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".

AAA - absolutely awesome Albuera

Our final playtest of Mark's scenario for Albuera was an absolute cracker.

This famous Peninsular War battle will be one of those in the forthcoming BBB scenario book. I reported on a previous playtest last year, so I won't repeat the background here. Let's launch straight into the photo-AAR. It's a lavish one this time - 13 photos, all lovingly marked up with unit names, troop movements, etc.

Overview of the battlefield before the French deploy, looking east. The allied position is centred on the village of Albuera. Hamilton and Stewart on the allied left may not move until Turn 4 (so long as French are within 6" of the northern bridge) to reflect the French pinning attack. That leaves only the Spanish on the right, plus reinforcements arriving from the left rear, to react initially to the French flank attack.

The dark strips are not tarmac roads but represent the slopes of long ridges between the streams ('Level 1 contour' in BBB terms). The polystyrene hills are Level 2. This '2.5D' approach is a useful method to represent complex hilly terrain.

Stars mark the five objective locations: Albuera village; the southern bridge in front of it; the eastern and western hilltops on the allied right flank; and the road that is the allied line of communications and retreat. Each of these is worth 1 Victory Point. The French also earn 1 VP if any British infantry unit is spent or destroyed (i.e., if the allied players repeat Beresford's embarrassment). French need 3 VP to draw or 4+ to win. It's an 8-turn game.

All figures are Baccus 6mm from Mark's collection. Terrain is Mark's as well. Troop scale in this game is 600 men or 12 guns per base.

I commanded the British and Portuguese, facing Crispin on the French right. Dave W was my Spanish ally vs Dave T on the French left.

The French right advances to pin the allies on Turn 1.

The French flank marching columns approach. The fragile Spanish cavalry tried to charge that column on the hill, bottom right, but evaporated at the first rattle of musketry.

On Turn 2, Godinot seizes the bridge objective and dares the Spanish to attack him ...

... while the flank marchers deploy to attack. Zayas (the only allied general represented in this scenario) rushes his two brigades to defend the hilltop objectives and protect the allied right flank. My heart was in my mouth as Zayas's advance seemed to leave his mean dangerously isolated and exposed.

They were duly subjected to massed French assaults on Turn 3.

Miraculously they not only both survived but, thanks to some outrageous dice, held onto the west hill and inflicted serious losses on Girard's division. 

Then it was our turn to attack. Dave committed Ballesteros's brigade to try to retake the east hill, while I attacked Godinot at the bridge. Cole's Portuguese (mislabelled here as Hamilton's), backed up by the dangerous British cavalry (green cube = Aggressive), kicked Godinot back behind the Rio de la Albuera. However, to retake the bridge objective we would need to hold the other end of it as well; and to do that, we would need help from Hamilton and Stewart on the allied left wing, still pinned until Turn 4.

Another bout of heroic dice saw Ballesteros wipe out a regiment of French shock cavalry, then hurtle on to smash Werle's infantry of the east hill as well. Glorious!

Dave T was not to be gainsaid. He rallied his men and flung them back into twin attacks on the two hills. Both his attacks succeeded this time.

Cole's small British brigade has arrived to stiffen the Spanish. The orange counter denotes 'Devastating Volleys'. Thus reinforced, Dave W may have a chance of retaking the west hill. However, we can't afford to get Cole's unit wiped out and give the French a VP.

Our left has been slow to wake up. Ideally, it should roll up the French right flank and retake the bridge objective, but this is Turn 5 already (maybe even T6? not sure) and not one brigade has crossed the river. Also, French pressure on our right means we need to send some troops in that direction too. But Godinot has lost half his division and can only pray that the allies run out of time before he runs out of men.

In the next couple of turns there was major action on the allied right that I didn't get any pics of, so my caption to the next photo will have to explain.

Change of angle for the final position: this is the view from behind the French left, where there has been hot fighting around the west hill. First, D'España and Cole combined to counterattack and retake it. Then a third French assault booted them off. Cole failed to recover from his disorder but the British cavalry moved up to support him. Just as well, as on the next turn Cole was attacked again, this time also by French cavalry that had worked around his right flank. He survived, but only because we sacrificed our cavalry to save him. The French then rode down a couple of our batteries as well.

Stewart turned up in time to restore the situation. Cole sheltered behind him. Zayas actually stormed the hill again! But was pincered from both flanks and wiped out, so the hill changed hands for a fifth and last time. Girard was left in possession.

On this flank, then, The French earned 2 VP for the hills but we had protected the LOC.

Over on the French right, I had four units that could potentially hit Godinot's beleaguered and diminished remaining brigade. Unfortunately, only the smallest two of them obliged me by moving to attack. Although we still had a significant numerical advantage, having to cross the river and the bridge made it an even fight, which we lost.

Godinot was left in possession of the third VP, making the end result a draw.

This was a really gripping game, tense throughout and in the balance right to the end. Had we taken the bridge, it would have been an allied win; had Cole's brigade been destroyed (as so nearly happened), victory would have gone to the French. All four of us players felt we had a tough challenge, which is as it should be. An excellent evening and a great game.

Reflections

Annotation - too much work! I hope the annotated photos help to explain the situation and tell the story in a clear and colourful way. It's taken me hours to do, though, so I doubt I'll do it again. Its main virtue is of course that it has enabled me to spend a whole evening avoiding doing more important things.

Dislocated and overwhelmed. The first few turns were very stressful for us allies. As most of my troops were pinned, all I could do was watch as the French flank attack dislocated our line and put pressure on Dave's few Spanish. Mark's scenario captures the shape of the battle really nicely, while still giving both sides enough options that we were not straitjacketed into following a script.

Ebb and flow. This game was nothing if not dramatic. The repeated assaults and counterassaults on our right flank saw some epic moments. When one objective changes hands five times and another one falls three times, you know you've been in a fight.

Awesome is good enough. The purpose of these playtests is to refine and polish scenarios to the point where we are happy to publish them for other players' enjoyment. That refining and polishing could go on for ever, there's always another tweak we could try - should we adjust the pinning conditions? Should we add another objective location? Change the French deployment a bit? - but it has produced some excellent games and there comes a point where you have to say "By God, sir, that will do".

Still hoping to get the BBB Peninsular War scenario book published by mid-year. Follow this blog or watch the SkirmishCampaigns website to be alerted when it arrives!

Alexander the not-so-Great at Debrecen

I think I've only written three scenarios in the last three years. They were all ACW and quite challenging to write, being complex higher-level operational games. I've been trying to get my scenario-writing mojo back and finally managed it (I hope). It turned out that nobody else had a game ready for this week and I had three days to come up with something, so I did.

The battle I chose is one that has been on my to-do list and knocking around in the back of my head for a while: Debrecen. It's from the Hungarian War of Independence, which was a big focus for me while we were preparing the scenario book we published in 2022, but which I haven't played a lot since then.

Fighting through the tall maize outside Debrecen.

The reason this battle didn't make it into the scenario book is that it was very one-sided. General József Nagysándor (whose surname literally means "Alexander the Great"), commanding the Hungarian 1st Corps, was tasked with delaying the Russian advance while the rest of General Görgei's Hungarian army was escaping southwards. The approaching Russian army under Marshal Paskevich outnumbered 1st Corps by about five to one. Nagysándor unwisely stood to fight rather longer than was prudent, so his force was overwhelmed and routed.

Nevertheless, fighting withdrawals are fundamentally interesting situations and I was intrigued to explore whether it could have gone better for the Hungarians. I put together a scenario and Dave T and I fought it out. Here's how it went in 11 photos, with some reflections at the end.

The battlefield is a compact one - only 36"x36". We're looking east towards the city of Debrecen, which is just off the top edge. The Russians march on from the bottom edge. They have to cross a big stretch of maize fields. The maize at this time of year was taller than a mounted cavalryman, a serious obstacle, so it is treated as woods. The Hungarian defensive line is behind a stream, along some low hills and vineyards on the outskirts of the city.

It's an 8-turn game. The four red counters are Objective locations. The Hungarians earn 1 VP at the end of Turn 6, and Turn 7, and Turn 8, if they hold at least 2 of those Objectives. They also earn 1 VP if at least two Russian inf or cav units are Spent or destroyed; 1 VP for getting half their artillery away; and 1 VP for getting half their inf/cav units away. They need 4 VP to draw or 5+ to win.

First big decision for the Hungarians is whether to post some troops forward in the maize to delay the Russians. Dave opted to deploy one of his infantry brigades and a battery there, as well as his cavalry.

Here come the Russians! This is Turn 2. On Turn 1, a cavalry division moved on, which has scouted the far edge of the maize (top right), obliging Dave to reveal all his troops behind the stream (they start the game hidden). Now two infantry regiments move towards the Hungarian advance guard while another two race up the road in march column.

Dave responds by attacking my lead regiment's march column in front and flank! No serious harm done - I was lucky - but the column was pushed back in disorder and delayed.

Figures are Baccus 6mm. The Hungarians are mostly proxied from the ACW range. The "Russians" today are actually my 1870 Prussians. At least they have spiked helmets and iron cross flags, so they look near enough like Russians.

Turn 3. All my four infantry regiments have shaken out into assault formations. They've driven the Hungarian speed bump back but are still struggling to get through the maize. Meanwhile, 96 guns are rumbling up the road, hoping to deploy a gun line to blast our way to Debrecen.

Unfortunately, deploying that gun line isn't straightforward. Dave's own guns blew some of mine away, then two of his brigades boldly charged. My cannister didn't deter the Hungarians and most of my guns were taken or forced to fall back.

So I brought another four regiments on! The Hungarians were now outnumbered 3:1. This is the view from the Hungarian side as their right is about to be enveloped and overwhelmed by the torrent of Russians. Nagysándor is in the foreground regretting his decision to stand and fight.

All quiet on the Hungarian left, though. Dave has chosen to hide his raw scythe-armed national guards here, which is enough to deter my cavalry (top left).

Russians are flooding across the stream and over the Hungarian right and centre now. We've just taken the hill objective, but Dave still earns the VP for holding 2+ at end of Turn 6.

Turn 7, looking across from the Russian left now. Russian cavalry have taken one road exit; Russian infantry try to capture the Hatvan Street vineyard but can't do it on Turn 7 - another VP for Dave.

Turn 8, the vineyard falls, so no Turn 8 VP. However, the Hungarians do manage to get half their troops and artillery away for 2 more VP, as a sole horse artillery battery covers their retreat.

Sum total: 4 VP, making it an honourable draw.

Reflections

The fun of one-to-one. Dave T has been a bit occasional in recent years because of his work, but happily is now a regular attender again. He's a good bloke and we've missed him, so it was good to have a game with just the two of us. Also it was just a nice change from our usual more hectic multi-player games.

The fun of Hungary 1848. This is such a characterful war, full of incident and interest. That maize field alone made this a distinctive action to fight on the tabletop. And how many 19th-century battles feature scythemen? 

More research needed. Because of time pressure, I created the scenario from just two resources (Ramming and Rüstow). I know there is more detail to be had from two others (Bánlaky and Hermann). What I produced was great as a game but I'm sure it is imperfect as a historical recreation, so I'll go over it again at more leisure.

Got my mojo back! It was great to have a tight deadline and motivation to produce a scenario quickly, and I was very pleased with the result. I need to knuckle down and create a couple more particular ACW scenarios that I've been postponing for ages. Having bashed out this one should help me get on with those as well.

This draft scenario (with all its historical imperfections) is available from the BBB io group files here.

The "Bloody Big Hungary '48 Battles!" scenario book is now available in pdf format from SkirmishCampaigns here.

ACW: Pea Ridge

Possibly the first historical ACW battle I ever wargamed was Pea Ridge, the biggest battle of the war west of the Mississippi, fought in Arkansas in 1862. In a nutshell (pea-pod?), Confederate General Earl Van Dorn launched an audacious attack with his Army of the West against the rear of Samuel Curtis's Union Army of the South West, encamped on the escarpment above Little Sugar Creek; in a two-day battle, the Union counterattacked and drove the tired, hungry and poorly-led Confederates from the field; Van Dorn's battered force was subsequently transferred east of the Mississippi.

On that occasion all those years ago, we were not using miniatures but playing the SPI boardgame. [update: actually on reflection I think it must have been the preceding battle in the west, Wilson's Creek, that appeared in Strategy & Tactics magazine #80.] Now at last I have fought it with figures. This was Crispin's latest creation as part of our project to design scenarios for all the major battles of the American Civil War. Both the scenario and his custom battlemat were beautifully crafted. They produced a wonderfully tense and absorbing game.

Ten photos briefly recount the action. Some reflections follow.

I thought this was a particularly lovely battlefield with all its colourful patches of woods. White lines are roads and tracks. The seven victory locations are marked with red stars. (The US gets to move its camp during the game.) The Confederates need to hold only 2 for a draw and 3 for a win at game end, so although the Rebs need to move initially and seize a few, they can then go on the defensive, as the onus will be on the Union to take them back.

Two of the four US divisions start on-table, top centre of pic. The other two march on from the top edge halfway through. The two Confederate columns under Price and McCulloch march on via the two roads on the bottom edge on Turns 1 & 2.

The pink counters on some of McCulloch's units indicate that half his force is Fragile. Furthermore, most of the Confederate troops are rated Raw, whereas the Union is all Trained. 

 This quality advantage will tell.

I was Price, facing Mark; Phil was McCulloch, facing Dave W. Crispin GM'd. All the figures are Baccus 6mm from Crispin's collection.

Price's column seizes Elkhorn Tavern and pushes up the track through the woods to the left of it. Mark's Union columns are visible in the distance. Our main advantage was plentiful artillery, so my basic plan was to park my guns on the objectives and dare the Union to brave the cannister.

On our right, McCulloch occupies the line of woods in front of Foster's Farm. Unfortunately, he's done so with dismounted cavalry who only have short-ranged weapons, as indicated by purple counters. These are going to be outranged and outgunned by Dave's riflemen and artillery. Phil and I had talked about using our more numerous cavalry to get around flanks and pin the enemy that way, rather than stand-up fights. Oh well. At least there's one Confederate cavalry unit following that plan, upper left. This is Albert Pike's brigade of Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee Indians.

As well as establishing guns on two objectives, I wanted to set up a line in front of them to disrupt and delay the Union advance. It wasn't easy in the difficult wooded country, but Mark's troops weren't moving as fast as he'd have liked them to either. Top left you can see my only 2-base cavalry unit trying to pester the Union flank. They managed to distract the opposing Union cavalry for most of the game.

Over on our right wing, Phil's line looks solid now - everyone has moved up, his guns have deployed, and his Injuns have descended on Osterhaus's 1st Brigade and pushed it back Disrupted (yellow counter).

Unfortunately, Dave's guns are on line too, and his mass of infantry is about to scare off the Indians and smash into Phil's left wing.

With my forward line having obliged Mark to deploy, and my sharpshooters having driven back his guns, it was time for me to fall back on my main line of resistance. Getting that battery up onto Big Mountain on my right was important to protect my right flank. That infantry unit by it will climb the mountain as well next turn.

This was a real game of chess in the woods. Understandably, Mark didn't want to take on that formidable gun line directly. One large brigade is out of shot to the right, trying to clear me off Big Mountain. He launches an assault through the trees between my battery positions. That US unit with a green counter is armed with deadly breechloaders. That firepower hurts and they will push my infantry back, but my line holds.

Interesting things happening in the centre. Look towards the top left and you will see the remnants of Pike's brigade. His Indians have rallied from their initial rout and snuck through the gap in the Union lines, hoping to find plunder and scalps (and Objectives) at Pratt's Store and the Union camp. Mark has been obliged to divert a 3-base brigade (left centre) to deal with them. The US fire will finally see them off but they have played a useful part and written their own story.

McCulloch pushes for victory! Actually, not McCulloch - he got killed on Turn 3. Anyway: by now, the Union has battered a lot of Phil's units and has captured Foster's Farm. Phil sends his last two intact brigades in to retake it. The odds were good but the dice were not. With that repulse, the battle was effectively over on our right wing. The question now was whether we could hold on the left.

The usual last-turn drama! Mark had cleared Big Mountain (top right) but too late for the brigade there to reach the Elkhorn Tavern. The previous turn, he sacrificed his cavalry charging my massed guns. This meant his infantry among the trees in the centre could renew their charge without being cannistered, wipe out my small infantry unit there, and follow up onto my gun line. Although that assault bounced off with heavy loss, it did oblige my guns to limber up and find somewhere safer.

Consequently, with his final move, Mark was able to send one 3-base brigade (the one that had seen off Pike) into a frontal assault against my fragile Missouri State Guard. He pushed the Guard back and took the Tavern.

I was left holding the two road exits (left edge and bottom right corner, with my artillery streaming towards it), meaning we Confederates had hung on for a draw. Yeehaw!

Reflections

Fencing (1). Snake rail fences and a tavern nestling among the rich greens and browns of extensive Arkansas woods - it really looked lovely, a striking sight to greet me when I walked into the village hall. The aesthetic matters and it was a pleasure to play on this battlefield.

Fencing (2). I really enjoyed fencing against Mark in our chess match in the woods. He's a sharp player who I knew would take full advantage of any errors I might make in my defensive deployment. The wooded terrain and steep hills limiting visibility made it tricky to cover the approaches and avoid exposing any flanks. It was just as tricky for him, trying to find a way to get at me without being cannistered to bits. Consequently, every move mattered and every turn was full of tension. The pleasure of this mental exercise matched the pleasure of the aesthetic.

Character! This is hardly the first time I've been pushing the blue and the gray around in the woods. Still, a couple of elements gave it a very distinctive and different character and feel from the usual. One factor was the poor quality of the Confederate troops (a boot that is more often on the other foot); another was the particular layout of the terrain and the victory conditions that made it a special tactical challenge; and then of course Pike's brigade doing their thing.

Creative Comrades. These days I am writing about one scenario a year. I don't need to do any more - I am surrounded by clever creative friends who keep churning them out, and painting new armies to fight them, at an impressive rate. Crispin excelled himself this time. Bravo!