Brad Butkovich

This is a typical Brad Butkovich product — one foot equals 33 yards, one turn equals 10, 15, or 20 minutes, one figure equals 20, 30, 40, 50, or 100 men. There is no evidence of any blatant mistakes in the calculation of the number of figures per unit, although the red-faced type for most Union “present for duty” strengths is estimated rather suspiciously as only one more than the “present for duty, equipped” strength. It scarcely matters, as the “present for duty, equipped” number is the one according to which game strengths are figured.

This is the first of two books on Chickamauga. It covers the first day of the battle, plus two scenarios portraying actions that occurred, or could have occurred, several days earlier. As with other books in the series, most actions are historical, while a few are “what-if’s.”… (mehr)

This is a set of twelve non-game specific scenarios for the three days of Gettysburg. Three are from day one, and seven are from day two. Two are from day three, but neither is from Pickett’s Charge (which is hardly surprising, given how unbalanced the historical outcome was). Most of the scenarios are historical, although one, “Opportunity at Culp’s Hill,” is a what-if that presumes a much larger Confederate attack than was historically the case. The scenarios are scaled to 1 inch = 33 yards, which the author feels are better for the scale of the miniatures, which are assumed to be 15mm. The figure scale is calculated for 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100 men per figure. Where the number of men in the regiment is known precisely, it is given in black type; where is had to be estimated, it is given in red type. Similarly, the type of weapon carried by the soldiers is given in black type where known, and in red type where a guess had to be made.

The book ends with orders of battle for both sides. Here there is some room for puzzlement. Unit strengths are given as “present for duty” and “engaged strength”. One would expect that “engaged strength” would always be less that “present for duty” strength, or at least no more. Ordinarily that is true, but occasionally it is the reverse, as with the 7th Wisconsin, which is credited with 370 men present for duty, but 384 men engaged. In addition, some strength numbers are given in black type, as “known”, but obviously are estimated — for example, the 14th, 35th, and 45th Georgia regiments, listed one after the other as members of Thomas’ brigade, are each credited with a present for duty strength of 324 and an engaged strength of 305.… (mehr)

This Civil War scenario book might seem a bit odd, since Pickett’s Mill isn’t exactly a topic fit for a scenario or scenarios, but the explanation is most likely in the fact that author Butkovich has separately written a monograph on the battle, which I have not read. There are five scenarios in the book: A brigade-level “marching to battle” scenario (with variants for morning and afternoon deployments); a “what-if” regimental scenaro assuming that Govan’s Brigade behaves more aggressively than was actually the case; two regimental scenarios of the afternoon battle, one “full” and the other “abridged” by combining certain small regiments; and lastly, a brigade-level treatment of the same situation. The book closes with an order of battle appendix.… (mehr)