With a Rebel Yell...

...they cried, "Charge, charge charge!" [with apologies to Billy Idol]

OK, so I wanted to see if the scenario would work on the flip side, and if the smaller 5-Unit CSA force could take on the 7-Unit USA force. As a reminder, last post the forces were:
CSA: 2 Eeager / 2 Steady Infantry, 1 6lb Gun
USA: 4 Steady / 1 Reluctant Infantry, 1 12lb Napoleon and 1 3" Rifle Gun.

This time, I wanted to change things up a bit, and it probably wasn't the best idea. I put one Eager CSA Infantry and the General against the town, which had a Steady USA Infantry in it. After a moment's pondering, I moved the USA General into the town, also, as the rest of the force was just maneuvering without threat of action soon.

The USA plan was to put one Steady Infantry in the town, the Guns between the hill objective and town, and move the rest of the infantry onto the hill with the Steady in the front and the Reluctant in reserve.

The CSA plan was to seize the town, breaking the Steady USA Infantry in it, threaten the Guns, and support the main attack by one Eager and two Steady Infantry, supported by fire from the 6lb Gun which hid in the angle of the town edge from the Union Guns.

Interestingly, this made it close for both sides. While the CSA Unit did ford and threaten the town, poor rolling had them retreating shot down to 1 base. The over-confident USA General decided to threaten the CSA Infantry and nearby 6lb Gun, which lost them two bases and sent them packing back over the river. As the battle progressed, I had to pull out the Union Infantry anyway due to the aggression of the CSA assault.

The CSA attack on the hill had some good planning and rolling, and forced the USA to the brink of defeat. I made good decisions with the friction issues of the morale rolls, and at the below point it could go either way after CSA Turn 17. The USA General got whacked in the midst of the hill struggle, and two of his Infantry had reatreated and were clustered up in column of divisions in the middle.

There were some CSA concerns however, mainly that the USA had shifted their Guns to fire upon the CSA Gun and it was taking Hits, and also the top-most CSA Infantry, the Eager one, had just retreated and had a permanent Hit. However, if the Union blew its next fire rolls and the CSA held in there, I envisioned the USA right flank to collapse and the hill to become untenable:


Unfortunately, it was not to be. On USA Turn 17, they caused another CSA retreat and were re-positioning their guns to blast the Rebel line, and I didn't see any way to counter that as the CSA Gun had been knocked out. They also had few Hits on their Units that would provoke a Morale Check in the next turn or two, while the bottom CSA Infantry had 3 Hits and only a 5+ chance to pass that check.


Overall, this was a corker of a re-play, and I think I made a mistake in trying to take the town from a Steady USA Infantry Unit, and in positioning my CSA guns, who should've instead lead the crossing.

In any event, this was a satisfying game that played pretty quick, and I was able to finish my notes on little changes to make for the rules. I will post these soon. They contain simple rules for Smoothbore Muskets, 6lb Guns, Sharpshooters, Mounted Infantry, and more, and make me realize that these rules will also be just fine for the AmRev, also!