The Battle of Logan's Cross Roads

Confederate probing attack with all kinds of disadvantages:
-Overall commander who was drunk as a skunk during the battle
-Nearsighted brigade commander destined to die
-Almost all troops are as green as they come and armed with antique flintlocks to boot.

Overview of the battlefield from the Union's side.

The initial setup -Union pickets are beset with the Confederate horde.

Chaaaarge!

Union pickets start withdrawing as well as reinforcement battalion arrives at the ravine.

The pickets have withdrawn behind the second fence.

The other Union picket unit, Cavalry, gets annihilated in close combat and Crittenden starts to arrive with the Confederate main force.

Marching towards Washington!

Union reinforcements.

On the Confederate side only the Mississippi boys have guns that have any range.

Rebel trafic jam in making. Also, Zolicoffer gets killed.

Some not so spirited shooting.

Union reinforcements get closer. Those 2 batteries don't promise anything good for the rebels.

Confederates slowly organize their troops.

It is better not to shoot at enemy infantry at you when they are providing a meat wall against numerous enemy artillery...

Green troops on the receiving end of couple batteries is likely to result in a rout. Other units scramble to get off the open to avoid being bombarded to pieces. Confederate guns are finally in position too.

Flee! They're are shooting human beans ovah there!

Artillery duel. Some additional Union reinforcements arrive.

Pound 'em into oblivion boys!

Union dilemma: how to get past the batteries?
BTW I have no idea why this picture is totally of different color range...

The Confederates gain control of the Mill Springs Road.

Here starts the lesson of not tarrying in the road column on the battlefield.

Plenty of fire but to little effect.

Advancing in heavy woods in quite slow. Even more Union reinforcements arrive.

The Mississippi boys keep on taking the beating...

...so the Tennessee rookies need to bail them out by charging and driving away the enemy.

More Union reinforcements advance.

The Union troops didn't stay away for long though...

Firefight ensues on the other flank as well as the battalions battle it out in the orchard.

Confederates start taking positions on the edge of the wood -too bad their flintlocks have abysmally poor range.

Although it seemed to control it in the beginning the Confederate artillery lost the duel and retreated to the cover of the forest to secure the right flank with the Cavalry.

Lines are clearly forming on the left flank.


Unfortunately we had to end the game at this point since it was getting late.
Chris was going to play the last remaining rounds as a solo game to see how it went.
The confederate players informed Chris that since they are outgunned and outranged the only way they'll be able to win is by getting into close combat.


Here's his report:
Thanks! I hope everyone had fun with a very confusing and sprawling game. Strangely enough, I had thought it would get congested around the clear "lane" in the middle of the table, and instead the forces scattered to the wooded flanks! Is the artillery that powerful? Hmm ... I guess if you have flintlocks, yes, but they seem awfully easy to silence.

At any rate, I did finish out the final few turns. And ... how much detail do you want? In the northern woods, the Confederates retired out of close range and the Union troops realized that if they advanced they would get hit by the CSA guns in the field, so they held tight waiting for reinforcements ... which rolled Tardy every turn. So, no real action there.

In the main action to the south, the CSA launched its assault on turn 10, but a critical rally/retreat result on the middle regiment messed up the support waves, the far flanking units weren't able to move up in time, and the Union checked one of the two charges (both by the Trained units) with fire. The other charge started at CSA +1 and Union +0, and the CSA won by 2 and pushed the Union regiment back 2". During Union turn 10, a whole brigade piled into the CSA regiment in the salient, and pushed it back out of close range. Everybody was disordered, but the Union line looked pretty strong.

On the CSA turn 11, the CSA regiment at the rear table edge finally routed off the table, which brought the CSA to Heavy Casualties and Greater Casualties ... ouch (but they don't apply until next turn). The CSA managed to rally everyone in the south and launch another supported charge across the open field, but it was checked by withering fire. The CSA did manage to disorder the entire Union line again, but it was looking gloomy for the South. In the Union turn 11, the northern part of their line had to retreat out of close range - but even this was bad for the CSA, as they had to retreat out of enemy musket range but had rifles themselves to reply with. The rest of Union line rallied and kept up the fire on the CSA line, hoping for bad morale results next turn.

On CSA turn 12, the main CSA brigade in the south broke (all it took was rolling a 4). Four of the five regiments broke, and the fifth retired into the woods. The other pair of units from Zollicoffer's old brigade rallied, and established a sort of rearguard line. That pretty much ended the game as I saw it, but despite being driven back the CSA still held the Cumberland Pike at game's end.

So, the final results were: Union 2 (inflicting heavy casualties and greater casualties), CSA 1 (key position). It was a marginal victory for the Union, but all in all the CSA did pretty well with the vast limitations of their forces.


Wikipedia entry of the battle

Janne
(Played: Jan 23rd at Chateu d'Tenwolde. GM: Chris. Confederates: Janne, Mr V. Union: Aksu, Chris.)

Libya 2011

Janne N devised us a rather topical Force on Force scenario.

There's some Libyan regulars who are emptying secret base number 45 (originally built for manufacture and storage of chemical weapons) from the gold that has been hidden in it. Leading this operation is a cousin of Gaddafi. They want to escape with their lives and as much gold as possible.

Numerous irregular Libyan freedom fighters have arrived in the vicinity and capture the gold and the cousin of the hated former leader.

Few British SAS troops are here to capture the chemical weapons in the base. And give the rebels support.

Overview of the base with rebels surrounding it from two sides.

The local sheep farmer is about to get the surprise of a lifetime!

Couple of squads of rebels manage to reach the fence but are slaughtered there almost to a man (from the leftmost one manages to survive. This guy, Ali, picks up a machine gun from a fallen comrade and later on... it is payback time.

After the positions on top of the houses have been silenced the remainder rebs on this flan surge towards the compound and the poor SAS sods, dressed in civvies, have no choice but to follow them.
The rebs occupy the positions now, as well as hold the enemy leader as prisoner on the leftmost building. But there's still plenty of stiff resistance from the remaining regulars. The other reb flank also starts to advance towards the compound.

The fire from the regulars sweeps the rebs from their positions on the left building. Ali has moved to the low middle building.

Enemy prisoners in the process of being moved away from the combat area.

Both reb technicals in action -they are rather fragile...

All the regulars have been shot to pieces.


Resultwise, everyone went into negative points, but the Brits least (their commanding officer was their only casualty) so they won.
Rebs were almost killed to the last man and none their leaders survived so they weren't able to get the gold as the rank & rile hardly knew about it. And besides there were too few of them to try to get it from the Brits after they noticed that the barrels contained something else than chemical weapons. At least they managed to capture the Gaddafi's relative alive.

Janne
(Played: Jan 16th. GM: Janne N. Libyan Army: Aksu, Mr V. Libyan rebels: Eero, Janne L. British SAS: Mr H.)

Battle of Hanover Court House

May 27th 1862
As the Union Army of the Potomac made its way slowly towards Richmond in the summer of 1862, General McClellan received reports that a large Confederate force had maneuvered to threaten his right flank near Hanover Court House. He dispatched the entire IV Corps to counter what turned out to be a single reinforced brigade, however during the confused maneuvering the Confederates were offered a brief opportunity to smash a small Union rear guard. This scenario recreates that action, as the Confederates race against time to defeat the rear guard before the bulk of the Union IV Corps arrives on the field.

Although outnumbering the Union troops by more than two to one, the Confederates have only 8 turns to defeat the rear guard before the IV Corps arrives on the field and they have no choice but retreat.

Instead of sending just two battalions against the Union as happened in reality the Confederate players were allowed to use the whole force in their disposal which meant that the outcome should be pretty certain.

Overview of the battlefield before the game started.

View from another direction.

After the initial move we have immediate firefight.

Union starts refusing their left flank.

The mauled Union section retreats to safety.

Confederate left flank moves too close and gets drawn into the firefight. On the right flank the flanking maneuver is not successful.

Plenty of shooting on the field.

While one Union battalion acts as rear guard the remainder keep on slowly sidestepping away from the field.

There seems to be no stopping Johnny the Reb!

The Union rear guard is having its left flank threatened.

A Confederates kinda just were drawn into this firfight. Their left flank is continuously threatened by the possible arrival of Union reinforcements.

Union troops start routing.

Confederates push on.

Union boys decide to sell their hides with a high cost.

Reorganizing the confederate attack took a while.

Union gets "greater casualties" marker -never a good thing. Kinda like the beginning of the end if you will...

Protect the wounded!

Confederate flanking unit finally gets into contact in column and wrecks havoc in Union troops. The other Confederate flank prepares for possible arrival of Union reinforcements.

The last Union foothold.

Quite different result than historically, but with the unhistorical outnumbering there was little else than could happen.
Also, the Union was extremely lucky with their reinforcement rolls -these never arrived!

Some mighty fine southern Belles for the unusual occasion of Confederate victory.


Wikipedia entry of the battle

Janne (afteraction report by Chris)
(Played: Jan 9th at Chateu d'Tenwolde. GM: Chris. Confederates: Chris, Janne. Union: Aksu, Mr V.)