Confederate Disaster in the Shenandoah! Longstreet (7)

Game Seven was last night over at the Hobby Bunker.  As you know we had the walled farm scenario I won the roll and decided to defend (I had been the attacker last time we did this scenario).

Hear you can see my initial deployment the 47th Alabama(seasoned Vets) is on the left while the Shenandoah Militia (seasoned recruits) is on the right.  The 20th and 17th Georgia are behind the field poised to counter attack or shift to meet threats as are two batteries of artillery.  The 1st Texas was placed in the corner of the stone wall. The Palmetto with its Heavy Rifles is positioned between the walls and the woods on the left.  John placed woods and filed in of my position and there was a stream flowing from the right defenders corner to the woods to the right of the stone wall.

 John put is main effort on the right front of my position... That's two batteries of with a total of 6 Light Rifles coming my way.

 John's new figures look very snappy especially those Zouaves.

 That's a lot of Yankees coming my way....

John's 3 Heavy Rifles draw first blood wiping out the last of my original units the Texas Light Artillery is no more.

John is coming up on the Right and I am trying to get men into position the swamp you can just seem below is one John placed with a the poor survey card.

 I hit John with the local assistance a just as he was ready launch is attack...

 He stopped me with "couldn't hit an elephant" you can see on the right I am in a very bad position!

 John uses Fixed Bayonets and charges home with massive force I countered with "like a stone wall" and a huge melee breaks out! John earns 2 epic points I threw back 2 of the 3 attacks but the Shenandoah militia loses 5 stands! 4 in the combat an 1 when it hits the swamp.

 I try to form an improvised line but the 17th Georgia (right) has been struck with many artillery hits and is down to 3 stands. John has also cleverly used confusion to limber and move the Pulaski battery and on the following turn he charges again.  The battery is driven back though the 17th holds the 3rd Arkansas in the center is broken. John then falls back out of charge range... denying me an epic point with a counter charge. My Cavalry and the Louisiana Tigers arrive but its to little to late.

Several more volley are exchanged back and forth but I am losing men and my dice have been below average all night so John is not suffering nearly so much. In fact he gets some really good shots.

Like these 5 hits on  the 17th Georgia I took away 3 with the cards....

and the unit survived one of the hottest fires of the war! John pulls a head by in epic points with this win closing the gap I built last game. Hands down this was John's best game he played his army with skill and panache.  John finally had a full set of artillery and he used it well, he used his whole army well.  I Played a good game but not quite as good as John and his dice were a lot better than mine last night.

I lost 19 stands! John lost only handful about the same margin as last game only reversed. Great win John.

Further evolution of a Longstreet Army

John and I are poised to for our seventh game tomorrow the First of two battles set in 1864.  I now have Rank 5 which means I would rank with one of Lee's Corps commanders.  So I am assuming I hold a semi independent command covering the all important Shenandoah Valley (which historically belonged to Jubal Early).

My current army  is below and is still a formidable force, cavalry strength has fallen off but I have a powerful artillery corps.  I infantry is excellent though many of the units are quite small now.

Despite the elite quality of many of my units I have my work cut out for me.  Only one "Rebel Yell" card remains and while am even with John in Artillery he has quite a few "Yankee Guns" cards and he also has some other special Yankee cards that are coming into play. We will revisit the Walled Farm scenario.

John is bringing his own Union Army tomorrow he has been borrowing the one Cortland lent me.  You can check out my opposition here: Fuentes de Onoro

Mike's photos from Huazzah!

My Friend Mike who runs the awesome Hanghai Raiders and other Pulp adventures on a table made of amazing customized terrain.  Has Posted his Huzzah! album.

Mike runs a great game and Kids are always welcome you can check out his games at the Open Gaming Convention

35th Indiana

The 35th Indian was one of many Irish Regiments (it was also called the 1st Irish) that fought for the Union cause in the Civil War.

 They only have six stands so are a little small for a full Longstreet unit but I have 4 more stands with blue hats to get them up to 10 stands if needed

 The Green Kepi was regimental distinction and one of the reasons I painted this unit, one likes a break from Blue on Blue in ones Union army (or I do any way)

Our officer directing fire and the colors Green flags are one of those things most of the Irish regiments seem to have had at one point or another.

US Gliders win Resounding victory!

Blogging your games mean show casing you losses and man did I loose big to day facing Ted's Glider infantry from the 'Nuts' book.  I was running Strumkomponie from Gray Wolf.

 The Mission was Breakthrough I picked the corner with the buildings I deployed my infantry in s rough V with guns in the corner and infantry guns on the hill to my right. I had StuGs 2cm AA guns and 8.8 Guns coming in in reserve.

 We started almost on top of each-other (a knife fight in a phone booth as my friend AJ used to say) Ted actually assaulted my infantry on turn one but was driven back with fire.  I did manage to keep Ted's artillery and HMGs pinned for several turns.

 Ted's air strikes did a lot of damage in the game never more so than this attack that cost me three stands and pinned this unit as I was unable to un-pin the next turn I didn't reach the objectives.

Ted also hit me hard with direct fire from 105s I hate breakthrough guns.

Air strikes again Ted kills another of my guns.

Then the US support arrives with infantry and tank Ted hits me with a ton of MG fire killing 3 more stand and my infantry guns are also destroyed.

I have no choice but to concede I placed my initial troops badly and mismanaged my reserve troops. My dice were on the low side of average but if I had played well I could have over come then Ted out played me today.

Union and Confederate Artillery for Longstreet

Below are one Confederate howitzer and two Confederate Heavy Rifles as well as two Union Heavy Rifles.

 First up is the confederate mountain howitzer it suffers from short range but they do have good hitting power at both bombardment and canister range.

 I love this guys Yosemite Sam style hat..

And the suspenders. The gun is Stone Mountain and the figure is Essex

 This is a 30 Pounder Parrott rifle

 Being manhandled into position by two Essex figures

 Another 30 Pounder Parrott rifle only on man (an Essex figure) who I assume is moving the gun to adjust the aim.

 The figure in the back is Blue moon they don't scale too badly together

 Union 30 Pounder Parrott Rifle with an officer picking out a target in the distance

 The red pant stripes have come out better on these figures both CSA and USA.

A second Union 30 Pounder Parrott Rifle with a hard working sponger who is taking a quick break.

I went with a reddish brown shirt because the Red shirted Union artillery man is so common in paintings of the war even thought they don't seems to have been common historically.  I think this works as a compromise.

1st Battle of Ypres 1914 at Huzzah!(3)

My final game of the weekend (I had a wedding to attend Sunday) was a battle using Rich Clayton's (of Boston Trained Band) Cordite 1914 modifications to the Black Powder rules. Rich had a very cool concept he set up three games on the same table (one in each session on Saturday) the front lines of each game were determined by the results of the previous game.

The Allies have managed to just hold onto their side of the Canal and are counter attacking to gain space and keep the Huns form completely over running Belgium. 

The Germans are in position in side the village some barricading has taken place but neither side has dug-in at this point as officers on both sides are still thinking in terms or a Napoleonic victory.

I commanded the French troops occupying the front line my men were very stretched out limiting my Command and control some what.  

I was further hampered by very good shooting by the Germans on the first turn that pinned (disorder in regular Blackpower with the same effect) so my role became giving cover fire as other advanced in the initial turns.

Thus began one of the greatest cavalry action in the table top version of the Great War as a mixed force of French cavalry and British lancers dashed for the German lines!

The leading French unit was quickly pinned down but the British Lancers raced passed them the following turn.

One unit fell short of the artillery unit that was its target but the other charged home on the Heavy Machine gun unit beside the building.

On the left under cover of MG fire and rifle fire from French Chassures the Belgian infantry drives forward.

The Lancers took casualties but over ran the MGs and then swept forward over running the German Artillery.

German Hussars counter attacked driving the leading unit of British Lancers forward and French and British Infantry begin to follow the successful cavalry charge.

German infantry advancing the center is cut down by a withering cross fire of French Rifle and MG fire.

The second unit of British Lancers Drives off the German cavalry and then launches and attack of its own!

Sweeping around the building the strike a unit of infantry on the flank and drive them back...

Then sweep forward to catch German reinforcements in march column and break that unit.

The German advance in the center takes more casualties though the do stave off an attack by a unit Belgian cavalry. Despite this they are latter broken by fire form multiple units.

 German Cavalry sweeps in behind their English counterparts and forces a break-test but the Lancers pass the test by the barest of margins though the do have to flee.

 English and French infantry alike cheer as the emerge from the Village.  The Belgian locked in a life and death struggle on the left probably don't notice.

 Heavy Fire form multiple artillery pieces bring down the building (not really but I couldn't resit the image) destroying the infantry with in.  Return fire is too much for my French Marines who head back seeking cover I am able to rally them and get control.  The Germans advance an artillery piece and with time running out I see chance as I might be able to charge that gun with out suffering traversing fire. Time is running out an we need to secure as strong a position as possible for the next game.

I issue a Follow Me order to the Marines and order a charge of the guns I pass the command test and we race forward.  The gun lands 3 solid hits on my force and I am forced to roll a break test... I roll double 6s and pass the charge goes home! With Cries of en Avant and Vive! l'France we begin to bayonet the German artillery men but one of them manages to depress his gun and reload sending another round into my men! (the German got one hit but he made his save and I didn't) and my unit was broken.  Thus ended the battle Casualties were heavy on both sides but probably a little higher on the German side.  The allies did gain some ground on the right were British infantry advance in relatively safety behind the wild charge of the cavalry. The Belgians also gained a bridgehead on the left over the canal.  The village is still in German hands but they have not gained an advanced jumping off point for the next game (you got to take make the most of small victories in the Great War).