On Sunday, on a miserably wet and windy Auckland day, four of us played an American Civil War game.
Each of us had command of two brigades, each of five regiments with a battery attached. The terrain and initial arrival points were as follow. Union units are in blue, Confederate in grey.
I commanded the Confederate right and decided early on that the terrain to my right, with all those woods was not a good position to be in. I decided instead to shift left leaving one brigade in the open field to guard the right, while my other brigade could assist my Confederate colleague against the Union right.
The fight on the woods to my left developed quickly and the Union troops occupied the farm to my left front. The initial Confederate attempt to storm the farm was repulsed and the fighting in the woods seesawed, but eventually we evicted the Union from the woods and the farm.
The passage of the other two Union brigades through the woods on my right forced me to break back to face them.
The Union troops on my right deployed effectively and drove back one of my brigades which quickly disintegrated while my second brigade fell back into the woods to my left.
Above the before shot with my brigade in position, and below the after shot with the brigade gone and a lone battery in the nmiddle of nowhere!
At around that same time the two Union brigades on their right dispersed and we Confederates consolidated. The Union left retired towards the woods begin them and we Confederates attacked.
Both armies were in pretty poor shape now and while I drove back the Union on my front, my last brigade decided it had had enough and dispersed. Fortunately for us Confederates one of the Union brigades also gave up the ghost and dispersed.
This left one fairly intact Union brigade facing two weakened Confederate brigades and the two forces faced off for the final showdown. The Union troops advanced and after a sharp contest won the day.
The game lasted from 10:00AM until 3:30PM and kept us out of mischief on a horrible winter’s day.
It was a good day to be indoors! Great looking game, Mark, and played out in a very cinematic way. I hope you got that lonely gun away before it was captured!
ReplyDeleteIndeed it was a good day to be indoors...I got drenched just going from the car to the games room. At least we escaped the flooding that has occurred south of here. Yes the gun did survive from that position. It managed to pull back and supported the final assault, until my last brigade dispersed that is.
DeleteHandsome looking game, Mark! I really like your situational maps interspersed between game photos. Makes the action easier for me to follow.
ReplyDeleteYes I need to do more maps, but I do most of my blogging off the iPad and the options for good drawing apps aren't as good as you would like to think.
DeleteWhat are you using for iPad blog updates? Blogger used to work ok but now does not work for the OS version I have on mine.
DeleteI can still use Blogger (albeit erratically) on my old iPad 2. I also use BlogTouch Pro which has some nice features, but can be a bit clunky - especially if your connection is a bit slow.
DeleteGreat-looking game, and the perfect way to spend a winter's day. That battery did look a little exposed after the brigade it was supporting evaporated.
ReplyDeleteLuckiIy for that battery the enemy to thier front was in a pretty bad way and they were able to pull back under the cover of the infantry with some ease.
DeleteA great looking game on a splendid battlefield, fantastic armies and pictures, love the impressive'battery in the nmiddle of nowhere'...
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil. I think those gunners deserve the "Thanks of the Confederate Congress".
DeleteGood looking game Mark - are some of the figures on display your "own brand"? The very blue Union troops seem to remind me of a game we had many years ago where you had created a deck of cards for some function I can no longer recall......
ReplyDeleteI still have those cards somewhere.
DeleteLovely looking game and good that it was a close run thing to keep everyone interested!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
It certainly was a near run thing and reinforced the need for a reserve. Had we Cinfederates had one...
DeleteEveryone loves a good ACW game. Nice report. 😀
ReplyDeleteThanks Stew. The ACW is still my favourite period of play.
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