American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Battle of Dunagin's Farm, Feb 17, 1862 (Historical) Weather rules(07a PR_Dunagin's Farm_H_W.SCN)
I played the version "07a PR_Dunagin's Farm_H_W.SCN", this is just like the original scenario but with weather lines added to the PDT.

Points of interest:
- Why does Colonel Little's Brigade come in as reinforcements? AFAIK they stayed behind just like Clark's battery to help Hebert with the rearguard action. Doesn't seem to make sense that they followed Price just to march back to Hebert.
- As Colonel Little was acting as rearguard since Price had retreated from Springfield and since Curtis reported a lot straggling the force of Little was surely fatigued. Question also arise if the Infantry & cavalry of Little was still that numerous.
- The Union cavalry is outnumbered from the start with only 472 Union Cavalry vs 1743 Confederate infantry, also cavalry is not as effective(just 3/4 are counted for fire & melee), so something should be done to keep the Confederates from assaulting. Sure they can't assault mounted cavalry but they could try to fire & force their way to where the Union enters the map. Besides this the Confederates are supposed to conduct a rearguard action and not a full scale offensive. Currently the Confederate has no reason to wait for more Union troops to arrive or to even to fall back. Within his superior position and the strong force he has he is lured into acting offensively to gain points instead of denying them to the Union by delaying them.
Union Strength:
Infantry: 1790
Cavalry: 772(579)
Effective infantry force: 2369
Artillery: 10
Rebel Strength:
Infantry: 2798
Cavalry: 400(300)
Effective infantry force: 3098
Artillery: 4
This shows that the Rebels have effectively 729 more men to fight, this is not countered by the Union artillery. Again the question comes up if the troops strength & state of the Confederates, especially Little's men, is correct.


Recommendations:
- Add a good portion of fatigue to Little's men and Clark's battery, they seem to have been Price rearguard since his departure from Springfield. That should keep the Confederates from an assault and should make them conduct a real rearguard action.
- Replace the normal objectives with timed objectives as the battle was at Dunagin's farm because Hebert was sure the Federals wouldn't attack his superior first position at the bluffs and that he could follow Price. That may also keep the Confederates from an assault on the Union. Most important is that the Union can take and use the exit objective because that would mean the rearguard action has failed so the scenario should be about that.
- Raise the VP for Confederate Infantry & Cavalry, they should be the double of the Unions values. This should finally force the Confederate to conduct a real rearguard action and prohibit any excessive offensive actions by the Confederate.


Weather version specific:
- Night turns should start at the 18:20 turn. That may make one consider extending the scenario as the current end is at the second last turn before night sets in.
(Based on UTC-6, TZ: America/Chicago CDT)

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."