Tactical Battles:
How popular are they with the troops(reenactors)?
Do they always have to be at the crack of dawn, why not in the evening?
Do we need more of them or less?

Cris Westphal
1st Mich. Vol.

Cris, the tacticals I participate in start at Friday evening and end somewhere around noon Sunday.  Are you talking about a schedule tactical at an event with an agenda?  Usually not for the public?

The tactical battles I have been involved  are scheduled and mostly start at or before the crack of dawn on saturday.  So when the "old tator" battle comes around most guys are worn out, and most of the powder has been burnt away so the paying guest get short changed for the battle because it's shorter than normal.
I have only been involved in 1 event where it was "be ready at anytime for anything", at a mainstreamer.  Which was kinda nice cause guards/pickets had to be posted 24 hours.

IMHO, I enjoy this hobby to recreate history and to educate folks about the CW time period, not make it up. I don't have anything to prove or any ego to feed. Since ITW(which wasn't wholly horrible) and the mess that was A140(which from the first morning was pretty much horrible), I do not attend tactical events or, events that are or contain "tacticals."

Grumpy tonight...

Ken, you may be talking apples and anvils here, if you are trying to compare OP99, OP2K, TAG, the LBLs, and other real time events with the "morning tactical" at the local hootenholler fest. Just a thought, but I know where you are going with it.  

Charles...

Well I do not mind immersion tacticals like Prelude to Chickamauga, however I think that "tacticals" at festival events are wastes. For one thing you have 'reenactor generals" commanding reenactors in battle. Most of those "generals" have no idea what they are doing out side of reenactrorisms, they are not going to recreate the tactics, mood, and reaction of troops under fire.
Also if you go to a mainstrem event I want down time to spend with my friends, go to the row, and just relax.....not into runnning through the woods hereing some fat dismounted cav guy going " i got you" No you didnt".

Dang Joe, I think you got it!  

I was hoping someone would bring up Prelude before I did. It was a well done tactical event IMHO. There is something just surreal and in the period about marching out in the mist of dawn not knowing where the enemy is or how large they are.

Doing it again in October at Outpost III.  Can't wait!

Joey, that may be the biggest point to grasp in all this, and that is the practice of adjusting expectations for different levels of events. While we know there is a certain element in the hobby who believes all events are alike and labels are ruining everything for everyone, all events aren't created alike. One man's encampment and skirmish event in the town square may be another man's hardcore immersion experience.

Strange as it may seem, and all that goes with it.

We conduct two tacticals at Neshaminy each year. This year, Saturday's tactical will take place just prior to the scrïpted scenario. On Sunday, the tactical will take place in the morning.

I think most of the participants enjoy the tacticals. We have a lot of ground available for the tactical, while the ground for the scrïpted scenario is very limited. We have space to maneuver over a wide range of woods, fields, and trails. The basic goal is to flank the opposition's battalions and put them out of the battle. We've sometimes had a problem with little units that will not move or die. We now have an agreement, that if a unit, Blue or Gray, dosn't play by the rules, it will be ignored. We use skirmishers, cavalry patrols, and massed infantry battalions.

I've been the overall Confederate Commander for the past few years, and have found the tacticals interesting. You develop a plan, get the troops in position, send them in and hope for the best. At that point, you are depending on your battalion commanders, because you often don't have much control. I have also found that sometimes it's much better to be lucky than good. Oh yeah, we don't have any generals, at least not on the Gray side.  

Wow people kind of agree with me? Ken, Robert , Charles can I get notes from you  and have them noterized to show my wife that I am not always wrong?

No too sure you want a note from me, it may be used against you.

Hey, now, will any or all of those notes help you get a kitchen pass?    

After all, we all know what 1,000 Attaboys are worth....

You oughtta' know noterized notes ain't worth a damn to the Lil" Woman. Now notarized "Honeydo" lists may be another story.

Please excuse my ignorance but what usually becomes of  the  wounded and dead at Tacticals such as TAG, Prelude, LBL.

I know the captured  is usually at the mercy of enemy.

Having never been to such a event like those I haven't a clue.

I hope to do Outpost III in Oct or the next LBL

Quote :

Steven Cone wrote : Please excuse my ignorance but what usually becomes of  the  wounded and dead at Tacticals such as TAG, Prelude, LBL.

The two tacticals at Neshaminy went off quite well this year. Usually individuals don't take "hits" at Neshaminy. Entire units go out of the action when they are surrounded, flanked, or overwhelmed. Since we are often going into a scrïpted battle after the tactical, it's too time consuming to police up individuals who are scattered around the battlefield.  

   

Thanks Bill for your input