He was running a somewhat home-brewed set of rules based off of Fire and Fury: Brigade meant to work as a fast-play alternate for group games. We used his 1/72 scale plastic collection, perfect for recreating that 'toy soldier' feel!
As befits a playtest, the best scenario is the simplest! So we had three identical brigades on both sides; an infantry brigade, an artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade.
The infantry brigades were headed by Sam and Sam, one veteran club member and the other new to the scene. I'll refer to them as Rebel Sam and Union Sam respectively.
Union Sam sent his troops up the left flank, looking to block Robert's Confederate cavalry. Brandon's artillery was backing him up. I took the Union cavalry for a spin, trying to find a decent spot to slip past the Confederate lines.
Rebel Sam was aiming for the fields in the center of the table, sending his three infantry regiments sprinting forward in column.
Robert's dismounted cavalry was the first to engage the Union infantry, with both sides trading somewhat desultory fire and minimal casualties.
Rebel Sam's infantry continued to push up the table, engaging with Union Sam's infantry and guns.
My cavalry were having to deal with all of the fences along the road, slowing their movement.
Meanwhile, Tim was bringing up the rest of the Confederate artillery and a reinforcement regiment of infantry.
Fully set up in the field, Rebel Sam ordered his infantry into line, just as my cavalry was starting to get away. Unfortunately, Rebel Sam also discovered just how horrendous artillery fire was in these rules, as an entire regiment was wiped out.
Union Sam and Brandon did a little switch at this point, swapping an infantry regiment for an artillery battery so they could concentrate on their respective arms.
Rebel Sam's infantry was catching fire from multiple angles as my cavalry continued to rush towards the Confederate rear.
Tim and Robert had linked up, with Tim beginning his own artillery barrage against Union Sam's infantry.
After a couple lucky shots from Brandon's guns wiped out another of Rebel Sam's regiment, Sam moved his infantry back into column and started moving them to flank the Union artillery.
Union Sam saw one of his infantry regiments retreat after being pounded by Confederate artillery.
Both sides were being whittled down at range by the other side's artillery.
My cavalry had finally swung around into a decent position when...
A Confederate tank showed up?!
Well, it seemed we'd gone from a historical battle to steampunk.
My cavalry charged and routed the last of Rebel Sam's artillery, while his last infantry regiment was wiped out by Brandon's guns.
However, Tim's artillery had mostly seen Union Sam's infantry off, and the last remaining Union infantry regiment wasn't about to move into the open where they would be run down by Robert's cavalry.
With Sam's tank now outflanking my outflankers, I decided to resist charging into Tim's infantry regiment and retreated back towards the Union artillery.
With both sides battered, it came down to an artillery duel between Brandon and Tim, and with a 2:1 advantage, the Union was heavily favored. Some decent dice rolling from Brandon destroyed two Confederate guns. We decided to call the game, as a draw.
While we were working out some of the kinks in the system (artillery fire being far too deadly overall, for example), Chris did put on a great game. I could see these rules being used for fast group games at either the club or convention, maybe with a little more chrome to make them feel more period specific.
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