Battle of Belmont 7th November 1861

The battlefield as the two armies prepare to clash.

A few weeks ago(yes, I'm that far behind on my blogging material) one of my friends Sascha and I had an ACW game using the Black Powder rule set with the 66% range/movement effect rule in place and Bill's alternative turn sequence . We took the scenario from a GaG scenario book which was easily adapted to fight BP. The scenario is a relatively small one with one large Brigade divided into two smaller brigades for each side. The battle was very early in the war and fought between green regulars and militia with smoothbore  muskets and a small amount of artillery. Both sides were given the "freshly raised" special rule to reflect their green status and in addition the confederate militia were given the "unreliable" special rule to further show their lack of regular drill plus Union general Grant was given the "High Decisive" quality attribute. The union were also given a higher command rating. A historical description of the battle can be found here.

Sacha took command of Grant and the union forces and I of Pillow and the confederates. Because of the small size each army each regiment really counted and Sascha's first attempt on my flank resulted in a complete route of one of his regiments which really put him on the back foot for the rest of the game. He also had a couple issues moving his forces together even with Grant's abilities due to some unlucky rolls which just made things harder for him. While my command abilities were less then his I had to make fewer commands as I was playing the defence which in the end cancelled out his superior command rating. Sascha made some brave attempts on my flanks, but they were all repulsed and eventually the confederates mounted a counter attack which more or less rolled up the union left flank breaking the union army. It seems this time the rebels changed history.

The game was great fun and Sasha was a real sport who continued to try until his army could do no more. The key to the game is if the union can get superior numbers on to the extended confederates and defeat them in detail before the confederates can stabilize their frontage. Unfortunately Sasha missed a couple command rolls and lost his first assault badly which put him in bad spot as I was able to consolidate my troops thwarting his efforts.

We are both looking forward to our next game together, but that could be awhile due to Sascha's job taking him out of town during the week and family on the weekend so it's likely to be holidays and vacations when I get to see him again.

Thanks for viewing!

Union forces ready to launch what will be a fatal assault for them.

Confederate's guarding the camp preparing to advance.

Repulsed on the right the union probes the left.

Confederates launch a counter attack!

Union left flank beginning to turn.

Confederates hold in the center and press on the union flank eventually crumbling it.

Union forces try one last assault on the confederate left and are thrown back in disarray at which point the order to withdraw is given by the union commander to those who already haven't.