ACW Battle of Cross Keys. 8th June 1862 - The Battle

 

The early action was centered around the 8th New York who reached the foot of Pence House Hill before receiving volleys from 2 Confederate regiments. They were fortunate to save 5 of 6 hits but left them disordered.

Using their initiative the 8th New York managed to pull back to safety but not before taking more casualties causing them to be shaken.

Continued - 

Koltes arrives on Turn 2 following Milroy who has begun moving his brigade forward.

Successful command rolls allows Milroy and Koltes to make good progress towards the Confederates although most other brigades remain static.

Bad news for the Union. Taylor arrives on the first attempt (a '6' rolled) and combines this with a command roll allowing him 3 moves. He makes good progress seeking to interrupt the Union advance through the centre.

Trimble advanced his brigade to engage Stahel's Union troops and in so doing gave the 8th New York another blast of musketry. This proved too much for the lone Union regiment and they broke. 

The last of the Union reinforcements arrive with Bohlen's Brigade at top of the photo. The main Union attack is dogged by poor command rolls with even Milroy failing to get his troops any further forward. To compound his problems, one of Milroy's regiments is broken by artillery fire.

Clusuret's small brigade are the only Union troops moving forward as they pass Cross keys.

A command blunder results in Taylor's brigade deploying in a way that was not entire planned. But it's position will nevertheless threaten the flank of the Union as they advance on the ridge.

A ripple of smoke appears on the ridge as the Confederate artillery opens up for the first time.

Fremont finally shows up!

Despite Fremont's urging, the Union centre only makes little progress. In the meantime Trimble and Stahel blast away at each other (right of photo) with neither side gaining the advantage.

Taylor deploys 2 of his regiments along the fenceline and combined with the 2 artillery batteries pour fire into the approaching Union forces.

The intensity and accuracy of Confederate musketry and artillery breaks another of Milroy's regiments. With 2 of his 4 regiments now 'whipped' the brigade breaks. They fall back through the advancing regiments of Koltes' brigade.

On the left, Pilsen endeavours to reposition his 3 artillery batteries where they have a clearer field of fire.

A successful command roll allows Schenk to race ahead (upper middle of photo) and link up with Cluruset.

A view across the Union centre.

Walker (bottom of photo) has now moved up to join Trimble and is is clear to the Confederates that only a point of bayonet will dislodge the Union troops from their position.

After a brief pause due to a command blunder, Walker succeeded in charging his 2 small regiment brigade into the large 41st New York and a battery of artillery. Taking casualties charging which disordered the elite 13th Virginia, did not prevent them from charging home. The Confederates lost the 1st round of combat but maintained contact.

The green troops of Trimble's Brigade struggled in the firefight with Stahel's Union troops. The 21st Georgia finally broke (top left).

Several rounds of combat were lost in succession by Walker's Brigade leaving them continually on the backfoot. There was only so long they could take the punishment until they finally broke contact defeated. The 13th Virginia in particular suffered badly and broke (classed as whipped).

Conscious that time is running short, Union commanders urge their brigades on and begin engaging with the Confederates deployed on Mill Creek Ridge.

Taylor deployed some of his regiments along the fenceline to threaten the flank of the advancing Union. Koltes orders the 68th New York to charge the 7th Louisiana and a battery of artillery. Closing fire destroyed the morale of the Union regiment and they broke.

The view across the centre as the Union brigades close on Mill Creek Ridge.

Schenk and Cluruset's Brigades exchange fire with the Confederates holding the ridge. So far casualties are fairly light on both sides with several regiments becoming disordered.

The Confederate attack on the Nichter House fence line finally breaks down. The green troops of Trimble's Brigade collapses with the 15th Alabama becoming 'whipped' having sustained heavy casualties from an artillery battery and a skirmisher unit. The brigade will now begin their retreat leaving just one regiment of Walker's Brigade in fighting condition.

Stahell decides it is time to move out of his position and attack the retreating Confederates but failed his command roll!

Clusuret's (nearest camera) and Schenk's Brigades cross Mill Creek and prepare to charge the Confederates on the ridge. A brisk firefight inflicts casualties on both sides but all regiments hold their ground.

The view from behind Union lines as they seek to close on the ridge.

Clusuret and Schenk decide it is time to launch their assault on the ridge but Clusuret fails to get his troops moving and Schenk discovers that none of his regiments are ready to charge. They are shaken or disordered or a mix of both.

Koltes struggles against Taylor's Brigade and its accompanying artillery. The retiring 68th New York leaves just 2 of his regiments still in the fight but find themselves mostly outgunned by the Confederates.

Turn 12

Stahel moves his brigade forward in pursuit of the retiring Confederates.

Clusuret successfully orders the Union 8th Virginia to charge the ridge. Despite a valiant effort the Union troops were thrown back in disorder.

The 8th Virginia proved to be the only regiment successfully gaining the ridge, albeit briefly. Other Union regiments were content to blast away but they suffered disproportionately heavier losses with several becoming shaken or disordered.

A rare success for the Union occurred when the 7th Louisiana of Taylor's Brigade suffered a morale failure due to high casualties from Union musketry and fell back in disorder (top of photo).

Another rare combat when the 73rd Pennsylvania charged the 6th Louisiana defending the fence line. The Union troops became disordered and shaken from closing fire and all looked good for the Rebels. The Confederates though suffered from appalling dice rolls in the combat failing to score a single hit from 8 dice needing 4 or more to hit. Although losing the combat they held their nerve and narrowly avoided becoming shaken.

That was destined to be the last move of the game. However, with a combat underway and the potential of more imminently around the ridge, I have extended the game for another turn or two to establish the outcome of those which could have ramifications in determining the victor.

The 75th Ohio was the next Union regiment to charge into the Confederates defending the ridge. In a tightly fought combat with the Virginians of Patton's Brigade the Union troops emerged with a narrow victory. The Virginians though stood their ground for another round of combat.

After a gruelling melee when the 6th Louisiana were on the backfoot for a couple of combat phases they managed to turn it around heavily defeating the 73rd Pennsylvania leaving them 'whipped'. Koltes Brigade broke as a result and began their retreat signalling the end of the Union drive through the centre.

It is now the Confederate phase of turn 14 and the last of the Union assaults on Mill Creek Ridge were thrown back. 

Bohlen's Brigade is on the verge of breaking and Stahel has made no progress in following the retreat of Taylor's and Walker's Brigades in the vicinity of Pench House Hill. 

I ended the game at this point as there was no prospect of the Union achieving their target of capturing a chunk of Mill Creek Ridge. Especially as I had already allowed it to run over the original target of turn 12 by one and a half turns.

Both Union and Confederate forces failed to achieve their targets but gave the Confederates a narrow victory for causing more damage. Taylor at one stage attempted to order his brigade to reposition in support of Trimble's attack on the Nichter House fence line but failed to activate. Soon after, Union pressure to their front pretty much ruled out any possibility of withdrawing. 

Black Powder rules worked well in reflecting Union timidity in command although can be a little frustrating from a wargaming perspective with a good many failed activations.

A couple of experiments were tried for this game. One was to see how unit quality could be realistically portrayed by merely adjusting the stats rather then introducing the 'useful rules' extras. I did use the 'Elite' rule to give the higher quality units the possibility of rallying from disorder at the start of the turn. Veteran units being E5 and Elite E4. Minimising the use of those extras made it easier to manage a game with a significant number of units. The result, based on this one game so far, was promising with units performing roughly how I expected them to.

A second was to detail those stats on unit labels. That included the E rating. This proved of great benefit when using units of varying stats removing the need to constantly refer to the orbats. I may experiment further with that when introducing some of the extras using codes as appropriate. The issue being to maintain a small label that will remain relatively inconspicuous on the tabletop.

The 12 turn limit in the original scenario was going to prove a challenge. Charging units into combat is more difficult in the ACW variant relying more on each side shooting the other into submission. This tends to be a slower process and if I played this scenario again I would probably make it a 15 or 16 turn game. 

One other observation is the use of 'whipped' status for broken units. Normally a broken unit would be removed from the table whereas 'whipped' remains but of little value. I may simply remove them in future games.

Overall then an interesting first outing for Black Powder ACW. It is a ruleset that continues to grow in my estimation although weening me off from casualty removal could take a while!