Battle of Raymond - BatRep

Scott M. hosted a Regimental Fire and Fury game on Saturday. Before the game, each potential participant received the following briefing:

Tomorrow we fight part of the Vicksburg campaign. I’ll be setting up the Battle of Raymond, the best chance Pemberton had to defeat Grant before Grant got between Vicksburg and Jackson. If the Confederates win, they will have a good chance to unite Pemberton’s and Johnston’s armies.

Three Union brigades will have to push one reinforced Confederate brigade back from the crucial road junction at Raymond. Confederate reinforcements are on the way, so the Union had better move quickly!

Since Kevin would not be arriving until later, Scott gave the Confederate command to me with Don and Scott R. taking command of the Federal forces.  The creek is lined with woods so fighting will be necessarily at close range.  Confederate forces set up hidden.    Each Confederate regiment is given one token and one dummy token for placement.  The objective for both sides to control the vital crossroads. 

Initial dispositions with Rebs deployed to 

protect possible Federal lines of advance.

As umpire, Scott introduced a deck of cards containing one Lull and one Impetuous Rebel Charge card plus cards for each formation.  Each time the Lull card was played, all enemy formations had to pull back out of musketry range of enemy.  Additionally, all Low Ammo and Disorder markers are removed.

Each time the Impetuous Rebel Charge was turned, any Rebel regiment within 12 inches of an enemy force must charge.  The Rebels are out of control in this game, for sure.  Not only will no plan survive contact with the enemy but no plan may survive close proximity!  I will call this packet of cards, the Calamity Deck.

Rebel cavalry (Blue Moon) protecting the southern flank.

Federals stream onto table from their entry points.
Federal cavalry probe near the bridge.
Reb cavalry dismount and protect the main bridge.

Long columns of Union blue converge on the bridge.

My God, Sir, we are quite outnumbered!

Cavalry skirmish across the creek.

Federals deploy in the salient formed by the creek bend.

Not considering the ramifications of the Impetuous Rebel Charge card in the Calamity Deck, the Confederate forces deployed forward to cover the main bridge into Raymond.  The lone Confederate gun section was placed on a knoll with LOS to the main bridge.  Throughout the early stages of the battle those two Rebel guns would disorder many a Federal formation.

With Federals massing, Rebels begin committing and

deploying reserves.

It did not take long for the Rebel Charge card to show its ugly head.  Against better judgment and careful positioning, the Rebs were compelled to strike out from behind the relative safety of the creek.  Who is leading those foolhardy warriors?  From the frying pan and into the fire!

41st TENN splashes across creek to attack Federal
cavalry skirmish screen in foreground while Rebs
attack across stream in background.

Impetuous attack!

Both impetuous Reb attacks repulsed!

Federals counterattack pushing 41 TENN back across
stream while Federals line the stream bank.

High water mark for the Federals.

With the success of repelling the first, ill-advised Confederate attacks, Federal troops deploy along the creek bank.  Heavily outnumbered, the Confederates may be hard pressed to hang onto their positions.  But wait!  Panic on the Federal right!  Federal troops panic and crash through their own lines as they skedaddle back from the creek.  Most formations are either disordered as the fleeing troops pass through or broken.  Fortunate break for the Rebs!  

Disaster strikes Union right!
Failed Maneuver Orders cause panic as most of one
brigade routs, broken.

Federals quickly regain their composure and launch counterattacks on the right.  Even with overwhelming numbers, the Federals are beaten back.

Union right regroups and attacks.

Federal counterattack repulsed!

Flush with success of repulsing the Federals on the Confederate left, Confederate troops spring into another Impetuous Rebel Charge.  Good grief!  These are bold Rebels!

Impetuous Rebs attack (again).

Heated fight for control of bridge on Reb right.

Daring Reb assaults on the Confederate left.

Attacks on both the right and left succeed and all three Union generals go down in the fight.  That is correct.  Three Union generals dead on the field and three gun sections either destroyed or captured.

Federal right pushed back with finger pointing
 while Rebel right breaks through!

Seeing the Confederates firmly in control and the wild Texans bearing down on the remnants of their formations, the Federal forces disengage.  The anticipated Confederate reinforcements never materialized.

With Confederates controlling approaches to Raymond
 and all Union generals dead on the field,
 Federal forces disengage.

Confederate major victory!

The game was fought to conclusion in about four hours including a break for lunch.  The Lull and Impetuous Rebel Charge cards added a lot of friction into the game and provided good drama.  Once bottle up in the bend of the creek, the Federals really had no space to full to bring their full might to bear.

Great fun and enjoyable afternoon spent with the guys battling across the table.  Raymond was an interesting battle and posed tactical problems and friction for all participants.  This one has good replay value although I am not sure how the Rebels could have fared much better.

A Tale of Two Cedars

Receiving the latest from GMT Games recently, I drew a little inspiration from Dickens as I re-examined my ever-lengthening wargaming journey.  With the release of GMT's Twin Peaks, an old battle gets a new face.  One of the battles in the sixth volume of GMT's Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) series refurbishes the 1981 edition of Cedar Mountain.  The GBACW must be one of the longest running wargame series seen.  Richard Berg began in 1976 with Terrible Swift Sword.  I began my series' journey with the 1978 big soap box game of Bloody April.  Even with space at a premium in a small apartment on campus, I had Bloody April mounted up on my wall so that I could game it PBM.  Anyone remember the old days of PBM and using stock quotes published in the Wall Street Journal as a random number seed?  Boy, we have come a long way.  

Being a subscriber to Strategy & Tactics magazine in those days, Cedar Mountain arrived in S&T86 in 1981.  GBACW series has undergone numerous changes throughout its history and through several publishers.  Early adopters to the system would unlikely recognize most of the system today. 

The battle of Cedar Mountain, has been an ACW battle that has interested me since the arrival of that S&T magazine 33 years ago.  Thirty-three years ago?  Wow, hardly seems possible that thirty-three years have passed under the bridge since that day in 1981 when Cedar Mountain first arrived.

Cedar Mountain has likely been replayed on my gaming table more than any other battle for any period.  I still pull the S&T from the shelf and give the game a whirl on a regular basis.  The battle has been refought in 15mm multiple times and in 10mm multiple times.  My last 10mm miniatures participation game is documented on the blog (see BatRep).  The fields of Cedar Mountain are often a starting point for new rules trials too and are well trampled. 

In a map comparison, the old Simonsen map still looks pretty good.  Pleasing to the eyes and both high ground and woods are easily discerned.  By the width of Cedar Run on the S&T map, I figured the waterway was a significant obstacle.  When I visited the battlefield in 2012 (see Cedar Mountain Walk), I was surprised how little water was flowing through.  Of course, much could have changed in 150 years but, still, I was surprised.

Cedar Mountain game map S&T86

Looking at GMT's map of the battle in contrast, it seems as if the S&T map was condensed vertically to fit the battle within a single map allowing space for all of the game charts.  Even though the scale of the game is the same at about 120 yards per hex, distances on the GMT map are much greater.  When I stood at The Gate, I was surprised by the distance between it and the Crittenden house.  On the S&T map, it did not look so far!  How will these distance differences alter my time/space relationship to which I have grown so accustomed?  Time will tell.  In any case, the GMT map is quite handsome but no rail fence surrounding the wheat field?  In the old game, that was a good defensive line to take.  

Cedar Mountain game map GMT

The counters have been given a significant face lift too.  From the functional but drab counters in the original, the gamer is treated to an explosion of color and information on the new unit markers.  I never cared much for icon counters.  Facing just looks odd.  A battlefield, seen from above, ought to display regiments from a birds-eye view.

S&T86 Countersheet

Twin Peaks' Countersheet

Rules wise, that evaluation must wait until I have been able to spend time reading and working through a few examples of the game mechanisms.  Perhaps, if a VASSAL module materializes soon, I will be able to give it a try.

The components of the new version of Cedar Mountain are quite inviting but there is comfort in looking into the face of a weathered, old friend.

Nostalgia and Cannon Ball from Helen of Toy

I came across this old advert during one my internet searches and it immediately brought back memories. Did anyone else get their start in miniatures wargaming with the Helen of Toy game sets?  I remember ordering the Battle of Chickamauga set in the early 1970's from the back of a comic book.  In those days, shipping took FOREVER, didn't it?

Remember all of the great stuff contained within?  This was a two player game and each player got 32 troops, 3 cannons, 5 red TNT boxes, 1 flag, 2 stockade strips, 2 gate bases, 2 observation tower roofs, 2 tower bases and 6 support poles, plus 3 exploding bridges (3 plain sections, 3 pronged sections, and 3 rubber bands).  Exploding bridges?  Remember those?  What fun!  The figures were molded in a soft plastic and at the time, I thought they were very good.

I do remember being a bit disappointed that the fort was made from a thin strip of corrugated cardboard but no matter, my buddy and I were quite excited to give it a try. 

The rules were short and this game saw much action on my grandmother's card table.  I do not remember much about actual game play outside of the exploding bridges but the rules are available online (Cannon Ball Rules) for those wanting to check them out.  I may have painted the figures at one point having found a book of ACW uniform plates at the library.  That was my start with miniatures.  Before that it was model building and board wargames.

I also purchased the AWI set but those figures were a hard translucent, colored plastic and the figures were flats.  I had never seen a flat before and these flats were nothing like the 3D ACW figures.  Quite disappointing!  I would probably appreciate them much more today than yesteryear.

Battlefield Walk - Mule Shoe at Spotsylvania

Three years ago, I visited a number of eastern American Civil War battlefields with a friend.  Before memories of those visits completely slip away, photos from those walks ought to be chronicled.  This time, I recall the Spotsylvania walk.  With this walk, I focus solely on the Mule Shoe salient and the Federal attacks on May 12, 1864.

Thure de Thulstrup's Battle of Spotsylvania

For an excellent account of the battle, I recommend, Rhea's The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7-12, 1864.

To gain a sense of the ground, below is a map of the Mule Shoe showing Confederate and Federal positions.

Mule Shoe Salient

Hancock attacked across the field towards the apex of the salient while Burnside attacked further down on the eastern side of the Mule Shoe.

I generally made my way from the western side around to the eastern side of the Mule Shoe.  The site of the attack on the Mule Shoe was crisscrossed several times to get each combatants' view of the terrain.  These wanderings are illustrated in the series of photos below.  Note the field is black in many of the photos.  Prior to my visit, the Park Service had control-burned off much vegetation covering the field between the two lines.  The burn adds both a sense of desolation and order to this portion of the battlefield.

This way to the Bloody Angle!

Looking east towards western side of Mule Shoe

Monument to 15 NJ

Monument to 49 NY

Monument to 126 OH

Monument to McGowan's BDE (Front)

Monument to McGowan's BDE (Back)

View from Mule Shoe looking towards Howard's attack approach

View from Mule Shoe looking towards Howard's attack approach

Federal trench line looking towards Mule Shoe

View from Federal trenches looking towards Mule Shoe

View Howard had as attack advanced across field towards Mule Shoe

Confederate trench on eastern side of Mule Shoe

Confederate trench line

Confederate trench embankment still nearly five feet in depth

Confederate position (left) along apex of Mule Shoe

Artillery piece on display at Mule Shoe