Battle of Gailey's Crossroads - Confederate AAR

My very good friend Paul very recently wrote a battle report for the recent ACW outing over at Evesham Wargames Club with the line "history belongs to the side which ends up writing the history". Well the war is not over my friend this is the offical battle report  from the Southern Republic regarding the Battle of Gailey's Crossroads.

The Scenario was a simple one advance up the table and clear out any federal forces blocking our path. We knew that behind the Town of Bishampton the Union forces were starting to stack up so a fast advance was the order of the day.

The  view from the Southern Front.

Carl's Division took the lead, valliant souls from the heart of Alabama, the advance was swift coming into sight of  Gailey's Crossroads after a couple of turns.

Union Cavalary were seen deploying behind the picket fences and stone walls, their repeating rifles would be deadly if we entered into a protracted fire fight.

General Carl urged his men forward supported by artillery fire from Evesham Hill.

What the Union Cavalry add in fire power they lack in numbers they were hindered by some of the most unluckly dice rolling ever to be seen on a wargames table, Cavalry units were running low on ammunition, others throwing up thick smoke which screened the avancing Confederate forces.

The Union forces deployed an artillery battery to stem the Confederate tide, but this to suffered from a lack of ammo.... ( who was the quartermaster????)

General Carl ordered his men forward with minimal casaulties and shock he charged his bayonets and rushed straight for the Union Cavalry, going against the doctine of previous games of exchanging volley fire first !!!

The Confederate forces numbers told and the union were cavalry feel back in some disorder, it would be several turns before they were able to reform and recover.

Bouyed by their success Carl's Division pushed on but they were starting to suffer a number of casualties and shock, Big Men and Officers were spread across the front and they were desperate to reorder their forces.

Mean while General Stuart's Texas Division entered the table, delayed due to the Generals late lunch.

Carl's Division was slowed by elements of the 76th New York and Union Zouaves who were coming off blinds and were deploying to the front, the men from Alabama knew no fear and pressed on, out stripping the supprting Texas units.

They were now out numbered 3:1 including the returning Union Cavalry under Lt Bacon.

Several volley's were fired by the Union line forcing the Confederate forces to seek shelter in the wheat field, elements of Carl's divsion began to slink away unable to respond to the Union fire and with two few Officers available to reorder the line.

As dusk began to fall, the men from Texas arrived to see their brothers from Alabama retiring from the line with Bacon's cavalry shadowing their withdrawal....

We had secured the cross roads and it would be a bloody task for the Union to take it back.

Mission accomplished....... :-)

Terrible Sharp Sword - ACW Confederate Forces

Sunday see's the Evesham Wargames Club Big Game I 2012, Over the last few months numerous club members have being amassing forces for the forthcoming ACW engagement.

We shall be using the Sharp Practice from the Two Fat Lardies.

To make the game a little more personable we have selected a regiment each, I have selected troops mustered from Milam County.
Sandwiched between Austin & Dallas.

I found a great web site, which detailed the units raised in the area and the names of the officers.
The link can be found below.
http://jamesewilliams.tripod.com/index-2.html

Two units will gather on the field of Battle on Sunday.

'E' Coy Milam County Guards - 4th Texas Cavalry commanded by Lt Buckholt

The dismounted Guards line up against the picket fence, seeking cover where they can

"At the canter, Lt Buckholt leading from the front."

Next up Company G "Milam County Grays", 5th Texas Infantry under the joint command of Captain John W Story & Capt J.C. Rogers

"Capt Rogers urges on his loyal men of Texas."

Having done the research on the units, I feel a real affinity towards these guy's. So much so I might just have to let one of the other Rebel Commanders lead the assault.... :-)

Details of some of the Yanks can be found here. http://movealongnownothingtoseehere.blogspot.com/2012/02/billy-yank-marches-to-war.html

Full AAR detailing the rebel victory (I hope) to follow.

If your close by drop in the kettle is always on.

Sharp Practice Zulu War Modifications.

Zulu’s Wars in Sharp Practice.

Set out below is a summary of the amendments and in house rules made for Sharp Practice and Terrible Sharp Sword Rules by the Richard Clarke and the guy’s over at Too Fat Lardies. These have been used by our club the Evesham Wargames Club to run a number of large scenarios based in the Zulu Wars of 1879.

Zulu Warriors.
Zulu infantry Units are broken down into 3 Unit Types.
Zulu Skirmish Unit.

A Zulu Skirmish unit should be 10 men strong and armed with fowling pieces. Zulu Infantry are poor shots and must spend every other action reloading.

Zulu Infantry Unit.

A Zulu Infantry unit should be 15 men strong armed with Assegai thrusting spears. The Zulu’s are aggressive in Fisticuffs and carry Big Choppers.

Zulu Regiment.

A Zulu Regiment should be between 30 – 60 men strong armed with Assegai thrusting spears. The Zulu’s are aggressive in Fisticuffs and carry Big Choppers. A regiment will be made up of between 2-4 elements. Between 3-6 men in the formation will be armed with fowling pieces.

Zulu Experience.

Zulu Troops are categorised as per Terrible Sharp Sword (page 7) however Greenhorns are able to skirmish and none of the Zulu Troops receive the pluses for musketry. Zulu’s from the first invasion are Determined; troops from the 2nd invasion are Downcast.

Zulu Blinds.

A Zulu unit that enters a terrain item can revert to Blind in the next turn. When moving out from the terrain piece they can split into two blinds, one representing a fake and one the genuine unit.

Zulu’s move at 1d6 + 3 per action.

They may spend one action Hunkering Down which improves there cover class by one grade. i.e. None becomes light and Light becomes medium.

British Regulars.

All infantry Groups should be eight men strong. They are in the main Acceptable Shots and are armed with Superior Rifles. British Troops are classed as Triumphant in terms of belief.

Random Event Cards.
A set of random event Cards are available on the Too Fat Lardies Yahoo Group.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Toofatlardies/files/Sharp%20Practice%20Colonial/

Hand to Hand
When in Close Comabt all rules apply as per the TSS rule book, however we have limited the number of figures fighting, so for examaple British Troops in Open or Skirmish order will be out numbered by a maximum of 4:1, whilst a British Infantry Section in Close order can only be out numbered by a maximum of 2:1 per figure.

Big Man Allocation.
British
8 Man Section – Status I/II Big Man
Status III/IV Big Men range from Colour Sergeants to Senior Officers.
Zulu

Zulu Big Men are allocated on a ration of 2 Big Men for every 3 Units fielded. Typically each force will also be allocated a senior commander or induna this commander will typically be one grade higher than the most experienced Big Man.

Against the Assagi - Evesham Wargames Club All Dayer

Last Sunday the Evesham Wargames Club got together for an all day colonial affair, over the last 2 years we have amassed quite a large collection of 28mm Zulu's with everyone completing their fair share of Zulu's to bolster the native ranks.

Each player took command of their own detachment of Britsh Troops and selected their characters.

We used a modifed version of Sharp Practice from the TooFatLArdies with over 50 Bigmen in the deck this was going to be a long day in the field with Dust, Tears & Dice.....

It seemed a suitable adventure for the return of our hero of the hour Ferguson of the 99th

Set out below is an extract from his private diary....

After spending several days holed up at the field hospital at the drift I was passed fit for duty and ordered to return to my old unit, before I set off I heard that a rescue misson was to be mounted for a couple of Boer Farmers who had not been heard from for several days. Zulu activity had been increasing over recent days and these crazy dutchmenn had built their homesteads the wrong side of the river....

We were to cross into Zululand and rescure them and their families.

I had a friend in the Natal Mounted Police and managed to get myself a command of a cavalry detachment which was to lead the river crossing, a chance to show my metal to The Colonel The Rt Hon Basil Sir Gently-Tipping commander of the expedition (Played by Dean.)

View from the high ground before we crossed the river. The homesteads can be seen to NE & NW of the table.

I crossed the river with my two detachments of cavalry crossing at two separate fords. A detachment of Natal Native Horse and a detachment of  Natal Mounted Police, together with A boer farmer De Groot and his Zulu scouts who I posted out front as pickets.



I sent De Groot out scouting for our sneaky Zulu foe, he had orders to push for the high ground in the centre of the table but was also ordered to seek out the forces.





It was only a few turns before Zulu skirmishers were spotted in a small Zulu Farm in the centre of the table, with more warriors flooding the table to the rear of the Kraal.



Having reached the high ground I had the NNH dismount and give fire to the approching Zulu's.







I had the NNP dismount to add weight to the firing line as increasingly more Zulu's began to show themselves.



Meanwhile the column continued to cross the drift marching ever closer to the high ground were I was holding my own against the Zulu's.... Then as soon as they had appeared the Zulu disapeared falling back behind the ridge line which shielded us from the NE Boer homestead.



Flushed with Success and with men from Major Cumming and Captian Lewis's detachment on the hill I set off after the Zulu Skirmishers who were taking the occasional pot shots from the Kraal.



Unfortunately it was at that time that the Zulu left horn showed itself breaking a ridge line to the left of the advancing column and closing off the open ground to my mounted troops.

I under estimated the speed of the Zulu advance and my cavalry detachments were caught in the flank by the aggressive Zulu's with their stabbing Assagi's (Big Choppers under the rules)

The NNH and the NPM were forced to flee from the advancing Zulu's many of them unhorsed. I was forced to watch from the massed ranks of infantry as over half my detachment ran for the safety of the border, with enough shock to keep them out of the encounter for several hours.



The British Infantry held firm and awaited Lewis's order to fire.



Meanwhile artillery fire from Lt Marling added to the Zulu's troubles.





With fire from the blue ranks of the naval brigade under Lt Plumstone firing into the ranks of massed warriors they were forces to retreat with a significant amount of shock.



Meanwhile diaster was to strike in the centre, Captain Lewis was distracted by Zulu's within yards of his firing lines, I had been sent back to calm the nerves of De Groot whose natives had taken flight from the first Zulu attack, when one Zulu warband had advanced through a gap in the firing ranks lines and swamped a unit of British Infantry under Sergeant Hunt, who was forced back to the wagon park. Fortunately fire from Major Cumming's detachment and elements under Sergeant Reagan forced the Zulu to flee.



Just as the day was drawing to a close and the troops were toasting their success the Zulu right horm mad it's appearance to the far right of our column and to the rear of our wagons and artillery who so far had been largely in effect.

(The look of shock across the faces of the British command reminded me of the end of Zulu when the impi's appeared on the hills..... :-) )

Whilst the gunners were forced to flee the guns and in one instance actually defeated the Zulu attackers, they were able to inflect sufficent shock on the Zulu's to stall there advance and with the clock striking 8.30 we called it a day.

We had inflicted a large number of casualties on the Zulu's for the loss of very few regulars. Unfortunately we did not reach the farms and can only hope that the Boers managed to slip across the river. I hope they don't bear any ill's to us in the years ahead.

Any plans I had of a command in the cavalry have probably been dashed, I can't wait to return to my command and the good old fashioned foot sloggers...

Stay tuned for more adventures from Ferguson of the 99th.

Milam County See's the Elephant

Sunday evening saw another engagement in our ACW narrative campaign. For me it tells the story of the men of Milam County after I stumbled across a history of the county and the men who served in the Civil War. A history of the county can be found here. http://jamesewilliams.tripod.com/index-2.html

The scenario was generated using Platoon Forward from the Too Fat Lardies. The Union Player won the last game and was selcted as the attacked and Scenario F was rolled for Platoon Attack.

Set our below is an extract from the diary of J.C. Rogers Commanding Officer of the G Company 5th Texas - "Milam County Guards"

------------------------------------------

Dawn on the 16th we had our orders a galloper had come in overnight we are to hold the ridge line inflicting casualties on the approaching federals, a victory for the confederacy would be the loss of fewer men than those blue bellies who were approaching from the East.

I am a worried man, we are fewer in number, our weapons are not the most modern and over recent weeks the Union forces have started to find their mark, today could be costly for the wives of Milam County.

I decided to amass in the centre, I recall reading a paper at WestPoint before the war about Wellington at Waterloo and how he sheltered behind the ridge line saving his forces until the time was right.

To strike a blow at the French.

I positioned Captain Smith and his Skirmishers in the wooded high ground to my rear to spot the approaching union and inflict the occasional casualty keeping their heads down.

The Union came on, on a broad front; Smith soon spotted several federals on our left advancing through a corn field, his opening volley, killed a number of troops and wounded a giant of a sergeant urging his men on in the front rank.

On the left the Union Commander appeared to have stacked anumber of his troops but I was unable to identify their number or make up.

In the centre, elements of the Union forces approached the crest of the ridge line, I took a gamble that I outnumbered them and if I could crest the hill and defeat them I could swing right and destroy the Union piece meal before the forces on the left could engage.

Cresting the hill, the Union force to my front proved to be nothing more than the occasional skirmisher, if only I had put out pickets to spot the approching Union troops. I was now sandwiched between two Union forces.... the gamble had failed and I am now exposed to my left and right.

I had little choice I could not go back as the Union left was moving fast to out flank me and I could not stay where I was as the hill top was very exposed with scant cover. I ordered the company to wheel right and headed for the right hand union force holed up in the cornfield, they were taking shock and the occasional casualty from Smith and his skirmishers.

I urged Lt Buckholt and his E Coy 4th Texas Cavalry to engage the Union forces in the cornfield. I figured that they would inflict enough disruption on the union line that G Company could drive them off with minimal losses to the Guards.

To my front the blue coated Sergeant in the union line shrugged off another wound and continued to dress the ranks.

Buckholt’s charge went in leaping the picket fence and charging through the waist high corn, however this was not to be my Waterloo, The 1st Squadron failed to close as a crashing volley sent them running to the rear, a few men from the 2nd Squadron managed to engage with the union line but outnumbered 2:1 they too were forces back suffering a number of casualties.

On my left flank I called forward Lt Bean and his two sections to hold up the Union right who were filling the cornfield and cresting the hill. Bean's opening volley inflicted several casualties on the unmasked Union right including what looked to be a senior Officer.

However the weight of the Union army was beginning to tell and with little cover Lt Bean's casualties started to mount. Forcing him to retire behind the crest as more union troops joined the firing line.

With the Union left flank still holding its own in the cornfield I urged Lt Pool forward but his men failed to advance, my own troops were now receiving fire to their front and rear, I was lucky not to be wounded myself.

Union cavalry arrived on the flank of Lt Bean who took a number of volleys and he was forced to retire from the field.

Fearful of losing men in what was now a fruitless task I order the withdrawal of my company to the West. The New Yorkers had secured the high ground; we had inflicted a number of casualties on them but our own losses as the battle drew to a close and provided the Union with victory.

Valuable lessons had been learned today, I need to deploy a pickets to help spot the concentrations of enemy troops sooner and as my opponent stated I was 50 years tolate for Cavalry charges.

Cpt J. C. Rogers
G Company
5th Texas Infantry

Milam County had suffered their first casualties of the War.
6 Killed, 4 Wounded, 11 slightly wounded.
No officer casualties.
Marginal victory to the Union.