March to the Sea continued

We left off as the first skirmishing gave way to a more decisive clash between the Oberhilse volunteers and Faraway regulars. 

 As the Queen's infantry deployed,  General Scott decided to risk a quick charge by his volunteer cavalry while the Light Horse moved ahead to secure the road entrance to the pass leading to the harbor.  The Peipur Tigers responded by rolling 4" on 3 dice, even doubled for the charge that was no where near enough so they wheeled to face the Red infantry but the moment had passed and next turn they were ordered to support the light horse.

The volunteer riflemen did not have time (high enough movement roll technically) to occupy the building but they were able to get close enough to prevent anyone else from occupying it without a fight. The Lafayette Volunteers pressed forward and due to a series of card draws in their favour, were able to get off the first volley. 4 dice, 4 hits (45,6 with 6 being 2 hits), a heavy blow! The fusiliers were down a die before they could shoot. Undaunted, these veteran troops proceeded to roll up 5 hits on 3 dice! (6,6,4) as they returned fire. A short debate followed about weapon ranges resulting in a return to the original range bands but which did not affect this exchange as the units were within 6".

The Fusiliers followed up with a bayonet charge and the Brigadiers on both sides pitched in to steady their troops. When the dice cleared 1 more figure was down on each side but so was Brigadier Grey.  It was a tied melee but a crucial loss for Blue. The activation system allows a Brigadier to activate all of his units with 12" when his card is drawn OR 1 unit. With the Brigadier removed only 1 unit in the Brigade would be able to move or initiate combat each turn, the rest could only defend themselves by returning fire or reacting to a charge. At the moment this wasn't too bad as the General was close enough to fill in but it reduced his options and if he should be wounded.....

With the Dover regiment locked in melee the Royals fired at pointblank range and charged supported by the Victoria Rifles. The volunteer rifles had already taken casualties during several turns of skirmishing and now they broke under the storm of fire   and fled the table. The Royals pursued into the Newton Greys who put an unexpectedly tough fight, managing to hold the Royals for a turn before falling back. A second charge was required to finally rout them but in the meantime General Scott had galloped over to steady them in a desperate attempt to maintain a battleline. He in turn was shot down.

While the infantry fight raged, the opposing cavalry faced off, militia and irregular mounted rifles vs regulars and elites. The Republicans put up a bettet fight than expected but the 2nd charge by the Queen's cavalry routed both enemy units and their Brigadier and took control of the exit road.

While all this was  happening the remaing troops had entered and begun to deploy.  Now the leader casualties began to really hurt Oberhilse.  With no one to coordinate their movements the remnants of the volunteer brigade were blocking Zinn's men from engaging. As it was the Bangor regiment had barely time to deploy before the Lafeyette boys came streaming back in disorder, defeated but not  broken.

Things looked bleak but it turned out that with the tenacious veteran Brigadier Zinn and the Oberhilse Field Force on hand, the battle was far from over.

Next post: the concludion.