Tuesday, 28 July 2015

Battle of The Wilderness (1864), ACW BBB scenario - second playtest

I am euphoric! Last night five of my playtesters fought The Wilderness and universally agreed it was a brilliant game and a cracking scenario which we are all keen to try again. (See post about the scenario and previous playtest here.)

We used the revised version which is currently in the BBB Yahoo group files (Confederates need 2 objectives to draw, 3 to win). Day 1 the Union seized every objective except Parker's Store where Hill had pretty much stalled. Ewell had pushed north to Spotswood. Hancock was ensconced around Shady Grove Church and the Rebs felt badly squeezed.

Day 2, Longstreet arrived and the game changed. He smashed Hancock back to Todd's Tavern. Ewell briefly threatened the wagon trains at Culpeper Mine Ford but was fended off by Torbert's cavalry. On the last turn, 4 objectives were contested, meaning any result was possible. With their last push, Longstreet and Hill combined against the Union centre and took the two Brock Road junctions by the Trigg and Hickman farms. Then on the US turn, US cavalry divisions were in a position to take Parker's Store and Shady Grove Church. If both had come off, this would have made the game a draw; neither did, so it was a Confederate win.

The spread of objectives and the unit density on the table gives both sides plenty of options over where to attack (and both sides have to attack, which is always good for a fun game). Bags of replay value in this, and it has a very different feel, really seems to capture the flavour of the battle. Give it a go!

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