Battle at Mad Mann's Creek (ACW)

[has.been]

Sam (aka Donkeymilkman) and James (aka Vodkafan) came round on Monday to play.
As they were also free Wednesday plan 'A' (no-one ever goes with plan 'A') was to do
a Galactic Heroes game then. In the post battle chat (Monday) it was decided to play
the game again on Wednesday, but the players were to change commands.

Here is a rough idea of what happened. Sam & James will hopefully add their comments/pictures.

Monday.
Confederates led by Edward M G O'leary (Sam) came on from the Southern edge.
Union led by Elmer Bullstrode (James) from the North.
8445 = Battlefield. South is at the bottom of the page.
8447+8 = 9th & 10th Virginia Cavalry deploy on the two hills.
8449 = Reb. Centre infantry
8450 = Reb. Right wing infantry (on the road)
8451 = Union troops move to meet the Confederate's Right wing.
8452 = And towards the enemy's Centre

[has.been]

8453 = 9th Virginia Cav. reach & start to cross the creek.
8454 = From there they can see the lines of Blue advancing to meet them.
8455 = In the best tradition of (Mad) Cavalry, the 9th move to charge the Gun !!!
8457 = During the charge they are fired upon from front & flank !!!!
8459 = They still manage to reach the Gun 
            Unfortunately they were then betrayed by the umpire (ME  ) as I completely
            forgot to give them their entitled charge bonus. As a result they lost to Artillery men!
8456 = Less gloriously the 10th Virginia Cav. dismounted, entered the wood and...
            seemed to get lost! 

[has.been]

8460/2/3 = A stiff firefight across what became known as, 'Bloody Lane'.
                  Neither commander willing to try a charge into a defended wall line.
8461 = Elmer Bulstrode (James) finally got his unit into the War. Under Rebels & Patriots,
            (The rules we were using) if you throw double ones while trying to activate a unit,
             something bad happens.  The Yanks had that happen & the bad thing was
             retreat two moves.
8464 = On the Union right, rather than let the Rebs stand & defend a wall, decided to
           charge out of the wood. A good tactical move, but due to poor dice it fell just
           short of the wall. This gave the Grey line a splendid opportunity to use their
            first volley at short range.     The Yank survivors fell back to the safety of the wood.

Shortly after James conceded & the after battle post mortem started.
I had not drawn Sam's attention to the Cavalry's upgrade (50% more to make them good SHOTS)
I had drawn both player's attention to my rule tweak. If cavalry dismounted they could use the
'Fire' order. (Throw 12 dice rather than their usual 6 for 'Skirmish').
It is always easier to make decisions from the sidelines (I am very good at it  )
Would each player do it different if they were on the other side? 
We decided to find out. The Battle was due to be replayed on the Wednesday.
Stay tuned.

By the way, while setting the game up I found
8446 = 'Colonels in Command' a 'Game for Two players & an Umpire' By Iain Dickie.
             I have had this for many years (Decades ?) and it was a freebie with a magazine,
             (Miniature Wargames ?). As we were to have the required (2 players & an Umpire)
             I decided to give it a go.
             It only took a few minutes & I thought it provided some thought for the players.
             If anyone is interested I'll give more info.

[has.been]

Wednesday dawned & we prepared to refight Mad Mann's Creek.
Rebs led  (now) by 'Furious' T Winkleman (James)
Yanks  led (now)by Jebadiah Winburg (Sam)

It was both worrying & warming that young  Sam admitted he had spent more time thinking of
a good name (for his commander)  than planning tactics. 

8466 = 'Furious' (James) had massed all his cavalry on his right flank (on the road).
8467 = He deployed his infantry on the central hills.
8468 = After some hesitation (first unit refused to move) the Cavalry splash over the ford.
8469+70 = Confederate infantry advance off the hills & down to the creek.
8471 = Winburg (Sam) had deployed his cannon on the road to his left flank.
            He expected it to (as before) defeat the Rebel horse.
8476 = Virginian horsemen smash into the cannon (this time I remembered the charge bonus)
           Gunners fled, pursued by the Confederates.
8477 = The other Reb mounted troops did not do as well.
            Shot to pieces at Bloody Lane. 

It was interesting that Sam, while rolling up Jebadiah, got the Ruthless trait. Which meant that
if his unit came within 12" of the enemy he MUST give them the Attack order.
As the crusial point of the battle was expected to be Bloody Lane, should he get his unit to
line one side (behind a nice wall) only to have to order them to charge?
Such a little thing, as an officer's character, can have an effect on the battle.

Events did not go well with the Union, much as on Monday.  Sam conceded.
Two battles & Confederate wins on both.

True they did have more troops/points but following the Post Mortem, after the 1st try,
I REALLY hoped James would use the cavalry more as mounted infantry. Advance them
around the battlefield, dismount & pour fire at the yanks, then remount & charge WHEN
the enemy is disorderd/retiring.

I look forward to the general's comments & pictures.

[vtsaogames]

Very nice, thank you. How did Colonels in Command go?

[has.been]

Very nice, thank you. How did Colonels in Command go?

Quite well. For those not familiar with it, players choose an option from a list.
They tell the umpire which number/letter they have chosen that turn (one side uses letters, the other numbers)
The umpire tells the other player what they will know e.g. shots whistling past you/the rebels are digging in on the hill/ the Yanks have fixed bayonets etc.
What I found interesting was the list contains options that we wargamers don't often consider, e.g. 'Give a cheer' .

I liked it, but can never play it again with them. They know what to do now. 

[flatpack]

Very nice.
Didn’t cavalry in the ACW dismount and fire their carbines ?
I don’t remember many of them charging home.

[vtsaogames]

I liked it, but can never play it again with them. They know what to do now. 

Ah, a one-trick pony.

[vtsaogames]

Very nice.
Didn’t cavalry in the ACW dismount and fire their carbines ?
I don’t remember many of them charging home.

They did both, the Union cavalry more so as the war went on and they became better horsemen. Often some would dismount to fire at the target, others would clear fences and such and the mounted reserve would charge (when all went well). Union relied on sabers when mounted, Rebs often used shotguns and revolvers mounted.

Edit: any mounted should be considered light cavalry, best sent in against infantry that were already well masticated.

[Westbury]

Some good looking figures there Pete, nice you got to play two days in a week

[CapnJim]

Very interesting.  Too bad the Yanks got the short end of the stick...

[has.been]

Very nice.
Didn’t cavalry in the ACW dismount and fire their carbines ?
I don’t remember many of them charging home.

That is what I was expecting, hence my paying an extra 2 points EACH cavalry unit. Some of the poorer Yank units were 2 points a UNIT.

They did both, the Union cavalry more so as the war went on and they became better horsemen. Often some would dismount to fire at the target, others would clear fences and such and the mounted reserve would charge (when all went well). Union relied on sabers when mounted, Rebs often used shotguns and revolvers mounted.

Edit: any mounted should be considered light cavalry, best sent in against infantry that were already well masticated.

Thanks vtsaogames, in fact the rules do classify ACW cav. as light. However give a wargamer a mounted unit & most will want to charge.

Some good looking figures there Pete, nice you got to play two days in a week

Thanks Ian. You should recognise a lot of the figures as they were painted by our friend Dave.

[has.been]

Very interesting.  Too bad the Yanks got the short end of the stick...

You can console yourself Capt. The Rebs had more points. I dislike equal pointed games with sterile 'fair' scenery.
I do not think that has anything to do with actual warfare. OK there are a few (very few) times when it did happen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maldon/

Added to the points inequality, the Yanks were hit with bad luck in both games.
Game 1 James' leader & his unit retreated for two moves right at the start of the game. Put his attempt to reach Bloody Lane in grave doubt.
Game 2 Sam had (literally) a Blue on Blue incident.
Double ones thrown while attempting to activate a unit will cause problems . 

[CapnJim]

You can console yourself Capt. The Rebs had more points. I dislike equal pointed games with sterile 'fair' scenery.
I do not think that has anything to do with actual warfare. OK there are a few (very few) times when it did happen

Yeah, my gaming group doesn't like "equal points" games, either.  In fact, we don't do points-based games at all.  We like scenario -based games...

[has.been]

Yeah, my gaming group doesn't like "equal points" games, either.  In fact, we don't do points-based games at all.  We like scenario -based games...

Much like our group. Good fellows, one & all.