The figures were 15mm paper flats which are on 1” wide bases. For some reason the extreme right of the battle maps have been cut off, but since very little happened over there it doesn't matter that much
In order to capture the flavor of ACW battles we made a number of modifications to the basic rules. Units came in 5 sizes. “Tiny”, which had 3 stands and represented regiments of up to 200 men. “Small” which had 6 stands and were regiments up to 400 men. “Normal” which had 9 stands and were regiments up to 600 men. “Large” with 12 stands and were regiments up to 800 men, and “Very Large” which had 15 stands and were regiments up to 1000 men. The number of attack dice for fire and melee were in proportion to the size of the unit. As it happened, most of the regiments were “Small” but using the historical order of battle, we had units ranging from Tiny to Very Large.
We reduced the range of rifle muskets to 18”. Artillery had short, medium and long ranges which had varied firing factors depending on whether they were smoothbores or rifles and whether they had 4 guns (two stands) or 6 guns (three stands) in the battery. Maximum range for rifled guns was 54”.
Movement for infantry was 8”
We created two different sorts of disorder status. One was for traversing rough terrain like woods or crossing obstacles like fences. This gave a -1 to fire and melee, but did not prevent moving. The other was the type caused by rolling a 6 when firing. This was per the book rules.
Woods, rather than totally obstructing fire had a reduced range of 6” when firing.
The deployment is shown below. Heth’s artillery was on a commanding hill with a wide arc of fire. Davis’ and Archer’s brigades were deployed on either side of the Cashtown Road. The Federals had two regiments of cavalry dismounted and deployed on the flanks (the rest of Buford’s cavalry were assumed to have withdrawn.) A battery of Union Horse artillery is deployed right on the Cashtown Road. The leading brigades of Reynolds’ I Corps are coming up from the south:
The battlefield looking south. The I Corps can be seen at the upper left.
Heth’s artillery deployed on the heights.
Turn 1
The Confederates get the first move. Davis’s brigade moves slowly toward the farm to its front, advancing cautiously. One regiment slides to the left to push back the pesky dismounted cavalry in the woods. Archer’s brigade sends two regiments to the right of the woods while the other two regiments push straight through it. The four batteries on the hill blast away at the Union horse artillery and manage to score a hit.
Merideth’s troops, the famed Iron Brigade tear down a section of fence and move through the gap. Cutler’s Brigade follows, but with a lack of urgency that will plague the Federals all day. The Union guns fire back at Davis, but to little effect.
Who might be waiting in those buildings?
March to the sound of the guns!
Turn 2
Archer’s brigade has become badly strung out, with two regiments forward and two left back in the woods. But Archer sees the columns of Union troops on the road ahead and decides the target is too tempting to pass up. His command roll gives him three moves and he boldly leads the two regiments forward! They crash through the woods and the leading regiment finds itself on the flank of the Iron Brigade! Unfortunately, the two remaining regiments of Archer’s Brigade are left far behind. To make matters worse, Davis’ brigade seems intimidated by the farm buildings and refuses to move at all. Archer is left badly exposed, far in advance of everyone else. Even so, his lead regiment fires a deadly volley into the flank of the surprised Federals. Ordinary troops might have broken at this unexpected attack, but these are the Iron Brigade! They quickly form a line of battle and return the fire. Meredith calls to Cutler for support, but again there seems little urgency in Cutler’s response, although he does order the gaudy 14th Brooklyn to form a battle line to the left of the Iron Brigade. Meanwhile the Confederate guns continue to hammer the Union horse artillery, scoring another hit.
Surprise!
Steady lads!
Turn 3
Archer looks around and suddenly realizes that he’s all alone. This sufficiently unnerves him that he fails his command roll. The two regiments with him in the woods hold their ground and wait for help. Meanwhile, General Heth, the division commander, has taken charge of the two remaining regiments of Archer’s Brigade and orders them forward. One regiment swinging to the right to guard the flank against the Union cavalry on the hill.
Unfortunately, on the other flank General Davis continues to be baffled by the farm to his front. Aside from a few barking dogs there is nothing in sight, but he cannot summon the nerve to order his men forward (failed command roll and no enemy within 12” to give an initiative move).
But help is coming for the Confederates. Marching down the Cashtown Road is Brockenbrough’s Brigade. With a triple move they advance onto the field and deploy into lines of battle.
Archer’s regiment in the woods fires again, but this time to little effect. However the massed Confederate guns finally drive off the Union horse artillery which retires from the field.
During the Union turn, Meredith leads his regiments over the fences into short range of the Rebels in the woods. Two of the Iron Brigade regiments wheel to the left threatening Archer’s men with envelopment. Unfortunately, Cutler continues his methodical advance. More Union troops are arriving but they are jammed up on the road which Cutler cannot seem to clear. On the far right the cavalry mount up and pull back, unmolested by Davis. Fire from the Iron Brigade is deadly, but Archer’s men hang on.
Brockenbrough arrives.
But Archer’s in a jam!
Turn 4
Despite Archer’s precarious position, the turn starts well for the Confederates. Davis finally gets his brigade moving. Just a single move, but he manages to reach the farm and determine that there are no enemy troops there waiting in ambush. Even better, Brockenbrough gets another triple move and advances boldly down the road toward the flank of the Iron Brigade. Sadly, they are just half an inch too far away to charge, but even so, a solid line of gray parks itself a stone’s throw away from the startled Yankee troops.
Archer seeing that his left flank ought to be secured very soon, shifts one of his regiments in the woods to the right to prevent the Federals from flanking him on that side. Meanwhile, Heth continues to move the other half of Archer’s Brigade forward.
Fire from Brockenbrough is heavy, but despite the flanking position, the Iron brigade refuses to give way. (I had given the Iron Brigade better morale and stamina to account for its legendary toughness.) Still, many a Yankee is left sprawled in the dust. Unfortunately, Brockenbrough’s advance has also masked the fire of the Confederate guns which have to hold their fire.
The Federals had no choice but to pull back two regiments of the Iron Brigade in the face of this sudden attack by Brockenbrough. But they could see that they had to do something or they were going to be penned up against the table edge. So Meredith ordered the two left regiments of his brigade to charge Archer’s men in the woods. With a hurrah, the Black Hats surged forward and were soon crossing bayonets with the desperate Rebels.
Meanwhile Cutler had finally gotten the last of his men on to the table and cleared the way for the I Corps artillery to arrive. Rather than continue down the congested road the guns moved into the fields to the left of the road and looked for a place to deploy.
Back in the woods, the melee was savage and though the Yankees won the fight, Archer’s men refused to run and the issue remained in doubt.
Brockenbrough threatens to roll up the Union right!
Part of the Iron brigade falls back.
But the rest of it attacks!
Turn 5
Things were looking pretty good for the Confederates. They seemed to have the Yankees on the ropes. And then in one of those incidents that leaves historians scratching their heads, Brockenbrough’s Brigade fell back! A messenger arrived from the artillery commander telling Brockenbrough to clear his field of fire and rather than telling the young lieutenant what he could do with his order, Brockenbrough faced his men about and marched them back the way they had come! (Game note: this was not as the result of a “blunder” on the command roll, the Confederate player just decided to do this.)
Archer must have been swearing a blue streak as he saw his supports retreating, but his troops were locked in combat and all he could do was try and hang on.
On the Confederate left, Davis moved his troop into the farm buildings and the fenced in yard, giving him a good position to fire on the right of the Iron Brigade.
Meanwhile, Heth kept moving the remains of Archer’s troops. One regiment charged the dismounted cavalry to its front, who evaded away. The other regiment moved slowly up toward Archer and the men in the woods.
Far to the rear the last of Heth’s brigades arrived on the field. Pettigrew with four enormous regiments deployed along the Cashtown Road.
Davis’ fire savaged one of the Iron Brigade regiments, but the Yankees held their ground (I was starting o suspect that I had perhaps made the IB a little too tough!) Ironically, the artillery, now able to fire again, accomplished nothing.
The melee in the woods reached its climax and Archer’s men could take no more. Perhaps the word that their help had gone away was too much for them. The regiment broke and fled.
The Federals were quick to take advantage of their victory. The two regiments in the woods advanced to the far side of it. Cutler finally got his men into motion and they moved forward to engage the other of Archer’s regiments to the left of the woods. The Union artillery advanced along a fence line and started to deploy. Baxter’s Brigade appeared and moved along the road in the rear of Cutler. Word reached Reynolds that Paul’s and Stone’s Brigades were right behind.
Brockenbrough falls back but Pettigrew’s men shout: “Hey! You’re going the wrong way!”
The fight for the woods.
A whole lotta Rebs up that road!
Turn 6
The Confederates had lost the woods, but with all those reserves coming up, the battle could still be won. Brockenbrough, realizing his mistake and stung by the taunts of Pettigrew’s men turns about once more and advances down the Cashtown Road again. Davis, snug in the farm buildings stays put except for sending one regiment on a sweep around the Union right. The remaining regiment of Archer’s advance is determined to hold its ground but the situation there is looking bad. Heth can now only issue orders to one of Archer’s reserve regiments and decides to keep the far right one pursuing the Union cavalry. Pettigrew, newly arrived on the field, sees the mass of gray infantry in front of him and decides he needs to look elsewhere to find a spot to commit his men. He orders his regiments back into march column and they march off toward the Confederate right.
Converging fire from Davis and Brockenbrough pile hit after hit on the Iron Brigade regiments, but they still refuse to break. Those damn black-hatted fellas!
In the Union turn Cutler finally gets his men heading forward. Two of the regiments charge into the sole remaining regiment of Archer’s advanced force. Baxter’s brigade marches onto the field and the artillery finds a good spot along a fence and unlimbers. On the right, Meredith pulls back his right regiment, but continues to hold everywhere else. Union fire scores some hits on Brockenbrough and the massed artillery chews up one of Archer’s reserve regiments. Cutler’s charge shatters Archer’s last advanced regiment. Archer, himself heads for the rear. “I know I’ve got some more troops around here somewhere…”
The Iron Brigade lives up to its name!
Cutler finally gets moving.
Turn 7
The fight on the Confederate left has turned into a pounding match. But on the left Heth drives the Union cavalry off the field and starts to wheel toward the Union guns. Pettigrew’s men march rapidly to follow up. Massed fire from Davis finally is more than even the mighty Iron brigade can take and the rightmost regiment breaks and runs. A high-pitched Rebel yell splits the air!
The Union position is becoming desperate. Merdith pulls back his flank, but his troops are exhausted. Cutler and Baxter seem struck by the slows again and the unsupported Union guns limber up and fall back. Things are not looking good.
And…
Unfortunately, at this point we ran out of time!
Analysis:
Well, this was clearly a Confederate victory. They control over ¾ of the battlefield and the sluggish Union reserves won’t have anywhere to deploy even if they do ever get on the table. With the Union right turned they will have little choice but to fall back to Cemetery Hill and the high ground to the southeast.
The key factors were Archer’s bold advance on Turn 2 and the sluggish movement of the Union reserves. Even though his regiments were ultimately wiped out, Archer’s move pinned Meredith in place and kept him from moving farther to the right. If Meredith had managed to get into the farm buildings that held Davis up for so long he could have held the Union right all day long. This would have given room for the other Union brigades to get on the field and deploy. If they could have brought their superior numbers to bear the Confederates would have been in trouble. But as it happened, the Confederates, despite the error with pulling back Brockenbrough, were able to hem in the Yankees and finally force them to retreat.
Overall the game went really well. It had a nice ebb and flow and seemed to capture ACW combat very well. The modifications we made to the basic rules worked well. I can see a few further tweaks might be needed, but it is looking good. And the main thing was that we all had fun!
