Having wrapped up the five game Cheriton series, time to turn my attention to the next battle to tackle. With at least one request for a return to the ACW, that is what I will do. With First Manassas and Hood's attack at Gettysburg in the logbook, I thought a Western Theater battle would offer a different and interesting challenge. The early Western battles featured fighting in woods and few battle-hardened formations. Thumbing through books on the shelf, I settled upon the Battle of Shiloh for consideration. Rereading Jay Luvaas' Guide to the Battle of Shiloh and O. Edward Cunningham's Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862, I gained enough perspective to develop a scenario. Helping out was Brad Butkovich's This Bloody Field scenario book. Butkovich's Sherman Attacked! will lay the foundation for my battle interpretation in addition to studying several hex-and-counter wargame treatments of the battle. I have four such games to use in this study.
Since the full battle is too large for a full battle recreation via a normal remote session, I settled upon the early morning attack on Sherman at Shiloh Church on 06 April.
While scenario preparation is still in work, the battlefield has been laid out on the table. Hopefully, the battlefield image below stands up to scenario development. For now, the battlefield looks like,
For a brief overview of the situation Sherman faced, the Confederate attack began early on Sunday morning, 6 April, catching many Federal troops unprepared in their camps. The Confederate plan was to drive Federal forces away from the Tennessee River and cut off their line of retreat. Sherman's division was one of the first Federal formations to be hit, as it was encamped near the main approaches to Pittsburg Landing around Shiloh Church. Despite being caught off guard, Sherman's men were not completely surprised. A patrol sent out very early in the morning had engaged Confederate forces and alerted the division. When the main Confederate assault began around 7:00 AM, Sherman's troops were able to form battle lines to receive the attack, though they were initially out of position. Outnumbered by about two to one, Sherman personally led his division with "poise and coolness" throughout the day, riding along the lines to direct the defense. He was wounded twice and had three horses shot out from under him. The Confederate forces pushed Sherman's division back, forcing Sherman to give ground throughout the morning. By afternoon, Sherman's remaining regiments were low on ammunition and had taken heavy casualties. Despite putting up stiff resistance, Sherman's division was eventually pushed back to the area around Jones Field by late afternoon. Will our latter-day Sherman manage to repeat this fighting withdrawal? Stay tuned.
Since the full battle is too large for a full battle recreation via a normal remote session, I settled upon the early morning attack on Sherman at Shiloh Church on 06 April.
Looking forward to this Jon. A lot of background work gone into it!
ReplyDeleteChris
I look forward to the first clash too!
DeleteWell Stew will be pleased! He'd only be more pleased if you had some Quar in there as well! ☺
ReplyDeleteI've always thought the Western theatre more interesting; exotic units (Texans and Choctaws) and generals with "interesting" characteristics and relationships .....☺
Neil
I received an email from Stew asking for a game slot. He IS interested!
DeleteStew interested in the ACW?: it's like asking the Pope if he prays๐๐!
DeleteNo doubt!
DeleteStew IS pleased, and interested. Hopefully he will be allowed to participate if schedules allow. He is also pleased that his preference for the ACW is well known. He also enjoys writing in the third person. ๐
DeleteWe can figure something out on getting you to the table.
DeleteI’d love to play against him sometime, he’s a cool guy!
DeleteMark, Stew sent an email a couple of days ago specifically requesting your presence in this battle. We can discuss tomorrow about scheduling.
DeleteThe table lay out looks superb Jon, will be an interesting scenario to see fought out.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThe table looks great and I'm looking forward to seeing how this battle unfolds.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Neil! I look forward to this one too.
DeleteAn excellent set up Jon and really look forward to seeing how this plays out. Some years ago we played this using Bloody Big Battles rules and it was certainly a challenge for both sides, given the nature of the terrain, the troops and commanders involved. I've pondered Butkovich's scenario books but have yet to take the plunge...
ReplyDeleteGlad you approve of the battle layout, Steve! Do you recall how your game turned out? Butkovich's books provide the foundation for creating a scenario. Of course, one can use them straight out of the book but we all have our "adjustments" we like to make to suit our playing style and rules.
DeleteI have ALL of Butkovich;s scenario books and can recommend them for any ACW fan. Either as stand alone scenarios or jumping off points.
DeleteHere's my AAR from much longer ago than I remember!
Deletehttps://wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com/2016/01/shiloh-first-day-bloody-big-battles-aar.html
Thanks, Steve. The scope of your game covers the entire day’s action. Mine looks only at the attack against Sherman.
DeleteStew, I agree in the value of the Butkovich's books. If you did not have them all, I would have been surprised.
DeleteA great table and I can't wait to see how this goes, and what part that Creek will play. It looks like a tricky assignment for the Confederates in spite of the element of partial surprise and the fact they prevailed historically.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lawrence! This will be a tricky assignment for both armies. Well, at least, that is my intention and hope.
DeleteYeah the table looks splendid. Struggling to decide who has the harder job in this one!?
ReplyDeleteThanks! You will become quite familiar with this ground before we are through. Both armies have tough goals to attain. Rebs must act aggressively before the clock runs down while the Federals must conduct a stubborn fighting retreat to run out the clock. Which more suits your martial nature?
DeleteLooks like it will be another excellent game Jonathan.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope so!
DeleteSuper looking table, all quiet just waiting for the carnage to happen. A lot of background work done for this, looking forward to seeing the outcome.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Donnie! Hopefully, the games will not disappoint. Sent out the battle briefings this evenings.
DeleteA to the C to the Double U
ReplyDeleteConfederates coming, what's Sherman gonna do?
Green troops, aiming high instead of low,
in the morning around the church of Shiloh.
Sherman's got a point to prove
Johnson's got a corps to move
Grant's got a rep to make,
Beauregard's got a big mistake
it's the A, C, W.
Best Civil war ALL the way through.
Impressive! I receive emails challenging your claim that the ACW is the best CW.
DeleteReally?
Delete1) they’re wrong.
2) why are folks emailing you about stupid things that I say?
Now I feel like an embarrassing spouse.
(2) was in context of the recent Cheriton battles and how they thought the ECW was the best CW!
DeleteGood things are a coming and looking forward to it. Looks like you will have to rap up your reports though Jonathan๐
ReplyDeleteI am no rapper…
DeleteA Bloody day, with all the hallmarks of a hammer and tongs report. Plus they're writing poetry already.
ReplyDeleteWith luck, this will be an interesting scenario for all involved. Yes, the poetry electrons are flowing early.
DeleteThe Western battles are interesting, each has tactical or topographical situations to be unique.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Western battles offer a different challenge than do the Eastern battles including the personalities involved.
DeleteSounds good. Looking forward!
ReplyDeleteGood!
DeleteUnderstanding that you've done some research and are set up to offer your usual excellent reporting, I should still like to suggest if not strongly recommend the following book: SHILOH - The Battle that Changed the Civil War, by Larry J. Daniel. Admittedly, it's a bit dated (1997), but I think it's a very good piece of research and writing. Years ago, when I was interested in the ACW, I recall attempting to refight this particular and quite bloody battle.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the book recommendation and the vote of confidence that the post-game BatRep will be worthwhile. How did your game turn out?
DeleteMy sincere apologies for not providing at least a cursory summary of my historical refight of your current ACW endeavor. I should also like to make amends for not providing additional details regarding the source materials I employed. “Map 5: The Assault on Sherman” is found on page 165 of the Davis text. From what I have been able to discover, your tabletop appears to be a decent approximation of the original ground. Interpretations by historical wargamers will vary of course, depending on source material consulted and utilized. Representation of the ground will also vary, especially if one uses hexagon-based terrain, as the portrayal of field can be slightly problematic. Anyway. On page 107 of the Davis book, there was a larger scale map of Pittsburgh Landing and the surrounding area. This is the diagram I used when putting together my refight those many years ago. (Some checking informed that “serious work” began over the Thanksgiving Holiday in 2002, so a little more than 20 years ago. This ACW project pre-dated your award-winning blog by eight years, though I would imagine that you were quite involved in the hobby at that time. Perhaps a topic for a future post?)
DeleteAt the risk of “piling on,” might I also suggest finding or trying to find the June 1991 issue (Number 45) of Wargames Illustrated? There is an excellent scenario inside for SHILOH. It was drafted by Ray Pfeifer, Greg Lyle and Rich Hasenhauer for FIRE and FURY. Admittedly, this paper is for the whole battle and not just the particular are occupied/defended by Sherman and some of Raith’s troops.
To finally answer your question: The refight collapsed under its own weight, as I found myself “lost in the weeds” or “lost in the wheat field,” as I tried to do too much with regard to simplifying the selected rules while at the same time adhering to a high level of realism. From what I was able to read (rather embarrassing but interesting to go back and review what my writing “style” was like so many years ago . . .), I called a halt to the volleys and artillery exchanges at about 9 or 9:30 a.m. on that first day of Shiloh. Sherman’s division had been given a bloody nose or two, but then, the Confederates did not escape without injury.
With the perspective of some 20 years, I think it went well enough. It seems that my focus was more on the tinkering and testing of established rules as well as with exploring historical variations then on persevering through 15 or 20 game turns and all that goes with those processes.
Can your division-strength number of followers and readers look forward to three, four, or even five reports from Shiloh Church? Are you able to or interested in refighting the whole of the battle? If not, do you think you might follow up the “Sherman experiment” with another part of Shiloh - maybe the Union counterattack on the following day, or perhaps the action in and around the Hornet’s Nest?
I appreciate the follow-up response, Anon.
DeletePerhaps a "decent" approximation of the ground is the best I can hope for given the constraints of various source maps, hex terrain, the mix of rivers and roads in the terrain box, and different scales. I know that I cannot duplicate the ground precisely for every battle. My goal is to provide an impression of the battlefield offering players a glimpse of the way in which terrain may have influenced decisions and flow of battle.
Will we see multiple playings of the scenario? As long as there are players interested in refighting the battle then the answer is "Yes." since remote games only offer a limited window to the game table for remote players, I try to keep the battle to a size that optimizes that constraint. Typically, 6'x7' layout is the largest I can comfortably host without having to frequently pan the webcams left/right or up/down. Could I bring to the table another part of Shiloh to the table? Of course! Both of your scenario suggestions are good ones.
This is going to be interesting, one of my favourite battles, and another reminder I must get some of those scenario books.
ReplyDeleteThe situation IS interesting. I hope that the scenario does not disappoint the players. There are a number of interesting twists and turns built into the battle.
DeleteInteresting battle and I look forward to the AAR, nice picture of the Quar home world as well!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain caveadsum1471
Thanks, Iain! Quar home world?
DeleteStews Quar game he ran used his ACW terrain, barns and American fencing! I know lame!
DeleteBest Iain
The puzzle fits into place!
DeleteLooks to be hard fought and exciting ciontest!
ReplyDelete*contest*
DeleteWe will find out tomorrow!
DeleteA good book Jon from which we have played a number of scenarios. Looking forward to see how you handle it ๐
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing how it goes too. Have you played this scenario?
DeleteNice interesting battlefield.
ReplyDeleteThanks! We will see how it plays later today.
Delete