Or as some people might claim, the BEST CW!
Be that as it may, Paul put together a scenario for us, whereby, in the aftermath of Gettysburg, a Confederate force is attempting to break through the Union and make good their escape southwards. For my sins, I took command of the Rebs, with Barry and John as my subordinates, and we faced off against Nick, Rick and Chris.
The Union deployed first, and we were then able to make a plan - which was to sacrifice Barrys command as a speed bump to slow the Union advance by Chris and Rick, whilst John and I threw both our brigades against Nick on the Union right, hopefully overwhelming him before the others could come to his assistance.....
The table before any troops arrived rebs will be to the right and Union defending the left
The Blue Bellies get in position
The Rebs arrive of the field of battle - Barrys troops occupy the woods to slow up 2/3 of the Union force, hopefully
The bulk of the Confederate force marches rapidly against the Union right flank, held by Nick
John and I got a couple of time and a half moves, early on, which helped!
On the Union left, Chris moves forwards to clear Barry from his defensive position
The Rebs shake out into line as they approach the Union position
John's brigade enters the wheat field - they were to remain there for most of the game
Luckily, our reinforcement brigade arrives to the rear of Johns position, this should help our plan to overwhelm Nicks four battalions....
My brigade had already taken a bit of damage from Nick and Ricks artillery on the way in...
Genl George Armstrong Custer arrives in the centre with Union cavalry
Chris increases the pressure on Barry
Billy Yank and Johnny Reb exchange close range musket fire
The "speed hump" doing its job!
Ricks troops have moved forward slightly
Chris assaulted this battery with infantry....
.... here was the result!
Meanwhile, another unit pushed one of the Reb units back from the edge of the woods
Georgie Boy moves up the road
The guns get in one shot but do minimal damage to the cavalry
Rebs en masse on Nicks flank but it's really just a traffic jam as John is unable to gain any advantage in the fire fight with the Union troops in the wheat field
One of my battalions has already quit the field and a second is about to (carrying the red marker)
The cavalry skirts my Reb battery
A big mess where our primary attack is supposed to be happening - things are going somewhat awry!
My brigade is looking decidedly shaky, having lost 2 of 5 battalions; meanwhile, the Union cavalry is about to appear in our rear!
At the other end of the field, Barry is still putting up a staunch defence against Chris
The unit with the red marker is about to disintegrate, leaving only two battalions and the artillery battery of my original command!
The Union troops have finally been forced out of the wheat field but it's too little and far too late!
To support Chris (above), Rick advanced his infantry (below)
Jeb Stuarts cavalry finally make an appearance when the battle is almost over!
My guns managed to turn to face Custers cavalry but unfortunately only scored one hit in closing sire - the cavalry now had 7 dice to my 4 - I need 5 or 6 to hit, the cavalry 4 5 or 6
And here is my roll! Rick only scored two hits and was forced to retire - hurrah for the gunners, again!
They had to turn again to face a new threat from Nick, he however, did not charge, he just forced them to face him for a turn until Custers boys could recover their composure - and charge them in the rear - what a bunch of brave heroes - they will be just the boys for a bit of Pony Wars in 5 years' time!
Barry made a spirited spoiling attack out of the woods, but the Union gunners are as staunch as their Reb counterparts and also won the melee!
Ricks Union infantry advance into the empty centre of the Reb position
After relying on firepower for the whole game, the leading Reb Brigade went in with the cold steel and routed two Union battalions - but it needed to have happened two hours earlier!
Rick was good at charging people in the rear - in the same turn, his cavalry did it to my gunners, and his infantry to my last remaining infantry battalion in front of Nicks position!
Barry now close to being overwhelmed by Rick and Chris - he had done his job well, but his efforts were undone by the dilatoriness of the Reb attack on Nick.
The end of the game - definitely a Union victory, and the Rebs ain't getting back to Dixie along this route, for sure!
And now, as has become something of a tradition for both Mark (1866 and all that) and me - here is the whole thing again but in close up - courtesy of mate John!
If you made it this far - phew, well done - that was close on 100 images, I think! Thanks for your perseverance - please leave a comment to let me know what you thought of our efforts!
