American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Thank you for the encouragement Mark.

I think I need it after the last turn. The confederate troops marched over my troops as if they were on parade. I'd like to compliment my opponent Chris for his troop handling. My 'lines' melted; 600-man regiments ran; the ones that ran the previous turn ran again. My reserve brigade under Rowley is now the front line. There are a couple of Baxter's regiments that are isolated and won't last the next turn. One of them launched a feeble banzai melee this turn.

I do have one good report: Grimes Davis and his cavalry launched a mounted melee attack against a small CSA cavalry unit. We'll see if there are more cavalry units out there next turn. I'm concerned that the small units were bait.

Joe Meyer wants to play a training game: Emmittsburg. I won't make an AAR for that game, but my Division Commander wants to play a game so I'll AAR that one. I think we'll play a long scenario. I should be able to play both.

Happy New Year!

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Field Lieutenant
4th Infantry Brigade
2nd Division (Corcoran's Legion)
VIII Corps

I was out of pocket for a few days - went to Murfreesboro Tennessee and visited the Stones River Battlefield. Since the battle was fought in late December / early January the park usually has a nice program this time of year (re-enactors; artillery, cavalry, and infantry demonstrations; an encampment). However due to the cold many of the activities were cancelled. We did get to see the artillery - loud! Even knowing what's about to happen doesn't prepare one for the sound (and feel).

I informed my opponent Chris, who missed me terribly We are in the midst of our battle and it's reaching the culmination, but the outcome is uncertain. The regiments that I had written off (and banzai'd last turn) survived somehow. They routed in good order. Most of my units are routed or disrupted, but I have a hodge-podge of brigades, including the mostly untouched Iron Brigade, forming my main line defending the objective, backed by artillery. The arty gets to fire at close range, but I'm not seeing the results I expected (exempli gratia, I only inflict 30 casualties when I expected 60).

I have a question - we are playing with the optional rule penalizing mixed formations. Do artillery and infantry stacked together incur the malus?

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Field Lieutenant
4th Infantry Brigade
2nd Division (Corcoran's Legion)
VIII Corps

That is normal if you're playing with Manual Defensive Fire off.



AFAIK it's about the organization not the unit type, so as long as infantry & artillery are from the same brigade there should be no malus.

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

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

Christian - thanks for the explanation. Ack, that means the entire game I've been handicapping my guys by having infantry with my corps artillery. I don't think it would have mattered, but still...

I guess even though this isn't a 'training game', thanks to my opponent I'm getting schooled. I just had a battery of Napoleons captured (somewhere Danner is chuckling), but it seems that I handicapped them as much as I could: on the front-line, stacked with infantry, and firing uphill. In fact, my position has been out-terrained: Chris has the higher ground. Plus, he has advanced another brigade (previously hidden, maybe two brigades) from Hopewell road. Happily (or sadly), many of my routed units ran that way, so he'll have to cut through the detritus to advance to the objective.

In mission terms, I may have traded all the space for time that I have (still 4 turns remaining). Chris is close to the objective and I have few troops available to stop him. My wagons (my secondary objective, given that the scenario says that the CSA is after supply) are trying to hide in the rear. I may have misjudged the wagons - as far as I know they do not provide or lose points, so other than blocking my troops they don't have much purpose in actual game terms (and so perhaps they aren't really an objective except in role-playing terms). My tertiary objective - preserving my force, is pretty much out the window. If that were important I would give up the objective and try to reform near the current quarry north of the depot. Winning the game hasn't really been an objective; to me, it is a desirement. I have been 'farming' some cavalry points but it's not a game changer. Other than that, my points went negative (losing, but not defeat).

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Field Lieutenant
4th Infantry Brigade
2nd Division (Corcoran's Legion)
VIII Corps

It's turn 15 of 18 and even though the Victory points say I'm not losing, they don't tell the whole story. Here is the Victory dialog:



The image is from the start of the turn and I actually gained points during my turn, however, the victory points don't include the uncrewed battery isolated in my opponent's lines. How do I know they're isolated? Because the infantry unit stacked with them is isolated (also routed and can't move). I'll lose those points at the end of the game (if I understand the scoring). So, this game is lost.

Here is an image of the map, again taken at the start of the turn:



I had hoped to take the screenshot with all the red arrows showing the rout, but all the R's display it adequately. I have a total of four uncrewed artillery sections in danger of being re-captured or captured, compared to his one uncrewed section safely in the now-rear. All of my artillery is in danger of being overrun the next turn: adjacent to good enemy units and stacked with routed / disrupted units.

My one bright spot is Grimes cavalry assaulting disrupted enemy cavalry. It's a sideshow, but a profitable one.

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Field Lieutenant
4th Infantry Brigade
2nd Division (Corcoran's Legion)
VIII Corps

Well, Chris and I decided to put me out of my misery. I offered a termination bid, so I'll get to see the next steps.

The game went ahead and credited him with the artillery, so the score went well into CSA 'Major Victory'.

If anyone has comments or critiques I welcome them. I've asked Chris to look at the AAR and comment if he likes. I'm looking for ways to improve my game.

What I think I did OK. I think I realized that CSA infantry are like ninjas. I think that delay, attrition, and local superiority are the counters to that issue. I didn't have much delay. My infantry and artillery didn't attrit his force, and I really only gained local superiority once (the 'ambush' of scouts). The scout ambush felt good and I think it was effective. Using my cavalry to attack his cavalry seemed to be effective.

What I may have done wrong. I may have tried to establish a larger perimeter than warranted. Perhaps I should have kept Stannard's brigade at the Stephenson Road so that they could have formed a good line and rested before firing. Stacking my infantry and artillery was counterproductive, I guess. Also, hiding my troops behind elevation changes meant that they fired uphill. I don't know if that balanced the surprise.

Stephenson's Depot is still in US hands (if the loss is accepted), safe for the future trailer park that exists there today.

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Field Lieutenant
4th Infantry Brigade
2nd Division (Corcoran's Legion)
VIII Corps

Hello All,

Chris Iddings AKA Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne here. Jay has asked me to comment on our game.

That was a well fought battle by Lt. Hightower. He really worked my cavalry over with a well placed ambush located below an elevation change. Then he pursued my withdrawing cavalry with his own until most of my cavalry was routed or casualties.

There were two things that Hightower could have improved upon.

One, was the placement of regiments in his lines. There were several times that small one hex gaps in his line were magnified by his unit's facing. Meaning I could move a unit partially into the gap and hit his flank, causing more casualties and increasing the units chance of routing. One time I was able to move a battery into the gap and unlimber them. Forcing a withdrawal from a pretty strong defensive position.

Second was surrendering the high ground early. Hiding troops below the elevation change was effective in creating uncertainty on my part. Along with causing a lot of cavalry casualties. But once the fighting lines were established staying just below the elevation change gave me an advantage. Firing is more effective downhill.

I could also pull back units to rest and organize them without them coming under fire. They could also shift locations without being as visible to Jay.

I think that hiding below the elevation change, combined with a second line to quickly fall back to (especially if studded with Arty), would have given him the element of surprise he was looking for without the drawbacks.

I wouldn't worry about stacking my guns and infantry together. I would encourage it. I don't think it handicaps them that much if at all. Guns need infantry support.

Without infantry support the guns are just Victory Points purchased with the blood of grunts. Grunts are cheap.

The bigger issue with Hightower's guns were (IMHO) the facing of the guns. I was often able to move upon their flank. It doesn't take much infantry fire in their flank to cause fatigue at levels that cripple their effectiveness. Plus it makes it less costly to melee guns facing the wrong direction. Several times my melee attacks failed but it essentially put the guns out of commission. Their fire just wasn't as effective afterwards due to fatigue and disruption.

It was a good game Jay! I really enjoyed it! I am sure the next one is going to be much more costly for my boys with the outcome uncertain.

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