6mm Scale Seven Pines Wargame
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- In this episode, Little Wars TV and Richmond National Battlefield Park refight the Battle of Seven Pines on the 160th anniversary. Seven Pines, also known as Fair Oaks, caught the Army of the Potomac by surprise on May 31st, 1862 and nearly ended in a rout. But timely Federal reinforcements and poor coordination by the Confederate commanders instead led to a stalemate. In today's 6mm scale wargame, we'll explore those variables and see if our players can rewrite history and learn from past mistakes. Will the Confederates find a way to coordinate their converging columns, and can the Federals hold on long enough for help to arrive? Let's find out!
Today's video is the culmination of our months-long "On to Richmond" series, a real-time look at McClellan's progress from Fort Monroe to the gates of Richmond. Though no one knew it at the time, McClellan's march to Richmond was destined to stop here, at the dirt crossroads of Seven Pines. We'll use this turning point in the Peninsula Campaign as a good place to step away from the American Civil War and turn our attention to wargaming other periods of military history.
But if you enjoyed the series and want to see us return for a future look at the next chapter in the story--Lee's counter-attack, known as the Seven Days--just let us know in the comments below. We read every comment! A huge thank you to our Patreon supporters for making this road trip to Virginia possible, and of course, THANK YOU to the amazing team at Richmond National Battlefield Park. They operate many historical sites in and around Richmond (some of which you saw in this video series!), so if you're looking for a great taste of Civil War history, pay them a visit.
www.nps.gov/rich
To learn more about the game rules on which today's wargame was based, check out our Live Free or Die tutorial video here:
• Learn to Play Live Fre...
"I don't want to launch into a complicated 1862 strategy that has to converge on specific point at a specific time," (paraphrased quote)...Proceeds to set up a complicated, just-so 1862 plan. I'm glad it ultimately paid off. Great video. Great series.
Classic, right?
I like to think I did a completely accurate job in my role of portraying General James Longstreet, ha.
@@NathanThomasHall Except you actually showed up to the battle on time! Unlike the historical Longstreet....
You know what this means gentlemen, you have set a standard for yourselves. I hope the next major campaign you wish to do this with you can also conduct on location and bring just as much history and brightness too.
Keep up the work my grand fellows,
Appreciate that, Reece! We had a great time on this road trip and learned some lessons about how to improve if and when we ever do this kind of thing again. It was neat to try something new and experiment with a different format, blending the real time history with wargaming.
I’m very much looking forward to their Pyrrhus campaign coming up which I think will also raise the bar haha
Loved seeing Candace's dragon reinforcements, that gave me a good laugh as a Warhammer player. 😂
Both sides could have really used that dragon to roast the dense road columns arriving!
I was half expecting someone to plonk down their minecraft portal to retcon the dragon.
@@LittleWarsTV If a fiery dragon breath attack came down on the Union columns, could you call that Lannister shot?
Really like the scenario, it shows well the chaos of communication and logistic. 6mm is the best to represent the scale of those battle. Starting a 6mm French Napoleonic army myself, I'm impressed with the amount of details you managed to put in those ACW 6mm miniatures. Good job!
You can get a lot of detail on 6mm figures--we have some really nice 6mm Napoleonic armies in the club. Much more colorful than the muted ACW armies, that's for sure! You'll have a blast painting the French.
I would love to see a 6mm napoleonic battle.
@@kyleroop692 I believe they have done some 6mm napoleonic battles.
Really, really well done guys! It is so cool that you included the park rangers in the action. To me, one of the most educational things about wargaming is *using* the terrain... it's one thing to look at a map. It's another thing to have to put the features of that map into practical application.
Next year yall should so something like this for the AWI and document Nathaniel Greene's Race to the Dan and subsequent Guilford Courthouse and Yorktown Campaigns.
Both good contenders! For this year we had initially considered the Saratoga campaign as a possibility. Following Greene's escapades would be fun, though it does play out over a fairly large geographic area when you consider his area of operations in the Carolinas.
Loved the command friction, and the rangers did a great job! Looking forward to Stuart's Ride!
A great, classic battle and nicely done. So much depended on the decisions, aggressiveness and skill of brigadiers and divisional commanders. That’s what makes it such a great period to wargame. Any plans to put up your ACW home brew mods to ‘live free or die’? I’ve had similar thoughts myself!
Candace: Mentions she plays Warhammer and runs a DnD table.
Me: Well, I know which side I'm pulling for. :D
More seriously, this was a fun series! Hopefully you can do something like it again.
Beginning gamers can have a tendency to be overcautious. I've seen this in different genres of gaming. Overall, I like games that reward calculating the right level of risk to take. Translating to history, there were of course many generals that continued to sit back, strategically or tactically, to their detriment. This campaign of course highlights one of them.
Absolutely loved this scenario! So glad to keep up with this and see history recreated in bits day by day! Can’t wait to see the LFoD supplement hopefully coming out for ACW! 🙏
Clearly McClellan should have flown in on the Zombie Dragon
Thanks SO MUCH for this!!! I am currently working on a set of hex-and-counter wargames on Seven Pines (and the other major tilts of the Peninsula Campaign), and have been mentally wrestling with how to present exactly the type of command confusion you're describing here in your miniatures game!!! Thanks for these additional ideas and fog-of-war concepts!!!!
That said, I am chagrinned to hear that your Richmond series is ending here at Seven Pines/Fair Oaks. I had hoped you'd be continuing on to chronicle (as much as possible) Oak Grove, Beaver Dam Creek, Gaines' Mill (!!), Savage Station, Glendale and the penultimate set-to at Malvern Hill!!!! 😟 But even if that is "out of scope" for your planned video project, know that it has been enjoyed very much, and should live on as an historical document for years to come!!! Three cheers and a dozen "Huzzah!"
Glad we could provide some fog of war ideas to ponder! I answered in greater detail to a previous commenter about why we chose to stop the On to Richmond series here, but suffice it to say there's a HUGE amount of history and wargaming untapped in the Seven Days. It's a busy June on the Peninsula and maybe in the future we'll be able to revisit it....
@@LittleWarsTV Fair enough!!!
My project won't be a refereed game experience, so I wouldn't be able to "steal" your wonderful OoB idea if I wanted to!! But, I think I will at least have to have multiple "scenarios" for Seven Pines/Fair Oaks: a historical "what DID happen" scenario, a "Lee's plan actually works" scenario, and then following that, a design mechanic that allows the players to plot what they want to do, and then some system that will be able to greatly vary "planned" arrival times and create a satisfying "narrative". The battle will also have to have a **highly variable** number of game turns, since on paper it was supposed to kick off around 7AM, but didn't until early afternoon... and then extended into the next day!!!!
Phenomenal job, guys! I look forward to more series like this in the future.
Thanks, Andrew! Definitely thinking about how we could do something similar to this in the future, taking the best elements of what worked here in our first attempt while incorporating some lessons and feedback for how we could make it better.
I would definitely love to see you guys continue the campaign next year! ACW is one of my favorite time periods to study, and watching y'all change the outcome is always a fun time.
As of yet, you haven't done any ACW Western Theater battles. Could you play the Battle of Chickamauga? It's the second-bloodiest battle of the American Civil War, and my personal favorite ACW battle. It also has possibly the most decisive command confusion of any ACW battle, on both sides.
Next time we do an ACW battle, we'll aim for one in the West!
What a great final. Involving the National Park, Nathan and Candace made things particularly interesting. Great stuft and worth a 'Cesar'.
I loved the comment about pulling out your hair if you had any left. I am sure many in the union felt the same way about McClellan.
This has been an inspiring series to follow.. Excellent information, throughout , well done ! Would love to see more !
The next milestone is to have teams from different historic preservation organisations face off on a battle they have in common.
OMG that Die roll 😂
In 20+ years wargaming, I've never seen someone roll a die and have it wind up standing on a corner like that.
Candace: (@15:00 mark) WOW!!! I, too, have never seen a die balance on a corner in more than 45 years of gaming!! :o (Also, it's great to see women active and interested in historical gaming [or fantasy/D&D/Star Trek, as the case may be!) As a park ranger/docent, the historical part comes with the territory, of course, but it is encouraging nonetheless to hear a female voice in these male-dominated spaces!!!
My Great Great Grandfather was in the 98th NY at the battle, he himself was the Grandson of a Hesse-Hanau Jaeger.
Oh heck yeah, this is going to be good. Really excited to see this play out. The Civil War is my favorite period to play, so exicted to see you all return to this period
It's been a HEAVY dose of ACW history and wargaming here on LWTV for the last two months. One of our favorite periods to play in the club. But now, we're excited to pivot to a new historical era....
Great series and final video. Please do pick it up again next year.
Also, I bought your "Live Free or Die" rules and the additional scenario book. Listened to the podcast on how you developed the rules. I loved it all. If you ever decide to put out a separate module, expansion or rule book covering the ACW or the Napoleonic period, I am in! Sign me up.
Fantastic as always. You guys have just raised the bar for those of us who play wargames, study history, and try to help the public understand what happened. Outstanding job, gents!
What a great series! Well done! I am really looking forward to the next one.
I'd love to see you all continue this campaign! It would be interesting to see you wargame out a Seven Days Battles where the Union commander isn't psychologically battered into retreating. Would either side have had the resources at hand to accomplish their goals?
Are you lads working on ACW Live free and die?... and if not ...why not ?
Thanks for doing this informative series. I hope you guys can return to it next year.
I understand most of the difficulty with producing videos is not the recording, but the editing of footage. Be sure to give your editors a cookie!
Really and informative video guys!
(Could we have a Director’s Cut with the zombie dragon on the battlefield next time!?!?)
Fun and informative!
Nathan and Candace were great additions here
Another good war game I love that they are doing a full campaign are really showing how the battles start and end
I love these collaborations with park services/the amerocan battlefield trust. This video is a high water mark for the channel, it's a fantastic wargame and general educational piece on the battle itself
Absolutely awesome, very well done and love all the history. Easy to say should have done this or that and you do very well demonstrating just not how easy things are or seem to be.. Very very well done so looking forward to more.
To think what would have happened if McClellan had been a more competent commander and had been more aggressive earlier in the campaign or if Pres. Lincoln hadn't held back McDowell's forces at this crucial moment. The war might have ended three years earlier and the scars wouldn't have run as deep. Makes you wonder.
Oh yes, SO MANY what ifs at play in this 1862 campaign. McClellan absolutely could have taken Richmond. The real question is...what then? Is the war over? Or does it continue? And if it ended three years sooner (before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation), does slavery continue in the south? Many in the north, McClellan included, were fighting for the "status quo."
What a great payoff for following along with the series!
Glad you felt so! Ending with a big battle was, naturally, the only way to go!
An excellent conclusion to a great series. Top marks fellas.
Yes please continue the series! Love it!
For Sigmar!!! Great to see fantasy players and historical players at the same table
great series, just curious why did you stop so soon and not follow through to Malvern Hill and Harrison Landing?
A fair question with two answers: (1) Time. It took us two weekend trips down to VA to film these videos and doing the Seven Days properly would have taken another 2 trips at least. (2) Variety. Our channel has always featured a lot of historical eras and carrying this through another month would have given us 3+ months of almost strictly ACW content. We already have some commenters grumbling that we've dwelt here too long as it is with 20+ videos.
A lot happens in the Seven Days (as much as happened in the previous two months combined!) so this felt like a natural "pause point," where Lee takes command and the tenor of the campaign shifts into a new dynamic.
Had a friend who lived in Sandston VA on Jackson Avenue, quite "in the way" of the battle. Was unaware of "things" when I visited in early 2000-something. Almost in-line with Richmond Intl Airport main runway. Her backyard COULD have been a mother lode for metal detectors. She lives in Delaware now, so there's no going back; close but no cigar! Great job putting this vital, crucial battle under the microscope with minis; a wonderful job making gaming (to a degree) and history (more so) understandable AND FUN!
Average warhammer ork experience.
Roll buckets of dice and then get lots of 1s
Awesome series guys, huge thanks to you and the National Park staff!
What character does Candice play in Star Trek:Adventures? The dragon and ghost reinforcements are superb :)
McClellan was busy doing what commanders are supposed to do - move divisions and corps around. In this he is far more effective than Johnston.
McClellan was aware there was an attack hours before Heintzelman, the commander of the force south of the Chickahominy, did. Although sick in bed, on hearing distant musketry (Casey's pickets being driven in) McClellan got up, gave Sumner an order to move his corps to the bridges and prepare to cross, and rode to the New Bridge Heights. There, whilst most of his staff thinks it's a skirmish, he see the smoke rising is artillery fire. He sends the order to Sumner to cross 2nd Corps, and for Franklin to cross 6th Corps as soon as the engineers repair the New Bridge. He signals Heintzelman that there is an attack.
McClellan himself returns to his HQ and has a long argument with Franklin, who thinks it's impossible for 6th Corps to cross the river (perhaps rightly). Unfortunately, la Comte de Paris leaves the HQ to watch the balloons being inflated, and so we don't know much about the argument. At 1430 Heintzelman finally replies that there is no attack, but at 1500 he reports Casey's division has been overrun. At 1700, McClellan crosses the Chickahominy to take personal command.
Why not play the entire 7 days campaign? I know the multitude of variables you guys could conjure would make it a very exciting series, isn't that right GREG?
Great episode! I've been interested in running an ACW campaign in-house, I've been looking at using Altar of Freedom and using Live Free or Die in smaller games since I enjoy that set, any advice or tips for how y'all altered it to fit the ACW?
Wow this was such a good video to watch. I'm from the UK and learn a lot from these videos, both historically and game...ically..!
HAHA "General, what word of reinforcements'?
UH Sir WE HAVE A DRAGON!! HUZAH! "
What a culmination! Would be excited to see this series continued into the Seven Days.
Now this is how the subject of the ACW should be approached, in a national battlefield park museum, with the facility's history guides present and active in the demonstration and interpretation of the events. At the very least there's no political whitewashing of R E Lee or calling the ACW the 'War of States Rights' as the current climate seems to be obsessed with. Well done.
Thank you so much for this video! As I remember, a plaque on the battlefield showed two balloons, one for each side. Got any rules for that?? See you at Historicon.
Ok I have to ask if you guy ma will ever release the Live Free or Die rule conversion for ACW? (Can it include dragons?! - JK!)
"Our reinforcements had just arrived and we were taken to charging the Yanks and overwhelming their positions and sent many of them to meet the lord, and the Union positions were all but on the edge of collapse, but then a fucking dragon showed up and began to roast us alive and rip us apart. I have no shame in saying I fled that day and screamed so loud and so long that I could not speak for a week, not that I had anything to say. How do you even tell people your regiment was crushed by a dragon? If I knew the Yanks had dragons I'd never have enlisted to fight for the Confederacy." -Confederate private Jackson Anderson
Thanks for this game. I would just add to the statement about educating the young, that one of the first things war games teach is that the morality of your cause has little or no effect on the outcome. Morale, itself, at the soldier level, is a factor to be sure. But moral right and wrong, good and evil, are not factors on the battlefield, not in any battle. That is the most valuable lesson a young person can take from participating in such a battle, although I don't expect everyone to agree. I've not seen a set of rules that factors in "God," for obvious reasons. "Re-roll until you win" doesn't reflect human life.
Fantastic episode, great battle, great what ifs and beautiful paint job on the models!
All credit to Tom for the 6mm figures. He painted both armies and they looked great on the table!
Good job Candace, haven’t seen you since you were in Appomattox years ago.
This was awesome, I love the videos guys.
Lee was also one of the worst decisions the South made. He was an excellent tactician, don't get me wrong, but he was not great at big picture strategy.
He fought every battle as though the war depended on it, and suffered heavier casualties for victories than he could afford long term.
Where do you guys stay and do this in PA? I think your videos and sites are awesome. Me and my brother were big into Axis and aies series of games. He passed away out of no where 9 years ago this coming Christmas and haven't been in the spot to put together a group to go on. Very interested in one day trying to meet and see if I may be in a spot to do anything with you. I am 42 and stay on the Mary./PA border at Monterey Pass near Gettysburg. If not any thing more your videos are awesome, and remind me of better times doing historic board games with my younger brother whom died 9 years ago. Thank you for this, hoping big time to meet and attend a game or video making some day!
Great looking game! Just fought the same battle at Huzzah Gaming convention in Maine using Fire n Fury, lots of fun
Are there physical requirements for Park Rangers, Candace?
Is this a game available to the public? Can rules/ figures etc be purchased? Can't seem to find an on-line store.
Hussar from the Queens Own Royal Surrey Regiment 2nd Foot
This was fun. Great job, y’all
Thanks, Mark!
How did McDowell not coming. Actually change his plan at the time
I am enjoying the content. Its amazing how many 6mm figures you can get on a tabletop.
what scale is this game played in? been itching to play some confederacy in a civil war rule set
There was a campaign that you guys were going to do, has that started yet or is it still on the way? Just wanting to make sure I don't miss it!
If the dice lands on a corner the entire Army Of The Potomac arrives at the start of the battle.
Great episode ! Loved it
Yeah, I have had lots of couriers visit Subway over the years. 😂
Why did you use "Live Free or Die" rules instead of "Altar of Freedom" rules?
Balloon = Hot air = Dragon. Completely logical! 😃
My ancestor was in Rodes brigade! Go git'em boys!
Is there a rule set to be published for how to run this senerio? I am interested how u utilized the dice for curriers
Yes please please continue the series all the way to Appomattox.
The die landing on the edge should have meant the dragon came on the board…
OK, now I need the house rules for Live Free or Die ACW...
15:26 This is almost the definition of the Twilight Zone.
Loved this. Well done
Live free or die adapt perfectly with the ACW period!
Very educational and fun - thanks!
Another "professional quality" video...Informative, with interesting maps and interviews, with a great looking table with awesome armies...Not my favorite period, not my scale, but I enjoyed, a lot!👍👍
Great work. What ruleset was used here? Is it the same you usually use?
What manufacturer did you use for 6mm
What miniatures did you use for this one?
Excellent video and presentation. I would be glad if we would have such National Parks in Germany (Leipzig 1813 or Großgörschen would come into my mind). Very friendly park rangers. Cheers!
The Confederate players achieved their objective later in the day than their historical counterparts, but did they suffer fewer casualties doing so? The narration suggests that they may have been over-cautious, but if that caution resulted in fewer lads being killed or wounded to take their objectives, I feel like one could reasonably call that caution justified.
A fair question, and YES, they did suffer fewer casualties than historical. But if we're measuring whether the rebels achieved a campaign-defining strike (as Johnston historically intended), the answer there would be "no."
Really cool setting and awesome work bringing in the rangers.
Of I could offer some criticism though, of someone brings a dragon YOU LET THEM RUN IT IN THE LIST.
Very cool game - thanks so much for all your hard work on this series. Any idea if/when you will release the ACW add-on for Live Free or Die? I love the rule system; but, unfortunately, I don’t have any AWI minis yet. However, I have boxes of ACW figures; so, bring on that supplement!!😁😁
Will you guys be compiling all of the available videos on youtube into one cohesive playlist? I certainly missed a few days, having to juggle 2 youtube channels over the course of viewing this series.
Already done! The complete playlist is on our channel now with all the videos in one place!
I have a little crush on Candace :)
Great video and great series! 100% in favor of you all following up next year with a Seven Days series. Also kudos for coordinating, and including, the NPS. The Rangers added a superb amount of knowledge and historical perspective to the whole series. HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH!
I'd love you to pick things up next year. It's nice to see an area which really doesn't get taught in non-American history. I'd note that 2022 is the 380th anniversary of the start of the English Civil Wars. Worth playing as well?
Really enjoy watching the battle reports. I think that it is really cool when you all get to play at or near as possible sites. Being out here in the Pacific Northwest, it is something we can not take advantage of. Except, the battle of Seven Pines. For us it is not the battlefield connection, but a couple of commanders involved. We replayed this battle with the Regimental Fire & Fury rules, at Fort Steilacoom (Lakewood, WA near Tacoma). We played the game in the Post HQ. Ft. Steilacoom commanded by Col. Silas Casey, and another officer present at the fort was Capt. Keyes (later became Casey's superior).
This past weekend at our annual Convention, Enfilade, I thought I was the only one that could roll a cocked die on a flat surface. Great job Candace!!
most definitely Yes, please pick up the campaign next year. Curious to know why you didn't use Altar of Freedom? I have never been a ACW fan but this series has got me interested. Thanks Again
How well does Live Free or Die work for ACW?