Remise

Randy -- Rumor has it that you are a playtester here. I have been trying to get in touch with you for 15 years. Please send me a PM, or email me, even, at Remise@aol.com. There are some people who are looking for you (not process servers or ISIS!). Thanks, B.C. Milligan

I am talking about the Randy Reed of "Tobruk" and "The Longest Day" fame. There are people who want to get in touch with you. PM me if you are willing. Touch the elbow, B.C. Milligan

Rab -- As you can see, I am not here as often as I might be. I thought I would mention that one of the members of my reenacting unit -- Wade Russell -- is a retired Lt. Colonel from the Royal Army.

FYI, pre-Memorial Day, about 2,000 of us will be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in D.C. in the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Grand Review. I will post details for those who might be interested...

Double shot I will. P.S. Did you ever hear of the experiment someone -- I think it was the Austrians -- conducted in the 18th century, where they alleged loaded two guns with chain shot (with the chain hanging between the two barrels, in which the shot were placed, with powder of course) in the hopes this might mow down an entire rank or two of opposing infantry? Of course, for this to succeed would have required that both guns be discharged at exactly the same instant. Oops. If this story really is true, I believe things went quite badly for the gun crews.... B.C. Milligan

Roger that -- and if you ever want to cross the pond and fall in to see what it was like (sort of), we can dress you from head to toe and put a Springfield in your hands. I have some obvious theories about your obsession with the Great Valley -- you might want to check out this book sometime: http://www.amazon.com/Echoes-Battlefield-First-Person-Accounts-Civil/dp/1475246064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1429245099&sr=8-1&keywords=echoes+from+the+battlefield

No Pasaran -- Thanks for your reply. This is the same guys, doing the same piece, with a link that should work: My schedule is very dicey, but sometime I would love to play a game versus you. I don't know your real name, of course, but I may be able to guess if I tell you that I am a Campbell, but don't blame me -- I wasn't there! Whenever I say this to someone I have just met, and they start to laugh, I know we will never be friends. There is, of course, a call for retreat, though this requires the bugler to still be on his feet! P.S. I may know Auld Brogan indeed, as I know one of their members is a very avid gamer.

Thanks, General Nivelle! For the record, that is not me, tootling the bugle. That is a German fellow who is not half bad. Having been a Civil War reenactor for 15 years does not qualify me as an expert on the Civil War, but I have heard the proper bugle calls for "Advance" and many other things (there are 21 separate calls just for skirmish drill!) hundreds of times over the years. And having been a game designer for longer than that, unless the technology has changed drastically, I do not think it is all that hard to swap out .wav files or whatever they use. Having said all of THAT, I know the team is working very hard and is very busy. I just do hope they are able to fix the obvious historical gaffes at some point. Fortunately for them, I won't even mention the anomaly of Federal troops having their muskets on their left shoulders, when in the advance into battle, the command would have been, "Right Shoulder Shift." P.S. Just for fun here is some music from a band that would have provided it probably for free, as I know them (with the battle of Gettysburg as their background) Maybe in the sequel....:http://civilwarband.com/dvd/

I know I lost my fight to have -- even if I could get it for you for free, which I probably could have -- authentic field music a long time ago. But for the love of history, could you please replace that incredibly annoying, postwar (i.e., 1978), Hollywood style "Charge" bugle call? Not only did it not come into use until 13 years after the war ended (and I have this from the man who leads the Federal City Brass Band, which specializes in Civil War music), but as far as I know, this bugle call was never, ever -- I mean never! -- used by the infantry. This is such an easy thing to fix, I am stymied as to why you would not want to do so. If I ever hear the right call -- at 40 seconds on this video( ), I promise to start posting comments in this forum again (not, I suspect, that this would mean much to anybody). Respectfully, B.C. Milligan

NC Rebel -- I was there indeed, and if you were at Spotsylvania, done by the same people, it was far, far better. I hope you will make Cedar Creek -- the organizers told me back in May they were expecting at least 9,000 of us. P.S. If you go, bring an extra blanket!

Almost every reenactor has either fired, or stood next to, the "elephant gun," flilled with two, and occasionally more than that, rounds, and even when just two go off, there is a ripple in the ranks of the company; the man on either side of the firing individual jumps, and inevitably, there is a cry of "What the hell?" from somewhere in the ranks. We don't use a full load of powder, and nobody is firing real bullets at us, when we reenact. But the adrenaline is real, and so is the sound. Thousands of muskets being discharged in rapid sequence, combined with (sometimes) the roar of up to 100 cannon, the shouts of officers, file closers, and others, can make it incredibly hard to hear even the sound of your own musket, and the other measure we use -- smoke and sometimes a flash from the barrel -- can also be hard to see, at a large event. And as Mr. Blunt noted, all it takes to get this hellbound train rolling is having just one cap fall off the nipple without your noticing (very easy to do, as you don't look at the firelock when you pull that trigger). A damp round can contribute too, as it won't go off at first, till repeated use of caps helps it to dry out just enough to ignite.

I hope that if you do nothing else with the uniforms, you at least have the Federal infantry carrying their muskets on their right, not their left, shoulder. This is a hugely obvious error.

Yes. I remember reading that when some of the survivors went back to camp that night, they asked where was the rest of the brigade. They were shocked to be told that there was no "rest of the brigade."

That might work. I think the old SPI monster game on Waterloo did something like that. Despite the huge amount of artillery rounds fired at the battle, the Confederates, according to Alexander or somebody, still had enough remaining for one more battle, and for the Federal troops, because of their relatively close proximity to Washington and Philadelphia, ammunition shortages would have been temporary enough that they probably would have fired off all they had. Did I not have to mow the lawn, I would poke around in the Official Records, as surely there are reports somewhere of how much ammunition remained, at least for the Army of the Potomac, after the battle.

Nick -- Thanks for explaining the videttes. If I may say so, my primary complaint about this intention (besides the oft-repeated statement that videttes were never units), is that I am unaware of any incident at Gettysburg in which artillery was "harassed" by enemy cavalry. Most Civil War cavalry fought on foot, unless it was fighting other cavalry. I do not recall any cavalry, at any time during the entire war, acting as mounted skirmishers and annoying artillery. For starters, this would have been suicidal, as a man on foot offers a far smaller target than a man on horseback, both to canister and to round shot, and thus a dismounted skirmisher -- who, unlke his infantry counterparts, could easily load and fire while prone, and who would have been extremely inaccurate if attempting to fire his carbine while mounted -- would have been much safer from all types of artillery projectile than a man on horseback. You will note that all of the formed cavalry on the first day quickly dismounted when it arrived on the battlefield -- they did not charge the Confederate artillery or infantry, because their officers knew very well what the result would be. So I don't even see why you need to offer this ability in the first place. I don't exactly know what you mean abut having a historical meaning, as there is nothing historical about this decision. As far as pleasing every type of player, if your goal is to please people who know nothing about the Civil War, then perhaps the battle of Gettysburg is not the platform for this. You may make your fantasy gamers happy, but in doing so, you will lose your historical gamers. This, of course, is your decision.

The First Minnesota was not all that successful, from a tactical point of view. It was almost completely destroyed, but the sacrifice bought time for additional units to plug the gap it had occupied.

One the questions I would ask myself is this: At what level do we want the player to be making decisions? Although grognards always opt for micromanagement, it seems to me that the player has enough to do in this game just controlling every single brigade and battery on the field. A Civil War regimental commander would know very quickly if his men were running out of ammunition, and as such, he would report this to his brigade commander as soon as possible. One reason -- not the only -- brigades were typically deployed in two lines (and I don't mean ranks!) was so that the second line could replace the first if needed, either due to losses, unsteadiness, or a lack of ammunition. If possible, the units replaced would then fall back to the rear, resupply, and if possible, clean their weapons, as a black powder musket tends to foul rather quickly. Using this system, some of Greene's men at Culp's Hill, though they had probably taken only 60 rounds into battle (40 in the box, and 20 in their pockets or haversack), fired over 700 rounds apiece on the second day. And the 20th Maine, with only about 350 men in the line at start, fired over 15,000 rounds. But this was admittedly not common. Anyway, I would prefer it if ammo and resupply, like artillery ammuntion choices, could be set on "Auto," or if ammunition was not even a factor, as Generals Lee and Meade were certainly not thinking about which brigades had enough of it -- that was the job of the officers in command of those units.

My only hope -- re both these cogent posts above my own -- is that while, as both a game designer and a player, I understand that UGG is a game, and I have been witness to the "game" versus "simulation" battle (which for wargamers is like the eternal war between Good and Evil, though nobody has ever been able to figure out, in this case, which is which!). I want to enjoy a game first, or I probably won't play it for very long. Having admitted this, a game that chooses to take up an historical mantle should at least make an effort to adhere to the basic facts of that history. And since I have been immersed in the Civil War for most of my life, I would really like, for once, to see a Civil War game that actually had some direct correlation to how Civil War battles were fought. Do that, and I promise to stop complaining about the bizarre field music which has nothing to do with the Civil War (including postwar cavalry bugle "Charge" calls for infantry, among other things), and the fact that the Federal infantry, at least, carries its muskets on the wrong shoulder -- there is a reason the position is called RIGHT Shoulder Shift! There is one reason that some of us have been raving about the vidette shock troops for so long -- a small amount of research will reveal the real use of videttes, not to mention the fact that though one early war unit called itself "Vidette Cavalry," there was never, ever, a "unit" of videttes. The number of men in a vidette "unit" could easily have fit into two dog tents, and the only purpose -- ever -- of a vidette was to gather intelligence. To use it for any other purpose would be like sending a jeep with three men armed with .45s out to attack a battery of German 88s in World War II. The cohesion rule could be hard to implement, at this point, though there are games that have such rules. But my suspicion is that this game is too far along to reprogram things such as that.

Even most Americans have no idea of the origins of this holiday, so I thought I would share this information here. General Order No. 11 Headquarters, Grand Army of the Republic Washington, D.C., May 5, 1868 General John A. Logan [Photo courtesy Tom Bell, Director of Media Services & Telecommunications, John A. Logan College, Carterville, Illinois]I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit. We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose, among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foe? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their death a tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the Nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and found mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice of neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic. If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us. Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as sacred charges upon the Nation's gratitude, -- the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan. II. It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this Order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith. III . Department commanders will use every effort to make this order effective. By order of JOHN A. LOGAN, Commander-in-Chief N.P. CHIPMAN, Adjutant General Official: WM. T. COLLINS, A.A.G.

No flames here. Essentially I agree with you, although I have never once heard the command, "Attention, regiment," and my unit -- the NR, with whom I am sure you are familiar lives and breathes Casey's. I agree about keeping lines straight. Although we don't drill six hours a day (though once my company did five!), unlike the boys back then, most of us do this for many years. As soon as a line begins to move, it is askew, but having said that, there is (or at least there was, the last time I looked at the game), a world of difference between a battle line on a Civil War battlefield, which at least was SOME sort of a line, and what I have seen in the game, where at times, there is no line at all.

I hope I am not the only person you are waiting for! Every time I get going on a scenario, there seems to be a new version. Trying again. Where is everybody else?

Just in case you want to know what is going on in Gettysburg today -- not much! -- or any other day, here is a neat link to live Web cams on the battlefield, as well as some other resources provided by the Gettysburg Foundation: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/pennsylvania/gettysburg/index.php

Here is the title tune from what is probably my favorite album of Civil War music, "The Irish Volunteer," by David Kincaid, who is a member of my battalion (the National Regiment) when not touring, and also the lead singer of a group called The Brandos, which spends a lot of time in Europe: And here's another of my favorites from him:

I mostly agree with the above. A man who is lying prone cannot see far at a place like Gettysburg, even without as many trees as we have today, as even foot-high grass makes any real visibility unlikely -- plus the smoke of battle would quickly obscure even the most open field. There were veterans of the war who, years later, wrote that all they ever saw of the enemy was from the knees down, due to the smoke. There were -- at least so far as I know -- never any real artillery spotters as are known today. It was more that the battery commander and gunners would do their best to witness the fall of the shot (as it was called), and adjust fire accordingly. Having said that, I absolutely agree that experience had a lot to do with this. Ditto with musketry itself. Both sides tended to fire too high with all weapons, and that, combined with the poorly cut Confederate artillery fuses and bad powder, could make artillery, in particular, far less deadly to the enemy than those behind the guns might imagine. This certainly happened on the third day!

Yes, their animated maps are great, and it might be worth asking them if we, I mean you, could use the Gettysburg one to provide a historical background, in exchange for some mention of the Civil War Trust in the game (which the video itself can probably supply). Similarly to the music groups I have suggested here, I had contact with CWT (of which I am a member; ditto the Gettysburg Foundation) in the past, and we were going to do something like this in my own Gettysburg game. Just a thought!