Charge! Issues 1-2

Since I’ve only just now started subscribing to Charge!: The Official Newsletter of the Johnny Reb Gaming Society, I’ll be reviewing the first two years of the newsletter two issues at a time in a similar format to my reviews of North & South, Blue & Gray, America’s Civil War, and Civil War Times Illustrated. Back issues of Charge! cost $5.00 plus $1.00 shipping per issue. The newsletter comes spiral-bound (think Kinkos here), and is usually around 20 pages long. Many of the maps and illustrations are in color. Typical articles include scenarios for Johnny Reb, painting figures, creating terrain, special rules for certain out of the ordinary situations, and historical pieces on a unit or battle.

Charge! Issue 1

Page 1
It Has Been Needed for a Long, Long Time by John Hill
The creator of the Johnny Reb rules system leads off Issue 1 of Charge!
by explaining why a newsletter of this sort is needed. Zouave Magazine
used to cover the niche of supplying ongoing rules discussions and new
scenarios for Johnny Reb III, but it folded several years ago. So Charge!
fills that niche.
Page 2
Johnny Reb III Cheat Sheet by Scott Mingus, Sr. and
P.J. O’Neill
Scott and P.J. compiled some frequently overlooked official
rules from the Johnny Reb III rules book.

Page 3
Shepherdstown: Saturday, Sept. 20, 1862 by Scott Mingus, Sr.
Shepherdstown is the first scenario seen in Charge! It focuses on the
action at this small battle following the large fight at Antietam. It
mainly featured Hill’s Light Division versus elements of Porter’s Union
V Corps. This one includes a colorful map. The scenario is approximately
Division-size on each side, and the game board measures 4×6 feet. The
scenario was specifically designed for Johnny Reb III since it is excerpted
from Scott’s scenario book “Undying Courage – Antietam in Miniature:
Volume 2”. I do not believe it is out for sale yet.
Page 7
Kernstown: March 23, 1862 by Clay Cooper
This is another scenario for Johnny Reb, although this one was originally
designed for JR2. Kernstown was a part of Jackson’s 1862 Valley Campaign
and was little more than a skirmish compared to larger battles such as
Gettysburg. The fight features Jackson’s Valley Army (basically a Division)
versus Shields’ Union Division. This scenario also comes with a color
map. It originally appeared in “The Zouave”, Volume 1, Issue
2 in March 1987.
Page 10
The Effectiveness of the Rifle-musket by Brent Nosworthy
Brent Nosworthy, author of The
Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of
the Civil War
, writes an interesting little article talking about
just how effective the Rifle-musket was during the war. It seems to be
a short summary of part of Nosworthy’s book.
Page 12
Fences and American Civil War Combat by Doug Kline
Doug Kline, owner of Battlefield Terrain
Concepts
, talks about fences
and their impact on units advancing through or defending along them. After
talking about the war, he specifically comments on Johnny Reb III rules
and modifiers covering the effects of fences. He finished the article
by showing how to model fences in JR3.
Page 14
JRGS Trivia Contest
Page 14 contains a 15 question trivia contest for members of the Johnny
Reb Gaming Society
.
Page 15
Fairfield Road, Gettysburg, PA: July 1st, 1863 by Scott Mingus,
Sr.
This is a small Gettysburg Day 1 scenario (excerpted from “Enduring
Valor – Gettysburg in Miniature: Volume 3”) featuring a fight between
Lane’s Confederate Brigade of Pender’s Division and Gamble’s Union Cavalry
Brigade of Buford’s 1st Cavalry Division. The game board is only 3×4 feet
and the scenario was designed specifically for JR3. In the “Wargame
Notes” section, Mingus mentions that this game is well suited for
those gamers “with limited space, time, terrain, figures, and/or
experience in JR3”. As with all scenarios from the Enduring Valor
line, the map is in beautiful color.
Page 18
“They’ll Come Booming in the Morning”: Buford’s Cavalry at the Battle of Gettysburg by J. David Petruzzi
Guest-blogger
and cavalry aficionado J.D. Petruzzi weighs in with an interesting article
focusing on Buford’s Cavalry Division at the Battle of Gettysburg. Buford’s
men played a crucial role in delaying the Confederates long enough on
Day 1 for Reynolds’ I Corps to come up, thus allowing the Union to retain
the high ground.

Charge! Issue 2

Page 1
Johnny Reb Online Resources
This page contains websites containing JR discussion groups, online
scenarios, and other links. Of particular interest is the Johnny
Reb III Yahoo Group
. I encourage those of you thinking of getting
into miniatures gaming to check this message board out.
Page 2
JRGS Trivia Contest
This is the second Johnny
Reb Gaming Society
trivia contests. One winner received a prize package
from one of the Society’s sponsors. Included on the page are the answers
to the first trivia contest.
Page 3
Civil War Flags from GMB Designs by Burkhard Schulze
Burkhard Schulze reviews 25mm flags produced by GMB
Designs
in this article. Apparently at the time of this article’s
writing, GMB had flags available for 56 different Union units and 46 different
Confederate units.
Page 4
Heth Bar by GHQ
This is a scenario modeling the early part of Buford’s delaying action
at Gettysburg versus Heth’s Division. It is GHQ’s Tac News Scenario #3
and it was not specifically designed for any gaming system. The game uses
4-inch wide hexes, and the map is 7×12 hexes.
Page 5
Corn in the Civil War Era by Scott Mingus, Sr.
Scott Mingus goes over the differences in how corn was planted during
the Civil War and how it is planted today. Basically, corn was planted
in crisscrossed patterns of “mounds” during that time versus
the straight rows we see today. Corn was also shorter during this era
before advanced agricultural practices were used with ant regularity.
Page 6
“Making the Cornstalks Fly”: Cornfields and American
Civil War Combat, A Wargaming Perspective by Doug Kline
Terrain guru Doug Kline of Battlefield
Terrain Concepts
follows up Scott’s article with his own discussing
how to wargame the effects of cornfields. He mentions Johnny Reb specifically,
and then he also shows how to model corn on the tabletop.
Page 8
“Charging into the Din of Hell” by Lt. Col. (ret.) Charles
“Chuck” Teague
This article discusses the countercharges of elements of the Union
I Corps and XI Corps during the first day at Gettysburg.
Page 10
Perryville, KY: October 8, 1862 by George Anderson
This is a scenario designed specifically for Johnny Reb II. This is
a pretty large scenario which requires a lot of figures and terrain. The
color map shows a game board of 4×6 feet is required. This looks like
a really interesting scenario, though a lot of gamers would probably need
to combine collections to play it.
Page 13
Ask John Hill!
In this section, Johnny Reb creator John Hill responds to gamer questions
to clarify rules.
Page 14
The Sutler’s Corner: Product Review
In this section, the editors review products associated with miniatures
gaming. In this particular issue, Jeff Chierpeski’s Black Mountain Miniatures
painting service is reviewed. Apparently Jeff did not have a web site
at the time of the review, and I don’t print anyone’s email address on
this blog. I did a Google search and found the site here.
Page 14
Alternate Charge Resolution in JR3 by P.J. O’Neill
This small article discusses an alternate way of handling charges and
includes a nice chart to illustrate the alternate rule.
Page 16
Salem Cemetery: Friday, December 19, 1862 near Jackson, TN by
Scott Mingus, Sr.
This small scenario features an ambush set by the force defending Jackson,
TN against Forrest’s Cavalry Brigade. Table size is 3×4 feet and this
is a Brigade versus Brigade level scenario. The article includes an excellent
color map.

Check out Brett’s list of the Top 10 Civil War Blogs!

Read many Civil War Book Reviews here at TOCWOC – A Civil War Blog!

Check out Beyond the Crater: The Petersburg Campaign Online for the latest on the Siege of Petersburg!


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2 responses to “Charge! Issues 1-2”

  1. edwin Avatar

    BTW you can find the Zouave and a lot of other defunct magazines on ‘Magweb’. ( http://www.magweb.com/ )

  2. JRGS Avatar

    The Johnny Reb Gaming Society has also posted back issues of CHARGE! on MagWeb.com. CHARGE! uses the talents on occasion of the publisher of The Zouave, Ivor Janci, for maps and creative support.

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