Demo Game Progress… The Battle of Murfreesboro at Warfare 2021 (Part 5: Flock Like A Beast!)

Sorry if ACW isn’t your bag, but this is yet another report on the progress of my demo-game for Warfare 2021 (Ascot Racecourse, 27/28 November).  There will eventually be non-ACW-related stuff on this blog!  If you haven’t been paying attention, this is a 10mm refight of the Battle of Murfreesboro or Stones River, which was fought on the 31st December 1862 and was the bloodiest (in terms of the percentage of participants who became casualties) of the entire war. We’re using Fire & Fury 2nd Edition and a slightly adapted version of Troy Turner’s Murfreesboro scenario from the Fire & Fury Great Western Battles 2nd Edition scenario book.

In the last thrilling instalment, your hero had painted all the terrain boards, varnished the rivers, laid the railway-track and marked out the wooded areas with suitable-coloured flock and undergrowth.  The sun was shining, so I also managed to lay them all out for a few photos (below).

This week I’ve been flocking like a belt-fed wombat and have flocked all the grassland and farmland areas of the boards.  Sadly, the weather hasn’t been as good, so I haven’t been able to get them all out again, but I did set two up, complete with some troops  and (Summer) trees…

Above:  The Rebs man the barricades!  In the actual game the trees will be mostly bare (Woodland Scenics tree armatures painted, but without foliage), with the odd green one dotted throughout for a bit of colour (and to make up the numbers – we’re going to need a lot of trees!).

Above:  For the grassland I again painted the area with PVA glue and then sprinkled on a few bits of Woodland Scenics ‘Undergrowth’ in olive green shade.  That was followed by some irregular patches of Woodland Scenics fine-grade ‘Yellow Grass’ flock and the whole lot was then covered in fine-grade ‘Burnt Grass’ flock.

Above:  Veteran flockers will know that you must ALWAYS tap off the excess when the flock has dried, as at least 50% of it (probably more) will be sitting loose on the top and can then be recycled.  You can sieve out the bits of undergrowth and bush that also fall off.

Above:  A bird’s-eye view.  I’m really pleased with how the two shades of grass have worked together and I think it does look suitably dead and wintry.  I wasn’t brave enough to make it all with Yellow Grass, which is probably how it looked in the dead of winter (as in the painting above), but the yellow patches do tone down the green tone of the Burnt Grass.

Above:  I’m also really pleased with how the railway looks in the landscape.  I thought that the brown ballast looked too red, but it’s actually blended into the terrain really.  It looks suitably rusty and actually looks just the same colour as the railway line outside my house.

Above:  The very last of the Union troops!  I had previously miscounted the number I needed to paint for the game, but they’re finally done.  As discussed last time, I’m actually working my way through the order of battle for Gettysburg and have now finished the Union I, II, III, XI ad XII Corps apart from two Zouave units, the US Sharp-Shooters and the generals for II & III Corps.  The ‘Italian’ flag on the right is that of the 39th New York Infantry (‘Garibaldi Guard’), though they didn’t fight at Murfreesboro, so won’t be seen in this game!

I’m now cracking on with the Rebels, which amounts to around 30 bases of infantry, 10 bases of cavalry, matching dismounted cavalry and horse-holder stands and a massive heap of Army of Tennessee-specific generals and brigade command stands with the appropriate flags.  Once those are done I should have enough time left to paint six objective markers (i.e. small vignettes showing troops storming a position – three for each side), five casualty markers (i.e. ambulances and attendant stretcher-bearers) and some more game markers (disorder, low ammo, wrecked battery, etc, as shown here).

Anyway, back to work… The next job is to add weeds and bushes to the riverbanks and some weathering to the railway level-crossings.  The boards will then be FINISHED! 🙂