Gettysburg Solo Turns 39-46 (Pickett's Charge)

Historically there was very little activity during the morning of July 3rd so the game begins again at 1.00pm (turn 39).

Lee has ordered every available artillery battery forward to commence a bombardment of the enemy line on Cemetery Hill. To reflect the historical shortage of ammunition the Confederates will not be able to resupply their guns giving each battery just six rounds of firing.

Some Union counter-battery fire has landed a couple of lucky hits reducing the SPs of two of the Rebel batteries and blowing up some of their precious ammunition.

At 2.30pm Lee issued an order to Pickett to begin the attack however another failed activation die roll meant that this did not commence until 3.00pm. Pickett supported by Heth begins the long approach to Cemetery Hill over ground raked by the Union artillery.

The Confederate artillery fire has started to take effect on Hancock's men and he orders the supporting brigades forward to relieve the first rank of defenders.

Pickett's men are almost at the Emmitsburg Road...

Cemetery Hill is bristling with Federal bayonets!

By now the Union gun-line is running short of ammunition so Meade orders every battery he can find forward in support of Hancock.

The Rebs are in rifle range now and both sides engage in a dealdy firefight.

The Union line is under extreme pressure and Willard's brigade (left foreground) have become shaken. The guns here are down to their last round.

Pickett leads Armistead forward and with a Rebel Yell they crash into Willard and send his men running. Pickett exposed himself to personal danger in the process but the dice were with him.

This is a crisis point for the Union - the Rebs are on Cemetery Hill.

To the left of Armistead, Garnett has been forced back and replaced by Pettigrew (Heth's division). These are the same men who fought so hard at the Seminary on day one and are now reduced to just 1SP. 

A P Hill's men have now come up in support on Pickett's right at the Codori House and are hotly engaged with Sedgwick's relatively fresh VI corps.

Here at least the Federals are having some success and A P Hill is held at bay.

But to their left both Hall and Ruger have been routed to join what is rapidly turning into a Union stampede. The Confederates are swarming over Cemetery Hill.

Armistead now takes out a second brigade (that of Webb) despite being down to just 1SP.

The Union position by the Cemetery is falling apart.

Armistead moves on the flank of a third Union brigade!

Lee rides forward waving his hat - there are seven Confederate brigades on Cemetery Hill and the Union troops are in full retreat.

The situation on Cemetery Hill at the end of play - turn 46.

I had said that to win decisively the Confederates had to occupy Little Round Top, Cemetery Hill and Culp's Hill but I did also have a secondary VP objective. Each army had a demoralisation level (the number of simultaneously broken infantry brigades at which the whole army would break) of 9 for the Union and 7 for the Confederates. The DEM level for the Union was reached at the same moment that the Rebels swarmed over Cemetery Hill and it seemed only right to award them the victory! 

Whether this victory would actually end the war is another matter as the Confederate army is pretty much spent whereas the Union V and VI corps still have some fighting strength left. However, I have to say, much to my surprise, Lee has carried the day.

Conclusion

This certainly has been an epic game and I doubt very much that I would ever try a solo game this big again. It has been fun though and the rules certainly provided plenty of thrills and spills. It did take me a while to get the rules flowing smoothly as I had forgotten a couple of key points, one quite crucial that probably gave the Union a worse time of things on day one than they should have had.

That's it, I hope you enjoyed it - now to pack everything away!