ACW Campaign Game Report - Afternoon of the 24th Part 1

A week ago I was able to play a couple of actions in the ACW mini-campaign which took place in the afternoon of 24th June 1863 at Redmonds River. Here is the action report of the first of those two games.

Confederate forces defending a hill as Union troops advance.

A quick reminder of the campaign map moves which resulted in two actions being fought. The first action has Smith's Union division getting the jump on Greg's Confederate division by successfully crossing the bridge. The second action has Tanner's division launch an attack against a weakened Cope's division.

Campaign map the afternoon 24th June 1863

The action described in this post will be Smith's assault. The first step as usual was to decide the 4x4 foot tabletop by drawing the terrain cards.

Terrain cards

As neither Smith's or Greg's divisions have yet been engaged in the battle it is necessary to dice for their unit composition. The orders of battle are:

Smith's Union Division:

• 5 x Infantry Brigades
• 1 x Artillery Battery

Greg's Confederate Division:

• 3 x Infantry Brigades
• 2 x Artillery Batteries
• 1 x Cavalry 

Tabletop deployment

The union plan was launch an assault on the Confederate left flank and gain control of the hill. The Confederate plan was one to hold and counter attack if the opportunity presents itself.

The Union attack begins on the hill

The Union attack began on the hill. The assault made slow going with one of the brigades delayed in advancing. While their opponents on the hill were proving to be very good shots, causing large numbers of casualties. Upon seeing the Union assault was struggling the Confederates launched their counter attack in the centre and on right wing.

Confederate launch their counterattack in the centre while their cavalry move up to block any threat on the right.

The first Union assault failed to dislodge the defenders on the hill. Any thoughts of a second assault were dashed as other units were redirected to fend off the Confederate counter attack.

The Union fail to dislodge the Confederate defenders on the hill.

As the afternoon passed both sides ceased their attacks and returned to their starting positions. Of the two sides the Union were the worse for wear and the Confederate artillery forced their remaining Union units to retire.

Both sides pull back.

Union forces retire

A marginal Confederate victory secured by stout defence and well timed counterattack. We will have to see in the next campaign turn whether they are able to follow up this victory with an evening attack on Smith's division.