Black Powder Salem Church

[Norm]

I took a slice of action from the boardgame Salem Church by Decision Games and played it out as a Black Powder game on just a 3' x 3' space.

There is a full article over on my blog. All-in-all, it gave a very enjoyable and quite tight game.

LINK

http://battlefieldswarriors.blogspot.com/2019/09/12mm-black-powder-for-salem-church.html

[sunjester]

A very nice looking game. I've downloaded your scenario and will give it a try sometime soon.

[Techno]

Nice one, Norm. 

Cheers - Phil

[bigjackmac]

Great game, Norm, and great idea using the boardgame to set up the tabletop action.

V/R,
Jack

[marie]

Hi Norm,
I loved your game too and I have downloaded your scenario
Only 380 figures to paint...
More tea vicar..

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good one Norm

[Norm]

Hi Norm,
I loved your game too and I have downloaded your scenario
Only 380 figures to paint...
More tea vicar..

Thank you, your post made me go back and do a re-read, which has left me wanting to play that out again, it was a fun scenario, though it would be interesting to see how different rules might play out.

380 figures! why do we do this to ourselves :-)

[Techno]

Well......It helps to pay for horse feed and vets' bills, as far as I'm concerned.   

Cheers - Phil 

[FierceKitty]

It's paying for the ducks' bills that worries me.

[Westmarcher]

Great game, Norm. So close. Nice terrain / scenery and particularly like your 12mm miniatures. I believe I may have said this before but I have driven past Salem Church along the Plank Road at least half a dozen times in my visits to the Fredericksburg, Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Chancellorsville battlefields. Having only researched the big battles in advance, I was vaguely aware that 'some sort of action' took place there so I always wondered what transpired as I waited at the traffic lights or drove past. If you saw the site today you might be surprised how relatively flat it all looks, possibly in part due to the modern developments of the two 3 lane carriageways on the highway and (even though these are somewhat spread out) all of the commercial and community buildings around. The hill on which the modern church stands is not very large either and so, does not appear to be any kind of obstacle at all. To cap it all, I just looked at the site on Google maps there and I now realise I must have driven past some kind of monument there each time of which I have no memory (ye gods, is this old age? I think I'll put it down to focusing my attention on the traffic situation on the road)! 

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@38.2898152,-77.5303555,3a,75y,147.07h,86.63t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sjRKJQhulGIfJSevfc2jQpQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
(the site of old Salem Church is behind the monument)

[monkeynut]

Really enjoyed reading your scenario and looking at the pictures of your game. Very good. I am going to Take inspiration and adapt your scenario to fit my favourite rules. Thanks for sharing.

🐵

[Scorpio_Rocks]

Great intense little action!

I have downloaded the scenario and will probably transplant to somewhere in Flanders during the Franco-Dutch war or LoA, using Pike and Shotte.

[Norm]

Thanks all, while looking online for other peoples games on the subject, I discovered that there is a Salem's Church scenario in the Glory Hallelujah ACW expansion for Black Powder, but I note they don't represent any high ground.

I did find a nice game by fellow blogger (it obviously follows the historical situation) Here
http://slimreidy1.blogspot.com/2017/04/salem-church-1863.html

[Dave Fielder]

This is a good looking scenario, will give it a go next week. I like the idea of small tables to give a full battle outcome. One question about the deploying into skirmish order: "Can all ACW troops break into skirmish order in this scenario?" What effects on the unit's shooting and H-t-H capability?

[Norm]

This is a good looking scenario, will give it a go next week. I like the idea of small tables to give a full battle outcome. One question about the deploying into skirmish order: "Can all ACW troops break into skirmish order in this scenario?" What effects on the unit's shooting and H-t-H capability?

Hi Dave, for Black Powder 2 the woods count as heavy, so the only troops that can move through it (at half rate) are those in skirmish order. BP and Glory Hallelujah limit skirmishing to 'part' of a regiment throwing skirmishers in front of them OR allowing a whole regiment to count as light and to all skirmish, but only 1 regiment per brigade can have this status - so essentially no, formations in this battle cannot 'generally' skirmish as an entire unit, but I had to allow it for those making passage of the wood and so it should be thought of only as a mechanism for traversing the woods.

For the most part, skirmishers can't charge or at least in this battle there are unlikely to be anything that falls within those things they can charge. If they end up in melee, they fight at a disadvantage, hitting on 5+ rather than 4+. Almost certainly in this scenario, the skirmishers moving through the woods will stay in skirmish formation to allow them to traverse and exit the woods and at that point, they should form up into line.

I'm really pleased that you think the scenario looks interesting enough to have ago.