Have a "dental thing" I am getting taken care of today so this morning after the children and wife cleared out, I had an opportunity to play the first half of the TWO FLAGS - ONE NATION American Civil War rules. The last few days, I'd been analyzing and building this scenario from a Johnny Reb III Scenario taken out of Scott Mingus' excellent "Enduring Valor" Gettysburg scenario book.
Rolling on my random events table for this battle, "piecemeal advance" is rolled and that means each Regiment from BOTH Brigades (there are options for just O'Neal and Daniel's Brigades to get piecemeal advance) Regiments must roll a 4+ to do anything but fire this turn. The rebels move out. It's not far to close the distance between Oak Hill and the ridgeline that anchors the extreme right of the Union flank at the moment. Most of O'Neal's units roll fine and begin their attack. Iverson's Brigade claws through the orchards and fields around the Forney house, and the Artillery limbers up.
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| 26th Alabama Moves Out! |
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| O'Neal's Brigade advances, tied in with Iverson on the right. |
The grid isn't being too finicky although I'm finding my eyes naturally move towards the grey colored markers instead of the flock ones. Not that it matters much here, but the gray markers mark the center of a 1 foot square, they are not the squares themselves.
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| Iverson's men at the Forney house. Next turn, small arms fire will break out between the 5th North Carolina and the 97th New York (upper left) |
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| Daniel's men really are not feeling it today. One regiment, the 2nd North Carolina, advances. |
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| The limbered King William Battery at the Forney House. There's an excellent firing position for the battery in the gardens behind the house. |
The Union don't do much except re-position a Regiment from Baxter's Brigade to face O'Neal's onslaught of Confederates, who are within small arms range and are approaching their positions.
The random events for turn 2 yield a "advance turn clock by 1 result!" The leisurely rebel advance is going to have to pick up the pace. A sharp firefight breaks out at the 12th Mass' position and they fall back! The Union have their backs to the wall, and the arrival of Paul's Brigade, while welcome reinforcements, mean that any failure of a Union Capability Test and the Regiment will retreat off the board! There is just nowhere to go.
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| The rebels are on the Union positions in a flash. So far, Baxter's Brigade has been invovled in the most fighting. |
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| Rebels have gained the fenceline at the Hagy Orchard in front of Baxter's positions! Next up they will have to carry the ridge! |
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| General Robinson, commander of the 2nd Division, I (US) Corps, supporting the 90th Pennsylvania with his staff. Pauls' men are in position behind them. |
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| 88th PA moves up to hold the line |
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| The Rebels close and get an impressive "5" sixes! Although the Union only accumulate 2 due to cover. The 88th PA runs for the hills since they have nowhere to retreat to... |
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| The Rebs push into the Union positions and the 12th Alabama has a toe-hold and is 1 square away from their primary objective. |
Meanwhile Iverson's men are skirmishing with Cutler's Brigade behind stone walls and in cover on the ridgeline. The shooting is inconclusive for 2 straight turns and Iverson's men will have to go in with the bayonet.
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| Rebel toe-hold on the ridgeline. A counterattack by the 88th PA fails |
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| Iverson's Brigade fans out! He's facing tough troops behind stone walls. |
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| The 12th Alabama, of O'Neal's Brigade, prepares to push further into COL Baxter's positions. Iverson's Brigade, so much the talk of the actual battle for the casualties they suffered, have not featured prominently in this fighting. |
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| rebel supports. an assault by the 6th Alabama (lower left) against Union troops of the 90th Pennsylvania is beaten back. |
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| You can just see elements of Daniel's Brigade as they change facing to orient themselves towards the Union positions. The 147th Pennsylvania are anchoring Cutler's left flank. |
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| 90th Pennsylvania's new motto - "The Rock" given by Gen'l Robinson Jul 1st, 1863 |
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| Daniel's Brigade picking through neat, tidy farm fields. |
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| The mess at the Wills-McPherson Woods as O'Neal's Brigade makes another push! |
Well in game terms, it's 3pm and so time to get moving. Top of Turn 5 where we will leave off.
Paul's Brigade has come up, although not quite where I need them. They'll force any Union unit that fails a cap test from casualties to rout off the table... Ugh!
We've already lost 2 x Union Regiments from Casualties so far and the Rebels are starting to apply pressure to Cutler's Brigade now as well.
The game has played very well although I would have benefited from a hard copy of the rules instead of playing off my tablet completely.
One question I had was about leaders - A unit that must rout off the table (page 13 - due to friendly units blocking any square or hex for them to retreat into) has an attached Brigade Commander. He passes his casualty check and so is still alive. Can he just move to another hex or square? What happens to him? Page 16 says he may freely accompany the retreating unit. What if they're routing? Does he just go with them?
A real nail-biter so far. The casualty conditions (40%) and the nature of the table really mean that the Union cannot afford to route another 2 units or they're toast. Let's see what happens. I'd love to play tonight and finish the battle. Only 4 turns left. The Rebs could technically push deeper into the position, well supported by their comrades (although no Brigade-to-Brigade supports since Rodes, their Division Commander, is not present. All Brigades must use only internal supports).
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