Saturday, April 8, 2017

War Between The States - What is being reported in the Press?

The Richmond Times

After his magnificent advance on Fort Monroe, General Forrest was accused of cowardice when he deserted his troops after they were cut-off.  His claim that he escaped with nothing but his cigars, is yet to be confirmed.  He will of course attempt to lead a relief effort.  Using a mock Austrian accent he was heard to say “I’ll be back”.


President Davis flew into a rage when informed that political opinion no longer saw the capture of additional Union forts as being of much consequence.

The New Washington Post

The war has been great for the New York social scene.  It is reported that the paper’s social pages are avidly followed in the Southern states and that the readership is much impressed by the fine cut of the Union Generals’ uniforms.  Some enterprising Southern entrepreneurs are sending cotton north, carefully labelled as Free Cotton, and certified as picked only by the finest hands (colour not specified) in the hope that the Union General’s can have some additional uniforms made so that they can continue to party.  Apparently a condition is that any uniforms incorporating so much as a single thread of the gifted cotton can only be worn in the North.

The Ohio Trumpet

The large number of war correspondents assembled at General McClellan’s HQs have nothing to report.

Washington DC Comics

Observations that McDowell’s HQ has been a hive of activity are difficult to believe. 

Vainly Flair Quarterly

In the weekly addition of this popular monthly periodical there is an opinion piece on the growing trend for people to head south to get away from the cold Northern winter.

The Butler Bugle

General Butler, the Bugle’s three star reporter, proprietor and total readership, has produced the following detailed analysis of the situation at Fort Monroe.

With the supply phase upon coming up, the Garrison have a 1 in 12 chance of succumbing to hunger.  It should be noted that on the two preceding supply phases the Garrison proved to be big eaters, is this a trend or was it preparation/premonition?

The Reb besieging force and the covering force each have a 1 in 9 chance of fading away to nothing.  There is a 2 in 9 chance for each of them just to suffer heavy losses.

Once past the supply phase it then comes down to who gets initiative, with the big issue being who wants to escalate this campaign in the Peninsula?


Map of Fort Monroe by Robert Knox Sneden, 1862



4 comments:

  1. Thanks for writing this up. I know it must take a lot of time and organisation. But it is great to see the game being played.

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    Replies
    1. My pleasure. I find doing blog posts doubles my enjoyment of a game and also helps improve a game that I might not have enjoyed as much as I could have. It also gives me something to look back on and removes the downside of ephemera that is associated with the gaming side of wargaming, particularly boardgames.

      I love games that naturally tell a story. WBTS lacks a bit of colour, but as Simon and I have remarked while playing, it is very easy to spin a yarn as to what happened behind the blandness of a six sided die roll.

      With these big games I really enjoy how they live on in one's mind in between moves. I keep looking up rules and looking at the pictures etc planning my next moves for when Simon and I can get together and play some more.

      Simon has also encouraged making the blog posts as he felt others would enjoy it. He's provided a heap of commentary on the Reb builds and I'm just waiting to confirm he meant it to be published before incorporating it in a blog post.

      Meanwhile I am also enjoying reading up about the war to get some background and understanding. Currently reading The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton, the first part of his 1960s trilogy about the war that I've had for ages, but never got around to reading till now.

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  2. President Davis is feeling very embarrassed that he might have lost one of his shiny new infantry divisions as well as a new cavalry division to capture a fort that apparently no one else will be impressed with. He is very much hoping that the divisions don't feel hungry. However he doesnt mind if people find out about the confederate building program.

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  3. Message received.

    Meanwhile the defenders of Fort Monroe are cooking up a fragrant meal of pork and beans and wafting the smell towards the Confederate lines where the troops have a lean and hungry look to them...

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