Combat Fatigue

 As I mentioned in the last post I had to organise a home game here in the Post Office yesterday, I chose the Oak Grove 1862 scenario from one of my scenario books, as I only had so much time to set the game up I used Oak Grove taking some liberties with the set up and map. Also Rob, Stuart and Paul are not well versed in Johnny Reb II so I kept things simple with no smoothbores, poor rifle muskets and small regiments, apart from the odd Green unit I kept everything average.

 

 

In the scenario each side has to capture the Fisher farm and the School House to win outright, or inflict 40% casualties on the enemy. Stuart and Rob took the Confederates, Stu having the brigades of Mahone and Wright while Rob commanded Armistead's large brigade. Paul and I were the Federals, I had Sickles' brigade while Paul took Robinson's and Grover's, although I have a few of the regiments present I just put troops down to fill the orders of battle.

As the Union we decided to hold the centre while pushing on the flanks, if I was having a hard time up against Rob I would instead move towards the centre and act defensively, but in the beginning I would test Rob's mettle. As my troops advanced to meet Armistead I took a look to my left, Paul was aggressive and had pushed Grover forward to meet Wright and lead was flying between two heavy skirmish screens, on his far left he was pushing Robinson deep into the woods to confront Mahone. As the battle progressed and the Federal skirmishers fell back our centre looked decidedly sparse, to help I sent my one battery of guns across to anchor the line and cover the large open ground to the front which was full of Rebel troops.

Robinson advances.

My brigade moves on Armistead.

 Meanwhile I too was testing the Rebs and looked like winning the skirmish fight while I extended my line to the right to try and outflank Rob's brigade, I did get him to halt and form up and once again things were looking good as I formed a decent battle line. Then from out of the blue Rob charged the 6th North Carolina at my boys and the 2nd Wisconsin folded and ran, the 6th ran out of steam right in front of one of my regiments, sadly the next volley hit more trees than it did Rebs. Nevertheless the 6th plunged on in the next turn for a final desperate charge as my Minnesota boys fixed bayonets and  reciprocated, despite everything my men failed and were thrown back, I now had a big hole in my line and no reserves as they were destined to move to hit Rob's left flank. 

Robinson forces Rebs to halt.

6th NC breaks through.

Rebs probe the Union centre.

 On the rest of the battlefield our centre looked weaker than ever but Paul had pushed through the woods and forced Stu to form a defensive line on his right. A little later it looked like the Rebs would recover and begin to charge forward, but Union marksmen took out Armistead and Mahone causing disarray in the grey ranks while officers looked around for the next suitable leaders. Paul charged forward and the 11th New York Fire Zouaves smashed through the enemy line and didn't stop until they got to the Fisher Farm, here behind the lines they rallied and then captured a nearby Confederate battery, but it was to be a last hurrah for Robinson's brigade which had now lost two regiments and was badly disorganised.

Fire Zouaves take the guns.

Reb centre.

 Despite my attempts to form up properly morale let me down and my own brigade was now in a mess split into two and with the 6th NC deep in my rear, I had not actually lost anyone as I had manged to rally everyone but I now had no cohesion at all, I decided to fall back as Rob's solid line with a new brigadier would soon move on me. Over on our left Paul had also decided to fall back, Rebs on this flank had also made inroads to the rear of the Union line and the effort to dislodge them was too much.

We had been fighting for about five hours almost after I had taken some time to explain the rules etc. with a short break for lunch, Rob had brought some superb Pork Pies and a Lemon Drizzle Cake. We called a halt and looking across the shattered field decided that the Union forces would at this point probably be wise to retire. At an early point in the game it seemed that the Union centre would fail but in the end it was the only part of our army which was still standing in a decent line of battle.

A very enjoyable game with a lot of excitement and several times cheers/wailing almost gave the impression that the Post Office was still open. Big thanks to Stuart, Rob and Paul for the afternoons entertainment.

Still rushed off my feet with mapping, two new projects in the last 48 hrs and putting the finishing touches to two more, putting the game away and getting ready for Sunday's battle, hence the combat fatigue.