It is the morning of April 7th, 1862, the second day of the battle of Shiloh. The first day had seen the Union forces driven almost into the river, before Grant and the Union steamboats ferried reinforcements overnight. That morning, the Union would launch a grand assault to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But on the Union right flank, none of that grand strategy mattered. Major Albertson of the 110th Ohio had simple orders- advance in line at 08:00 towards the Russian Tenant farm lying in the fields just ahead. Major Sharpe of the 10th Tennessee had the same orders. Rifle fire and bravery would decide the victor…
Today we decided to mix it up a bit using the 10mm ACW miniatures I had put together to brigade Fire and Fury for a new game by the one and only TylerIsAlrightAtPainting (https://tylerisalrightatpainting.blogspot.com/) called Vortex of Hell! If you are at Adepticon 2026, be sure to swing by the Hive Scum multi-booth thing and check him out!
It is designed for 28mm, but we decided to go with 10mm miniatures- at this scale each miniature would represent 1 soldier. A single stand (usually 4-5 miniatures) would get a single shot/die roll.
This game zooms in on company and battalion level action, and the line infantry tactics at the most fine-grained level. As I’ve been reminded, this was not a style of warfare of small unit tactics and initiative. Company and battalion commanders had comparatively little room for flexibility and initiative compared to say, World War 2, and this was much more a issue of discipline, training, and bravery. Vortex of Hell puts you in the driver’s seat of a small battalion, possibly 200-300 soldiers, zoomed far into the action.
In brigade fire and fury, an entire battle of Vortex of Hell might fit into a single die roll, resulting in a single stand representing 150 soldiers being removed from the field. It’s a game of up close and deadly firefights, and the main tactical decisions are around order efficiency, aligning lines, and bringing fire to bear efficiently. Oh, and also dying valiantly.
The Game
Myself, meatpoi and stalkerfriend gathered in a mysterious, undisclosed location to play a game! We go through it in a couple of hours- this is quick and deadly by design. We even had hardtack and coffee to set the mood!
We each had a battalion of soldiers- 3 confederate companies (A-C of the 10th Tennessee, under the leadership of Major Sharpe), 3 union companies (C-E of the 110th Ohio, under the leadership of Major Alberston). All troops were seasoned, the officers of standard quality. The goal was to seize the Russian Tenant farm in the middle of the table, which generates 1VP per turn held. We also decided it would be 1VP for destroyed or routed company.
Both sides deployed with one company in skirmish formation.
Both sides advanced, with the confederate right flank company taking the first casualties of the game!
The Union right flank advanced into range of the Confederate color company, which fired back!
The union right flank began to take serious casualties, while retreating slightly.
Union fire drove off the confederate right flank, breaking the company and gaining a VP!
But then the confederate skirmish line opened fire, pumping shots into the center Union company, causing horrendous casualties and driving them back!
Things got desperate, the last Union company tried to move up to hold the center farmhouse against the two confederate companies. The confederate skirmish line was driven off the farmhouse by a charge!
However, it was two combat effective companies to one. The fire slowly whittled down the Union color company until a final bayonet charge drove them off the objective!
It ended as a draw, with a clear advantage for the confederates. We had a good time, and sent some notes to Tyler. Overall, it was super fun to try this in 10mm and fight at this ‘zoomed in battle.
-BS