Shiloh Solo - Conclusion

By 2:30 pm W H Wallace had deployed his division to protect the approaches
to Pittsburg Landing. He was supported by the entire reserve artillery making
a formidable barrier to stop the Confederate advance.

Meanwhile McClernand's counter attack had forced Johnston to divert several
brigades to his left flank. Polk himself was wounded in an effort to prevent
Trabue's brigade from breaking. The Rebel flank held but it had cost precious
reserves the Confederates needed elsewhere.

This is the view from behind McClernand's division looking towards the river.
The brigade in the foreground has broken but the Union attack has done its
work by diverting the Rebel reserves (visible top right).

A Union gunboat arrives to help complete the destruction of the Confederates
attempting to break W H Wallace's line. They never really had a chance
but made several gallant attempts nonetheless.

At the end of Turn 19 (4:30 pm), with Lew Wallace about to arrive with
reinforcements I called a halt to proceedings, there was no way that the
Confederates could win now. The total SP losses were 112 to the Rebels and
71 to the Union, a convincing win for the boys in blue.

The game was surprisingly good fun considering it was played solo and it was good to get these 6mm figures back in play. There were a few things that I learnt that may be applicable to any future games -

1. The heavily wooded terrain made movement slow so it would be a good idea to allow increased moves in similar scenarios (e.g. Chickamauga or The Wilderness)
2. The woods also made artillery very difficult to use to any effect although this may have been realistic in this scenario, possible idea is to allow a battery to fire in woods on a roll of 4,5 or 6
3. The command rules just don’t work for a solo game as I very quickly lost track of who was who, this wasn’t helped by the Confederate deployment in this scenario which was successive lines of corps. I need to simplify this for any further games.
4. This particular scenario was stacked too much against the Confederates, if I played it again I would say that any broken Union brigades have to rout to Pittsburg Landing before they could start to rally. This would give the Rebels more of an advantage early on and also be historically more accurate.