The Texas Lancers

For the last fifty years or so I gave been a prolific reader of American Civil War history. In wargaming terms it is my first love and I wholeheartedly agree with Stew that this Civil War is the best Civil War. One of my favourite (and possibly one of the least known) campaigns is Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley's invasion of New Mexico in 1862. 

In this bizzare operation Sibley intended to not only take control of New Mexico by occupying Albuquerque and Santa Fe, but then to move up into Colorado and secure the gold and silver fields for the Confederacy. On top of that he then planned to march to California and secure the Pacific ports to enable the South to break the Union blockade. All this was to be achieved by with a single brigade of 2,500 men in four regiments. Like many other Confederate generals he believed that thousands of new recruits from the occupied region would flock to the Southern cause.

On the surface Sibley seems no different to hundreds of senior officers on either side in the Civil War. Born in Louisiana in 1816 he was 46 years old in 1862. A West Pointer he had seen service in the Second Seminole and Mexican Wars. While on duty in Texas in the 1850s he invented the Sibley Tent, a conical tent used by the US and British Armies. He saw service in Kansas during the Bleeding Kansas years and against the Mormons in Utah. He was on duty in New Mexico when the Civil War broke out. But Sibley had a serious problem with the bottle, a problem that would incapacitate him for days at a time.

Sibley got his brigade to Fort Bliss (modern day El Paso) in early January and set off on his adventure in February. The first objective was Fort Craig that if taken would eliminate all Union resistance south of Albuquerque, but more importantly Sibley was dependent on captured supplies to keep his troops and animals fed and the fort held a huge volume of them. The Confederates appeared before the fort in mid-February. Sibley knew he could not carry the fort by assault and tried to entice the Federals out, but they were not about to play ball. Then, when his army needed him the most, Sibley went on a bender, handed command to Colonel Tom Green and retired to an ambulance.

Green decided to move east around the fort and force the Yankees to fight for their line of communications to the north. In a sober moment Sibley approved of the plan and on 21 February ordered Colonel Scurry to lead the way into Valverde and secure the fords across the Rio Grande. Scurry soon clashed with Federal troops sent north to intercept them. The Texans, armed with shotguns and pistols could not compete with their rifle armed enemy and took cover in an old dry riverbed. Both sides brought up more troops and around 4:00 PM Tom Green brought up the last of the Texans and with Sibley back in his ambulance suffering from his self-imposed illness, Green took command of the field.

Leading Green's column was Captain Lang's Company B 5th Texas that were armed with lances. Lang asked Scurry if the could charge against a unit of Federal militia that stood about 500 yards away. Scurry said no, but Lang continued to press him. Finally Scurry relented and Lang led 50 lancers forward against the Yankee militia at the gallop. But these were no raw militia, they were a company of hardened, well drilled Colorado miners and frontiersmen who just happened to be dressed in militia grey uniforms who fired two well disciplined volleys that killed or 20 lancers and killed or wounded every horse in the company. The charge faltered. The survivors returned to their lines and threw down their lances, burning them later that night. So ended the only charge by lance armed cavalry in the American Civil War.

When I stumbled across the above of the image of the charge on the cover of one of my books recently, I thought "why not!" So here is Captain Lang and his company mid-charge.

Bavarian Ramblings

Plague came to the Bavarian village of Oberammergau in 1633 and in just over a month half the population of the village, 81 people, perished. This loss prompted the remaining villagers to make a vow that if they were spared, every ten years they would perform a play depicting the life and death of Christ. From that day on there was no further loss of life from the plague. Keeping their word the villagers performed the first Oberammergau Passion Play in 1634 and they have kept their promise for 391 years. In 1680 they changed the timing of the performance to years that ended in zero and have managed to stick to that schedule except for nine occasions (one being in 1870, because of the Franco-Prussian War, and another being 2020 which was postponed to 2022 because of the COVID 19 Pandemic). 

In 1933 the Oberammergau community decided to stage a series of special out of sequence performances in 1934 to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the first play.  The Nazi party, having come to power the previous year, got right behind the event to extract as much propaganda as they could from it. They ensured that the wording "Deutschland ruft Euch! (Germany is calling you)" was printed on the official poster (right),declared that the Play should be a “national people’s pilgrimage”and reduced the entrance fees by half to encourage Germans to attend. Hitler and a bunch of his cronies attended the play.

My mother and her sister attended one of these special performances. I do not know why they chose to attend since neither was deeply religious, and as members of the Church of England they were deep into Catholic Germany. Nonetheless tavelling in Germany in 1934 must have been eye opening for two young English women from rural Kent (my mother was eighteen at the time my aunt in her mid-20s) given that Bavaria was the centre of Nazi activity at that time, yet oddly my mother never talked about it much - maybe having served through WWII she found it a difficult subject, I don't know. The only thing she ever spoke about on that trip was the time she and her sister spent in Switzerland, visiting Berne, Zurich, Zermatt and the Matterhorn.

Why am I blathering on about this? Well four reasons: First, when cleaning up recently I turned up a bunch of trinkets she had gathered on that trip - including a beautifully carved wooden crucifix from Oberammergau; second, because we are in the process of planning a European holiday next year and Bavaria is marked as a stop; third, because today is the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Wissembourg which was the first action of the Franco-Prussian War in which the reformed Royal Bavarian army fought; fourth, because it makes a nice segue into the real purpose of this post - to show off the latest addition to my Franco-Prussian War Bavarians, four boxes of which arrived on my doorstep nearly three weeks ago.

This is 2nd Battalion, 9th (Wrede) Infantry Regiment. This battalion was only slightly engaged at Wissembourg, suffering a loss of one man killed and eight wounded in the assault on the town. 

Roughly handled in the opening stages of the Battle of Wörth two days later, the battalion was fortunate to suffer only 83 casualties. It went to fight at Bazeilles, Sedan and in the Siege of Paris.

New Project - Buildings For Sale

I have always been an evening painter. That is, I prefer to paint figures after dinner for two or three hours most nights, usually with some streaming service on the TV in the background. But now with a reduced emphasis on creating armies I have found myself at a loose end in the evenings. Sure there is still the TV and those streaming services and there are a lot of books to read, but I am not good sitting still on the couch and I have a bad habit of falling asleep when I read after 7:00 PM. So I have been in need of something to fill my evenings.

It will be obvious to anyone who reads this blog that I like making wargames buildings. I have made hundreds over the years - maybe as many as a thousand - in 1:300, 15mm and 28mm scales, both commercially, for my own games and for a few individuals. I have really enjoyed working on the winter houses that I made for a gaming friend in the last month and I have decided to make some buildings for sale, the first seven of which are now complete.

Mine is not the precision style. I make buildings that are rustic and have been knocked around a bit. They are one of a kind pieces build for wargames, fully painted and  made robustly to be as 'wargamer proof' as possible. Each one is built around a MDF shell, some with a removable roof. In most cases the exterior detail has been sculpted using an epoxy putty, although some make use of other materials. Each model is mounted on a fully textured MDF base measuring no more than 200mm x 160mm and has a maximum height of 140mm.

I have been busy in the last month and here is the first batch of 28mm models.

This is not intended as a full blown commercial operation. I am not out to make a fortune (and that is reflected in my pricing structure), but rather I am looking for something to keep me busy in the evenings that pays for itself and maybe buys a few bottles of wine. The idea is to make this first batch of buildings and put them up for sale on this blog. If they don't sell then I guess I add some more buildings to my collections, but if they do then I will make more to keep up an inventory of four to six models. The type of buildings will be entirely at my whim and pricing will include shipping. They will generally be for 28mm, but there may well be some 15mm pieces from time to time. I am not going to go to the effort of setting up an e-commerce site and all transactions will be via bank direct credit or PayPal. 

Full details, including a broader range of photos of the buildings that are available now on a first come, first served basis and can be viewed HERE, or from the 'Buildings for Sale' button on the navigation bar at the top of the page.

A Brief Break in the Winter Sun

July and August are generally the coldest and wettest months here in New Zealand and the time that the winter blues are most prevalent. So to overcome those blues we planned a little midweek getaway to the Coromandel Peninsula a few hours southeast of Auckland and booked an apartment at Whitianga on the eastern side of the peninsula. Fortunately the week saw the arrival of a high pressure system that brought four days of cold, but sunny conditions to most of the country. So after a frosty start on the Tuesday we set off arriving at Whitianga in time for a late lunch after which we took a walk through the town then settled in for the night. 

Whitianga used to be a family summer holiday destination for back for us in the '70s and I hadn't been here since 1996 when it was still just a sleepy holiday town. Elements of the sleepy town still exist, but it has expanded dramatically with a large waterway housing development. It still has a magnificent beach and fabulous views out into Mercury Bay. 

Wednesday dawned cold but brilliantly sunny with only the slightest breeze. 

We had decided to drive across the peninsula to the township of Coromandel. It was a stunning drive, despite the infamous winding roads. The last time I was here was for a wedding in the late '70s and the township hasn't changed much, lots of quaint little shops and eateries. We headed a little out of town to a the Driving Creek Railway. This is a purpose built tourist venture built by a potter who bought a 60 acre farm, planted thousands of native trees and regenerated the bush, established a pottery retreat and then as a labour of love built the narrow gauge railway that runs deep into the property. At first glance it seemed a little corny, but in truth it was a fabulous one and a half hour ride up through the native bush, across bridges and through tunnels to a height of several hundred metres, with superb views out across the gulf. Along the way, hidden in the bush snd surrounding the tunnels, were many pieces from the pottery. Dozens of Tuis,  Bellbirds, Fantails and Wood Pigeons flitted about in the trees. It was a great thing to do on a gloriously sunny day

Thursday morning dawned cold yet sunny again.  We had thought about taking the glass bottomed boat trip out to Cathedral Cove, but figured we could spend the $350 they wanted  better...and we did by visiting The Lost Spring.  This is a spa that features a number of hot pools, drawing water from a well bored 667 metres below the ground. This is a gorgeous place carefully designed around three pools of differing temperatures from cold to 41 C, set amid a lush bush environment, with Tuis squabbling in the trees above. You would never know that you were in the centre of town. We spent a few hours there before going back to the apartment for lunch. An afternoon walk along the beach and a drink in town rounded out the day.

Friday saw us on the road before 9:00 and back into the chaos of Auckland traffic by 11:30...and the sunny weather is set turn back to wet and windy stuff we expect in winter in the next few days.

The Civil War in 1865

A couple of years ago I read an account of the Appomattox Campaign and was attracted to the idea of a game where Sheridan's Cavalry Corps is trying to get ahead of the retreating Confederates to delay them enough for the infantry to catch up. Over time I began to develop an idea to refight the Battle of Sailor's Creek. The problem with this battle was fourfold. First, it was fought across quite a wide area. Second, the terrain was heavily wooded which always makes for an awkward game. Third, the number of units was large, albeit most of the Confederate units were very small, and while we had enough infantry units in our group collections, we had nowhere near enough the 40 or more cavalry units to create Sheridan's Corps. Fourth, a game set in 1865, with a Confederacy on life support, is a difficult one to enjoy if you are playing the Confederates.

So I decided to create a game based loosely around Sailor's Creek whereby a Union force consisting of a full cavalry division and two large infantry divisions have caught up with four very much under strength Confederate infantry divisions. 

The Confederates start the game within their cantonments. Most of their units are tiny while some are small. Pickett's Division, for example, consisted of four brigades each of five tiny regiments. Their objective is to get as many units as possible across the creek and off the table. They will start with a total of 70 infantry units, twelve artillery batteries, four cavalry units and a wagon train - 90 units in total and this is their victory points total. For every infantry or cavalry unit they lose or fail to get across the creek and away they will deduct one point and for each artillery and supply unit lost two points. If at the conclusion of the game the still have 70 victory points they can count some success and the Army of Northern Virginia gets to fight another day. If they count 50 points or less the Army is irreparable  damaged and surrender is likely in the next few days. Between 51 and 69 points means that the army has been mauled, but there is still a chance for continuing operations.

The Union objective is simple - do as much damage a possible to the enemy. The infantry enter the table edge marked Awhile the cavalry can enter either on the top edge or any three roads marked B, C or D,  at B can occur in turn 1, at C on turn 3 or at D on turn 4 if a 1, 2 or 3 is rolled on a D6, otherwise on turn 5.

A sketch of the table. The Confederate cantonments are marked by the name of the divisional commanders: Lee, Pickett, Johnson and Kershaw.

A number of challenges face both armies. The ground is soft and artillery will move at half rates off road and can only cross the river at the bridge or the ford. Wagons can only cross at the bridge and there is a chance that they will stall on the bridge. Confederate artillery ammunition supply is low.

So the battle begins with alarm in the Confederate camps when Yankees are seen approaching. Two Union infantry divisions, a total of seven brigades and eight batteries appeared at A. One of Custer's brigades arrived at C shortly after. The Confederate brigades were called to arms and the supply train was set in motion.

GWC Lee's Division (RE Lee's eldest son) and Pickett's Division form quickly to face the threat while Kershaw guards the right flank and Johnson prepares to take position across the creek.

Lee quickly gathers his mainly raw regiments.

The Union divisions surge foreward

Pickett's Division forms up.

Pickett repulses the first Union attack

Fresh Union regiments press forward

Meanwhile Lee's lead brigade takes position in the woods. They are engaged by the leading Union regiments, beginning a fight that would last most of the battle.

Disaster struck early for the Confederates when the lead wagon stalled on the bridge, then when that cleared the second one stalled.

Custer brought on his second brigade at D and the third at C. He caused all sorts of  confusion in Kershaw's ranks, capturing all four batteries of his artillery battalion,  but could not establish a solid position and most of this troopers are driven off.

Pickett's Division was all but destroyed, although he managed to get his artillery battalion away, and Lee lost most of his first brigade, but managed to get some of his division away. Johnson's Division was only slightly engaged and managed to get his entire force across the creek, after the supply train finally cleared the bridge.

In the end the Confederates lost 39 victory points - one short of total disaster!

Now the images start to get out of sequence so I will just add them here randomly (most of these are provided by John, who played GWC Lee in the game).