Chess game at Bentonville (ACW)

We are steadily whittling away at the list of scenarios for the BBB ACW project. One of the few left to do was Bentonville. This week we had our third playtest of Crispin's scenario for this battle.

The historical situation is this. By spring of 1865, Grant's Union army had been besieging Lee's Confederates in Petersburg for seven months. Meanwhile, Sherman had completed his March to the Sea through the Confederate south. Sherman then turned north to march through North Carolina towards Petersburg. Lee called on Johnston (commanding the Confederate Army of the South) to concentrate all the forces he could and drive Sherman back.

Sherman's army was advancing in two columns. Johnston saw an opportunity to defeat the left wing under Slocum while the enemy was divided. On 19 March he attacked, sending a couple of Union divisions reeling back in disarray. The Union line eventually stabilised and the Confederates fell back to their initial entrenchments.

Little fighting happened on 20 March. It was mostly spent in manoeuvre as Sherman brought up reinforcements to extend his line, while Johnston adjusted his own line in response.

On 21 March, Sherman launched a limited attack but did not commit to it enough to cut off the rebels' retreat. Johnston withdrew what was left of his army overnight, then surrendered a month later.

Crispin captured these three days' action in a 9-turn game with strategic redeployment in the two night intervals. Here's the battlefield map. Note the long wooded ravines that are major obstacles to movement.

The Confederate attack on Day 1 happens in the lower left quarter, where the white stars are Day 1 Objectives. On Day 2, US reinforcements arrive from the right, so the Confederates need to fall back. The shape of Day 3 depends on a die roll to determine variable objectives. Day 3 Objectives may be either the red stars (representing the Confederate blocking position) or the blue stars (the Confederate line of retreat).

We'd had a couple of playtests already to refine the scenario. This was the definitive one. Seven photos show how it went, followed by some Reflections.

This is the only pic of Day 1. In fairly historical fashion, the Confederates have poured forth from their entrenchments and are driving back the US XIV Cps line. US reinforcements will arrive to try to stabilise it. Unfortunately, things went poorly for the US here: not only were a couple of divisions battered and rendered unfit to fight for a day, but also the US cavalry was wiped out entirely. That meant the US would lack a valuable weapon to strike at the Confederate rear on Day 3.

Figures are Baccus 6mm. Troops and terrain all from Crispin's collection.

Day 2 dawns. The Confederates have pulled back and entrenched in a strong central position with their flanks covered by steep wooded ravines. US XV Cps has arrived on their left, to be followed by XVII Cps, but will not be able to close effectively with them on Day 2. Meanwhile, XIV Cps, still bruised from Day 1, is pushing up past the rebels' right flank (out of shot top of pic).

End of Day 2. No significant combat happened, only manoeuvring for position. Note the couple of small isolated Confederate cavalry units centre and upper right of pic, falling back to cover Bentonville and the Confederate line of retreat in case that turns out to be the objective, rather than the hill position and road junction in front of it (white counters).

Overnight, the dice decreed the blue stars in the Confederate rear were the Objectives. Consequently, here we see the Confederates starting Day 3 by pulling back from their entrenched position, leaving only a sacrificial rear guard. (Yep, failed movement roll.)

Fortunately for the Confederates, all my US right wing can do this turn is struggle across the ravine. Note one US division at right edge of pic that is supposed to march straight on Bentonville (the buildings top right). The terrain is likely to be more of an obstacle than those few Confederate cavalry. Top centre and centre of left edge, Dave's battered XIV Cps has been reinforced by XX Cps and is pressing the rebels' front and right rear.

The effort against the right rear comes to nothing (just out of shot top right), fended off by those rebel units upper right.. However, the retreating rebels are hard pressed, at risk of being caught in the open by superior US numbers.

Endgame. Dave's US left wing is stalled at top of pic. Out of shot to the right, my one-division march on Bentonville has been held up in another ravine. (Should have had them in column of march?) Centre of pic, a Confederate division is about to be smashed and the guns beyond it driven off, so that we capture the objective counter there. However, the US runs out of time before the Confederacy runs out of troops. End result: a narrow Confederate win. Well played, Crispin.

Reflections

The Chess Game. Crispin's scenario nicely captured the three different days. In particular, the chess game of manoeuvring for position - in the strategic redeployments, the jockeying on Day 2, and then the tactical moves to threaten or cover Bentonville - was really absorbing. So much better than a simple line-out punch-up dice-fest.

Variable Objectives. Our usual scenario formula is that all objectives are known from the start. I've only used variable objectives in a few scenarios, but they include some of my favourites: the Alma, Gettysburg, Königgrätz. In this Bentonville game, having some objectives unknown until halfway through the game introduced some realistic fog of war that made the chess game of manoeuvre extra interesting. I should use this kind of mechanism more often.

How Things Ramify. Only a fraction of the Union force is engaged on Turns 1-3. A few particularly good or bad dice or decisions here can really hurt either side and have knock-on effects that ripple through to the end of the game. That's good in that it means the game can be replayed multiple times and turn out dramatically differently. It does make it hard to evaluate the playtests though! (But we're happy with the shape of the scenario now.)

The draft scenario is available in the BBB io group files here.