastic figures of the blue and gray soldiers, the horses, a wagon, and of course several field pieces of artillery for each side.

I play Ultimate General on my computer weekly.

 

[7thWisconsin]

I´ve been wargaming for 50 years. I still have hundreds of those Airfix Confederates. (Actually, they´re terrible Confederates, but they´re pretty good 1898 Spanish troops! That´s how most of mine are currently painted.) I still have the 2 Panzerblitz games on my shelf, and play them fairly often. I also wore out my first copy of BattleCry and have a lot of milage on the second. I´m a big fan of the whole Command and Colors gaming system. Allows you to see some of the battle problems with a reasonable number of figures, in a reasonable amount of time and space. You can get much the same results with the De Bellis Antiquitatis/Multitudinis rules system too.
Getting off topic, there were a lot of factors that contributed to the disaster at Cannae, and most of them were self-inflicted by the Romans. Foremost was the 2 consul system, and they commanded on alternating days. Hannibal just drew the day when the aggressive idiot was in charge! First principle of warfare? Unity of command. Battle like that (and 2nd Manassas and Chancellorsville) are hard to wargame because they depend on a surprise and your opponent doing what you want him to do. If you know Jackson´s right hook is coming, you´re going to prepare for it. You can see your opponent massing his troops on your left, so you don´t push that foolish right attack. The decisive moment of those battles does not play well.

 

[lupaglupa]

Don't feel bad. I still play Civil War with my 7-year old grandson, using little plastic figures of the blue and gray soldiers, the horses, a wagon, and of course several field pieces of artillery for each side.

Of course artillery! Then you can yell "Boom!" and knock a lot of guys over all at once. So satisfying.

 

[RedRover]

Very disappointed. I was mistakenly under the impression the mini soldiers were to be cats rather than men

Well, it is true that cats, lacking opposable thumbs, can't actually handle muskets, swords, and flag poles as they do in the Brown sister's examples, but their cat miniatures certainly retain the customary ears and tails.

Here's how an actual cat reacts to wearing a Civil War uniform and wargaming... evidently too much danger of friendly fire incidents...

 

[7thWisconsin]

I´m certain my cat can whip 10 rebels! (the Brown sisters minis are amazing - once again, if you´re in Gettysburg, visit them. It will be the second best stop in your trip.)

 

[RedRover]

Here's some more traditional wargaming at Lee's headquarters at Gettysburg...

 

[BillO]

I´m certain my cat can whip 10 rebels! (the Brown sisters minis are amazing - once again, if you´re in Gettysburg, visit them. It will be the second best stop in your trip.)

Bring your cat on down here my friend and we'll introduce him to some of or local critters