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 - 

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

This is the 6th Scenario from the "STONEWALL" Guns at Gettysburg Scenarios Book 4. I have added the label "ACW Battles Stonewall" on the right where you will find the other 5 scenarios. 

In the previous scenarios GaG rules were used but here I will be using Black Powder 2 for the first time with amendments from the "Glory, Hallelujah!" supplement. Conversion was relatively straightforward with only minor adjustments in unit sizes. 

BACKGROUND

Having achieved his aims of diverting Union troops from the Richmond theatre, Jackson considered the Valley campaign at an end. Lee gave Jackson several options, stating that Whiting's Division was on the way to join him and that he should join the main army at Richmond. He also gave him the option to strike a blow on the Federals.

The same day Lee issued these orders, Jackson's camp at Port Republic came under attack. A raiding force had been sent by Shields to seize the bridge but had been driven off although Jackson had nearly been captured. Fremont's Union army marching from Harrisonburg to the north-west intended attacking Jackson from this position.

With the possibility of getting caught between two Union armies, Jackson began getting his troops out of Port Republic. Meanwhile, Ewell organised a stand against Fremont on Mill Creek Ridge in the vicinity of Cross Keys Tavern.

Fremont decided that he would attack the Confederate right and attempted to conform his own line to that of Ewell's.

The game will be played on a 4'6" x 3'0" table using Baccus' 6mm figures. 

Continued -

Gettysburg: Turns 25 - 26

 The Round Tops

The Union have now formed 2 clear lines to defend the Union southern flank. The single heroic battery in the upper middle of the photo suffered heavy casualties from rifle fire but once again pumped a round of canister into another Confederate brigade, this time that of Wright from Anderson's Division. The casualties it inflicted took the brigade past the 50% dispersal morale check point which it failed and dispersed from the field.  

In the foreground, the rallied Graham's Brigade, and the only survivor of Birney's Division, stood its lonely ground and fired into the advancing Confederates.

The loss of Wright's Brigade generated a divisional morale check for Anderson's Division which it failed. The division will retire broken in the next turn which is bad news indeed for the Confederates. This consists of troops in the upper middle and right of the photo which were to have provided the main thrust towards Cemetery Ridge.

Continued -

Gettysburg: Turns 19 - 24

 The Round Tops

Turn 19. The Confederate brigade of Kershaw supported by Barksdale's Brigade, charges the brigades of Tilton and Burbank (middle left of photo). Burbank has recoiled prior to impact but the small brigade of Tilton (just 12 surviving figures) receives the charge. In the ensuing melee Tilton is destroyed but has prevented Kershaw from inflicting more damage for the time being at least.

Elsewhere, fire is exchanged with troops on Little Round Top. 

Newton's Division continues to snake their way to the front.

Continued -

Gettysburg: Turns 13 - 18

 The Round Tops

Hood's and McLaws Divisions begin to cross Plum Run capitalising on the collapsing Union morale. 

On Big Round Top (bottom right), a charge by Benning's Brigade is enough to unsettle Graham's Brigade already battered from the fighting in and around the Peach Orchard. It retreats before contact and in so doing brings it into contact with the large Ward's Brigade who had been defending Little Round Top. Ward failed his morale test and they too retreated. Fortunately for them, Birney managed to rally the Brigade but Graham will continue retreating.

Continued -

Gettysburg: Turns 7 - 12

 The Round Tops

The final collapse of the Union defence of the Peach Orchard arrives when the pursuing Wofford's Brigade utterly mauls the retreating Burling's Union Brigade causing them to rout with heavy loss.

Humphrey's Brigade continues to survive, but only just, to the north of the Trostle farmhouse. The routing Burling's Brigade unsettles Carr's Brigade (nearest the camera) who fail their rally test and rout. Humphrey himself rallies Brewster's Brigade to the rear and again passes a Divisional morale test.

Continued -

Gettysburg: Turns 1 - 6

Examining the initial deployments gives an appreciation how difficult this is going to be for Lee. His initial intention of delivering a right hook turning the Union's left flank appears to be the most obvious route at this stage. Sickles Corps is exposed in advance of the main Union army running in a line from Devil's Den, across The Wheatfield and Peach Orchard, and anchoring its right flank near the Codori farm.

Longstreet's Corps (minus Pickett's Division who has yet to arrive) reinforced by Anderson's Division are tasked with delivering this outcome.

Ewell's Corps will demonstrate against Cemetery Hill and Culps Hill with Johnson's Division making the main assault on Culps Hill from the east.

A.P. Hill's Corps are to be held in reserve.

Peach Orchard and The Wheatfield

The opening move sees Longstreet's Corps move off Seminary Ridge with Hood's Division in the bottom left. An artillery barrage opens fire from the ridge.

In turn 2 at The Wheatfield, Trobriand's Brigade (middle of photo) suffers from an effective volley from the advancing Kershaw's Brigade (upper left), but even more importantly a double '6' rolled by an artillery battery. The result causes Birney to suffer a light wound and will be out of action for a turn, and Trobriand's Brigade loses a total of 11 figures. His brigade "goes to ground".

Continued -

Gettysburg: Introduction

This is the Day 2 scenario deployment taken from the original Fire & Fury rulebook. All the orders of battle are a direct transfer to Guns at Gettysburg rules. I had originally based my 6mm ACW for F&F but with 6 infantry figures to a base rather than 3 x 15mm and the base frontage reduced to 15mm. A simple matter therefore of retaining the number of bases exactly but using figure numbers rather than bases for casualties etc.

With figure bases being 60% of the 15mm size I reduced the table size by a similar amount allowing for my 9" square terrain bases. This provided for an 8'3" x 3'9" size widening to 4'6" east of Culps Hill. Some slight adjustments have been made to cater for my terrain but otherwise a direct copy of that provided in the rulebook.

I agonised for some time whether to play from day 1 but decided to fall back on my long term ambition of playing the large action as depicted in the rules. Given the speed in which I play through a large game, to play day 1 as well would take me eons to complete the entire thing! 

Day 2 fired my imagination on acquiring F&F in the 90's but at the time my collection was almost universally 15mm. A 14' long table was never going to be an option in that scale. 6mm though opened up this up as a real possibility, and hence the long awaited game will now be played.

I will not be playing day 2 as a standalone game as in the book, but will continue into day 3 if not concluded. Start and finish times will remain, these being 1300 - 2000 on day 2, and 1100 - 1700 on day 3. Orbats for day 3 will be whatever survives from day 2.

In F&F each move is 30 minutes. GaG use slightly slower movement speeds and given the differences in the way they play, I have fallen back on the same timescale I use in General de Brigade. i.e. 15 minutes per turn. This equates to 28 turns for day 2 and 24 turns for day 3. This also improves the possibility of a conclusive outcome.

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Map Moves 4 - 5

I have tidied up the maps which were a little messy in my attempt to represent many of the formations. Where several are now in the same square the topmost counter indicates the senior commander with the total number of troops under his command. 

On to the maps:

MOVE 4

As the Union forces push north, the Confederate units in reserve are called forward.

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Battle of Krell

Before I begin the AAR of the next ACW battle in my campaign I will recap the circumstances leading to this action.

As the Union forces drive north into Confederate held territory, Ewell with two brigades sees an opportunity of giving them a bloody nose. He intercepts Caldwell's Union division in the area circled.

Zooming in on the area shows that Ewell is taking a risk of being surrounded.

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Map Moves 2 - 3

 A reminder of the Union plans:

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Cavalry Skirmish at Isserlohn

With the camera now back in operation normal service is resumed -

The opening moves of the campaign brought two cavalry skirmishes, this being the second. A reminder of the opening moves:

Buford's cavalry division are moving ahead of the main Union army scouting Confederate positions. Confederate cavalry outposts have partially pulled back but a couple decided to engage with the Union troops. This action involves Devin's brigade.

Most of Devin's brigade advanced unopposed with the exception of the 6th New York (bottom right). As they advanced towards Isserlohn they became aware of movement up ahead. The Confederate Hampton with Cobb's Cavalry Legion intended on giving them a bloody nose! 

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Cavalry Skirmish at Rorketon

The ACW campaign commences. As with my Napoleonic campaign, I am using the Warplan 5/5 system but with railways added. Refer to my first blog which provides an introduction together with the first map moves.

To recap:

The lead cavalry elements of the Union army has advanced north to scout the Confederate positions. Several Confederate cavalry units have fallen back in the face of a more numerous enemy. A couple of Confederate cavalry regiments though took the opportunity to engage the Union forces with the intention of giving them a bloody nose. To the right, Phillips with his cavalry legion based at Rorketon is one such and his location becomes the scene for the first action of the campaign.

Continued -

ACW Warplan Campaign: Introduction

The second new campaign I am going to introduce you to is for the ACW period. I have played a good number of historical actions and although I enjoyed them, there was something missing. In just about all of them I thought 'if only this were part of a campaign'. So having bitten the bullet I have settled on the trusty old Warplan 5/5 system as used in my Napoleonic campaign.

This though will be a more modest affair. It will be set around a Confederate army holed up in a Peninsular. It is not aimed at any particular year although 1863 will be the closest. Nor is it set around any particular event. It is purely fictional, closer to a parallel universe.

The Warplan system details towns with railway stations but does not have railways marked on the map cards. Clearly being ACW, railways (or railroads!) should be added. Upon settling on the overall map I identified all those towns with railway stations and then added what I felt would be a believable rail network.

The added dotted line is the rail network. 

Continued -

ACW: The Battle of 1st Winchester

1st Winchester

15th May 1862

Rules: Guns at Gettysburg

Table Size: 6' x 4'

Figures: 6mm Baccus

Orders of Battle:

Continued -

The Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Day 2.

We now move on to Day 2 with the arrival of Hooker's and Richardson's divisions reinforcing the beleaguered Union troops. Both sides lost an equal number of casualties during Day 1 and with half of those returning overnight losses amounted to 106 overall each.

The revised orders of battle for Day 2:

Continued - 

The Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) Day 1.

Next up on my ACW project is the Battle of Seven Pines, also known as Fair Oaks. The scenario is taken from the Fire & Fury Great Eastern Battles Scenario Book. Once again I shall be using the Guns at Gettysburg rules by David Brown.

Conversion is relatively straight forward. I simply replace a F&F stand, typically of 3 x 15mm figures, with a 6 figure stand of 6mm. The base frontage is 15mm, 60% that of F&F's 1" or 25mm. 

This reduced the size of the 6' x 6' board in F&F to 3'7" x 3'7" or the closest for my boards of 3'9" x 3'9". The other change I had to make was the number of turns. Movement distances of 6mm figures in GaG rules are roughly 30% of the 15mm figures in F&F. It takes twice as long to cover the same ground and therefore the number of moves are doubled to that in the scenario.

Units in GaG are at battalion level and thus I introduced a few minor changes to reflect the fact that this will be at brigade level. Primarily around Brigade attack columns with a minimum of 2 stands in each of 3 lines to constitute such a column. Where brigades are too small to form their own attack columns they can combine with other brigades to form what is essentially a division attack column.

This is a two day battle with Day 1 consisting of 28 moves including 2 twilight moves. There is one special night move followed by 36 moves in Day 2.

The map shows the situation at 1.00 p.m. on 31st May 1862. The darker green represents wooded areas and the dotted line is the dividing line for the overnight turn. The letters around the edge of the map indicate entry points - more of that later.. X and Z are targets for capture. All streams are flooded preventing artillery from crossing. All other units may cross at any point but suffer a movement penalty. Any unit defending a stream against a charging unit receive a bonus +1 in melee.

Continued - 

Battlefield Maps

For some time I have been intending to find software or a method of easily producing battlefield maps for my AAR's. Where I have played scenarios from publications I have been loathe to copy those directly into the blog. Aside from potential copyright issues I have felt uncomfortable using somebody else's intellectual property without their permission. 

Recently I have been viewing the backlog of Little Wars TV excellent Youtube videos when I arrived at one providing a tutorial on how they create their maps using the free Microsoft Paint programme. Even for a technophobe such as myself this appeared achievable. I used a very basic one for the first time the Buq Buq WW2 AAR. 

The following are three I have created for forthcoming games:

2mm Napoleonic test game "Austria 1809"

ACW Battle of 1st Winchester

ECW Battle of Glastonbury

The borders represent my 9" section terrain boards. So top is 4'6" x 3', middle 6' x 3'9" and bottom 3'9" x 3'9". These are the colours used by Little Wars TV apart from stone walls, hedgerows and crop fields which are my own creations. I may experiment a little with the greens to make the hills clearer and likewise darken the blue for rivers.

Unlike Little Wars I switch to PhotoScape X to add text, arrows and unit symbols. For Glastonbury I finally switched back again to Paint to fill in the white section of the cavalry symbols and add the dash to indicate the facing of each unit. I find PhotoScape X is easier to use for moving text around and changing its angle.

To save time I have created a plain map in base green for each sized board I am likely to use. I then just copy over the relevant size that I need and fill in detail from there.

If you get the urge to create some yourself, pop over to the Little Wars TV website (link on the right) and locate the map tutorial. 

ACW 6mm: The Battle of Front Royal

FRONT ROYAL

23rd May 1862

This scenario is taken from the Guns at Gettysburg Scenarios Book 4 "Stonewall". 

Background

Jackson, reinforced by Ewell's command, sought to force Bank's army from its position at Strasburg by outflanking his position at the northern end of the Massanutten Mountain at the confluence of the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah. Covering this approach was a Federal garrison under Colonel Kenly.

Victory Conditions

Confederate: Capture 2 bridges intact.

Union: Prevent the Confederates from achieving their victory conditions.

ORBATS

Table size 3'9" x 2'3"

Figures: 6mm Baccus

Rules: Guns at Gettysburg

An overview at the start of the battle with initial dispositions. 

Continued -

ACW 6mm: The Battle of McDowell

Hot on the heels of Big Bethel I decided to play out another ACW battle but this time from a Guns at Gettysburg scenario book. 

One of my ACW projects is to work through the GaG Scenario book 4, "Stonewall, The Battles of General T.J. Jackson CSA". My next scenario (#3 in the book) is the Battle of McDowell, 8th May 1862. 

The book recommends table sizes of 6' x 4' or 5' x 3' for 10mm or 15mm figures. When scaling down for 6mm I have born in mind my base sizes and movement rates. GaG recommends basing figures 4 to a base with each figure on an 8mm - 12mm frontage depending on your personal preference. Taking the 10mm average this will give a base frontage of 20mm compared to my 15mm with 6 figures to a base. I have therefore increased by 50% the number of figures listed in the scenario orbats.

Now comes the beauty of 6mm if you are short on space. I have taken the smaller table of 5' x 3' and reduced that by 25% to match the footprint of my figure bases. This translates to 3'9" x 2'3" which corresponds with my 9" terrain tiles. If you are really short on space there should be no problem reducing that further still to 3' x 2'. Over 600 figures will be on the table!

Another factor I had to look at was game length. This scenario gives a game length of 12 turns. I factored in the movement rates for 6mm (as with General de Brigade, the rules give alternative movement rates for 28mm in inches. I take this scale but use cms instead of inches). I also allowed a little for my different Command and Control system which can take units a little longer to traverse battlefields. I therefore increased the number of turns by 25% giving 16 turns for my game.

On to the game: