I slightly rearranged the terrain for another bash at my Fire & Fury 'fight for the crossroads' scenario. This time it was Tony who donned the Confederate grey of 'Old Pete' Longstreet while I retained command of two divisions of Porters Union V Corps.
| The table - looking pretty similar to the last game but with the addition of some newly painted buildings. |
| The view from behind the Union left flank. |
| I got my lads moving forward whilst willy 'Old Pete' hung back to see how things developed. |
| My Zouaves seek the cover provided by the central wooded hill. |
| Meanwhile the Tigers occupy the road junction. |
| Buford's troopers arrive hoping for a better showing than they did in the previous game. Waiting for them at the end of the road are Ashby's dismounted cavalry. |
| Tony keeps his right flank refused - for the time being. |
| I shake out a battle line for an attack on the crossroads. |
| 'The sweepings of the Louisiana water front' Rob Wheat's Louisiana Tigers. |
| Buford's boys have sensibly dismounted and are using the extra effectiveness of their carbines at long range to annoy Ashby's men. |
| My attack goes in at the crossroads. The casualty marker denotes that the unit is disordered. |
| My Zouaves emerge from the tree line hoping to flank the Tigers. |
| Over on my right flank there are reserves arriving - unfortunately the Rebs have some as well, marching along the road in the distance. |
| Buford closely engages his nemesis Ashby but it was Buford once again who was forced to retreat! |
| On my left things have gone horribly wrong! Tony's men rush forward and with a Rebel Yell, sweep my men away capturing two batteries in the process. |
| On the right, the Iron Brigade deploy and are already disordered - not quite as iron as I had hoped. |
| But we push on... |
| ...although in the centre my attack has been repulsed. |
| Tony's men have broken my left flank... |
| ...and pushed right up to the cemetery gate! |
| The Irish surge forward - begorrah! |
| Charge and counter-charge as troops swirl across the fields. |
| Longstreet is moving to flank me in the centre. |
| That swirling melee from the Rebel perspective. |
| The table near the end of play. |
| The Confederates push in my centre and it's game over with an impressive win on points for Tony. |
Another great little game and I'm really getting to like these rules (the original version) as I think they have a realistic back-and-forth Civil War feel. For now though the troops must return to their storage boxes while I turn my attention back to painting 20mm Napoleonics.
Your troops and table are really nice and do make ACW so tempting; there's something so attractive about the blue and gray and limited number of different troop types so prevalent in the Napoleonic period. The Union troops seem to lose most of the time in your games, are the Rebs favoured in the rules or is just the dice that favour them? I'm working on my next post which was the most dice dominated game I think I've ever played.
ReplyDeleteThe Rebs have a very small advantage in melee and the Union have an advantage with artillery but in this case it was Just down to poor generalship on my part!
DeleteExcellent fun, and good visuals - I was impressed by Fire and Fury, which are new to me but make a lot of sense to a debutant. There's a lot of fighting, which keeps things exciting. I love the 15mm troops - beautifully painted too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tony it was a very enjoyable game!
DeleteExcellent! But whatever it is that Buford is drinking, take it away.
ReplyDeleteTo be routed once by Ashby’s bushwackers is unfortunate but twice…
DeleteWhat is not to love about ACW gaming.
ReplyDelete"Rally with elan" is my favourite wargaming phrase ever!
Fire & Fury is an excellent game - ‘Swept from the field’ is my favourite!
DeleteThat photo taken through the cemetery gate ! More like that . . . !
ReplyDeleteYeah, that photo was a bit of fun!
Delete