6mm ACW  Fight over the Shoe Factory

Setting up the game

The challenge for this game was having a scenario which had three players, one of whom, although an experience wargamer did not know the rules.  The approach was to have one experienced player control two Confederate forces in a strong defensive position and for the other players to control a larger attaching Union force of four commands (two each).

Hidden command selection

Each side had a pick list of eight commands to choose between, ranging from one cavalry unit with a horse gun  to four conscript infantry units with a conscript foot artillery battery.  The pick list approach meant that  each side know roughly the size of the opposing force but not they mix between troop types or their quality.

Hidden deployment

The initial deployment was by the defending confederates but with their units replaced by cards.  Each card representing 1-4 units and 4 dummy cards being used. This gave the attacking union forces a rough idea of the deployment of the defending forces but little idea of their number or exact placement.

Map v’s reality

The attacking Union forces had a map pf the battlefield but hadn’t seen the actual table, until the day of the game.  This giving the defenders a better chance to plan their tactics for the terrain.

Rules

The game was fought using STK’s Flames in the South, ACW rules. These rules are very quick to pick up, see my review.

The scenario can be downloaded here.  

Forces Selected

The union chose the following four commands

(1) Regulars with attached Artillery 2x regular Infantry Coy (4 bases) 1x Smoothbore Field Gun battery (1 base) Jolly Good chap Gentleman	(2) Raw Infantry & attached artillery 4x Raw Infantry Coy (4 bases) 1x Raw Smoothbore Field Gun battery (1 base) Jolly Good chap Officer
(3) Cavalry Force 1x Cavalry Sqn with repeater carbines (4 bases) 1x Smoothbore horse battery (1 base) Jolly Good chap Officer	(4) Regulars with  Skirmishers 2x regular Infantry coy (4 bases) 1x Skirmishers sqn (3 bases) Jolly Good chap Officer

 

The Confederates selected

(1) Regular Infantry with Artillery 4x Regular infantry Coy (4 bases) 1x Smoothbore Field Gun battery (1 base) Jolly Good chap Officer

(2) Veteran Infantry 2x Veteran infantry Coy (4 bases) 1x Veteran Skirmish Coy (3 bases) 1x Veteran Cavalry Sqn (4 bases) Jolly Good chap Officer

 

The Union forces attacked from three directions. The 1^st force from the east, the 2^nd from the north and 3rd & 4^th from the west.  The confederates had their veterans facing the west and their regular forces facing the north and east.

 

The Union forces attaching from the west took heavy casualties from the defending foced who were sitting behind stone walls and repulsed. The Union forces from the north did better than the forces on the east but had some unlucky breaks, combined with being raw and where held off my the outnumber confederate forces. The union forces on the west became bogged down in a sniping del with the more experienced veteran Confederates. They were just starting to break through the confederate defenced when time brought the battle to an end.

A victory for the Confederates  and a good test of the SKT rules.  

Thanks to my friends Ian & Paul for a great game