ACW Fire and Fury Union v Confederate

An ACW game at the club kindly set up by Richard. The scenario was based on fighting in the Wilderness with the Union attempting to prevent the Rebels crossing a ford in the river. The Union have a single brigade available at the start of the game while the Reb's have a brigade plus two artillery batteries: 

Union troops rush to reinforce their fellow soldiers. Hopefully the cavalry will move up quickly to initially block the Reb's then the infantry and artillery will form up to strengthen the position:

Things do not go according to plan though and the Union force is quite tardy moving up slowly:

As a result the Union forward brigade has to redeploy to contest the ford which has Reb cavalry thundering towards it:

Hurrah for the Union boys! 

The Union cavalry forms a dismounted screen while the rest of the force moves up:

A vast column of Reb infantry marches down the road towards the ford. The Reb cavalry have failed to press on across the ford so far:

Reb infantry cross the ford. Being in march column they are very vulnerable but they do have artillery support from both sides of the river in numbers:

The boys in blue consolidate their position and begin to push forward on the left:

The dismounted Union cavalry pour fire into the Reb infantry taking off bases and bringing them to a halt:

The Reb cavalry have crossed the ford and moved off to the left while another Reb infantry brigade is charged by a Union brigade moving through their skirmish screen of dismounted cavalry:

Despite the odds being hugely in their favour the Union men are repulsed and fall back through the cavalry and artillery:

However, the Union gun line is well placed and Zouaves move up in support. Over the course of this fight the Reb artillery has been whittling down the Union forces:

The Union cavalry screen falls back exposing the Reb infantry to cannister fire and fire from the Zouaves. It isn't as effective as hoped but still stops them in their tracks:

Meanwhile, concentrating on the fight by the ford, one Reb battery didn't notice a Union brigade 'sneaking' up on them! A quick charge and the Reb battery is wiped out turning the flank of the Reb's in the rocky ground:

The Reb cavalry get into the fight charging an infantry brigade supported by some cavalry:

Again the Union infantry are forced back. The Zouaves are suffering badly from artillery fire as well:

The situation is looking grim for the Reb's holding the rocky ground as they are threatened in two directions:

The Zouaves are broken by artillery fire but not before the Reb infantry who charged across the ford have been broken themselves. The ford is now strongly held with the Union artillery covering any attempt at crossing:

With this the game ends in a minor Union victory, preventing the Rebel column from crossing the ford and inflicting slightly greater losses on the enemy. Hurrah for the Union, down with the Reb's!

A great fun game, Fire and Fury are pretty much my favourite wargames rules and the ACW one of my most popular periods. The vast majority of the army was painted over 30 years ago and didn't play a game until very recently as the person who bought the Confederates moved away and I started playing in 15mm instead so it has been fantastic to get them on the table in a previous F&F game and a Longstreet game over the last few weeks. I'd thought about selling them before but couldn't be bothered so they survived to finally take to the table!

Of course I had to buy some more figures, amazingly you can still buy the Connoisseur range from Bicorne Miniatures and while the standard of the figures isn't by any means up to Perry or Wargames Foundry's more modern efforts they have a character and sense of movement that the newer designs don't really have. I did refurbish them a bit with new flags, slightly darker blue coats and a few small washes with black and brown where appropriate which really improved them. 

Hopefully the club will be doing a campaign in the winter and I'll be trying to get them on table for more adventures in the future!

Longstreet Campaign 1862 Game 2 Union v Confederate

Last August Dave and I played a couple of games for a Longstreet campaign and decided to return to it for game three, set in 1862. Fighting Joe Hooker (me) had his Division defending a crossroads while Stonewall Jackson (Dave) attacked it. Stonewall decided to mass all his force on the Union left isolating half the Union army immediately:

Most of the Union artillery is out of action, try to move to the left or try to advance and catch the Rebels in the flank later on? Neither option seemed likely to work but Hooker decides to live up to his name and advance them:

In support he sends forward an infantry brigade, attack is the best form of defence:

The Rebels maintain their advance:

They deploy a single brigade to face the Union attack on the right:

The Union units in the open throw up some hasty defences while things are starting to look grim for the brigade isolated in the woods:

The Union attack on the right is making good progress, so much so that the Zouaves from the crossroad join in:

Unsurprisingly the Union brigade in the wood is driven off:

The Union artillery on the right gets into action:

On the other flank the Rebels make slow progress:

Rebel artillery fire from the hill has been largely ineffective:

The artillery on the hill is becoming concerned about the Union troops flooding around their flank:

The situation looks grim for the Rebels in the cornfield:

Zouaves charge:

On the left the Rebels still have not managed to set up an attack:

Finally the Rebel Yell is heard! the Union troops are forced back from their defences:

They quickly return to the fight though:

Fire ripples along the Union line:

The Rebels prepare for one last charge:

The Reb's bravery is not enough to defeat the stubborn Union men though and the attack is thrown back breaking the Rebel army:

 

Good to get back to this campaign after a long break, an excellent game where initially I thought Dave would overwhelm my men quite quickly but gradually my own attack bore fruit and wore the Rebels down. The ACW is certainly one of my favourite periods and I'm beginning to appreciate the subtleties of Longstreet more with experience. As ever most of the figures used are true 'veterans' being around 35 years old and having fought many battles over those years!
 

Longstreet Campaign 1862 River Crossing Union v Confederate

The second game in Dave and I's Longstreet campaign set in 1862 was the 'River Crossing' scenario with Dave's Rebels attacking. Perhaps part of the Seven Day's battles with General Hooker's brigade attempting to hold the Rebels back while the Union evacuates its baggage train.

Hooker deploys his brigade to defend the four potential crossing points on the river. There are two objectives which the Rebels place in the cornfield and woods on the Union left. The stream adds a complication in that it won't be easy to redeploy units if the Rebels elect to attack a single crossing point:

It is immediately apparent that the Rebel plan is to overwhelm the Union forces on the left where the crossing is widest. Will they manage to cross before Hooker can send more men over to contest the crossing?

Rebel cavalry cross the river with strong infantry columns following up:

The Rebel cavalry dismount while the defenders open fire. Hooker rushes troops across the stream in support:

The Rebel cavalry get much the worst of the encounter in the field, they also prevent the following Rebel infantry from deploying properly. To increase the pressure the Rebels approach the other crossing in force:

With the Rebel cavalry largely dispersed their infantry charge across the field. Some Union troops have come up in support behind the field now though:

The Rebel charge is repulsed and casualties are strewn all over the field. The Rebels are also about to try to take the stone wall in front of the other crossing:

A mass Rebel charge sees them capture the stone wall and push the Union infantry almost out of the cornfield. They have taken heavy casualties though and the Union line has buckled but not broken:

The Union infantry are forced out of the cornfield but General Hooker has reserves ready to stabilise the line:

Co-ordinating fire and the bayonet Hooker recovers the cornfield and the Rebels break from their losses:

Another great game which, while it was not that close at the end, felt closer when the rebels stormed across the river! Dave's plan to attack in one place was interesting in that it immediately isolated half my force but it also resulted in his units getting in each other's way and blocked off his artillery support for much of the battle. 

I'd probably have attacked in two places or at least threatened to but I'm by no means sure that would have been a better option. We now have a second battle to play for 1862 and are continuing to enjoy the games greatly.

One other thing I'm trying to do is use as many of my varied 15mm ACW collection (built up over many years) as possible. The armies in the first game were mainly AB figures, in this one the figures were mainly inherited by me and I'm sure Mike who left them to me would have been happy to see them take the field again.

Finally here is a statue of our Hero, General 'Fighting Joe' Hooker:

and here is his very own entrance to the Massachusetts State Hall!