The Battle of Salem Cemetery (5)

Turn 4. The battle continues at a steady pace. Since more and more units take casualties, and need to take a morale check (morale checks in these rules are rolled on a table with sometimes quite surprising results), more and more things are happening ... ;-)

The confederates start the turn ...

The 2 infantry units that were approaching towards the Union left flank  needed a morale check. Both roll the same results ... they want revenge and start moving (or charging if close enough) as fast as they can towards the enemy! The find themselves on the defended hill quite suddenly ...

This prompted the COnfederate commander on the right flank to order his cavalry into action. First a charge towards the enemy cavalry. But their charge response roll says they refuse the charge order and they start firing instead.

Luckily there's a second cavalry unit. They charge as intended, but the defending Union cavalry for their charge response (as defenders) reactive fire ...

So we roll for the cavalry melee. D10's are rolled on both sides. 1 die per 2 factors of unit strength, +2 for charging, +1 if it's the first melee in the game. Dice are then paired up to check for casualties on both sides.

On the opposite flank things aren't going much better. There's a continued melee, and the other cavalry unit also refuses to charge!

Situation after the Confederate turn:

Nothing much is happening in the Union turn, except for general firing across the whole front. On the right flank a heavy cavalry melee is developing ...

Situation at the end of turn 4:

To be continued ...

The Battle of Salem Cemetery (4)

Turn 3.

First, the Confederates have to take morale tests, and one infantry unit on the right flank had to retreat 2 hexes.

So the first job was to restore the advancing front on the right flank, no problems. We're advancing slowly towards the Union position near the cemetary:

The centre brigade immediately failed its first command roll, so no action there:

On the left flank, more movement so a slow advance was ordered:

The Union kept firing away on its left flank. Almost all command rolls successful, so the advancing infantry units took some hits:

The centre wanted to fire as well, but the 2nd command roll failed. Luckily, we decided to use a (useless) chance card and go for a reroll.

But the reroll failed as well (a 7+ is needed for a succesfull command roll):

On the right flank, the approaching cavalry is too good a target not to charge:

All charge responses worked out fine, so we needed to roll some dice. Union: Strength 7 unit ==> 3 dice + 2 for charging + 1 for first melee of the game = 6 dice. Confederates: Str 10 unit ==> 5 dice + 1 for first melee of the game ==> 6 dice. So we rolled them and paired them up. The charging Union inflicts 5 casualties!

The 2nd cavalry unit wants to charge as well, but for the charge response we rolled a 1! Let's not waste our last chance card on a reroll, so lets's see what happens ...

... and we roll a 17! Luckily, our unit is still at Str 10, so no problem.

Situation at the end of turn 3, as seen from the Confederate side:

To be continued ...

The Battle of Salem Cemetery (3)

Turn 2.

The Confederates start, and it's a good opportunity to play a chance card on the battered artillery unit trying to occupy the central hill. Bringing up the artillery and pounding on Union units near Salem Cemetery is part of the mission.

 

The central brigade commander gave an immediate fire order to that same artillery unit ...

... and brought up the 2nd artillery battery while deploying the cavalry reserves.

 

On the right flank, the advance across the open plain proceeded, making use of a "Forced March" chance card.

The left flank remained mostly stationary due to failed command order.

Now it was time for the Union to react. First, the left and central flank started firing at the approaching rebels.

The right flank failed a command order, so this was the battlefield situation after two turns:

The Battle of Salem Cemetary (2)

The summer holidays are always a mixed blessing. You think you can spend some time on gaming, but with all the things to do in the house and garden, gaming time is a scarce resource.

But anyway, I did manage the first turn in my solo ACW game set up on the wargaming table.

I gave the Confederates the initiative, so they got to move first. The have 3 brigades, each with a commander, and ouse rules say you can keep on activating units in each brigade till the commander fails his command roll.

Here's the dyployment as seen from the Confederate side. Salem cemetary is visible in the distance, and the artillery has to be positioned on the small hill to be able to maim the Union infantry lines.

 

I opted to start with the centre brigade, trying to move the artillery in position. The command roll went ok, and the movement roll was a "4", allowing the artillery to deploy in a firing position on the small hill . The other units didn't move as far.

On the right flank, the infantry started moving forwards. The plan is to move them within firing range, start firing at the troops on the hill, and force them to make morale checks every turn. The cavalry is kept on the far right.

Then we have the left flank. DIfficult terain to manoeuvre, but we expect not to do mucht there, except to keep the enemy busy. Although I moved the cavalry on the farm grounds.

Now it's the Union's turn. Their troops all started at a strength of 7 (as opposed to 10 for the Confederates), and their best plan is to stay put and fire at the approaching enemy, while keeping the cavalry ready to hit some juicy target if the opportunity presents itself.

A couple of succesfull firing orders from the centre onto the deployed artillery unit ...

 

Shuffling the cavalry around on the right flank ...

The left flank didn;t do much due to a failed command roll ... But then the Union played one of its three chance cards to further diminish the artillery in the Confederate centre. The red marker indicates it should take a morale test at the start of the next turn due to casualties.

To be continued ...

The Battle of Salem Cemetary

We're slowly approaching the moment when all in gaming group will have received their 2nd vaccination shot, and a few weeks after that, we can consider getting together again. It will be nice to do some "real" games again after a hiatus of a year and a half.

But we haven't reached that point yet, so there's still room for a solo game. I decided to use the scenario published in Wargames Soldiers & Strategy 114, an ACW game "The Battle of Salem Cemetary", using our house rules for fighting ACW battles.

The terrain

One of the challenges of setting up a published scenario is to transfer it to the dimensions of your own gaming table. Since our ACW rules are hex-based, the terrain also has to align to the hexes. This is always fun to do, since by setting up the terrain, you also get an idea of how the game will develop, whether there's enough room for manoeuvre, enough opportunities for troops to take cover, etc.

The images below shows the final layout. The scenario is easy enough: a hill ridge is defended by the Union (closer end of the table in the photos), while the Confederates are approaching from the top-right, also bringing along some captured Union artillery.

The table as seen from the Union side - the ridge to be defended.

Another view of the table, from the same side.

The Troops

When using a published scenario, you always have to adapt the troops listed to your own table and rules. After all, troop density, movement ad firing ranges are important to judge how the scenario will be played. So I always pay close attention to the intent of the scenario, and then select troops to match the tactical idea.

Below you see the deployment for both the Confederate and the Union armies.

The deployment as seen from the Confederate side. The mission is to drive the Union from the ridge near the cemetary in the upper right.

... and as seen from the Union side.

The Commanders

I use characteristics for commanders in my games. Each sides draws a number of cards equal to the number of commanders, and can choose to attribute the cards to the commanders of each brigade. Some commanders are better at giving movement orders, others at giving firing orders, or ordering infantry etc. Some have a somewhat larger command range. I find it an excellent way of presenting the player with a tactical challenge and dealing with the resources at hand. And yes, sometimes the commanders are less than optimal :-)

The Union right flank. This flank has a lot of terrain, and we have the cavalry here. So a commander with a bonus for charge orders will do fine.

The Union centre flank. These troops have to defend the ridge, and the plan is not to move them at all, only give firing orders. So they got the "leftover" commander. The Union doesn't have artillery in this game, otherwise this commander could prove useful.

The Union left flank. An open field, so some movement and firing is expected. If the enemy will approach, it's most likely on this flank. Hence the commander who's good at firing.

The Confederate left flank. Lots of cavalry, so any bonus on charge orders is a plus.

The Confederate centre and reserve. The mission states the artillery needs to be brought forward and hammer the Union ridge, so some good movement for artillery is in order.

The Confederate right flank, facing an open field. So some movement and firing is useful.

As you can see, sometimes the commanders have somewhat "neutral" characteristics, sometimes they are well-suited for the job. But as they are drawn at random from a deck of 8 commanders for each side, it's always a bit unpredictable.

Random Events

I also use random events for my games - again a random draw of 3 cards. Some cards can only be played prior the game, others during the game. But a player has also the choice to use an event card for rerolling a command roll or a combat resolution roll. So no event cards is "useless".

The Union draw. The 1st card is always useful to weaken an enemy unit at a weak spot in the line; the 2nd card is of no use in this scenario (except for rerolls), and the card on the right can claim cover that wasn't on the battlefield from the start (e.g. some ditches or hedges that were not on the maps ...)

The Confederate draw: the left card is useful for a boost in unit strength; the 2nd card will come in handy on the right flank; the 3rd cards allow enemy fire to be deviated towards a friendly unit for the firer.

On to the game!

 

I bought new dice!

The last year has been very detrimental for overall gaming. Many people might think that during the successive lockdowns there has been plenty of time to do all sorts of gaming-related stuff, but not for me.

But anyway, for the first time in a long time I visited my FLGS. I dropped off some old games (the shop has a second hand shelf, you put your games for sale at a fixed price, and if sold, you get store credit), and bought a new boardgame. But I also bought a new set of polyhedral dice, just for fun.

Back in the day I had a habit of buying a new set of dice at every convention I visited, as a memento. I hadn't done that for many years, but suddenly, these brightly yellow-green dice were staring at me! There's always room for more dice!