Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Stonewalling 1862

As a bit of a warm-up for the Barrosa game I organised an American Civil War battle to teach a few players the basics of the Black Powder rules. This gave me and several other club members a chance to get out ACW 28mm models on the table again.


A Divisional sized game was set up with two large Union Brigades, supported by Cavalry and Artillery attacking a farm held by a Confederate Brigade, with extensive reserves arriving.

Yes, basically the same scenario as I used in 15mm a few weeks back! If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides the aim was to introduce players to the rules .

As is traditional the Union forces moved very slowly towards the enemy, their intention was to swing an entire brigade across the shallow river to hit the flank of the Confederates.

For their own part the Rebels had a case of the jitters and started a suite of overly complex manoeuvres in the face of the advancing Yankees. As time passed they did reorganise their lines, and their reserve brigade met the other Union brigade trying to cross on a broad front around the bridge.

The flanking Brigade made gradual progress, but found it was too strung out to really coordinate it's advance. However with the help of dismounted cavalry it was able to pour enough fire onto the Rebel positions to ensure they were contained.

Around the farm, elite regiments of Confederate troops made their mark on the advancing union troops, but the Brigade in the fields was by now broken and forced into a retreat. Shortly after the other Rebel brigade would find itself in the same position.

As the Rebels withdrew, only the remaining Rebel cavalry were able to restore any pride, outflanking the troops around the Bridge and scattering a regiment to slow up their pursuit.

As a game it was a slow burning build up to a Union victory. As a primer for the rules it was perfectly acceptable, and a success. For practical purposes, we played small, using half measurements and half sized units, this allowed us to work easily on an 8 by 4 foot table with about 300 figures.

All good, but my next game of BP will prove to be rather more ambitious, and not simply due to scale...

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