Antietam: Bloody Lane

 

On Saturday I hosted a game of American Civil War using the Pickett's Charge rules for Martin and Nick. 

We played the Bloody Lane scenario from the rule book as I've got pretty much all the figures I need to play this, although Nick also contributed some Union Generals and a battery of Union Artillery to the game. 

What follows is more of a photo-dump rather than a full report of the game.

The Union Generals struggled to get their troops moving in the early, with every Brigade Hesitant on turn one! In the early stages we looked to be heading to a solid Confederate victory as casualties racked up on the uncoordinated advance.

The Union troops finally seized the initiative and in the middle third of the battle Kimball, Meagher and Morris all had units in the lane and the Rebels were facing disaster. 

It was not to be though, the Confederacy took back the lane at bayonet point and in the last turn of the game the Union troops were back on their start line with three faltering brigades.

Martin has also added a report of the action on his blog.

Antietam: The Bloody Lane

 

Yesterday Martyn, Nick, Steve and myself met up at mine to play the Antietam: Attack on the Bloody Lane scenario for the Pickett's Charge rules.

Martyn and I played the Union attackers while Steve and Nick the Confederates.

We were using all my stuff so I was able to set up the table and sort out the two forces before everybody arrived.

We would be using the Fog of War rules for the first few turns so that table was not that photogenic with bits of paper all over it, the photos of the action are from when most of the troops were deployed.

Meagher's Irish Brigade are fast into the fray 

Rode's Brigade stands fast

Weber's brigade secure a foothold in the sunken lane

Union guns pound the defenders

Martyn and I placed Kimball's brigade in reserve on the right flank and attack with the remaining troops across the line.

Some spirited defensive fire from the Sesesh and abysmal Brigade Command rolls from the Union meant that the attack struggled to make headway, and the most opportunely deployed and miraculously good shotted Confederate battery on their left made short work of Kimball's flank attack with both Union brigades on that side in much disarray.

On our right, the Confederates were so confident they even started counter attacking us, but a spirited charge from the 81st Pennsylvania restored the situation.

Weber's brigade secured a foothold in the sunken lane at great cost to themselves and with Rode's veterans poised to push them out, we called a Confederate victory and went for a pint, or two, at the pub.

The Battle of Jenkins Turnpike, 1864

I've added a few new units to the American Civil War collection over the past few weeks so it was about time they saw some action.

This past Tuesday morning I hosted a game using the Pickett's Charge rules for Martyn using the collection. 

I was searching for some scenarios on line, but struggled to find anything, so just worked up a couple of one thousand point forces using the guide at the back of the rules. 

Martyn chose the Confederates and I took the Union.

The Confederates were off to a good start taking the initiative for several turns and preventing my Union forces from getting jump on them. Soon a mass of grey coated troops well screened by skirmishers were taking their toll on my line.

On my left my troops holding the elbow of the wall were forced back in disarray and the brigade commander on that side dithered for far too long and the Confederates were able to capitalize on this.

The calamity on my left was some what balanced on my right, the regiment of Zouaves supported by a unit of skirmishers on my right really held there own against the much greater number of Confederates supported by a screen of skirmishers. 

Eventually the, Union commanders were able to get their reserves into place and the line was steadied.

After about four hours play it was time to wrap up, although neither side had had any brigades broken, the Union forces had lost a battery and two regiments of foot while the Confederates had plenty of casualties spread across their units but has lost no units, we called a win for the Sesesh!