Valverde Again

Today Mat and I replayed the battle of Valverde. We have four more moves to go.

It played out differently than the first game. I was the Yanks this time.

First off the elite US cavalry charged the elite Confederate mounted rifles which was armed with lances. The Yanks fell short and were then charged by the lancers. In the end the two units virtually destroyed each other with only the Reb colonel left to try, unsuccessfully, to dodge a unit of green volunteer US cavalry.

The Federals then took their time waiting for reinforcements. The federal guns were in range of the Reb six pounders and destroyed one of them whilst another Confederate gun misfired and blew up.

The Confederates then did what they did historically and dismounted in the dry river bed but they were largely out of range of the US forces..


                The initial clash; this unusual Texan flag was one of those carried by Sibley's army.

                                                          One survived the melee.
                                                     Dismounted Confederates 'dig in'.

                                                 US cavalry prepare to cross the river.
                                    US infantry spread out along the Rio Grande.

                                                       CSA troops in the dry river bed.

We will play from move 12 to 15 after lunch. The US forces are compelled, with the arrival of Commander Canby, to advance across the river after this. This will bring them into range of Confederate weaponry but the US forces are much larger than the CSA ones. The Confederates have also lost two units of mounted rifles as opposed to the one unit lost by the US forces.



We finished the game with the remaining Confederates about to be overwhelmed by advancing Union forces.



Our next game will be loosely based on Glorietta Pass, from the same campaign. In the history the Confederates won that battle but then had their supplies destroyed by Colonel Chivington who took his me through a narrow track to come out behind the Confederates. Instead of following orders to attack the main Confederate force he attacked the wagons. The result was that the Confederates had to retreat. it is going to be a challenge to game it. I am going to make Confederate units larger but more like mounted infantry although with shorter range weapons.




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