An ACW game to test a scenario

In my last post, I wrote a generic One-Hour Wargame (OHW) scenario which was based on an English Civil War Battle of Nantwich scenario. Now, it’s time to test the scenario out using an American Civil War game.

For the scenario I made the strategic town a rail junction.

The scenario setting has half of Blue Army (Federal) defending a strategic town which I decided was an important railway junction, while the other half is trying to rejoin them from the opposite side of the river. Intelligence reports indicate that the Red Army (Confederate) is concentrating its forces from the north and the east to attack the town.

A tabletop view of the deployed troops and entry points for the off-table reserves.

The tabletop is setup with town buildings around the railway junction and a river on the east edge that runs through some rocky and impassible terrain. There are two bridges across the river, one north and one south of the rocky terrain.

Both armies consist of 6 units and were generated using the army composition tables from OHW.

Federal:

• 4 Infantry units
• 1 Artillery unit
• 1 Cavalry unit

Confederate:

• 1 Zouave unit
• 3 Infantry units
• 2 Cavalry units

The Federal player must select 3 of their units to be in reserve which will be arriving on turn 2 from the north-eastern edge of the tabletop. The remaining 3 units must be deployed in zone 2.

The Confederate player must select 1 of their units to be in reserve arriving on turn 4 from the south-eastern edge of the tabletop. The remaining 5 units must be deployed in zone 1.

Original scenario drawing. The marshland has been replaced by impassible rocky terrain for this ACW game.

A view of the tabletop from the east.

The rules used for this game are the OHW American Civil War rules. However, there is a modification to have units retreating. The approach used for unit retreats was inspired from some rules found in Solo Wargaming by Donald Featherstone (page 71) which are extracts from a War Games Digest article. The rules have units retreating where on a 6 is rolled (see photograph).

Recently been flicking through the pages for ideas and found the following rule mechanism for retirements.

There a number of tables, but the idea of a 6 causes a retreat as the idea for the OHW modification below.

The Retreat Rule Modification

• When shooting at 12 inches or less and a natural 6 is rolled, then the target unit must retreat directly away to just beyond 12 inches from the shooting unit.
• With any enfilade fire, then a 5 or 6 will case the target unit to retreat.
• This retreat rule does not apply to units in cover, unless they have acquired more than 50 percent hits (apply the current shooting when determining this).
• Note, that artillery firing at a range greater than 12 inches do not cause retreats.
• Any retreating unit will push back any friendly units in the way. 
• If a unit is unable to retreat due to impassible terrain, rivers, or enemy units, then the unit is eliminated.
• Artillery units cannot retreat, they are eliminated.
• A unit that retreated can still move during its turn.

The game report…

Knowing reinforcements are on their way, the Confederate units are quickly pushed forward towards the town. The Zouave unit is positioned to block and delay any Federal reinforcements.

The Federal reinforcements can be seen arriving by the north-eastern bridge. Meanwhile, the main Confederate force has advanced within range of the town’s defenders.

The town defenders are putting up a good fight and have caused one infantry unit to retreat, but they are concerned with the recent arrival on their flank of a Confederate cavalry unit.

The Federal reinforcements after an initial set back, due to retreats, were able to finally force the Zouave blocking unit to retreat. This will allow them to better deploy their units.

The assault on the town was making progress despite losses. One infantry unit has been diverted from the assault to help contain the Federal reinforcement’s progress. 

With losses mounting the town defenders retire to the town itself and hope to hold out until support arrives.

The assault on the town continues. The town defenders hang on and can see their reinforcement in the distance.

A Federal cavalry unit has broken through the Confederate blocking line.

The Confederate units break off the attack on the town as Federal reinforcements approach. With no hope of renewing the attack this is a victory to Federal forces. 

Summary

The scenario seems well-balanced, with neither side making any obvious mistakes and the game remaining in the balance until turn eleven. I did think the Confederate army might have succeeded if it had had one more infantry or artillery unit instead of one of its cavalry units. I'll be re-rolling the army compositions and playing again soon. This is one area of the OHW scenario approach I like, you don’t necessarily get the army composition you want.

One change I may make to the scenario is to not have deployment zone 2. Instead, just state that Blue on-table forces must be within 12 inches of the town.

The retreat rules worked providing a bit of back and forth movement to the army lines of battle, and I will be keeping them for the next game.