Resaca - an inverted Gettysburg

The basic outlines of Gettysburg are familiar to many wargamers: in a three-day battle, ~70,000 Confederates attack an eventual 90,00+ US troops defending the famous 'fishhook'; an important cavalry action is fought a few miles to the flank at East Field; the defenders win both actions and the attackers withdraw.

Resaca is a battle of similar shape and size but far less famous. In a three-day battle on 13-15 May 1864, ~100,000 US troops attack ~70,000 Confederates defending a 'fishhook'; an important action is fought a few miles to the flank at Lay's Ferry; the defenders hold their fishhook but are forced back from Lay's Ferry; because of the resulting threat to their line of retreat, the defenders withdraw. (Fun fact: the town of Resaca was itself named after an earlier battle, Resaca de la Palma, fought in 1846 during the Mexican-American War.)

Why is Resaca so obscure by comparison? Well, whereas Gettysburg was pivotal, Resaca was really just a speed bump. It is the first major battle of Sherman's march on Atlanta. Given Sherman's numerical advantage, his march was inexorable and he was generally able to outflank successive Confederate positions and oblige his opponent to withdraw. Even if Johnston had fully repelled Sherman at Resaca, that would only have delayed the inevitable. Also, the casualties were only a fraction of those at Gettysburg (<5,000 a side at Resaca, vs >20,000 at G'burg), as Sherman's attacks were more of a pinning nature than pressed to the hilt - he knew the outflanking moves would swing it eventually.

On the face of it, this doesn't look like the most inspiring situation for a game. A scenario could all too easily degenerate into a one-dimensional exercise in frontally assaulting entrenchments. (See my essay on the conundrum of "Can frontally assaulting redoubts make a good game?"). So I incorporated two ingredients to make it tastier.

The first was to include an Objective that plausibly encourages the Confederate side to do as they did historically and launch attacks by Hood's corps, rather than just sitting tight and shooting. The second was to give both sides a pre-game decision about how many troops to commit to the off-table action at Lay's Ferry. Their decisions would then modify a single die roll at game end to see how many Objectives they gain or lose there.

With that, let's betake ourselves to the scene of the action and see how it went. Photo-drama is followed by some Reflections as usual. There are quite a lot of pics this time - about 20+ - but hopefully each of them has something interesting to say. NB - click on a pic to enlarge it.

Overview of the Resaca battlefield. It's not huge, only 6km x 4km. Righthand edge is north.

Red stars are Objectives, representing either the Confederates' defensive line or their line of communications. The blue star is a kind of highwater mark - if the Confederates attack and ever take that bridge, they earn an Objective. They need a total of 6 for a draw or 7+ for a win. The star top left is the special off-table end-of-game Objective(s) at Lay's Ferry.

Confederate formations are divisions of varying strength but generally a bit smaller than the US Corps formations facing them. Arrows indicate our Union plan. Dave T and I (the US players) chose to go all in at Lay's Ferry, so XV and XVI Cps went there instead of on table. Our main effort was by "Fighting Joe" Hooker's XX Corps on our right, supported by Palmer's XIV Cps, while Schofield's XXIII Cps demonstrated against the main Confederate position. Howard's IV Cps has no option but to march on and try to withstand Stevenson and Stewart's divisions (Hood's corps) attacking around the bridge.

You can see the resemblance to Gettysburg. The Confederate line forms a fishhook with the IV Cps bridge being where Gettysburg would be; 4-gun Battery fort standing in for Cemetery Hill; Stevenson advancing from our cognate of Culp's Hill; Bate and Cleburne's position serving as Cemetery Ridge; and Cantey and Loring defending the round tops. Our plan of attack is like Longstreet's urging "to the right, suh!". XXIII Cps's advance is more like Pickett's Charge.

Initial deployment of our Union left. Dave T commanded here. His lead division of IV Cps is about to march on, under Sherman's personal supervision, and encounter Hood's Cps. The 'fort' was a complex of earthworks rather than the brick edifice depicted here, but it looks good. The model is the 1/600 Coastal Fort from Peter Pig's ACW Riverine range.

Figures are 10mm Pendraken. Union from Dave T's collection; Confederates from Dave W's collection. (Dave W commanded the Confederate right.)

Initial deployment in the centre. Schofield's XXIII Cps (also under Dave T) looks very small compared with the three well dug-in Confederate divisions opposite.

Our weight on our right: Palmer in the woods, Hooker on the hill. Imagine how even more impressive this would look if XV and XVI Cps were on Bald Hill, to the right, rather than at Lay's Ferry. But that was a strategic choice - would it pay off?

The comely womenfolk of Resaca are out in their finery to watch the display. Those zouaves from Walker's division aren't really there - the Confederates have likewise gone all in at Lay's Ferry, so these are just a dummy unit that will get removed when US troops come within 6".

Not the start we wanted. In a couple of bruising rounds of fire, the well-manned Confederate line wipes out half of XXIII Corps and its artillery, leaving just a cloud of smoke where they were. Brown smoke shows Rebs now low on ammo, having shot down so many bluebellies. So much for our demonstration in the centre. (Pretty historical - in the actual battle, both XXIII and XIV Cps were brusquely rebuffed here early on.)

As expected, Hood's attack hits Howard as he arrives at the bridge.

I command our right against Crispin. My men are frustratingly slow to move out and deploy for the assault. The 'zouaves' left of pic are our one veteran unit (actually US Army regulars).

On our left, Hood's first onslaught pushes some of Howard's men back but does not take the bridge.

On our right, my men trudge laggardly across Camp Creek. For some reason they do not seem keen to storm rebel entrenchments ...

... until they do! Butterfield's division carries a line of works, driving back Cantey's newly-formed unit of garrison troops (green counter indicates they are raw and fragile). We turn an Objective counter blue. This too is fairly historical.

Next turn, Butterfield presses his advantage and smashes Cantey back with heavy losses. We have gained a good position south of Resaca, outflanking the main rebel position there. The column on the road top of pic is the first of several as the Confederates desperately rush troops down from their centre.

In the north, though, Hood has surpassed history, finally broken through and taken the bridge, hurting Howard's corps badly (though not without some pain of his own).

So ended the five turns of Day 1. Both sides were allowed to redeploy some troops overnight and prepared to fight the remaining four turns. 

Having done his job at the bridge, Hood pulled back so that more Confederate reinforcements could head south. Meanwhile, Howard and Schofield combined the remnants of their battered corps and prepared to attack the Four-Gun Battery fort and/or the ridge behind it.

At my end of the pitch, although some of my men were briefly obliged to withdraw out of rifle range overnight, next morning we promptly reimposed a ring of blue steel around Resaca, backed up by a grand battery on Bald Hill (left foreground). Left of pic, part of XIV Cps threatens the central hill so as to pin a Confederate division there.

My grand battery did grand execution. Crispin fed more Confederate veterans into the mincer. He dished some damage out as well: black smoke shows that Williams's Div (centre of pic) is now spent. My red-fezzed veterans, upper left, contemplated storming the earthworks in front of them but opted instead to shift left, hoping to get up on the Objective ridge (top left corner).

Dave T demonstrates in front of the fort while working round it towards the currently undefended ridge behind it, as the Confederate line has been stripped of troops to defend Resaca.

Penultimate turn on our right. The murderous firefight around Resaca continues. Williams (centre of pic) makes a desperate assault to cover Johnson's veteran US regulars climbing towards the Objective ridge (top left). Butterfield audaciously storms across the bridges lower right, hoping to get lucky. Both assaults bounce off. Confederate counter-assaults have been similarly unsuccessful.

Penultimate turn on our left. Dave T is poised to storm up and take the heights.

Final turn on our right: my veterans fail to move; Confederates retain the Objective here.

Final turn on our left: Dave W has got a Reb brigade across in the nick of time; only one of Dave T's US divisions moves; his assault fails here too.

At game end, the Confederates held 8 on-table objectives. The Lay's Ferry Objectives remained to be resolved. Both sides had committed maximum effort here, so there was no die roll modifier, it was a simple opposed roll. If we won that by 4+, we would gain 2 Objectives and earn a draw. As it was, we gained one and narrowly missed out. Victory to the Confederacy - this time, as emphatic as the Union's victory at Gettysburg!

Reflections

Good game, good game. As Dave T said, "A really good game that had options until the last move and went down to the last die rolls". I achieved my aim of making it more than a dull frontal assault. Both sides got to attack, all four players got to do significant maneuver and conduct assaults. The Night Interval redeployment helped (as it so often does); the Permanent Objective at the bridge worked. The game balance was close enough that all three results were still possible on the last turn. I think the US needs a little help, but just a couple of minor tweaks - don't want to overcompensate. After all, our Confederate opponents played well and deserved their victory.

Off-table action. I was particularly pleased with my Lay's Ferry rule. This was simple to implement (always important). It gave both sides an interesting choice to make pre-game, and it meant the outcome was still in the balance right to the end. It also adds replay value: as both sides have three levels of troop commitment to choose from, that gives nine possible permutations of force balance on the table, each of which could play out a little differently.

Getting the toys on the table. It's been a long time since either Dave T or Dave W used their 10mm ACW armies, so it was nice to dust them off. Dave T said it has actually inspired him to paint up some more now. That's good, as we have quite a few more ACW battles in prospect, so he will have more chances to deploy them.

Join us and try it! To that fraction of readers who are (a) in range of Yorkshire, (b) interested and (c) free that day: come along to the BBB Bash Day convention in Sheffield on Saturday 27 June and join in one or two of the participation games then. ACW will be represented by the battle of Pea Ridge. Full details here.

Come to BBB Bash Day 2026!

Treat yourself to a wonderful wargaming weekend in Sheffield: come to the BBB Bash Day on Saturday 27 June, then go to the fabulous Joy of Six show on Sunday 28 June!

The Bloody Big Battles "Bash Day" convention has established itself as a very special annual event. (See reports of previous ones here.) It is entirely about entertaining and engaging participation games. Like-minded wargamers come together to share the love of recreating big historical 19th-century battles in their entirety and fighting them to an exciting conclusion.

Joy of Six showcases 6mm figures and highlights the value of smaller scales for fighting big battles. There is always superb craftsmanship on display. BBB participation games have become a regular feature of JoS as well.

If you're interested in coming along to Bash Day, here are the details. If you let us know in advance which games you'd like to play, that will help us schedule them to fit you in. Please tell our local organiser, Tom Davis, at: kingofchainmail@googlemail.com

Location:

Crookes Social Club, Mulehouse Road, S10 1TD, Crookes, Sheffield.

 

Timing:

Saturday 27 June 2026

GM access from ~08:30

Player access from 10:00

Kick-off ~10:30.

Endex ~17:00 (can go later if we want).

 

Travel:

Lots of local parking available.

Also on a main bus route.

 

Food:

Tom will lay on a picnic, accommodating various dietary needs.

CSC has a full bar that opens around midday.

Lots of cafes and eateries 5 minutes away on Crookes High St.

We will plan post-battle drinks/meal for those interested.

 

Games:

There will be a mix of classic favourite wars/battles and less well known ones, including:

- Napoleonic

- Hungarian War of Independence 1848

- First Schleswig-Holstein War (Isted)

- Crimean War

- American Civil War

- Franco-Prussian War

- WWI (Mons)

The larger games will be played once over a leisurely 6 hours or so (including lunchbreak);

smaller ones will be played twice, so some players will be able to get two different games in;

if you can only attend for part of the day, don't worry, come along anyway and we will include you.

 

Cost:

We will charge £10 to cover the venue and the picnic rations.

 

Sponsors:

Our good friends at Pendraken have generously offered to sponsor Bash Day by donating some figures or discount vouchers, which we will pass on to deserving participants. Pendraken 10mm is another excellent small scale for big battles. Start your new 10mm army today!

Eritrean escapade: Keren (1941)

Alongside the 19th century, WWII is my other favourite period to wargame. This is because, for reasons to do with technology and geometry, they generate more (and more interesting) tabletop decisions than other periods. I was therefore perfectly happy when, as a change from our usual C19 games, Crispin brought out his game of the battle of Keren.

In 1941, Keren was the scene of the decisive action in the British campaign to conquer the Italian colonial province of Eritrea. Keren was a formidable position on a mountain ridge, barring the pass that led to the port of Massawa. There were really two battles. The first lasted from 3-12 February 1941 and saw two brigades of 4th Indian Division fail to break through in the face of tough Italian defence and vigorous counterattacks. After a pause, 5th Indian Division was brought up as well. The new assault lasted from 15-27 March. After further hard fighting, the Italian line cracked. The Italians retreated to Massawa but lost many taken prisoner. Massawa held out for another week or so before surrendering.

This scenario only covers the first battle. No doubt Crispin will give us the second in due course. The rules we used are Crispin's own adaptation of BBB for WWII. We had a previous go with these when we fought the prequel to Keren, Gallabat-Metemma (see brief report here). I'll save my thoughts on rules for the Reflections at the end of this post. Meanwhile, here's the story in 15 photos.

This shows most of the battlefield from behind the British left. Those daunting mountains were custom carved by Crispin. They extend a little further left and right of pic. Blue and white lines are the road and river running through the pass. Pinkish line is the first contour level of the mountains. That's right, they're four levels high.

Troops in the foreground are three battalions of 11th Brigade, 4th Indian Division. Each base is 100 men. Figures are Baccus 6mm from Crispin's collection.

Italians defend the mountains, top of pic. White counters mark Objectives. Figures are Irregular 6mm from Crispin's collection.

The Italian defences are a tough nut to crack. Luckily, the British brought lots of 25 lb hammers. This is just half of our eventual 8-model gun line.

Italian askaris in their red fezzes defend Fort Dologorodoc, commanding the pass.

Outside the dusty town of Keren, the Italian mobile reserve waits for Dave W to give it orders to move. The CV3/33 tankette evidently expects to retreat when the cavalry advance.

Matt took command of 11th Bde. I provided fire support while I waited for my command to arrive on table. Matt's troops struggled up the steep hills in the teeth of deadly fire from Crispin's Italians. Not much progress was made on the first 'day'. (The scenario represents this 10-day battle in 9 game turns, with two 'Night Intervals' after turns 4 and 7.) Here you can see Matt's initial three battalions clinging to the lower slopes of the mountain, with a fourth in the foreground that has arrived overnight.

Day 2: the Indian right wing, my 5th Brigade, deploys in the foreground to try and seize those two Objectives top centre and right. Dave T brings more Italians marching onto the mountaintops to oppose me. 

Having learned from Matt's painful experience on our left, our right wing starts to scale the mountainside, trying to avoid massed enemy fire.

Back on our left, one battalion from Matt's 11th Brigade has reached the summit on the enemy's right flank (left edge of pic). Two others are still pushing up the hillside to join it. The Italians wait in their green-chalked trenches. Note the small 3-base column with the blue counter at the base of the hill: that was Matt's lead battalion, 2nd Cameron Highlanders, that had 4 bases blown away when it crested the narrow ridge in front of the Italian position. But it will rally and do great things later.

Mirroring Matt's outlanking move on our left, here my 5th Bde is doing the same on our right. My men have taken one Objective (lower right) and are eyeing the next (centre of pic). The 25-pounders have started to take their toll on the Askaris (yellow and blue counters show one unit Disrupted and Spent).

The Italians respond to Matt's left-flanking move by pulling back to refuse their flank. Their fire is pinning down the Rajputs.

Things are getting harder on our right as well. Italian reinforcements are being rushed up, including a couple of battalions of Savoia Grenadiers (the larger 5-base units in upper half of pic). My Indians are taking casualties and bogging down.

Desperate fighting on Matt's side. He has taken the Objective top left, but his Rajputs are now Disrupted, Spent, Low on Ammo, and heavily outnumbered (more Italians rushed up here too.) On the plus side, his Camerons have recovered some of their strength overnight and are getting ready to return to the fray (lower right).

Back to my end of the table. All Italian attention here has been drawn off towards the intense firefight at the righthand end, where we have taken a second Objective (the peak upper centre). Our final reinforcement therefore arrives at the perfect time: 5th Mahratta LI (lower left) sneaks up on Fort Dolgorodoc.

With fire support from the 25-lbers (now massing 80 guns), the Mahrattas' advance causes the Askaris to desert the Fort. The Italians have no reserves close enough to reoccupy it. The only question is whether the Mahrattas can get a good enough movement roll to capture it on the last turn ...

... and they do! The hapless tankettes can do nothing about it. Our right wing has therefore taken 3 Objectives.

Punjabis bolster the Rajputs. This Objective remains contested at nightfall. Out of shot to the right, the Camerons managed to seize another vacant ridge Objective (the one on the opposite side of the pass to Fort Dolgorodoc). That made a total of 4 Objectives, enough for the Indians to claim victory, somewhat to my surprise given how hard it was for us initially.

Reflections

A Different Vibe. As soon as I saw the arid, dusty-brown table with its towering mountains (by 6mm standards), I was already transported elsewhere. Eritrea? Askaris? Rajputs and Mahrattas? All very exotic and unusual (to me, anyway). Add in Crispin's rule tweaks to accommodate WWII weaponry and tactics, and I was definitely in a different place from my usual Monday night. Great stuff.

Eternal Verities. For all its exotic and esoteric and different features, the underlying principles remained: use cover, seek flanks, concentrate firepower, maintain a reserve ... and so too did the underlying BBB rule mechanisms that help to embody those principles on the tabletop.

Speaking of Rules. I admit I was a little sceptical about adapting BBB for WWII. I've seen several different approaches (including one of my own) and I'm not 100% sold on any of them. But I think for this scenario at least, Crispin's subtle tweaks produced the right effect: while it was hard for our Indians to attack up a mountain against automatic weapons, it was not impossible once we brought artillery and the right tactics to bear; and by the end the Indian troops' superior quality was starting to tell, as the fragile Italian numbers crumbled away. Well done, ref!

Crispin's scenario is available from the files of the BBB io group here (you have to join the group to get access).

Second go at 2nd Bull Run

Almost exactly a year ago, we fought the American Civil War battle of Second Bull Run. Since then, Matt has tweaked the scenario repeatedly and done a few dry runs until he was ready to run it for us again. This week was the week.

No time for an in-depth report (nor for labelled pics like last week), but the game deserves to be recorded, so here are some captioned photos and then brief Reflections.

I commanded the Union left, Porter's V Corps, seen here on parade before the game. Figures are Adler 6mm, I think (now produced by Heroics & Ros), from Matt's collection. Beautiful custom terrain also handcrafted by Matt. (Still not quite finished but looking great already.)

Likewise a lot of Rebels form up on Stony Ridge before being deployed for the game.

A scan of most of the battlefield. Union will deploy in roughly the bottom two thirds, Rebels in the top third. Flags mark the objectives: Henry Hill bottom centre; Chinn Ridge centre of pic; Groveton to its upper right; Stuart's Hill top centre; Stony Ridge top right; and two stretches of the unfinished railroad in front of Stony Ridge. Three more are out of shot: Sudley Springs Ford (off right centre edge); Mount Pone (just  off lower left edge); and Dawkins Branch Ford (just about visible upper left edge). The Union needs to own 3 or 4 of these at game end for a draw or 5+ for a win. The Dawkins Branch Ford only counts if the Union takes it on Day 1. (This is a 2-day game, 5 turns per day).

Initial deployment. The Union is required to deploy at least one division in Groveton; another two can be there or on the nearby hills. The Confederates have six units they can deploy either in the unfinished railroad, on Stony Ridge, or at Brawner's Farm (top left). Note the three Confederate artillery units on the lefthand end of Stony Ridge. That's 72 guns (24 per base). Infantry and cavalry are 1,000 men per base.

My force arrived on Turn 2. Morell and Buford advance up the left table edge and espy JEB Stuart leading Robertson's cavalry to scout the Dawkins Branch Ford. (Dave W was my Confederate opponent on this flank.)

My other division, Sykes, fans out cautiously in front of Mount Pone. (Bad movement roll.) The gaudy zouave uniforms alert players to the fact that this unit is that rare thing, Aggressive Veterans. Unfortunately all of V Corps is Passive so does not advance as swiftly as I'd have liked.

In our centre, commanded by Nick O, the execution starts early, as the Confederate artillery knocks the first base off the Pennsylvania Reserves. This was an unfortunate choice of deployment, as their muskets were too short-ranged to reply to the enemy, whereas all Nick's other divisions had rifles and could have responded, had they been chosen to garrison Groveton instead.

Dave T commanded our right wing, a mix of III and IX Corps units, facing Will on the Confederate left. Our plan, such as it was, was to get stuck in here early. Here we see three of Dave's divisions advancing to assault the unfinished railroad. Unfortunately (I seem to be saying "unfortunately" a lot) Dave had overlooked the fact that Confederate artillery and cavalry was scheduled to arrive where it could enfilade his assaulting line (bottom right of pic).

Nevertheless, the Confederate line is breached! Three Confederate units are sent reeling back. A few Rebs cling on at each end, though, denying us outright possession of either railroad sector.

This is Turn 4, looking at the Union left. My advance has been so tardy that Morell (lower left) has not moved again. Sykes (centre of pic, astride the railroad) has at least arrived in a position in the woods from which he can enfilade the Confederates who now hold the Ford in force. Unfortunately (that word again) we only have one more turn to take the Ford and claim the objective there. Meanwhile: send more troops! The long columns of McDowell's Army of Virginia snake up the roads (right centre) to reinforce our centre.

And our centre does need reinforcing, as Crispin's Confederate grand battery continues to pound us. Dave T's men hunker down in the left railroad sector and await the inevitable counterattack.

Likewise in the right railroad sector. At least Dave has managed to refuse his flank and stop being enfiladed, but not before his righthand division became Spent.

Back to our left, and time has run out. We won't be taking Dawkins Branch Ford today.

More Union guns rumble up to join the line around Groveton. More reserves wait behind the village. Black hats and white spats - yes, it's the Iron Brigade.

The view from Stony Ridge, behind that increasingly grand battery - now up to 120 guns - as it paves the way for those two big 6-base Confederate units (upper right) assault Groveton.

Looking north from the south table edge across Dawkins Branch Ford. Night has fallen and left a big empty space where my V Corps troops were. That's right, reflecting Union command confusion during the battle, V Corps has to withdraw overnight and reenter on Turn 6.

Now looking east from behind the Rebel centre. Day 2 has commenced. The departure of V Corps means McDowell's men find themselves a little embarrassed in front of these large powerful rebel units in the foreground.

At the other end of the pitch, now looking south. The Rebels in the foreground have driven Dave T out of the railroad cuttings and are trying to roll up our right flank.

Sykes's red-fezzed zouaves return to the fray to shore up McDowell. Miraculously we hang on here.

Similar guts and determination on display in Groveton, where the Iron Brigade shrugs off the grand battery's attentions and repulses the Confederate assault.

Looking right from our centre, the rolling-up of our right flank continues but we haven't collapsed yet.

Unusually, we couldn't fight this to conclusion but had to stop with two turns to go. Fair to say the Union wasn't going to win this win, but also a decent chance that we weren't going to lose either. Regardless of the result, a good game with lots of hard pounding and plenty of whoops of delight or cries of dismay as applicable.

Reflections

Multiplayer Mayhem. We had three players a side in this one. One consequence was that at my end of the table I had little clue what was going on at the other end. Another consequence, perhaps, was that our Union effort wasn't as clearly planned and executed as it might have been. Not that it matters, or not in a bad way, anyway - if anything, it probably accurately recreated the actual Union confusion and lack of coordination.

Simplicity is a Virtue. As mentioned, this scenario has gone through a few iterations of tweaking. In particular, Matt and I discussed the victory conditions at some length, trying to find appropriate ways to encourage the historical Union Day 1 aggression. Some of our ideas were quite intricate. What Matt has settled on now is simple and elegant and produced a pretty historical result without any "straitjacketing".