Camp Cromwell

Over night after the battle at the North Fork bridge, the Rebs reorgansied on the field while the 2 Union forces retreated.on their lines of supply.
At dawn the Rebs found the  Union forces had gone & immediatelty set off in pursuit down the Winchester road.  

Aroiund midday they found that the Union force had been reinforced & was deployed to meet them at the Dinosaur road junction.
 

The Rebs sent their cavalry forward to probe around the Union left flank as their infnatry depolyed.More Union troops were revealed as the Rebs advanced & discovered troops in the woods on their elft & that the Union left was hooked back to rest on the edge of the woods.The Union pulled back their left as the Rebs advanced.The Rebs launched a mass cavalry change against the Union left.  On the far flank the Union troosp in the foot were giving the Rebs a hard time with accurate shooting. On the near flank the cavalry charge pushed the enemy back .
In the centre the Union fell back to the treeline.
On the far flank the Unionfollowed up theri hot shooting with a bayoinet charge & broke the Reb's front line.The Rebs are keeping up thre pressure all along the line.In the centre the Union have lost their artillery to musket & counterbattry fire, but the Rebs have had enough & stopped the attack.  In the centre & left the Reb advance has halted as fresh Union troops appear on the Newtown road.  But it is too late in the day for the fresh troops to make an impact & the fighting peters out as the sun goes down.

The second battle of the campaign occured late on day 3 at the bridge over North Fork near Front Royal.
Ewel's CSA Corps was advancing on the Luray to Vinchester Road behinfd an advance guard of cavalry.  At Front Royal the CSA cavalry ran into a smaller force of US cavalry,  The US cavalry retreated accross the bridges over the South Fork & North Fork.  The retreat halted mid afternoon when the US cavalry joined up with infantry across the North Fork bridge.
Ewell atacked across the bridge as soon as his infantry caught up with his cavalry at the bridge.

The rivers are un-fordable, so the rebs can only attack across the bridge.The rebs spend some time crossing the South Fork bridge & deploying between the rivers while their artillery took out a Union battery.The rebs charge across the bridge into a ring of Union fire.The lead regiment is blown away, but not before some lucky shooting took out the 2nd Union battery.Just before dark another Union Corps appeared on the north bank of North Fork (off to left of pic).
At nightfall the Rebs have gained a foothold across the river, but have 4 regimernts broken, 2 shaken & 3 with casualties..  The Union have 1 battery broken, 4 regiments & 1 battery shaken.& 3 regimants with casualties.
This day;s battle was a draw.
Overnight, both sides have the option of reorganising within their front lines, or withdrawal.

  

   

We have started a small campaign in the Shenandoah valley.  It is not an historical scxenario but the Shenadoah geography makes it a great place for campaign scenarios with smallish forces.  The plot is that the Union have been building up supplies at the rail heads in preparation for an offensive.  Jackson has been ordered to destroy enough of the supplies, the railways & blue bellies as necessary to prevent the offensive.
Mike & SteveJ are the Confederates.  Mark & Chris are the Union.

The first major contact  occured late on day 2 when Jackson's Corps arrived on the south side of the bridge over South Fork near Mt Jackson.  Mt Jackson is one of the railheads & supply depots that are Confederate objectives.  General Fremont has orders to defend the town.   TheSouth Fork banks are heavily wooded & the ground is flat so neither side has much intel. Fremont's intel is that the Rebs have superior but not overwhealming numbers.  General Jackson's intel is that Fremont's forcxe is smaller than his. 

The campaign map is from the Australian Army Jourrnal No. 56, Jan 1954.  For battles additional detail is gleaned for Google Maps.

At dawn on day 3, the Confederates attack.

The rivers are only crossable at fords.  The umpire diced to determine the status of each 100mm section, 6 = ford.  The Union map showed the fords, the Reb's didn't - they have to search for them.
At the start only units visible to the enemy are on the table.  The Union has improvised defenses where it has deployed in & around woods & farms where materials are available.The Rebs have sent 10 units thru the woods on their left.  They find 4 Union regiments there.
In the centre the Rebs find 2 defended between the bridge & the confluence, none to the left of the bridge.  They engage the defenders with musker fire.  Gyns exchange fire accross the bridge.  
On the far side, the Rebs had found fords of table & infantry have appeared there.  Artillery cannot cross the fords until the engineers have cleared a path thru the scrub.The armies are now deployed on the table. The union have 20 inf, 2 cav & 3 batteries.  The Rebs have 30m inf, 4 cav & 2 batteries visible near the bridge.
The Union are still holding the line on their left & centre.
The Rev cavalry has broken the outnumbered Union cavalry on the far flank. The Union line is starting to crack on their left & centre.4 Reb batteries have appeared behind their left flank.  The Rebs have gained footholds accrss the river ninthe centre & weight of numbers has finally firced the Union to retreat in the woods.
Fremont decided he'd done enough to keep his job & has ordered a general retreat & had the supply dump set alight.

The union make a retreat up the turnpike leaving Mt Jackson in flames as the Rebd try to put the fires out & salvage as many boots a possible.

The Union  has lost 9 unkits broken & has 2 units with heavy casualties, but can claim to have made an honourable fighting retreat against superior numbers of slightly tougher troops.
The Rebs have lost 4 units broken & 9 with heavy casualties & gained acampaign VP for taking Mt Jackson.

CSA: Mike & Steve.
Union: Jim & Chris.
The Rebs are retreating from Gettysburg & the Union are making  ahash of pursuing them.  Warren was retreating his Corps but was bumped into by A.P.Hill's CSA Corps at Bristoe Station. Hill lauched an impetuouis attack agaisnt the Union force deployed behind a railway embankemnt & was repulsed.  But the Rebs had more troops coming up & Warren retreated.

The Union has 2 divisions deployed on the railweay line with more coming up on their left.  The Rebs have 2 divisions deployed & more coming up from the far RH corner of the table.The Union reinforcementt s have deployed along the railway line on the left of their advanbce guard.
The Rebs have shifted their advance guad's advance to the left in the woods.  Their reinforement are attacking the far end of the Union line.  The Union left has been outflanked & the remants have fallen back.
In the centre, the Rebs have stopped their advance to engage ina fire fight.The Union line is being rolled up from the left.  They have sent a division from their right to support their left.The transfer of troops from right to left happened too late.  The Union left is broken without serious loss to the Rebs.  The Union concede & order a general retreat.

English: Jim & Mark
Scots: MIke & ChrisThe Scots are on the far side of the table.

The Scots attack with their cavalry on the near flank while forming a defensive line with their foot.
The English advance their foot in the centre with cavalry covering both flanks.  Initially thay had 4 cavalry regs on each flank, but moved 2 from the right to the left where the Scots had all their horse.  The English cavalry was better quality than the Scots, but bad English dice evened up the fight.On the far flank the English cavalry neutralised the Scot's left flank. 
In the centre the Scots attacked the exposed left end of the English infantry line with artillery support.
The cavalry fight on the left was still indecisive, both sides losing heavy casualties.On the left the Scots cavalry is giving ground & the Englsih cavalry are following up.
In the centre the Scots foot has broken an English pike & shot unit & attacked their supports. On the far flank both sides are content to look at each other from a safe distance.
Left of centre, the Scots attack is petering against the English second line.
On the left, the English cavalry has pushed forward, but the cavalry fight is turning into MAD.In the centre, the English pulled back their left end of the line after beating off the Scot's attack as a fresh P&S unit moved up from the Scots right flank.
On the left the cavalry have virtually destroyed each other.

We used much the ame forces as last week, but made a few tweaks to the terrain & modifed the starting positions.

Chris' Union Corps I is coming on far side left.
Mark's Union Corps II is coming on near side right.
SteveJ's Union cavalry is coming on from the left.
Jim's Southern 1st Corps are in the foreground.
Mike's Southern 2nd Corps are on the far side right.The Union Corps I moved directly towards Soiuth's 1st Corps while the Union cavalry dismounted to skirmish againt their left & par tof Union Corps II attacked their right.  South's 1st Corps had advanced down the road the junction , but fell back to defensive U witht eh centtre on the small hill.
The South's 2nd Corps moved on Union II which mostly deployed to face them.South's 1st Corps used interior lines to plug the gaps as they desperately held on against converging Union attacks, falling abck from the Union cavalry & partly beating off the attack on their right.
South's 2nd Corps took some of the pressure on 1st Corps by threatening the Union Corps I's left flank. The attack by the Unions's Corps I on South's 1st Corps was beaten off, but with heavy casualties.

The Union Corps I attack has inflicted heavy casulaties, but has failed & the Corps is broken.  Their cavalry was kept at bay by the fighting retreat of the South's left flank.  The fight between Union II & South 2nd was indecisive, but with the Union losing more casualties.  The Union conceded defeat.

 ACw battle with 15mm figs & M2M rules.
Union: Jim & Mike
South: Mark & Chris
Each player had a Corps of 16 inf regs, 2 cavalry regs & 1 battery.

Each Corps started in a column along a road:
Jim's Union near RH side.  Mike's Union far RH side.
Mark's Rebels near LH side. Chris' Rebels far LH side.Both sides move their Corps towards each other to forma line of battle diagonaly accross the table.  
In the foreground the Union realised they had superior forces on the left side of the river & attacked.
On the far end of the lines, the Union is advancing in strength.  In the centre both sides form up out of musket range. On the near flank the Union attack had mixed success.  While they are wrapping around the end of the Rebel line their frontal attack was stopped by artillery musket fire to their front fire plus musketry fire from across the river.
Omn the far flank the Rebels are defending the farm againt a heavy Union attack.On the near flank the Union have riolled up the Rebel line & taken the ridge, but at high cost.  The Rebs lost more units broken, but most of the Union force is shaken & unable to exploit the success.
Likewaise on the far flank the Union have made progress, but at high cost. On the near flankfresh Rebel troops have crossed the river & are counterattacking.
In the centre the Rebels have advanced & the Union have fallen back.
On teh fra flank,  the Union have cleared the farm, but are too weakened to continue to attack. 

While both sides Have lost the same no. of units broken, most of the Union army is shaken by high casualties while most of the Rebels are still fit to fight.  The Union conceed the battle & order a withdrawal. 

 

Chris' Confederates v. Jim's Union.
Both sides had 6 brigades of 4 infantry regs, 3 guns & 2 cavalry regs.
The Union had the advantage of rifled artillery, the Rebs were all Tough Fighters so could take an extra  casualty before being shaken.
Rules: M2M house rules.  Figures 15mm.

An encounter battle with each side coming on marching down a road towards each other.  South on the left of pic, Union on the right.The Union dismounted their cavalry on the hill to theri front to cover the deppoyment of their left flank whole half their infantry set off ona flank march to the right.
The South deployed along the river line, extending their line to their left to face the Union flank march.The Union stood on the defensive on their left.  Part of their flankinf force deployed into teh wood on their left, therrest croseds the river at the far end of shot.
The South have sent 2 regs to defend the farm on their left flank while advancing the rest of their line across the river.   On the far flank the Union have cleared the farmyard & are atatcking the house in overwhelming numbers.  The South have dismounted their cavalry to cover that flank. 
In the centre the South have made good progrerss intot eh wood, but the Union are feeding reserves in from both flanks (inlcuding their cavalry, dismounted) to stiffen the line. 
On the Southern right they have been goaded in to an attack by the Union cannon fire.The Union have cleared the farm on their right & are counterattcking the South's left. 
In the centre the South's attack is runing out of steam.
On the right the Union are counterattacking after getting the better of the fire fight on the hill.For mosrt of the battle, the Union were losing more untis broken than the South, but when their flank attack got into gear the balance changed quickly as the South lost 5 units in one turn.  With much their army also now shaken, the South conceded the battle.