Building Battery Wagner, part one

Starting this week, I'll be running Dungeons and Dragons every week at work, and will also have a one-off basic miniature-painting class. The RPG is advertised as "Fantasy Adventure Gaming for Beginners" in part to avoid actually having to run DnD (too complex for my taste) and in part to allow for other types of game. I intend to also try wargaming, and if I call in sick other staff can provide board games or fill in as gamemaster.

One of the topics I've been itching to try at work - for years in fact - is the American Civil War. In particular, that part of it fought on the southern coasts, like where I happen to live. The patron population is overwhelmingly black, so the first thing that springs to mind is the 1989 film Glory, starring Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, et al. It's popular in the United States if only because a PG-13 nature makes it a go-to to show in high school history courses. Which means most of the kids who attend my games will have seen it. The 54th Massachusetts also participated in a significant battle in our state, Olustee in February 1864. (I'd like to run it in February, as that is Black History Month.)

So as July is coming up, the 159th anniversary of the 54th's assault on Battery Wagner, I am considering turning that into a scenario. Not a fair scenario, mind you, but the emphasis will be on "this is what they had to deal with; do you think you could do better?"

And the first step to playing such a scenario is that I actually have to build Battery Wagner. Though even if I don't run it, I'll still be able to use the pieces for other games.

Lucky the 18mm Paperboys include some earthworks. I couldn't find a 3d print on Thingiverse. If anyone has directions to either a full model or buildable period earthwork "parts," please let me know, but for now I'll try paper.

Here's the original. A complex shape, but maybe I can
stick to just the southern portion, as that was the direction
of the assault.

Center battery emplacement, yet unglued, with entrenchment
pieces used for a glacis in front.

I'm using regular paper, so this isn't very stable. Gluing the trench lengths is tricky; I may use tape instead. I've experimented with Peter Dennis' "edge-on" technique for assembling the figures, and it may work for assembling the fort. I may also need a large base for the entire fort.

Left: The usual way with larger Paperboys is to have an
accordion-folded "panel" to stick the figures to. 
Right: The method with smaller is to stick the feet directly
to the base, perhaps kinking or cutting out the legs to assist.

Another thing to consider is the scale of regiments. At six inches to a regiment, the unit barely fits in front of this four-gun emplacement, but:

I've been reading A Brave Black Regiment, the 1891 history of the 54th Massachusetts by Captain Luis F. Emilio. He states that the regiment was in two rows of companies all the way up the island, and compressed to three as it passed the swamp in the center. That basically means that the entire unit, in line, would have stretched across the face of Wagner. I don't know how large the fort model will be yet, but it looks like I'll need fairly large units to represent the regiments. I hope to use the kid-friendly Junior General rules, which use six bases per regiment.

The 60x20mm Black Powder bases would fit the bill. Can I get away with not painting them, just adding labels and flags? One of the reasons I like the Paperboys is that they are colorful and individual - in addition to the white troops there are black ones for the 54th and Zouaves for the 76th Pennsylvania which also participated.

A rough layout, which will require some conversion to match
the model seen above. But it does seem to fit across a four-foot table.

 

The Black Powder figures fit pretty well!

Questions, questions...