American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Cedar Mountian
CSA turn 1 (12:00 Noon)

Daniel Houghtaling and I are continuing our Civil War battles. We just finished (sort of) Campaign Peninsula. Which you can read about here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20897

Now after throwing Daniel back from Richmond it is time to strike north. Jackson is going to proceed to Cedar Mountain in order to observe the surrounding area.

We are playing the Meeting Engagements with Weather option. We are playing with all options turned on except for Manual Defensive Fire, Rout limiting, Artillery Capture.

On turn one I receive two brigades from Ewell's division, Ewell, Winder, and Jackson



I immediately move them towards Cedar Mountain. I want to get to the top before any Yanks show up.

Victory Report

There is something I want to point out about the Victory Conditions that almost seems like a scenario design flaw.
I have to move the needle 375 points to get a Minor Victory. Daniel needs to move it 125 points.

I currently have 3 VP hexes worth a combined total of 150 VP points, so provided that casualties are equal then Daniel can get a minor victory be capturing all 3. This seems ok.

Daniel holds 3 VP hexes also, but worth slightly more at 175 VP points. So, even if I capture all of them I still do not have a minor Victory. I need to make up the difference in casualties. This could be tough to do.

It seems the VP hexes should be worth more to make them worth fighting for. As the scenario is right now it doesn't give much of a reason for a player to attack, as that leads to higher casualties for the attacker, at least that is my experience.

I once played this scenario and it ended in a draw. Neither player wanted to risk attacking and therefore giving the opponent a victory. Success wasn't going to come from capturing an objective but a loss most likely would. It was a boring game.

But I played this against Daniel once and it was a blood bath, as ours generally are.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

_________________
General Scott Ludwig
4/II/ANV

Thank you, Sir!

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 2 (12:20 PM)

Arrivals

I have 2 brigades show up, a supply wagon, and a 2 section 4 gun battery.

Movement

I reach the top of Cedar Mountain. I run out of movement points before taking the VP hex. I thought about stopping a hex or two shorter then I did. If there are yanks close by on the other side of Cedar Mountain they are going to shoot that lead regiment up. Because rout limiting is off I might have the whole lead brigade rout with it. Oh, well...it all just might be fun and I have a mountain to take, so I am gonna push the men until I see some yanks to push around.

VP Hexes

I posted an error before. The yanks don't start with more VP hex points, they start with less. They only have 125. So I have to rack up a bunch of kills even if I capture all of the VP's. It just seems like having all the VP hexes should result in at least a minor victory, if not a major victory. Oh well. This is gonna be fun anyways.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 3 (12:40 PM) Light Rain, Visibility 8 hexes

Command Report


The 13th Virginia was the lead regiment and walked into an ambush like I feared it might. It lost 12% of it's strength in minutes, but it didn't run.


Some more guns arrive.

End of turn

The plan is for Early to hold along the red line.
Ewell's additional brigades to attack along the gray arrow.
Winder (with Jackson's Division) to attack along the green arrow.

I don't know how many Yanks are on that slope or the low ground beyond. Visibility is so short with the rain. So the best I can do is to assume I can put more men on top of that hill then Daniel can, but be prepared for more of them.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 4 (1:00 PM) Light Rain, Visibility 8 hexes

Command Report

One regiment routed.


They survived the ambush but couldn't stand and fight it out on the forward slope with so little ammo.

Start of turn

The routed 13th Virginia is near the center of the screen shot. Their retreat disorganized many regiments. Which is understandable, picture being one of the rear regiments lining up in a battle line and here comes the lead regiment high tailing it to the rear with 30% less men then they had moments ago. And in a rain with reduced visibility. There would be some disorganization along with a high amount of pucker factor.

New arrivals

I'm gonna need them.

End of turn

The plan is to hold in the center and hit Daniels left with whatever I can. Whose left will collapse first will decide who get Cedar Mountain.

Victory Report

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 5 (1:20 PM) Light Rain, Visibility 8 hexes

Command Report

No routs but no resupplies. Dang it, two units already low on ammo and there hasn't been that much fighting yet.

Turn Start

Bad news with that cavalry moving in from the north west. Those regiments have about 500 men each. They are something to watch out for.
I do like seeing him move his left forward. Maybe there is an opportunity there.

Arrivals

Not much but I will take it.

Turn End

I pull back from the forward slope on top of Cedar Mountain as much as prudently possible. The highlighted hex is the Key Hex to holding the high ground. AP Hill has a brigade coming up from the south, they should arrive behind Daniels left. I send a brigade to try and flank Daniels cavalry. There is a nice patch of woods to screen their movement.

Key Hex

Here are the units in the Key Hex. They are a little beat up but I think they can hold.

Victory Report

Things aren't going well for me but they could be worse. Still a draw.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 6 (1:40 PM) Clearing/Light Smoke, Visibility 19 hexes

Command Report

Good news. No routs, units recover from disruption and get resupplied.

End Turn

I strengthen Early's line on top of Cedar Mountain with Hay's brigade. I continue to sneak up on Daniel's cavalry using the woods and high ground to screen my movements. AP Hill moves into an attack formation on Daniel's left.

Victory Report

Still moving in the wrong direction.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 7 (2:00 PM) Clearing/Light Smoke, Visibility 19 hexes

Command Report

Two units rout from the Key Hex

Turn Start

Daniel pulled his cavalry back, I am not sure why. That is gonna make it hard to engage them. Daniel does a good job pulling back his left.

Arrivals


Turn End
I forgot to take a screen shot. Sorry. But I do have a zoomed in screen shot of Cedar Mountain coming up.

Victory Report

At the end of my movement Daniel is just a few points away from a Minor Victory until...

Cedar Mountain Melee

During the movement phase I hit Daniel's left with 3 brigades. 1 from AP Hill, 1 from Jackson's Division, 1 from Ewell's division. Jackson's and Ewell's teamed up to melee the highlighted hex. It was taken with a loss of about 52 men. Daniel lost about 75 and 10 guns.

Victory Report After Melee

Now it is moving in the direction I like.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

Great to see some AAR's on this series. Note that Cedar Mt. is actually the mountain near the lower edge of the map. The ridge you are fighting for is in reality nothing more than a very slight change of slope coming from the west toward the east. Not sure why the map designers made it so prominent.

_________________
Brigadier General Richard Simonitch
SIXTH BRIGADE (Artillery)
1st. Div. / V Corps
Army of the Potomac

"What, that isn't Cedar Mountain we are fighting over? Bring me the Lt. that wondered off course. He must have been holding the map upside down again. Those young officers are always leading us astray."

You are correct sir. I am glad you pointed that out. I never even bothered to check. It is called the Battle of Cedar Mountain, there is a mountain/hill in the middle of the map that is fought over, it just seemed natural that it was Cedar Mountain. Now I wonder how I should refer to it. I am thinking I will call it Early's Hill, since his Brigade arrived at the high point before anyone else.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 8 (2:20 PM) Clearing/Light Smoke, Visibility 19 hexes

Command Report

Good news this turn, nothing bad and most bad things have been fixed.

End of Turn

Daniel's cavalry in the NW corner seems to have fled the scene. I guess I am not gonna bag a bunch of them like I had hoped. I caused pretty heavy casualties along his line on top of the hill. I hope to see a bunch of his units rout. If they do not rout, I might be in trouble. My regiments might have better moral but they have about half the manpower. This means that if I can't break his regiments then they are going to grind mine into dust.

Victory Report

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 9 (2:40 PM) Clearing/Light Smoke, Visibility 19 hexes

Command Report

Supplies Arrive!

And Reinforcements


Turn Start

And Daniel's units rout, what doesn't rout he withdraws. I am left in command of the mountain formerly called Cedar Mountain.

Turn End

The brigades that were pursuing Daniel's cavalry I am moving up to reinforce my position. It is tempting to charge down the hill and pursue Daniels regiments. Many are routed and the ones not routed are brittle. But that damn yankee arty would chew my boys up. He has a lot of tubes in those two hexes.

His Arty


38 tubes in two hexes and they can hit darn near ever hex on the forward slope of the hill. Maybe I can get him to attack me.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

Just as curious is how the North Fork bucks grade across the southern end of the hill.

_________________
Lt. Colonel Mike Terhune
New River Greys - 24th Virginia Infantry
Army of Northern Virginia
I/4/4

"Up, men, to your posts! Don't forget today that you are from old Virginia
MG George E. Pickett, July 3, 1863