ACW game report

This week I've been busy testing morale rules in a few American Civil War (ACW) games and playing a remote WW1 Palestine game with Jon. In the next post, I'll share a report on the WW1 Arab rebellion attack on a train in that game.

Fog of war?

In one of my recent ACW test games, I tried out the “flank attack (2)” scenario from the One-Hour Wargames book. However, I added a twist by incorporating Grant's tile approach from Programmed Wargame Scenarios to create different tabletop layout variations. I little bit more information on this approach can be found in a previous post here.

The centre row has the original flank attack layout split into left flank, centre, and right flank. The top and bottom rows are possible variations.

The left flank, centre, and right flanks are determined using dice.

The final tabletop layout is decided for a 4 foot by 6 foot tabletop.

Using these tiles as a guide the tabletop is setup and the troops deployed using the following order of battle. Both sides begin the game with one reserve cavalry unit.

Union:

• 3 x Infantry
• 2 x Veteran Infantry
• 1 x Artillery
• Reserves - 1 x Cavalry

Confederate:

• 4 x Infantry
• 1 x Veteran Infantry
• 1 x Artillery
• Reserves - 1 x Cavalry

The tabletop all setup for a game.

A small portion of the Confederate force faces a larger Union force positioned on a hill.

The remaining Confederate force is positioned on the Union flank.

The game will consist of 15 turns, and the main objective is to gain control of the large hill that is currently occupied by the Union force. Both sides have their own deck of shuffled event cards, and each turn one card is revealed. These event cards can either provide advantages or pose challenges for a side. Among the cards in the deck is the Reserves card, which, when revealed, signals the arrival of the reserve cavalry.

Event cards are used in the game

Here is the battle report in pictures…

Confederate forces begin their advance on the flank and in the centre. Union forces react to the flank attack and look to counter in the Confederate in the centre by advancing.

On the flank Confederate forces press forward trying to take advantage their surprise arrival on the Union left flank.

In the centre Confederate forces retire, partially due to failed morale dice rolls and also discretion.

Union forces are under pressure on the flank as Confederate artillery support their flank attack.

Some Union units are forced to retire and attempt to regroup.

The Confederate attack is progressing well as Union forces are trying to reorganise a second line of defence.

The Union defence is struggling to hold.

The attacking Confederate units are starting to accumulate hits, increasing the likelihood of forced retirements. 

Confederate reserves arrive in the form of cavalry.

All Union forces have now retired to defend the hill.

Confederate attacking units are forced to retire before regrouping and entering the fray again. Union infantry are putting up a good defence.

With their flank attack losing its effectiveness, the Confederate centre begins to advance supported by their cavalry reserve which have arrived on the left flank.

All Confederate forces are pressing forward.

Union units are trying to reorganise and fill the gaps in their defensive line.

A much thinned down line is still holding on.

Things are looking pretty grim for the Union defenders with a few game turns remaining.

Units on both sides are depleted close to the end of the game, but the Confederates still have the greater number of units. 

The arrival of the Union in the penultimate turn allowed the Union to just hold on to the hill at the end of the game. 

The rules used in this game was testing out a variation  of the One-Hour Wargames American Civil War rules. The variation used D3 dice to replace D6 dice so hits are D3+1, D3, and D3-1 rather than D6+2, D6, and D6-2. Unit are eliminated after taking 9 or more hits. Additional morale rules are added so any unit that sustains hits during the shooting phase must undergo a morale test.

The procedure for the test is as follows: 

• Roll D6 and double the score.
• If the doubled score greater than the number of hits the unit has taken, it passes the morale test.
• If the doubled score is less than or equal to the number of hits, the unit must retreat 12" directly away from the enemy. During this retreat, the unit can pass through friendly units and must end up facing away from the enemy.
• Any unit forced off the tabletop is eliminated.

Any unit that has retreated during the opponent's shooting phase retains the ability to move or shoot during its own player's turn. However, retreating units always end up facing away from the enemy and will have to pivot and move to face the enemy again.