New Market Battle

[kipt]

Last Saturday, February 25, 2023, the Gentleman's Gourmet Gaming Society re-fought the battle of New Market, an ACW combat in the Shenandoah Valley on May 15, 1864.  We had 8 players. 4 Union and 4 Confederate.


Here is the setup at start.


The Union line with artillery above.


The Confederate line with artillery behind (off board but on a two level hill, so able to fire over the infantry in front).

Turn 1 saw the Confederates advancing on the Union line while Union artillery took a toll on the Rebel infantry, causing 6 stand losses.  Confederate return fire only caused 1 Union loss.  After this auspicious start, Union casualties rapidly mounted.

The second turn saw the Union line forced back.  The Union artillery on the right limbered up and fell back in the face of the rapidly advancing Rebels.



Confederate cavalry on the right flank put pressure on the Union line and the Union battery on that flank.  Two small Union cavalry regiments on the Union far right advanced toward the Confederate left flank, hoping to draw off some of the pressure.


Confederates


Union

Rebel guns destroyed the first Federal cavalry regiment and the second dismounted in order to use their breech loading carbines.



Colonel Moor, commanding the first Union Brigade was mortally wounded this turn: 15 Union casualties to 4 Confederate.

A Federal cavalry brigade arrived on the board from the north.



And deployed adjacent to retreating guns.



Turn 3 saw the Confederates aggressively advancing  their infantry, cavalry and artillery while the Union struggled to form a defensive line.







Confederate cavalry pursued and eliminated routing union infantry.



Turn 3 casualties: Federal 11, Rebel 2.  This caused heavy casualties to the Union, resulting in a deductive to their maneuver die rolls.  Indicated by the ambulance shown.



The pursuit continued through the following 5 turns, causing 27 more stands lost to the Federals, as well as mortally wounding General Sigel, the Union commander against only 9 Rebel stands lost.







One interesting fact was the involvement of the Virginia Military Institute Cadets.  In the actual battle they had 10 fatalities and 30+ wounded.  In this battle they were barely engaged (there is a penalty to the Confederate commander, General Breckinridge, if the cadets are close to the enemy).



So we ended the game on turn 8 (out of 15 turns).  Union reinforcements were slow to enter (as in the real battle Sigel had his army so spread out the reinforcements entered as the Union was pushed back.  Here, the reinforcements entered on a die roll of 10 on the first available turn, then a 9 or 10 on the next, etc).  The first was the cavalry brigade, entering on turn 2.  The next set was able to enter on the same ascending die roll once the first set had entered.  It took until turn 8 for the start of an infantry brigade to show up on the board - which was too late.



I asked the players to write a report as if they were involved in the battle, either as a participant or commander.  I will post what I have next.

[kipt]

Seems I am having a bit of a problem posting the pics from Imgur.  Can they be seen if clicked on?

[Leon]

Seems I am having a bit of a problem posting the pics from Imgur.  Can they be seen if clicked on?

All fixed and nice game too!

[kipt]

Thanks Leon.

[paulr]