Self Hibernation Campaign Rankings

At present the Campaign Rankings are:

LIEUTENANT GENERALS:

John                     68 CPs

MAJOR GENERALS:

Mike                     70 CPs

Paul                     65 CPs

Mark                     60 CPs

Dave                     56 CPs

BRIGADIER GENERALS:

Rupert                   36 CPs *

Phil                     16 CPs *

TEAM RANKINGS

Team CSA                 3.0 
Team USA                 3.0 

I have published rankings at one of the key player's request, so that you guys can make the best choices on what to do in this final stage to jockey for position to be overall campaign winners as determined by your Charisma Point level.

Overall positions have not changed since last update but CP spread has pulled everyone together, more than in previous rounds.

I have changed calculation on CSA/USA Rankings as Rupert seems to have parked his campaign bus in the lay-by of life and it wold be unfair to drag down Mark & Mike's results. Thus overall the two warring parties are actually neck & neck.

There will be a 1865 Campaign Rewards Phase but this will not be as extensive as the ones so far....

Minor victories can be claimed by being on the Winning Side!

Off the Workbench 22/7/20

Just three figures completed in the last week or so, being kept busy with the ins and outs of the Siege of Petersburg!

Posting these as they are maybe of interest, in that they address the ongoing Border Ruffian project but also the potential Ancient Greek - 'Mortal Gods'  - opportunities talked about by John.

First-up is three shots of an Immortal Miniatures (now Warlord) ancient Greek unarmoured character, with Helmet, Shield and Sword.

Side on view of figure

This chap is out the box, glued together and placed on a 20mm MDF disk (2mm deep).I undercoated in white as usual, used a cream colour for his tunic, Brass and steel for all else and detailed the shield with leather and wood backing, red rope grips and I printed a Shield design that I attached to the figure with PVA glue and lashings of matt varnish.

Rear view of figure

Figure looks respectable but thinking  may look to get a frame of the Victrix Ancient Greeks to contrast and compare.

Front view of figure, with printed shield design

Next up is an Elizabethan Irishman armed with a matchlock musket, sword and large knife. I'm really quite pleased with this figure, a mash-up of plastic Victrix Anglo-Danes and Warlord ECW Musketeers. Again the figure was undercoated in white, then painted with appropriate colours. 

Irish Kern, armed with Musket

The right arm moving to steady the shouldered musket is actually from a Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry box, now that I come to think of it!

Rear View

Finally we have a Warlord ECW Pikeman, with blue bonnet and I'm thinking that this guy can pass for an Elizabethan pikeman if you don't look too hard and don't flood your army with too many similar looking figures.

Front view of Pikeman

Rear view of Pikeman

Daleks without the 'R'

By way of a change, a quick video of some Dr Who Daleks that I painted some time back.

The figures are really cheap, originally from the front of a magazine (I believe) and cost bust a few pence each. You can buy them off eBay in packs of 10 or 20+ and I have simply glued them to a 2 pence (or similar sized MDF disk) and given them a wash in Army Painter Dark Tone.

Once the wash was dry I used a silver 'Sharpie' marker pen to add the disks on the body work, painted grills silver and added orange lights on their heads and a sky blue dot for their eye.

Job done after another coat of matt varnish. I must admit it could be argued that they should have a more glossy finish, that, is something I'm considering when I get round to buying a semi-gloss finish varnish spray...

... until then - they'll do!

Dalek Roles

Currently have 20 x Red Daleks, 6 x Blue, 12 x Light orange, 4 x Dark Orange, 2 x Green, 2 x Yellow and 2 x White. You can see what they are for basis picture above!

Cheap Dr Who Figures available from eBay,
if you look carefully!

Border Ruffians, Hired Help #2 - The Irish

So just completed a batch of 36 Perry Miniatures 28mm Irish, these were made as part of the Perry's War of the Roses collection but are eminently suitable for use in the later Elizabethan period as well.

In addition to the Perry figures there is one Redoubt Miniatures Scot's Chieftain, that I though t looked much more Irish than Scots, so he is being resented here as 'Big Colm', one of the Irish leaders.

All figures have been painted in distinctive, yellowish undyed  material used to create their garments, a number have colourful quilted jackets or armour and robes etc to signify their higher status.

Three leaders plus a standard bearer and a piper

'Big Colm', with the red plaid over his shoulder, acme with a broken arm, I added a shield arm from he Gripping Beast plastic Norman Knights kit and created a usable figure again....

View of six Irish Archers

And a slightly different angle

The archers would be one of the lowest levels of warrior in Irish society, along with the Javelin men who between them could only afford basic self made weapons.

Six Calivar men, 

... and a different angle

Two of the Cavlivar men have padded jackets on, signifying higher social standing, they can afford to buy a gun.

Six Javelin men

... From the Front.

The last of the 'Kern' type warriors, a couple of these guys have padded jackets and half of them carry a small, targe like, shield

Unarmoured Gallowglass warriors, each holding a large two handed sword or axe.

More of the unarmoured Gallowglass```

The Gallowglass where formidable close contact fighters, armed with large two handed swords and pole axes, Queen Elizabeth viewed them as so dangerous that any captured Gallowglass was to be executed to prevent him returning to the fray.

Finally Armoured Gallowglass with a variety of armour types, mostly mail but also some plate

Another view.

Eagle eyed viewers may have noted that one figure is missing, this is a second piper, which I forgot to take a snapshot of when doing the leaders!

Self Hibernation Campaign Rankings

At present the Campaign Rankings are:

LIEUTENANT GENERALS:

John                     65 CPs

MAJOR GENERALS:

Mike                     67 CPs

Paul                     60 CPs

Mark                     55 CPs

Dave                     50 CPs

BRIGADIER GENERALS:

Rupert                   34 CPs

Phil                     16 CPs *

TEAM RANKINGS

Team CSA                   3.0 
Team USA                 4.0 

I publish the rankings now - before 1864 Campaign Rewards Phase so that players can make the best choices on what to spend their rewards on, remember overall campaign winners is determined by your Charisma Point level.

There will be a 1865 Campaign Rewards Phase but this will not be as extensive as the ones so far....

Minor victories can be claimed by being on the Winning Side!

Self Hibernation Campaign - McClellan runs for White House

By Robert Hope

George Brinton McClellan aims to ascend the steps to the White House

As a southern paper we are able to independently report that George Brinton McClellan has openly declared his entrance on to the political stage, to be nominated by the Democrats to run against Ab Lincoln the current incumbent in the 1864 US presidential election. This announcement follows the recent Union debacle at Cold Harbour which saw the common union soldier being sent to their slaughter against prepared fortifications by unthinking, uncaring commanders.

We understand from sources that McClellan has not resigned his commission so technically he is still a Yankee general. Should he ascend to the steps to the White House, insiders’ state that he will resign his commission. Though personally he supports the continuation of the war and the restoration of the Union (but not the abolition of slavery), the Democratic party has however called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a negotiated settlement with the Confederacy.

On this important issue of a peace with honour agreement, on behalf the Confederacy General Green said:  

“In the north, to ever increasing numbers, the current President’s non compromising attitude to galvanising the war effort against our southern values is increasingly being seen as an impediment to every lasting peace. This is the opportunity for the great silent major of fellow Americans to vote for an honourable, permanent and happy peace.

From reports in northern papers it is clear that Abe Lincoln continues to try out news brooms. However, a new broom sweeps clean. It is the old broom such as McClellan that knows every corner. In order to bring hostilities to a swift and honourable end, we invite the support of the great silent majority. We trust and hope that they will vote Democrat in the forthcoming presidential election.

Self Hibernation Campaign - From Iron-Horses to Iron-clad in a week

By Huw Carnaby Wright

Approval expected for Railway extensions:

In my role as Transport correspondent, I have been following the progress through Parliament of the ‘Lancashire Union Railway Act’. This legislation, which is expected to be enacted sometime in July, will authorise a line from the Blackbrook branch of the St Helens Railway to Adlington on the Bolton-to-Preston line of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (LYR) near Chorley. 

John Lancaster

In the course of this process I have interviewed on several

occasions, John Lancaster, Chairman of the Lancashire Union Railway (LUR).

Scourge of American Shipping:

You may recall my articles last year investigating the mysterious disappearance of the ‘Herald’ and the false claims by her owners of piracy by the United States. You can imagine my interest when news reached London that the Confederate Commerce Raider ‘CSS Alabama’ under Capt. Raphael Semmes had docked for repairs in Cherbourg on 11^th June.

The CSS Alabama, built in 1862 by John Laird, Sons & Co. of Birkenhead for the Confederate States Navy, has made seven expeditionary raids, spanning the globe, before heading to France for refit and repairs. At sea for 534 days out of 637, she has captured and burned 65 United States mainly merchant vessels. In all this time, CSS Alabama has never entered a Confederate Port.

On 14^th June the USS Kearsarge under Capt. John Winslow had arrived off Cherbourg, and was awaited Capt. Raphael Semmes’ next move. Our Gibraltar office confirmed that the USS St. Louis, an old Sloop of War, had been summoned via telegraph to hurry north, both to bring provisions and to assist in the blockade, however it arrived too late to impact events.

I got permission to travel to France to witness these events unfold and with the hope of interviewing Capt. Raphael Semmes himself.

An unexpected arrival:

When I reached Cherbourg, I found the CSS Alabama docked and undergoing hurried repairs and her crew being drilled. Capt. Semmes, although civil, was not willing to acquiesce to my request for an interview, or to permit me onboard. I noted two British owned yachts, the ‘Hornet’ and the ‘Greyhound’, were moored nearby.

Capt. Evan Parry Jones

I spoke several times with Capt. Hewitt of the Hornet and Capt. Evan Parry Jones of the Greyhound, who both confirmed that, aside from the usual pleasantries, there was no communication between them and the CSS Alabama.

The yacht Deerhound was built in 1858 for the Duke of Leeds at the ‘then’ John Laird & Son shipyard in Birkenhead. She is a three-masted vessel, built of steel, with a screw-propeller, with a tonnage of about 190, and engines of a nominal power of seventy horses. When in her usual trim, she steamed twenty knots, being about two knots beyond the speed of the CSS Alabama, currently docked nearby. Shortly after construction, Greyhound was bought by a wealthy Lancashire businessman and now cruised with his family under the Royal Mersey Yacht Club banner.

On Saturday 18^th Captain Jones returned from the Railway Station with the family of the owner of the ‘Greyhound’, who turned out to be none other than Mr. John Lancaster of the LUR. Mr. Lancaster was very pleased to see me and generously invited me to join them on board his yacht.

The CSS Alabama seemed to be preparing for an oncoming battle and refused the Lancaster’s a courtesy visit. Recognising the imminent departure of the Alabama, the family held a meeting and discussed whether to sail after her to get the best view of the expected battle as possible. It was put to a vote and Miss. Catherine Lancaster, aged 9, gave the casting vote for sailing out. I must point out that the choice put to Miss. Lancaster was that they could either attend Church that Sunday or watch the naval battle!

Gauntlet thrown down:

Having no desire to see his worn-out ship rot away at a French dock while quarantined by Union warships and given his instinctive aggressiveness and a long-held desire once again to engage his enemy, Capt. Semmes chose to fight. After preparing his ship and drilling the crew for the coming battle over several days, Semmes issued, through diplomatic channels, a bold challenge (or hoped-for intimidation) to the USS Kearsarge's commander,

"my intention is to fight the Kearsarge as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements. I hope these will not detain me more than until to-morrow or the morrow morning at farthest. I beg she will not depart until I am ready to go out. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant, R. Semmes, Captain."

Battle is joined:

On June 19, CSS Alabama, with nowhere else to go, ran up the Stars and Bars and exited the harbour to attack Kearsarge. She was escorted by the French Navy ironclad Couronne, whose mission was to ensure that the ensuing battle occurred outside the French harbour. Behind the warships sailed the Deerhound and the Hornet.

As Kearsarge turned to meet her opponent, Alabama opened fire. Kearsarge waited patiently until the range had closed to less than 1,000 yards. The two ships steamed on opposite courses in seven spiralling circles, moving south-westerly with the 3-knot current, each commander trying to cross the bow of his opponent to deliver a heavy raking fire (to "cross the T"). The battle quickly turned against Alabama due to the superior gunnery displayed by Kearsarge and the deteriorated state of Alabama's contaminated powder and fuses. I learned later that her most telling shot, fired from the forward 7-inch (178 mm) Blakely pivot rifle, hit very near Kearsarge's vulnerable stern post, the impact binding the ship's rudder badly. That rifled shell, however, failed to explode. If it had done so, it would have seriously disabled Kearsarge's steering, possibly sinking the warship, and ending the contest. In addition, Alabama's too rapid rate-of-fire resulted in frequent poor gunnery, with many of her shots going too high, and as a result Kearsarge benefited little that day from the protection of her outboard chain armour. Semmes later said that the armour on Kearsarge was unknown to him at the time of his decision to issue the challenge to fight, saying he would have never fought Kearsarge if he had known she was armour-clad.

Not quite a Full Metal Jacket:

USS Kearsarge's hull armour had been installed in just three days, more than a year before, while she was in port at the Azores. It was made using 120 fathoms (720 ft) of 1.7-inch single link iron chain and covered hull spaces 49 feet 6 inches long by 6 feet 2 inches deep. It was stopped up and down to eye-bolts with marlines and secured by iron dogs. Her chain armour was concealed behind 1-inch deal-boards painted black to match the upper hull's colour. This "chain-cladding" was placed along Kearsarge's port and starboard midsection down to the waterline, for additional protection of her engine and boilers when the upper portion of her coal bunkers were empty (coal bunkers play an important part in the protection of modern steam vessels, such as protected cruisers).

However, a hit to her engine or boilers could easily leave Kearsarge dead in the water and vulnerable, or even cause a boiler explosion or fire that could destroy the cruiser. Her armour belt was hit twice during the fight: First in the starboard gangway by one of Alabama's 32-pounder shells that cut the chain armour, denting the hull planking underneath, then again by a second 32-pounder shell that exploded and broke a link of the chain armour, tearing away a portion of the deal-board covering. Had those rounds come from Alabama's more powerful 100-pounder Blakely pivot rifle, they would have easily penetrated, but the likely result would not have been very serious, as both shots struck the hull a little more than five feet above the waterline. Even if both shots had penetrated Kearsarge's side, they would have completely missed her vital machinery. However, a 100-pound shell could have done a great deal of damage to her interior and nearby crewmen; hot fragments could have easily set fire to the cruiser, one of the greatest risks aboard a wooden vessel.

According to my calculations and those of over witnesses, Alabama fired 370 rounds at her adversary, averaging one round per minute per gun, a very fast rate of fire, while Kearsarge's gun crews fired less than half that number, taking more careful aim. A little more than an hour after the first shot was fired, Alabama was reduced to a sinking wreck by Kearsarge's powerful 11-inch (280 mm) Dahlgrens, forcing Captain Semmes to strike his colours and to send one of his two surviving boats to Kearsarge to ask for assistance.

I later learnt from her officers that, prior to this, she had her steering gear compromised by shell hits, but the fatal shot came later when one of Kearsarge's 11-inch (280 mm) shells tore open a midsection of Alabama's starboard waterline. Water quickly rushed through the defeated cruiser, eventually drowning her boilers and forcing her down by the stern to the bottom. As Alabama sank, the injured Semmes threw his sword into the sea, depriving Kearsarge's commander Captain John Ancrum Winslow of the traditional surrender ceremony of having it handed over to him as victor.

During the confusion of battle, five more rounds were fired at Alabama after her colours were struck. (Her gun ports had been left open and the broadside cannon were still run out, appearing to come to bear on Kearsarge.) Then a hand-held white flag came fluttering from Alabama's stern spanker boom, finally halting the engagement.

Counting the Cost:

Immediately after USS Kearsarge ceased firing on the stricken cruiser, the Deerhound sailed to offer assistance and Capt. Jones reports that Capt. Winslow signalled him, asking him to render all assistance possible to the drowning crew.

Three men were wounded aboard the USS Kearsarge, one of whom died the following day. Of her 170 crew, the CSS Alabama suffered 40 fatalities, (9 killed in action and 10 drowned) and 21 wounded. Another seventy or so were picked up by USS Kearsarge. 42 were rescued by Deerhound, including Capt. Semmes and fourteen of his officers, while others were rescued by three French Pilot-boats.

Instead of delivering the captured Confederates to USS Kearsarge, Mr. Lancaster had Deerhound set a course for Southampton, thus enabling Capt. Semmes to escape. This act severely angered USS Kearsarge's crew, who begged their captain to allow them to open fire on the British yacht. Happily, Capt. Winslow would not allow this, so the Confederates got away and avoided imprisonment, whilst I survived to write this report. In fact, as they had been rescued under a neutral ship, there was no obligation to hand them over. That evening, the Deerhound landed at Cowes, and after a short interlude of harbour formalities, the Alabama crew was landed at Southampton. James Mason the unofficial Confederate representative to Great Britain and France, (who, you may recall, had been seized but then released by the US Navy in the ‘Trent Affair’), later came to visit and personally thanked Mr. Lancaster and his family for his kindness and humanity.

Time on their hands:

The yacht Hornet, owned by Mr. James Bryant of the Royal Western Yacht Club, was also in close proximity to the naval action and had managed to secure the seventy or so chronometers of the Alabama. Lt. Arthur Sinclair describes that just before leaving Cherbourg Capt. Semmes ordered the chronometers to be transferred to Capt. Hewitt.

We do know that on Monday 28th June 1864 there were 68 chronometers forwarded to Mr. Benjamin Nicholson of Messrs Camper and Nicholson in Portsmouth from the Hornet. Each one of them was engraved with the name of the ship from which they were taken. Where they went from there needs to be investigated.

Lt. Sinclair informed me that Capt. Semmes had wanted to sell them in Cherbourg, but was forbidden to do so by the French authorities.  

Crew members of the Deerhound and Lancaster family:

Mr. John Lancaster, Mrs. Euphemia Lancaster (wife), Catherine Lancaster (daughter), John Lancaster Jr. (son), Robert Lancaster (son) G.G. Lancaster (son), Miss. Wilson (niece).

Robert Durham (Cook), William Roberts (Steward), Miss. Brown (Maid).

Evan P. Jones (Captain), Robert Hughes (Mate), William Bell (Engineer), William Jones (Fireman), Harry Adams (ABS), J Page (ABS) John Roe (ABS), Robert Broderick (ABS), Robert Ferris (ABS).

Huw Carnaby Wright (journalist & guest)

Self Hibernation Campaign - ‘Invalid Corps’ is no-longer valid

By Hardy Kenwright

The Invalid Corps:

Organized under authority of General Order No. 105, dated April 28, 1863, ‘The Invalid Corps’ was created to make suitable use in a military or semi-military capacity of soldiers who had been rendered unfit for active field service on account of wounds or disease contracted in line of duty, but who were still fit for garrison or other light duty, and were, in the opinion of their commanding officers, meritorious and deserving. to employ disabled veterans in war-related work.

What’s in a name?

The name has proved unfortunate, as the same initials "I.C." are stamped on condemned property indicating, "Inspected-Condemned".

In recognition of this oversight, the sacrifice of the troops involved and as a boost to morale the Corps has been re-named as the "Veteran Reserve Corps" by General Order No. 111, dated March 18, 1864.

Organisation:

There are twenty-four regiments in the Corps. These regiments are organized into one division and three brigades. Originally, each regiment was made up of six companies of the First Battalion and four of the Second Battalion, but this method of organization is no-longer strictly adhered to.

The 18th Regiment, for example, which rendered exceptionally good service in Virginia at Belle Plain, Port Royal, and White House Landing in the spring and early summer of 1864, and in or near Washington DC in the latter part of the summer and through the fall this year, was made up of only six Second Battalion companies.

Veterans of The Wilderness and Cold Harbor Battles

consider joining the ‘Veteran Reserve Corps’

Soldiers were divided up into two battalions, based on the extent of their injuries. The first carried weapons and fought in combat. The second, made up of men with more serious impairments, served as nurses, cooks, and prison guards. There are from two to three times as many men in the First Battalion as in the Second, and the soldiers in the First Battalion perform a wide variety of duties. They furnish guards for the Union prison camps at Johnson's Island, Ohio, Elmira, New York, Point Lookout, Maryland, and elsewhere. They furnish details to the provost marshals to arrest bounty jumpers and to enforce the draft. They escort substitutes, recruits, and prisoners to and from the front. They guard railroads, do patrol duty in Washington DC, and even manned the defences of the city during Jubal Early's raid against Fort Stevens in July 1864.

Bounty Scandal:

Already, more than 50,000 men serve in the Corps within the Union army. Despite the rigorous workload, members of the Corps (sometimes referred to as the “Cripple Brigade” among their former comrades), are not offered the generous financial awards granted to re-enlisting soldiers and new recruits in the Union. This is a scandal which must be put right by the Government.

Men of the 10^th Regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps