Battle of Brawner's House

Last Friday Wim and I played an ACW game, using or well-tested and developed house rules.

The scenario was inspired by an article in Wargamers Annual 2014, which outlined a scenario for the 7YW, but was in fact itself inspired by an ACW battle, the battle of Groveton or Brawner's House, on the evening of 2nd Bull Run.

The idea is that one side travels in convoy along a road, spread out. The other side's force suddenly appears from behind a hill line, concentrated. The tactical challenge is for the convoy to deploy as soon as possible given the terrain, and for the attacking side to try to attack as soon as possible. Whoever controls the battlefield by the end of the wargaming day wins the battle.

The original article in Wargamers Annual 2014.

Here's what the initial setup looked like. Note that we use little name markers for each unit. Names are fictional and AI generated and inspired by Bourbon and whisky brands.

The overall view at the start of the battle. The Confederates attack from this side, the Union is spread out as a long convoy on the far end. We use cards from an old cardgame to indicate abilities of commanders and some units.

The Union left flank.

The Union middle.

The Union right.

The Confederate Left.

The Confederate middle and right brigades. We use mikado sticks to mark the boundaries between the various brigades. These sticks move along, but they are handy to remember what unit belongs to what brigade.

Ok, the battle is set. Wim will play the Union, I will play the Confederates. I won't give a blow by blow account, but simply show some photographs taken at various points during the battle, and usually from the side of the table where I was sitting ...

The opening move on the Confederate right. My plan was to quickly attack the Union here, before the could deploy in full force in the forest in the middle of the table.

Napoleon as our "Lucky General Mascot". Whoever has the token can reroll any die roll, but then has to hand over the token to the opponent.

Wim is trying to set up his left flank.

The middle Union brigade is trying to occupy the forest.

View after the first few turns.

Another view of the action unfolding. On the left flank the Confederate cavalry is vigorously pursuing the Union. These are results of "morale checks" in our rules, and create all sorts of little stories across the battlefield.

Cavalry action on the Confederate left flank

An overview of the left flank.

Advance in the middle!

Heavy firing from both sides in the middle.

An overview of the developing battle.

Another overview.

When the clock had passed 11pm, we decided to halt the game. Both sides were know well entrenched, and we felt we would probably spend several turns firing, hoping for one side to crumble such that the other side could exploit an opening.

Here are some pictures when we stopped the game, with all table clutter such as dice and rule sheets removed.

It was a fun game and fun scenario. We also felt the rules handled this type of scenario well, although we had of course suggestions for slight adaptations.

Next post: handing out medals and rewards!