Gettysburg: Introduction

This is the Day 2 scenario deployment taken from the original Fire & Fury rulebook. All the orders of battle are a direct transfer to Guns at Gettysburg rules. I had originally based my 6mm ACW for F&F but with 6 infantry figures to a base rather than 3 x 15mm and the base frontage reduced to 15mm. A simple matter therefore of retaining the number of bases exactly but using figure numbers rather than bases for casualties etc.

With figure bases being 60% of the 15mm size I reduced the table size by a similar amount allowing for my 9" square terrain bases. This provided for an 8'3" x 3'9" size widening to 4'6" east of Culps Hill. Some slight adjustments have been made to cater for my terrain but otherwise a direct copy of that provided in the rulebook.

I agonised for some time whether to play from day 1 but decided to fall back on my long term ambition of playing the large action as depicted in the rules. Given the speed in which I play through a large game, to play day 1 as well would take me eons to complete the entire thing! 

Day 2 fired my imagination on acquiring F&F in the 90's but at the time my collection was almost universally 15mm. A 14' long table was never going to be an option in that scale. 6mm though opened up this up as a real possibility, and hence the long awaited game will now be played.

I will not be playing day 2 as a standalone game as in the book, but will continue into day 3 if not concluded. Start and finish times will remain, these being 1300 - 2000 on day 2, and 1100 - 1700 on day 3. Orbats for day 3 will be whatever survives from day 2.

In F&F each move is 30 minutes. GaG use slightly slower movement speeds and given the differences in the way they play, I have fallen back on the same timescale I use in General de Brigade. i.e. 15 minutes per turn. This equates to 28 turns for day 2 and 24 turns for day 3. This also improves the possibility of a conclusive outcome.

Continued -

ORDERS OF BATTLE

The 3rd column indicates the number of bases and the 4th the number of figures. The orbats including quality of troops and commanders are as listed in the F&F scenario.

Initial deployment.

In this introduction I will provide a photographic tour of the battlefield before action commences in the next post.

Gettysburg looking west showing the position of Early's division. 

Looking north east with Johnson's division occupying the west of Gettysburg.

To the west of Gettysburg and the Lutheran Seminary. Confederate batteries spread out across the Seminary Ridge.

To the west of Seminary Ridge and brigades of A.P. Hill's Corps. 

Culp's Hill occupied by the Union 12th Corps.

Greene's Brigade lining the breastworks on Culp's Hill.

Johnson's Division approaching Culp's Hill from the east.

A view from the Union side of Culp's Hill looking north east.

Cemetery Ridge from the Confederate position. Meade's HQ in the middle of the photo.

Union Artillery Reserve at the rear of Cemetery Ridge. Barnes Division of the 5th Corps advances along the road towards Little Round Top.

Little Round Top on the left and Big Round Top to the right. Devil's Den can just be seen between the trees on the right.

Ward's Brigade occupies the high ground at Devil's Den.

The 3rd Corps occupy this part of the battlefield with Humphrey's Division lining the Emmitsburg Road on the left and Birney's Division on the right. On the right behind Graham's Brigade is the Peach Orchard and The Wheatfield top right. Top left is the Trostle Farmhouse and the bottom left the Codori Farm.

Hood's Division prepares to launch an assault on the Union left flank.

A.P. Hill's Corps behind Seminary Ridge with Anderson's Division on the left and Pender's the right. 

The west side of the Lutheran Seminary with Pender's Division in the foreground.

Pickett's Division will shortly be arriving for the Confederates, and the 6th Corps for the Union.

NEXT: The Opening Moves