Wyvern Wargamers - Big Bash 2017 - ACW

When fellow club members paint at a far greater rate than you, you have to be creative in your game design.

The view from the Union lines

Sunday saw an outing of for the ACW collection using Sharp Practice 2 - I have enough to scrape together a Confederate force of around 140 points, whilst Paul and Dane can generate a cast of  000's. We wanted to get all the toys on the table but it did seem a little unfair on the rebs so we came up with a scenario which allowed for a much reduced Confederate Force to face off against the all of the Union Army.

Looking North with the Green staging points and Red deployment Points

We created 4 Forces for the Union command each owned by a different player and allowed them all to advance on the table at once. The table was split into 4 segments each one containing a separate confederate force and two deployment markers. 

The Union player could only advance into the second segment (see the small green markers at the table edge) once they had broken the force morale of the first line of defence and so on and so forth.

If it went to plan we could recommision the confederate forces in each segment. Each fresh and ready for action whilst the Union player would have to marshall their troops and try and keep casualties down knowing that each segment would have new defenders to man the defences.

So how did it play out?

The first deployment point captured by Union Skirmishers without a shot being fired.

On the left flank the first Union regiment takes heavy fire.

Pressure builds on the Confederate Command as more troops enter the table.

The Union Cavalry enter the fray - Damn repeating carbines....

The first line of defence crumbles and the force morale drops to zero.

Those pesky cavalry push forward out stripping its supporting infantry.

Pay back the second line is unmasked - The cavalry take cover.

Shock begins to mount as more southerns are activated.

The cavalry retire only to be replaced by yet more Infantry.

Pressure builds on the right flank

The South holds firm as the clock ticks down.

We were perhaps a little too grand with our table size but it did make for a fun game with everyone involved. As Confederates we looked to break individual Union units knowing it would slow the advance and make it difficult to push forward for the next wave. The Union players got drawn into lengthy fire fights where perhaps the bayonet would have made a greater impact to break Confederate force morale.

A great days gaming, which we agreed was a well fought draw although the Union side received casualties at a ratio of 3:1

Sharp Practice once again gave a great game with multiple commands and was well balanced even though the odds were against the men from Texas.