Military Simulation And History Podcast

Napoleon at Waterloo Replay to Begin

2011-07-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

I don't have any plans to restart the podcast, but I would like to post some game replays here.

I am starting a replay of an old classic game that I got in an old issue of Strategy and Tactics years ago. It is Napoleon at War. It is a simple introductory hex and counter game, but it can be fun to play. The game lives online at Hexwars.com, and is available as a free play game that you can play against real opponents in a Play By Email (PBEM) mode. I plan to post information as this battle progresses.

Been Away for Awhile

2008-01-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

I apologize for not updating this blog for quite awhile. It can take a lot of time working on a podcast, and the pay is not great. It has been a lot of fun playing around and learning how to construct RSS feeds, etc. It can be a challenge trying to keep a regular podcast schedule, however. I had planned to review a game provided in the Armchair General magazine, which I never got around to doing. I am still a subscriber of Armchair General, and if you are looking for information on military history as well as a discussion of strategy and tactics through the ages, I highly recommend this magazine.

Military Simulation and History Podcast Episode 5

2006-02-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

Early events of the Civil War. The Battle of First Bull Run is also explained. A recent wargame by MadMinute Games re-creates this battle. Listen to the podcast for details.

Military Simulation and History Podcast Episode 4

2006-02-25T15:32:00.000-08:00

This podcast episode gives and overview of the Battle of Shiloh and lists some wargames that cover this battle.

Episode 3 - Gettysburg and an Alternate Outcome

2006-02-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

The greatest battle of the Civil War was fought at Gettysburg in July
of 1863. This is generally considered the turning point of the war.
The Army of Northen Virginia led by Robert E. Lee was defeated, and placed mostly on the defensice after this battle. I recently finished reading the novel Gettysburg by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. This book gives a "what if?" account of the battle. The battle of Gettysburg starts out as it did historically, with John Buford inserting his dismounted cavalry in an attempt to deny the Confederates the good ground of battle. The battle looks as if it is going to be portrayed as it occured historically, but the book offers a different outcome.

The authors have researched the battle very well. If different decisions had been made as laid out in this book, the battle could have been a disaster for the Union Army. Rather than commit to a straight ahead charge, Lee choses to maneuver around the Union Army commanded by General Meade, and places himself between the Union Army
and Washington. After capturing much of the Union's supplies, he then lures Meade into making an assault upon dug in Confederate positions.

The book is well written and makes a good case for the decisions made. I wonder sometimes what would have caused a change in the decisions made by Lee at Gettysburg. I can recall watching the movie Gettysburg (the 1993 movie). Martin Sheen played Lee and Tom Berrenger played Pete Longstreet. I recall Longstreet suggesting that a flanking move be made so that the Union line could be turned, rather than make a
direct frontal assault. Longstreet was overuled, and much of the Confederate strategy was based on attacking directly at the Union front lines. In this book, Lee considers Longstreet's idea of a flanking manuever, but adds to it. Rather than simply flank and attack, Lee decides to get his entire army between the Union Army at Gettysburg and Washington and place his own army in a dug in position.

I also recently read the book Lost Victories: The Military Genius of Stonewall Jackson written by Bevin Alexander. This book claims that the real military genius of the Confederacy was within Jackson and not Lee. Jacskon had made several early attempts to convince Jefferson Davis (the President of the Confederacy) and Lee to accept a plan to take the war into the North to destroy the North's will to fight.
Every time, Jackson was refused.

The Battle of Second Manassas was shown to be an incomplete victory in Bevin Alexander's book. Jackson had anticipated that the Union General Pope would retreat, and with quick action, the entire Union Army could have been cut off and destroyed. Lee delayed the action proposed by Jackson, and much of the Union Army was allowed to escape. Only at Chancellorsville did Lee accept Jackson's plan for defeating the Union Army.

It is difficult to imagine Lee moving to a defensive campaign to lure the Union Army into attacking in Pennsylvania. Lee had a history of resorting to frontal assaults when he became desperate for victory. Even if Jackson had survived after Chancellorsville, I wonder if he would have had any more luck convincing Lee that the way to fight the Union Army was to lure them into attacking. Jackson would have likely advised Lee to maneuver around the Union positions at Gettysburg and place the
Confederate Army in a defensive position between the Federals and the capital of Washington.

In looking at General Longstreet's memos made after the war, it appears that Longstreet suggested that the Confederate Army should go around the left of the Union lines and position themselves between the enemy and Washington. Lee reponded by saying:"If he is there tomorrow, I will attack him."

From Lee's records, it appears he was concerened that if he tried to flee back into the mountains after coming upon the entire Union Army, he would have difficulty getting his supplies and long columns safely back. He felt his best option was to attack the Union Army. I wonder if even Stonewall Jackson could have convinced Lee otherwise.

The registration for the Steel Panthers World at War tournament
continues. To sign up, please visit

http://www.sptournament.blogspot.com

Registration is completely free. Match your skills in Steel Panthers with opponents from around the world. I have decided to extend the registration period to at least the end of February to allow for enough people to sign up. Now that I have this podcast underway, I hope to get the word out about this tournament.

Please support the Military Simulation and History Podcast with your donation:

Episode 2 - American Civil War Weapons and Tactics

2006-02-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

The first conflicts I want to cover are from the Ameerican Civil
War.

General Civil War Background
Bloodiest war in American History

- Currently, there were more casualties in the Civil War than all
other wars the U.S. has fought in.
- More than 620,000 Americans died in the Civil War.
- World War 2 resulted in 295,000 American military deaths.
- American deaths in World War 1 deaths were about 117,000.
- Over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War
- Over 36,000 Americans died in the Korean War
- There were over 10,000 killed and wounded in the entire
Revolutionary War.
- The second largest battle of the Civil war in terms of casualties
was the battle of Shiloh in April of 1862. More than 23,000
casualties were suffered by both sides combined. This number exceeded
all of the losses of all wars America was engaged in up until April of
1862.

The Civil War introduced new and deadlier weapons. The tactics used
at the beginning of the war were based on the weapons and tactics used
for many years previous. The use of the old smoothbore muskets
resulted in short range accuracy and close firing lines that did not
cause that much damage to either side. Two opposing firing lines 100
or so yards apart did not damage much damage because of the smoothbore
musket's short range. Cavalry was much deadlier before the Civil War,
since mounted cavalry could overrun a line of infantry before the
infantry could shoot down the cavalry. By the time the cavalry was in
range, it was too late. Infantry charges were also more deadly, and
many battles were determined by bayonets at close range. The rifled
musket used in the Civil War was still a muzzle loader, which still
kept the rate of fire low, but the increased range allowed lines of
infantry to negate the cavalry charge. Dug in infantry could almost
always crush a frontal assault. Unfortunately, many generals continued
to use tactics from the days of the smoothbore musket, and continued
to order charges directly into dug in enemy positions. This caused
many of the large number of casualties of the war. If you have seen
the movie Gods and Generals, you can see a terrible example of this
during the repeated frontal assaults the Union attempted on Marye's
Heights at Fredericksburg.

The "minnie ball" was a half inch lead rifle bullet first introduced by Captain Claude F. Minie, a French Captain in the 1840's. A cheaper version was introduced in the U.S. by a worker at the Harper Ferry's armory before the Civil War. The minnie
ball could expand as it left the barrel of the rifle, which caused the ball to catch the rifling inside the gun. The rifling caused the bullet to spin, which increased the accuracy and distance of the shot.

Artillery was greatly improved during the war. The newer rifled cannons could hit a battery of smoothbore cannons, and could not be hit in return due to the difference in range capabilities. In wooded areas, the smoothbore's one mile or so range was generally all that was needed. Canister shot was often used in smoothbores to fire on infantry. The canister shot was basically a tin can full of smaller iron balls. The balls would casue widespread damage to infantry within about 250 yards. Grape shot was a greater number of balls wrapped in cloth and tied together with string. Sinced the shot looked like a bunch of grapes wrapped in cloth, it got the name "grape shot".

Civil war related wargames:

I have noticed that there seems to be a relatively small number of recent wargames related to the Civil War. I have not had the chance to try out many of these games. The one I have played most recently is available as a free download. The game called American civil War: Gettysburg, is a large 232 megabyte download that is available from several sources online. It is published by Global Star and was first released in April 2005. The trial version allows play for 60 minutes, then you are required to register the game for $19.99 before playing again. The 3D graphics look very good, and is something I have not seen in many games for that period. There are tutorials showing how to utilize terrain, artillery, etc. It is a very appealing game visually. I hope to be able to register a copy and play it some more to get a better feel for the game.

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