Wayne Bollands from Wargames Illustrated and his gaming club have been running an “Across A Deadly Field” campaign. Here is an after action report and pictures of their latest battle –

“Sir, I regret to inform you that myself and my division have been forced to abandon the town of Bollinburg to the enemy. This came about after the enemy had unseated most of our artillery and the vigorous actions of the Federal infantry in the form of attack columns. In the face of this and the devilish fire from the Agar guns (a most ungentlemanly weapon), two key regiments gave way and left their compatriots isolated. I therefore decided that a general retreat of the remaining brigades was in order in an effort to preserve my troops to fight another day. After seven encounters, our one glorious victory has been wiped away by the victories of our enemy. ”

An overview of the table. They are using a Cigarboxbattle “euro” mat.

The impressive Confederate position.

The Federals advance!

The Federals have stormed the Rebel works with the help of the Agar guns.

The Agar gun! What a great model! This was an early “machine gun”, often called the “coffee mill” gun. It had a high rate of fire but was prone to over heating and jamming. They didn’t see much actual battlefield action.