Gridded...

... and distracted.

A damp, grey day in dear old England, so I stoked up the stove in the Hobbit bunker, and got out the Morschauser-Cordery gridded wargame tin along with the squared bit of canvas:

But, while looking for more scenic items, I was distracted by these Heller boxes from the early 1990s:

This type of top opening box is so much more useful then the end opening, letter-box type thing that is only fit for the recycling pile. And what fine bits of artwork - click on the image and, in particular, admire the Ni-D 622 artwork, which is really splendid. You can see how I was distracted. But, then, of course, I began to open them:

The Heller boxes, and a raft of Cuban cigar boxes, contain 15mm armies. The Rebels above being some of my 15mm ACW. For many years, I could only afford 15mm, and I stuck to the ACW for similar reasons of economy. So, happily, I have around 1,500 15mm Yanks and Rebels; they were what my madly wargaming son (now wholly given over to the dark side of sci-fi, fantasy type rhubarb gaming) cut his teeth on. But other 15s lurk in the Hellers too:

More civil war types, but this time from something a little more mechanical.

But, finally, I put the 15s back in their cardboard barracks and returned to the gridded front:

Somewhere in Russia, sometime during the Russian Civil War. Rail lines, the key to mobility in that vast, swirling, horrible war. Two armies, Red and White, must seize and hold the rail line and the small station town.

Reds won the initiative, and quickly drove down the line:

Infiltrating the station and the town (some 9 squares of 'built-up' terrain, which confer a notable advantage to defending troops under the rules).

After a slow start, and some jockeying to gain position, the Whites tentatively enter the outskirts of the town, destroying a Red unit in close combat, and another with long range m/g fire.

But, there is still all to play for as the initial action centres on the fighting in town and station...