The Rodes Goes Ever On - Wars of Such Magnitude AAR

Hey, check it out; I played a game!

Kelly recently hosted a game at his home for the Army of Central Maryland group. Rocky was having us refight Chancellorsville using his rules, "Wars of Such Magnitude".

Scott and I played as the Union, while Kelly was commanding the Confederates. 

Both sides were given some pre-game deployment options. I had II and IV Corps (Couch and Meade) on the Union right flank, with III, XI, and XII Corps (Sickles, Howard and Slocum) on the left flank. The plan was that the left would hold its positions, as their brigades were less reliable. Couch and Meade, with larger, steadier brigades, would be the attackers. Scott took command on the left, while I commanded the right.

Kelly opted to follow Lee's plan for the day, splitting his forces between Lee (attacking the Union left) and Jackson (attacking the Union right).

Seemingly out of nowhere I had a number of Confederate divisions attacking Couch's flank, which was out in the open. Luckily Meade managed to get his divisions moving towards the steam. Couch couldn't seem to get off his ottoman, so most of his brigades sat still. 

Seeing that the terrain had split Lee's approaching troops, Scott decided that the best defense was a good artillery barrage. He quickly reorganized his guns into better firing positions.

Kelly did realize that he had been moving Rodes' divisions a little too quickly, and so moved them back down the road they were approaching from. A good sport, and what likely saved the Union's right flank; I don't think I could have handled that concentration of Confederate brigades.

Scott's troops continued to hammer the approaching rebels. You can see a couple divisions moving to block Kelly's troops moving toward the gap in the Union line. 

Here's an overhead shot of the game around midway through. You can see the gap between the two Union forces that Scott is working to fill. If Kelly's troops managed to break through, that would be free to cause havoc in the rear of the Union lines. 

Over on the Union right, Couch's troops managed to finally get moving, aiming to push the Confederates from the hills in front of their position. 

Meade received an order to swing his divisions along the intersection towards the Orange Turnpike, aiming to push back A.P. Hill's troops. 

Scott's "unreliable" continued to do remarkably well, going so far as to begin rolling up Lee's own flank!

In the last few turns, both sides were relatively battered. Meade desperately tried to get his brigades to stop moving forward as Hill continued falling back in good order. The fighting eventually petered out with both sides unwilling to advance into the others' lines. 

Over on the side side, it was looking fairly grim for Lee and his troops. Scott's forces continued their wrap-around while fresh troops moved up the road.

We called the game there as a decent Union victory.

After-game discussion touched on how to produced a more historical result. Since Scott and I were free of Hooker's indecisiveness and could see how Kelly's troops were approaching, we were able to counter and fight off what had been Lee's masterstroke tactical plan. 

Blinds may be an option, forcing the Union players to react to divisions that don't actually show up. For example, had Kelly deployed his entire force together while I thought I was attacking Jackson's historical flanking maneuver, only to end up punching at shadows, then Scott's troops would have been sorely outnumber while I desperately counter-marched to his aid. 

Regardless, I enjoyed trying out Rocky's rule and I look forward to trying them again. 

The Second Battle of Kernstown - Pickett's Charge AAR

The second game I played at Cold Barrage was a refight of the Second Battle of Kernstown, using Pickett's Charge and run by Ted and Chip, more member of my old New Jersey group.

Three Union Divisions faced three Confederate Divisions. If I remember correctly, both sides' goal was to cause 40% casualties to the enemy while maintaining their own coherence.

I was a Union commander, once again saddled with Rutherford B. Hayes and the 23rd Ohio, and set up against Will (my fellow Yorkist commander from the morning's game).

Will's Confederates came on in a grey-and-butternut tide. My own troops quickly retreated to the relative safety of the fenced-off road, while my lone artillery battery scrambled to wheel into position.

The other two Confederate divisions began the long march toward the Union lines. 

While the main Confederate attack ground forward, Will's separate attack was coming under fire from Union artillery safely positioned up on high ground.

The outnumbered Union infantry had to be worried, watching more Confederates stream out from behind the wooded area and push forward into an uncontested flank.

The weakest Union position was in Kernstown itself, defended by an understrength infantry brigade. With the other Confederate divisions moving away, I decided to bring the other two Union regiments in to reinforce. However, I wasn't able to do so before Will's rebels charged into the town.

Will's attack on Hayes' brigade hadn't fared well, with the average-to-large sized Union regiments outnumbering the attacking Confederates. The Confederates were forced back in disarray. 

Despite some encouragement from Ted (who pointed out that Hayes' political career would benefit from a decisive win against the Confederates), I decided to keep my troops in cover and holding the flank.

Will's attack on Kernstown was going much better. The defending Union regiment was chased out of the town and the artillery was routed. 

On the other side of the battlefield the Confederates were still coming on strong, but had finally entered the Union artillery's range. Cannon fire was beginning to take its toll, and a small unit of Union cavalry was skirmishing against a pair of Confederate brigades. 

The fight for Kernstown ended up with multiple small regiments firing (somewhat) ineffective volleys at each other.

The rest of the battle was shaping up in the Union's favor, with their weight of artillery punishing the advancing Confederates. 

We decided to call it there for time with a Union victory. 

I have to say, with Ted and Chip running the game, and with Will playing, this almost felt like one of the old Saturday night games that I haven't been in for almost a year now; fun and nostalgic with just a hint of melancholy, to be honest. 

Overall the day was a complete success. I played in two fun games and walked out with about half as much flea market items than I walked in with! 

Back to the Brawl - Regimental Fire and Fury AAR

Ted's game last week was a refight of Brawner's Farm, which we played a year ago using Pickett's Charge. 

This time we tried it with Regimental Fire and Fury. Which was great, especially since I haven't had a chance to play these rules for years. 

The setup was the same as the previous game, with the Stonewall Brigade and the Iron Brigade facing off already in musket range, with reinforcements coming on from the table edges. 

The battle started at 5:15, with daylight rapidly dwindling. This is reflected by line-of-sight dropping each turn once twilight hit (on turn 4, if I remember correctly) until units can only see by the light of the moon (8" in game terms). 

I was controlling most of Gibbon's units, while Steve had the artillery and one of Gibbon's units on the far right of the battlefield. He would take control of Doubleday's units once they arrived. 

Chip had Taliaferro's units, John had Lawton's, and Ted would control Trimble's troops. 

Chip had some awful luck at the start of the game, despite the Confederates getting the initiative. Between the Iron Brigade's effective defensive fire and the Stonewall Brigade's desultory offensive fire, it seemed like the rebels were on the back foot. I decided to press my luck and push my regiments forward. 

That luck didn't hold, unfortunately. Despite charging Chip's tiny regiments with my fresh troops, he chased off the Midwesterners. To add on to my troubles, the regiment that had charged managed to run low on ammo as they fired on the way in, leaving them at an early disadvantage. 

I also had John's regiments to worry about as they marched on my flank. 

And John happily pressed into that flank, combining his rifle fire with Chip's artillery to devastate one of my two regiments. 

Steve wasn't having a decent time either, as you can see. The lone Black Hat regiment he had was facing off against an entire Confederate brigade. And Ted's troops were dodging Steve's artillery fire as they marched forward. 

Caught between John and Chip, my regiments were quickly dwindling in size. Steve was rushing Doubleday's brigade up to stem the tide, linking up with my last Iron Brigade regiment that hadn't engaged yet. 

I did manage to push one of John's units back, and Steve sent his regiments to the far edge of the field to block the rest of John's regiments. Off in the far side, Ted and Steve were still engaging on either side of the swale that ran through the property. 

By this point, the light had dwindled to the point where both sides' artillery was useless. 

Two of my regiments were down to four stands or less, and one was low on ammo. Not expecting much from them, I was hoping they'd put up enough of a fight to allow my last regiment a chance to fall back and cover Doubleday's flank. 

Of course, that's when Chip received reinforcements. While they were tiny regiments, they were fresh, crack troops, and accompanied by a battery of horse artillery; exactly the weapon that the Confederates needed to pierce the beleaguered Union defense. 

Steve was managing to hold his own against Ted and Steve, but was hard pressed; there was a sea of grey and khaki that outnumbered the boys in blue. 

We ended up calling the game after turn six, if I remember correctly. The Confederates won a minor victory, having caused heavy casualties against the Union force and, had we continued, likely would have had enough troops to push the remaining Union troops out of the field. 

This scenario is definitely an uphill fight for the Confederates. The Union regiments are big and reliable, and not likely to shift unless the Confederates can direct enough fire against them. Discussing my choices with Chip and John, it may have been a better idea to, after Chip's opening volley had left my units unscathed, to fall back to the snake-rail fences and move into extended line, giving my troops a much better defensive stance and providing some cover from the Rebel artillery. 

Maybe this is something I can try if we play the scenario again. 

Bollock's Bluff - Homebrew ACW AAR

This month's SJGA meetup saw a new gamemaster step up to the table - Chris!

He was running a somewhat home-brewed set of rules based off of Fire and Fury: Brigade meant to work as a fast-play alternate for group games. We used his 1/72 scale plastic collection, perfect for recreating that 'toy soldier' feel!

As befits a playtest, the best scenario is the simplest! So we had three identical brigades on both sides; an infantry brigade, an artillery brigade, and a cavalry brigade. 

The infantry brigades were headed by Sam and Sam, one veteran club member and the other new to the scene. I'll refer to them as Rebel Sam and Union Sam respectively. 

Union Sam sent his troops up the left flank, looking to block Robert's Confederate cavalry. Brandon's artillery was backing him up. I took the Union cavalry for a spin, trying to find a decent spot to slip past the Confederate lines. 

Rebel Sam was aiming for the fields in the center of the table, sending his three infantry regiments sprinting forward in column.

Robert's dismounted cavalry was the first to engage the Union infantry, with both sides trading somewhat desultory fire and minimal casualties. 

Rebel Sam's infantry continued to push up the table, engaging with Union Sam's infantry and guns. 

My cavalry were having to deal with all of the fences along the road, slowing their movement. 

Meanwhile, Tim was bringing up the rest of the Confederate artillery and a reinforcement regiment of infantry.

Fully set up in the field, Rebel Sam ordered his infantry into line, just as my cavalry was starting to get away. Unfortunately, Rebel Sam also discovered just how horrendous artillery fire was in these rules, as an entire regiment was wiped out.

Union Sam and Brandon did a little switch at this point, swapping an infantry regiment for an artillery battery so they could concentrate on their respective arms. 

Rebel Sam's infantry was catching fire from multiple angles as my cavalry continued to rush towards the Confederate rear. 

Tim and Robert had linked up, with Tim beginning his own artillery barrage against Union Sam's infantry. 

After a couple lucky shots from Brandon's guns wiped out another of Rebel Sam's regiment, Sam moved his infantry back into column and started moving them to flank the Union artillery. 

Union Sam saw one of his infantry regiments retreat after being pounded by Confederate artillery. 

Both sides were being whittled down at range by the other side's artillery. 

My cavalry had finally swung around into a decent position when...

A Confederate tank showed up?!

Well, it seemed we'd gone from a historical battle to steampunk.

My cavalry charged and routed the last of Rebel Sam's artillery, while his last infantry regiment was wiped out by Brandon's guns. 

However, Tim's artillery had mostly seen Union Sam's infantry off, and the last remaining Union infantry regiment wasn't about to move into the open where they would be run down by Robert's cavalry. 

With Sam's tank now outflanking my outflankers, I decided to resist charging into Tim's infantry regiment and retreated back towards the Union artillery. 

With both sides battered, it came down to an artillery duel between Brandon and Tim, and with a 2:1 advantage, the Union was heavily favored. Some decent dice rolling from Brandon destroyed two Confederate guns. We decided to call the game, as a draw. 

While we were working out some of the kinks in the system (artillery fire being far too deadly overall, for example), Chris did put on a great game. I could see these rules being used for fast group games at either the club or convention, maybe with a little more chrome to make them feel more period specific. 

Brawl at Brawner's Farm - Pickett's Charge AAR

This past week's game at Ted's place was my first chance to finally play Pickett's Charge. I've had a copy of the rules for a while (and have slowly been working on 10mm minis to play with), so I was looking forward to finally getting a chance to throw some dice. 

Ted had set up a fantastic looking table to play on, and we were using Chip's well-painted 15mm collection that, as I learned to the other players' lament, were mostly made up of miniatures that are older than me! 

The scenario was adapted by Ted and Chip from the first volume of Regimental Fire and Fury scenarios. For anyone else looking to do the same, we added 5cm to the 15mm movement rates to make sure that the various brigades could get into the fight before the sun set. 

Chip and I split the Confederate command, while Ted and Steve commanded the Union. 

There were three objectives behind the scenario. Both sides wanted control of the central field and to cause casualties, but wanted to keep their own casualties to a minimum (I believe it was 30% of the total bases per side). 

The game started with a bang as Chip's tiny regiments from the Stonewall Brigade clashed with Steve's massive regiments from the Iron Brigade. 

Steve's initial volley ran hot and forced one of Chip's regiments back. 

Unfortunately my first roll of the game resulted with a Hesitant brigade. So Lawton was a turn late to the game when his regiments first started turning up. 

Chip was managing to stick it out against the massive Union regiments. In Pickett's charge, elite regiments get to roll 2 Casualty Dice every time they fire. This causes a casualty on a 4, 5, or 6. Chip's smaller regiments may not have had the firepower of the larger Union regiments, but they were able to steadily add hits to the boys in blue.  

Meanwhile, I had the two brigades from Ewell's division advancing towards the field. Ted's forces, led by Doubleday, seemed tiny in comparison. Their only advantage was that Lawton and Trimble had to advance through rough terrain, and would show up unformed unless I took the time to stop and redress the lines. 

Unfortunately, Steve's regiments ended up routing, unable to stand up to the deadly fire from the Stonewall regiments and a pair of supporting artillery batteries. This left the Union flank up in the air, and Ted had two full brigades to hold off. 

Luckily for Ted, I was commanding those brigades, and my abysmal luck meant that my regiments of supposedly "veteran" Confederate troops were stymied by a force one-third their size. 

With my advance stumbling to a halt, Steve brought up a fresh, massive regiment to hold the Union left flank. 

See that trading fire with the Union regiments wasn't working out, I decided to instead declare a charge, thinking that I could push through the Union position. 

To the table's surprise, not only did the Union hold the line, but half of the charge ended up retreating!

To reflect how, in reality, this battle took place late in the day, visibility on the table decreased each turn. This ended up saving both sides some major casualties as the artillery batteries became useless outside of a rapidly decreasing range band. 

With the decreasing light, Steve no longer needed to worry about the Confederate artillery (and I didn't have to worry about their Union counterparts). What he did have to worry about was Chip's reinforcements; Taliaferro's brigade showed up and extended the Confederate's line even further. Steve's regiment, which had been holding back the Stonewall regiments, was forced to retreat. 

It was late in the game when I finally managed to get a decent volley off and force one of Ted's regiments out of the central field. 

It wasn't looking good for the Union. While they still controlled the field, multiple regiments were in danger of being flanked. 

So Ted and Chip elected to pull back and castle up in the corner of the field, knowing that despite the near lack of light that their right flank was still covered by artillery and the Confederates couldn't reach the left flank soon enough. The fight trailed off as the full moon shown over a bloody battlefield. 

Afterwards, we tallied up the damage. The Union had managed to hold on to the field to the very end, but doing so had cost them dearly. Both sides had reached their casualty limit, but the Union had lost far more soldiers proportionally. So it ended up a deadly tie. 

We still managed to complete a scenario in around 3 hours that would take 4 to 4.5 hours with Regimental Fire & Fury. I definitely enjoyed the rules and I'm looking forward to finally using my 10mm collection at some point. I've got some smaller scenarios that they should be able to pull off.