First Battle of Bull Run - Incomplete Battle Report

This was the first battle report I made.  We ran out of time, so the game wasn't finished, and I had a lot to learn about making battle reports.  I'll redo First Bull Run/Manassas at some point, but this one at least gives a sense of the game.

Second Bull Run at Orccon 2013

We played Command Combat: Civil War at Orccon this year, fighting the Second Battle of Bull Run.  I unfortunately got to the convention late, (for some reason I thought my game was at noon, but it was supposed to be at 10.)  But Chris Rivera and Angela Rose joined me anyway and battled it out!

Angela got these wonderful pictures at the convention:

The Forgotten Grave Trailer 1

This is a documentary I made about women soldiers in the American Civil War.  This is a scene from that movie, which is available now on Amazon for purchase or rental.

You can see more about this documentary at: www.forgottengrave.com

7 Score 10 Years Stories

7 Score 10 Years is a great website for learning about the Civil War.  It's written as if we are all living during the Civil War era.  Here are a few interesting articles:

King Cotton Diplomacy:
http://7score10years.com/index.php/international/83-international/967-january-20-1863-king-cotton-diplomacy

Color Regiment Officially Authorized:
http://7score10years.com/index.php/north/82-north/961-january-14-1863-colored-regiment-given-authority-to-recruit


Confederate Control and Currency:
http://7score10years.com/index.php/south/81-south/972-january-27-1863-

The Lady and the Pinkertons:
http://7score10years.com/index.php/north/82-north/909-nov-20-1862-the-lady-and-the-pinkertons


Have Rebels Armed Slaves?:
http://7score10years.com/index.php/south/81-south/965-january-18-1863-have-rebels-armed-slaves

Sherman and Grant Friends Since "Big Lick":
http://7score10years.com/index.php/north/82-north/905-november-17-1862-consequential-comradessherman-and-grant-friends-since-the-big-lick

Total War: Brother Against Brother

Probably the best war game series on the computer has been Total War.  A mod has been created for the Civil War called Brother Against Brother.  I begin a campaign here:

Battle Report - Withdrawal Scenario

A battle report using the withdrawal scenario from Command Combat: Civil War:

By the way, happy birthday to me! :)

The Battle of Fort Donelson Miniatures reenactment

The Battle of Fort Donelson reenacted in miniature form using the Command Combat: Civil War rules and board:

The Battle of Stones River Using Battle Cry

This is a reenactment of the Battle of Stones River using the Battle Cry game.

Bob Ross Paints the Iron Brigade

Bob Ross teaches viewers how to paint the Iron Brigade on the Command Combat Battle Reports site:

Sneak Peak at Command Combat: Civil War - 1863

I am hard at work on the expansions for Command Combat: Civil War.  The remaining three year expansions, which include 1863, 1864, and 1865, and the Gettysburg battlepack will all be released during the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and will be premiered at Historicon in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

1863 is, of course, the first one I'm working on.  It focuses on larger scale armies and army commanders, since that was the year when battles grew into the mammoth conflicts that are so famous.

The scenarios will primarily be the larger ones, such as Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Chickamauga, etc.

I chose Jackson and Sherman for the cover for their own reasons.  It is, of course, Jackson's last opportunity to appear on a cover, and 1863 was the year of his most astonishing victory at Chancellorsville.  Sherman is on it because this is the year when he rose up to prominence.  Of course, it's also the year Grant made the same rise to power, but he'll be on the 1864 cover, so Sherman gets this one.

As mentioned earlier, the main rule additions will center around holding larger battles, so they will introduce the army general into the game and provide him with orders that he sends to corps generals.  These orders will be in the form of objectives.  So instead of beginning the battle with set objectives, they will be given out, or possibly changed, by the army generals.  Turns will take place primarily by corps as well, so that the game doesn't get bogged down with moving every single division by their own turns.

In addition to going large, the game will also go small.  Certain special regiments will be added, such as 54th Massachusetts, which was the first black regiment to see active duty.

The generals, too, will change.  One example is Lee, whose special ability will be "Know the enemy" which allows him to utilize his opponent general's special ability once per game.  He will also have other abilities, but that's the surprise!

Building Gettysburg - Part 1

This video is the first part in a series I will be making as I create the battlefield of Gettysburg for use with the Command Combat: Civil War rules.  We will be premiering the game at Historicon in July.

Experts find new evidence in Submarine

Interesting story about the Confederate submarine:

http://news.yahoo.com/experts-evidence-submarine-mystery-203606783.html

Command Combat to be at Orccon

I will be at Orccon putting on the Second Battle of Bull Run/Manassas.  This con takes place in Los Angeles near LAX on Presidents Day Weekend.  Here is the website for the convention:

http://www.strategicon.net/

It's one of the Strategicon events, and one of the best, I think.  Come join us!  We will be there at these times:

Friday: 3:00 -9:00
Saturday: Noon - 6:00

We'll probably be doing the second day on Friday and the third day on Saturday.

My apologies

I will admit it, I have been horrible at keeping up this blog.  To those of you who have been faithfully keeping up in hopes this site would be updated more regularly, as I promised, I am especially sorry.  I want to say that this will change, but because so many things keep coming up in my life, I know that I won't necessarily be able to keep that promise.

However, I know there will be a lot of updates coming up for a while.  Because I have been so far behind for several months, I'm going to release one new blog every other day until I catch up.  Then, after that, I will be doing a lot of work in preparation for releasing all the expansions this July during the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.  So there will be a lot of updates during that time, (unless I get so busy making the updates I don't have time to write in the blog.

Anyway, sorry for the delay, and I'm going to start releasing as much as I can.