The ACW Battle Of The River Rebuke

 Yesterday I spent the major part of the day sorting out my ACW regiments and landscaping the front yard. My wargame pal, Mat helped set up the battlefield. We deployed about half my ACW units that made 15 units a side. There were small differences as the CSA had four units of cavalry including one unit of Quantrill's Raiders whilst the Union had three units of cavalry, including Jennison's Jayhawkers. Mat's Union forces also had a 'C Class' unit of civilized Indians. Mat and I each had four cannons, all 12 pounder horse artillery except for one 18 pounder which Mat had.

We also an observation balloon or train as options. Mat chose the balloon which forced me to set up my troops first. However, it failed to locate my partisans. 

In addition, half way through our game we rolled dice for random events. This led to a force of  two Comanche war parties attacking a Confederate town. This was a danger to the Confederate supply route and two reserve units of infantry were sent to deal with the hostiles. Although the Indians killed close to half the townspeople they were wiped out by combined civilian fire and the shooting of two Texan infantry regiments.

We decided that each cannon had six rounds of ammunition. Supply wagons arrived from reserve. As it happened I deployed my cannons where they could have a clear field of fire and they were continuously shooting from move four until they ran out of ammo. it was nearly the end of the game by then but my supply wagons managed to arrive and unload new supplies. Mat's artillery was silent for most of the game as he blocked his line of site with his infantry.

The CSA forces decided to get there the fastest with the mostest. Confederate cavalry advanced to the river and dismounted behind rocks to shoot at enemy cavalry and infantry. The artillery set up along the river. Three CSA regiments boarded the train and crossed the River Rebuke. The danger was the train could not stop until well within Union lines. The troops were able to dismount on the safe side of the train and one regiment remained inside the train to fire out the windows. other troops also crossed the river to gain a toehold on the Union side. However, the Confederates on the union side got whittled down with the Federal Indians in the forest causing a headache.

Our objectives were a town in the center of the yard on one side. Fortunately it was on my side of the river. The other was 'yard quarters' plus destroyed units.

The CSA general sets up his troops.

                                                               Union forces advance.

                                                      CSA troops pass through Jamesville.

                                                                           CSA train

                         CSA troops head towards Hooterville, an as yet unoccupied town.

                                                                        Thunderbird

                                                       Comanche's attack Jamesville.

                                                                       CSA artillery

                                                                        Federal reserves

                                      Mat loses his first battle when Chloe steals his seat.

                                                   Federal infantry take position on the river.

                                                                 CSA supply wagons

 The result was a CSA victory with a tenuous toehold in Union territory and possession of the disputed town. Each side lost four units. The game went for 16 moves in six hours (plus a couple of hours breaks).