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Fusilier Paul Crouch, who recently moved up to Auckland, reports on a spectacular game played on John Berry's 14' x 6' table ...
We played an American Civil War game. There were four on each side, so eight of us all told, including all my old wargame friends from many years ago. Fusilier Mark Strachan was along there too.
The rules used were a set put together by the group up here. They really do work well and capture the flavour of the American Civil War and the ebb and flow of battle.
John and the boys certainly put on games 'in the grand manner' and there was no lack of troops on the table. It was a magnificent sight.As you can see from the photos we reckon there were up to two thousand 25mm figures on the table. They were mainly Dixon, but Wargames Foundry were in there too.
I tried to focus as many as possible of the photos on John's buildings to let you get the feel of them. Hopefully you can see the work he does on them. The close-up of the forge is brilliant. He scratch builds a lot of the stuff you see in these pictures. Also the limbers and wagons in the photos are all John Berry originals.
The game was a fictional encounter somewhere in Georgia called Rusty Creek, late in the war ... a last desperate attempt to throw the Damn Yankees out. I fought with the Johnny Rebs, and held the left flank with two brigades of infantry and artillery.
I was attacked repeatedly throughout the game - in fact my flank was under pressure from the word go. I had three brigade generals killed during the day, a battery of artillery smashed to pieces, and one of my brigades shattered - but they all died gallantly for the cause!
My own Confederate troops make a guest appearance on
the left flank. Under pressure for most of the game, and suffering heavy
losses, they held the flank with honour.
Brewer's Farm, the centre of the Confederate position.
Confederate troops mass around Brewer's Farm.
Through the cornfields come the Rebels under the command
of our host John Berry, on their way to prop up the left flank. This shot
reminds me of a scene from the movie Gettysburg
... stirring stuff!
Union troops - loads of artillery. Note the wagons
that John Berry has made.
Reb cavalry under Forrest move out on the right - almost
to a man these brave lads were wiped out before the Reb infantry arrived.
After the smoke died down it was decided that (as in all these large games) a fighting draw was the outcome. The Union hadn't really coordinated their attacks, and the Rebs had defended stoutly in the face of the blue tide.
John has a lot more buildings which I will over time photograph and share with you. The next game they are having is a naval game using ACW ships, so I will do a photo shoot of that one too.
