Here come the Rebs again!

By Wednesday I had my head back in the right place, had cobbled the rules back together based on the decisions I had made last summer (and apparently forgotten  despite rereading the blog posts!), and had the table reset. Once again the dice started rolling.

On the Yankee left a thin screen of cavalry was assaulted by two brigades of Rebels and quickly driven back with losses.

The scenario was the same as the aborted game.

The Union started with 8 regiments of infantry, 2 of cavalry and 4 batteries on table with another 4 regiments and 1 battery marching on. Their job was to prevent the Confederate forces from seizing the crossroad and town at the edge of the table. The game had a maximum length of 15 turns and lasted for 14 which took me about 3 hours of actual playing (not counting innumerable interruptions).

The Confederates deployed 20 regiments of infantry supported by 2 of cavalry and 6 batteries.

Both sides were organized into brigades of 4 infantry or 2 cavalry regiments.

An overview. For some reason the colours kept washing out in the overviews, apparently a side effect of me trying to improve the lighting to get sharper images. 

Rather than  trying to recall all the details, I will let the pictures show the rough progression and  summarize. On the Confederate right, the initial assault drove in the cavalry flank guard with little effort but they suffered a lot of casualties, primarily in their initial assault on the stone wall and while reforming under artillery fire. This included the loss of their leading Brigadier. 

Have you heard that the old Jacklex figures are available again ( https://www.jacklexminiatures.com/), That Jeb Stuart on the black is one. So now I'll need to order some Jacklex as well as some Historifigs to add to these armies!

The Federal centre was pounded by massed artillery then assaulted by superior numbers but fought fiercely .

Wheeling the two brigades  around the outside of the arc through a patch of woods was not going to work and so one brigade did its best to keep up the pressure while the other turned to attack the flank of the centre hill.

The Union left fell back and had a slight breather while the Confederates manoeuvred their two attacking brigades along the outside of the arc. 

In the centre, two waves of Confederate infantry headed for the hill while their artillery bombarded the Federal troops from the heights on the Confederate side. With the Reb attack coming in on two sides of the hill, the fighting was fierce and prolonged with heavy losses on both sides. Eventually the Union first brigade was driven back but without artillery support it was doubtful that the remaining infantry could push on to the objective before nightfall.

After fierce fighting the Union 1st Brigade gave way but they had caused heavy losses to the two leading enemy brigades and the Union third brigade was in position to dispute any farther advance. 

Belatedly the Reb General ordered his batteries to advance to support the attack more closely as he scanned the Federal line for a weak spot before committing his last reserve.

The right flank Union brigade had been spread in a thin arc across the road and up onto  a wooded ridge on the far right. While the Rebel cavalry skirmished with the defenders of the wooded ridge, the Rebel infantry slowly shifted their attack towards the road while the Federal commander, lacking any fresh reserves,  hastened to shift regiments to correct his oversight.

Here was the spot for the Confederate reserve to strike!

The weight of the Rebel reserves attacked up the main road bypassing the central hill and the Federal commander had to scramble to strengthen what had clearly become the weakest part of his line, right in front of the Rebel objective and main assault!

On the Confederate left, the cavalry moved forward to keep up the pressure but declined to mount up and charge. The weight of the eight attacking  Confederate infantry regiments fell on just three Union units but the gap was narrow and the  Rebel regiments had to take turns attacking. Slowly and stubbornly the Union line fell back but they did not break despite the loss of their Brigadier and their Division Commander. At last the carnage was too much and several Reb regiments broke and the rest halted at long range to shoot and could not be urged forward. With dusk setting in and the guns not yet up, the order was given to break off the attack and retire.

The Confederate cavalry followed up more slowly than the General would have preferred and stuck with skirmishing rather than mounting for a desperate charge.  

So it took 14 out of 15 turns to reach a decision and while the Union army was vulnerable to a sudden break during the last 3 turns and was incapable of any aggressive action, they managed to hold on long enough to blunt the Rebel attack giving them a win at the end of the day since they were not broken and still held the town and crossroad.  Perhaps the Reb cavalry should have mounted up and charged....

A hastily done one page Quick Reference sheet can be read here for those who are interested. The full rules will probably take 4-6 pages and hopefully get down at some point in the next 6 months.

The Rebel regiment's bases have now been marked to ease deployment and cleaning up. Little State or National battle flag inspired patches to ID the Brigade, located in one of 4 locations on the back of the base to indicate the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th regiment within the brigade. 
(Next time I'll think to scrape off the flocking before trying to paint on the back of the base!)