Black Powder Insult!

Civil war.org
Insult: A sudden open, unconcealed attack on a position with the intention of capturing it before it’s defenders could mount an effective defense  ( US spelling!)

This evening’s game was one of my notorious ACW scenarios. I must thank Civil War.org for the inspiration, I spend far too long on their superb webpages. The battle descriptions and maps are terrific! As the definition would suggest, the attacker must act quickly to overwhelm his opponent. To keep things simple with Black Powder rules being used, we went for a standard brigade size of three regiments and a battery.

The defender has two brigades on the table and can deploy up to two thirds of the table from his baseline.

James duly deployed among the copses and hamlets, stretched thinly with no reserve….

The attacker receives a brigade each turn for the first four turns. Chris Jackson elected for a cavalry brigade to lead the onslaught and this gave him a horse artillery battery. These enter from the attackers table edge and must come on with a whole brigade order.

In true Jeb Stuart style, the Rebs enter the field!

The defending player does not receive any reserves until turn five but, he can choose which flank they arrive on. I was to be James’ reinforcement…..

A different type of insult! James C could rely on me to assist!

Chris’ leading cavalry brigade exchanged fire with the Union defenders. Their carbines did surprisingly well and the horse artillery battery put James’ centre under pressure. The two central Federal regiments were exposed without any cover. So far, the Southern aggressive tactics appeared to be working.

However, the following infantry brigade rolled low and made only slow progress down the turnpike. This gave the grizzled old veteran, James time to flank the horsemen and start to empty some saddles.

To flank the cavalry brigade, the Union troops had left the central village and this proved to be an error as more and more Confederates arrived….

Chris withdrew his cavalrymen and switched the thrust of his attack to the village and outlying farm.

How James laughed when his reserves came marching in from the other side of his line ( the choice of flank is made in Turn One !)

The Southerners pressed home their advantage and smashed James’ two defending brigades. I dug in on the other side of the battlefield!

Mission accomplished for the gallant Southerners with their very non-PC flags flying of course!

My thanks to Chris for bringing his immaculate collection of Dixon’s miniatures. I love those sculpts, not to everyone’s taste but I think they are so characterful. My thanks also to James who was his usual charming self. Imagine claiming enfilade from a Built up area! Please have a go at the scenario and send me your views?I think I know James’!

Tomorrow is the Devizes show and my attempt to re float the European economy single-handedly!