Thursday night I watched a 1951 Civil War drama called "Drums in the Deep South". Typical stuff, best friends from West Point now on opposite sides, girl in the middle. However, one aspect of the movie caught my imagination. The Reb officer has dragged a battery up onto a vertical sided, rocky, hill overlooking a train track feeding Sherman's army, his old Yankee friend of course, is the one given the task of claring him out.
Well, since I now have just such a rocky outcrop, a train, and some toy soldiers.....
Still working out the final details of my scenario. It won't have much in common with the movie beyond the battery on the rocky outcrop and a train, but should be fun or at least a change from my usual scenarios.
That setup is looking good!
ReplyDelete2 rather different movies that have at least something to do with trains in the Civil War come to mind - Buster Keaton's The General, and John Wayne's Rio Lobo.
Haven't seen the Buster Keaton one. Just found it on youtube and marked it for later.
DeleteI am once again rendered envious of your terrain. Looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
ReplyDeleteJust an old hunk of foam packing and some ex shelves.
DeleteTerrific terrain and tension too. Btw is “ Train bursting “ a less well known hit by Kate Bush?
ReplyDeleteNo idea, did look up Kate Bush, didn't help.
DeleteLooks great Ross. A difficult location to attack, unless there's a nice gentle slope round the back.
ReplyDeleteNo gentle slope but there is a steep path and a secret cave entrance.....
DeleteI'd forgotten about that!
DeleteLooks just excellent - they're not going to whack the train with a measuring stick, are they? The crafty devils.
ReplyDeleteOnly if comes an inch closer!
DeleteHi Ross- interesting you've chosen an old Movie to base a new game- good fortune with this. Cheers. KEV.
ReplyDeletewell Kev, "inspired by" is closer than "based on". All,I'm taking is the idea of a battery on a cliff overlooking a rail line. No other connection to the movie.
DeleteHi Ross,
ReplyDeleteSilly question: if the guys with the cannon don't want the train going down the tracks why don't they either make a barricade or blow up the tracks? And wasn't there a Walt Disney movie about some Rebs chasing a train that had been appropriated by some escaping Union prisoners? Have a good weekend!
Jerry
Jerry, it's an early 1950's movie, you might as well ask how it was that the wife of a plantation owner in 1864 knew how to use a handheld mirror to flash detailed messages years before the heliograph was invented.
DeleteHowever, iir the union had gotten really good at repairing tracks quickly so the plan was to blow up a big ammo train at an awkard fire and then prevent repairs by dominating the ground with their long range 18 pdrs, safe from counter battery fire. The Yanks brought up a train mounted heavy naval gun but do to topography it had to come in range to get a clear lof and of course they blew it up. Anyway, I'm not refighting the movie, merely using the vague idea of the setting.