Longstreet Campaign 1862 Game 2 Union v Confederate

Last August Dave and I played a couple of games for a Longstreet campaign and decided to return to it for game three, set in 1862. Fighting Joe Hooker (me) had his Division defending a crossroads while Stonewall Jackson (Dave) attacked it. Stonewall decided to mass all his force on the Union left isolating half the Union army immediately:

Most of the Union artillery is out of action, try to move to the left or try to advance and catch the Rebels in the flank later on? Neither option seemed likely to work but Hooker decides to live up to his name and advance them:

In support he sends forward an infantry brigade, attack is the best form of defence:

The Rebels maintain their advance:

They deploy a single brigade to face the Union attack on the right:

The Union units in the open throw up some hasty defences while things are starting to look grim for the brigade isolated in the woods:

The Union attack on the right is making good progress, so much so that the Zouaves from the crossroad join in:

Unsurprisingly the Union brigade in the wood is driven off:

The Union artillery on the right gets into action:

On the other flank the Rebels make slow progress:

Rebel artillery fire from the hill has been largely ineffective:

The artillery on the hill is becoming concerned about the Union troops flooding around their flank:

The situation looks grim for the Rebels in the cornfield:

Zouaves charge:

On the left the Rebels still have not managed to set up an attack:

Finally the Rebel Yell is heard! the Union troops are forced back from their defences:

They quickly return to the fight though:

Fire ripples along the Union line:

The Rebels prepare for one last charge:

The Reb's bravery is not enough to defeat the stubborn Union men though and the attack is thrown back breaking the Rebel army:

 

Good to get back to this campaign after a long break, an excellent game where initially I thought Dave would overwhelm my men quite quickly but gradually my own attack bore fruit and wore the Rebels down. The ACW is certainly one of my favourite periods and I'm beginning to appreciate the subtleties of Longstreet more with experience. As ever most of the figures used are true 'veterans' being around 35 years old and having fought many battles over those years!
 

Longstreet Campaign 1862 River Crossing Union v Confederate

The second game in Dave and I's Longstreet campaign set in 1862 was the 'River Crossing' scenario with Dave's Rebels attacking. Perhaps part of the Seven Day's battles with General Hooker's brigade attempting to hold the Rebels back while the Union evacuates its baggage train.

Hooker deploys his brigade to defend the four potential crossing points on the river. There are two objectives which the Rebels place in the cornfield and woods on the Union left. The stream adds a complication in that it won't be easy to redeploy units if the Rebels elect to attack a single crossing point:

It is immediately apparent that the Rebel plan is to overwhelm the Union forces on the left where the crossing is widest. Will they manage to cross before Hooker can send more men over to contest the crossing?

Rebel cavalry cross the river with strong infantry columns following up:

The Rebel cavalry dismount while the defenders open fire. Hooker rushes troops across the stream in support:

The Rebel cavalry get much the worst of the encounter in the field, they also prevent the following Rebel infantry from deploying properly. To increase the pressure the Rebels approach the other crossing in force:

With the Rebel cavalry largely dispersed their infantry charge across the field. Some Union troops have come up in support behind the field now though:

The Rebel charge is repulsed and casualties are strewn all over the field. The Rebels are also about to try to take the stone wall in front of the other crossing:

A mass Rebel charge sees them capture the stone wall and push the Union infantry almost out of the cornfield. They have taken heavy casualties though and the Union line has buckled but not broken:

The Union infantry are forced out of the cornfield but General Hooker has reserves ready to stabilise the line:

Co-ordinating fire and the bayonet Hooker recovers the cornfield and the Rebels break from their losses:

Another great game which, while it was not that close at the end, felt closer when the rebels stormed across the river! Dave's plan to attack in one place was interesting in that it immediately isolated half my force but it also resulted in his units getting in each other's way and blocked off his artillery support for much of the battle. 

I'd probably have attacked in two places or at least threatened to but I'm by no means sure that would have been a better option. We now have a second battle to play for 1862 and are continuing to enjoy the games greatly.

One other thing I'm trying to do is use as many of my varied 15mm ACW collection (built up over many years) as possible. The armies in the first game were mainly AB figures, in this one the figures were mainly inherited by me and I'm sure Mike who left them to me would have been happy to see them take the field again.

Finally here is a statue of our Hero, General 'Fighting Joe' Hooker:

and here is his very own entrance to the Massachusetts State Hall!

Longstreet Campaign 1861 Meeting Engagement Union v Confederate

After a while playing 02:00 Hours and Test of Honour I felt like a change from skirmish games so arranged with Dave to play Longstreet, potentially as part of the campaign in the rule book.

Dave opted for the Rebels so I took the Union. My brigade consisted of three ten base infantry battalions, an 8 base cavalry regiment and two bases of 6pdr artillery. Of course it had to be commanded by my favourite Union general 'Fighting Joe' Hooker!

The first game, set in 1861 and so perhaps part of the Bull Run battle, was an encounter. The Brigade quickly deployed to face the enemy:

The Rebels are quickly moving up in march column:

They waste no time pressing forward while the Union occupy a field:

Union cavalry dismount. Perhaps the Rebels can be caught still in march formation?

The Rebels are too smart to be caught though and deploy just in time. They send some men around the Union right flank to threaten the artillery:

Rebel infantry prepare to assault the dismounted cavalry:

The Rebels charge home with a Yell:

The dismounted cavalry are pushed back but this exposes the Rebel infantry to a potential flank attack. On the Union right the Rebel cavalry have charged the Union artillery and captured some of the battery:

The Rebel infantry fall back from their exposed position but take fire from the Union line:

The Union forces charge home clearing the wood of Rebels. At this point things are looking good for General Hooker (who lived up to his nickname by leading the charge!):

In the centre the situation is less promising for the Union with the Rebels putting heavy pressure on the Union line:

The Union left has driven off the Rebels facing it. The battle will be decided by their ability to save the Union centre before it breaks. It is going to be close!

The Union centre is badly mauled and holding on desperately:

With the Union left menacing the rear of the Rebels they decide their only option is to charge forwards:

The Union centre breaks after almost hanging on and the Rebels are triumphant in a close game. Fighting Joe will have to retire and fight again but at least his force has now 'Seen the elephant' and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy:

A really close game that could easily have gone the other way and where fortunes changed several times. Dave's flanking move on my right initially looked like it would be too slow to affect the battle but, in the end, was decisive after the Union centre had been worn down.

Having played a couple of games of Longstreet I'm revising my opinion of it really, when I tried it a long time ago I wasn't impressed (but then I really like Fire and Fury so any other set of ACW rules is starting from a difficult position!) but, like Sam Mustafa's other rules, there is more to them than appears initially and the campaign system is certainly a nice addition.

Dave really enjoyed the game as well so we will be continuing the campaign for now at least!

 

Longstreet 'The Crossroads' Union v Confederate

After a considerable gap I thought I'd revisit Sam Mustafa's 'Longstreet' ACW rules, partly as they have an interesting campaign system and partly as they need less space than 'Fire and Fury'. When I played them years ago I wasn't that enthusiastic about them (partly as I really like F&F) and lost interest quite quickly without really giving them much of a chance.

In this game my Union force took on Ian's Rebels. Each side starts off with a brigade sized force of three infantry regiments, a cavalry regiment and an artillery battery. The game is run partly by a card deck and partly by dice.

The scenario we went for was the encounter at a crossroads, Ian won the initiative and decided to attack.

My force deploys to defend the crossroads. As we don't know if the Reb's will attempt to out-flank us one infantry regiment and the cavalry are in reserve:

The Rebels choose a simple frontal assault, hoping to overwhelm the Union front line before the reserves can move up:

Union artillery and infantry open fire. defending the fence line gives them an advantage in combat:

Unfortunately Ian plays one of his cards, 'Confusion' to move the Union infantry over the fence towards the Rebel attack! Obviously the men felt the Reb's were wavering and a solid advance would drive them off:

The union men regret their choice as the Rebels charge!:

The Union regiment is forced back and takes some losses but mitigate the situation with a 'like a Stone Wall' card that improves their defence against the charge:

The cavalry also clash:

Volley fire rolls along the Union lines hitting the advancing Rebels:

the Reb's charge again, this time engaging the artillery as well as the infantry regiment:

The Union cavalry is gradually being pushed back:

The Union artillery is forced to limber up and retreat leaving one gun behind while the infantry fall back over the fence:

At this point we called it a day as we'd spent quite a while going through the rules reminding ourselves how to play. It was more fun than I remembered, when/if to use the cards (either to activate units, 'save' hits or for their special effects) is something to think about for sure.

The balance of the game also changes over time, in 1861 the Rebels tend to have the advantage while the Union becomes better in the later years. 

The campaign system follows a single brigade over the war and, I think, is really designed for multiple players but Ian and I enjoyed our game so we are going to start a campaign off with our next game and see how it goes. It was certainly good to get the boys in blue and grey out again even if it was only a small proportion of them!