Chancellorsville 1-3 May 1863

 Another trip to the American Civil War and the last in the current series of 250th Independence Anniversary US battles. This one is Chancellorsville, another huge multi day battle, which tbh I'm a bit anxious about running with players because there is a fair bit going on. However I have a scenario so we may as well give it a go, as usual with my heavily modified version of Neil Thomas's ACW rules.

Chancellorsville was fought over three days in May 1863 after 'Fighting Joe' Hooker took over the Union Army of the Potomac to try and wrest control of Fredericksberg on the Rappahanoc from Robert E Lees Army of Northern Virginia.  Repeated union assaults had previously failed, but Hooker settled on a wide flanking manouvre to unhinge the defence.

Battlefield from the south, the Potomac winds north-south and Fredericksberg is in the foreground, now largely destroyed after months of siege. Further up the road leading north from Fredericksberg is the Tabernacle Church and finally at the top of the map is Chancellorsville in 'The Wilderness'. The area marked with pine tress is dense forest, left untended after earlier forestry work and now heavily overgrown and very bad going. The woods indicated with deciduous trees further south are more open in the better tended farmland and just block LOS.

This is based on the old Volley and Bayonet scenario and victory is determined by the control of critical communication points in the north, not Fredericksberg itself. The objectives are the two roads leading off the west edge of the map, Chancellorsville, Tabernacle Church, and the ford in the northeast corner. The game last for three days with two overnight turns.

Here it is with the troops deployed. Most of the CSA army is around Fredricksberg, but Hooker has sent half his Army north to try and catch Lee in an encirclement. The Rappahanoc provides protection for that road on the right right which allows for rapid north-south Union movement.

For this game the CSA were played by John B (Lee and JEB Stuart), Tim (Jackson) and Simon (Longstreet). The Union were John A (Hooker and Slocum), Mark (Reynolds and Couch), Jim (Sedgewick), Russell (Meade) and Jerry (Sickles and Howard). The CSA units were generally divisions, while the Union units were generally Corps although the bigger Corps had two divisions. I will italicise the Confederate division titles to try and reduce some of the confusion as to which  units are on which sides. 

Hooker had immense problems commanding his dispersed army, so all units more than three hexes from him are treated as having 'poor staff', so harder to activate. The Union outnumber the CSA about 2:1, hence my trepidation about playing this with the very attrition focussed Neil Thomas rules.

Around Fredricksberg the Union have three Corps, Reynolds I, Sedgewick VI and Couch II, largely dug into siege works.One of Sedgewicks divisions (Brooks) has a bridgehead over the Potomac. Most of these units are Seasoned, but Howes division (2/VI Corps) is green.

Both of Lee's Corps are here, McClaws from Longstreets I Corps is on the hill, while Jackons II Corps is concentrated west of the Union bridgehead. Lee himself is up on the hill (Marys Hill I believe) with McClaws division and Jackson is with AP Hills large five base division. All the CSA units are veterans to even the odds a bit. 

Further north, Hooker has concentrated Meades V Corps and Slocums XXI Corps around Chancellorsville. Sykes division (2/V Corps) is veteran but the other two are green.

The other division of Longstreets Corps, Anderson, is dug in at the Tabernacle Church, and JEB Stuarts cavalry division is over in the top left. Stuart had shadowed Hookers flanking move, so it wasn't the surprise Hooker was hoping.  These units are both veteran.

Finally straggling up from the siege of Fredricksberg are Sickles III Corps and Howards XI Corps, just crossing the river. Both these units are green but if they arrive in a timely fashion at Chancellorsville, they will give Hooker a crushing local numerical advantage. What can Lee do about that? Well, we shall see.

OK, enough background, off to battle.

May 1st opened much as you would expect when the artillery around Fredricksberg sprang into life. Both both sides were largely in serious entrenchments so the smoke was impressive but casualties were light.

In the north however Brooks and Couch advanced on Anderson at the Tabernacle Church, while Sykes moved southeast and engaged Stuarts cavalry in the woods. Typically both Sickles and Howard failed their command rolls and were stuck around US Ford in the northeast. Having sent his forward divisions into battle, Hooker rode off the see what the holdup was at US Ford.

Jackson led Hill and Rhodes north and the shook out into line southwest of Anderson. So far all so historical.

There was heavy fighting in the north, Sykes managed to push back Stuarts cavalry with loss, who retired to the Spotsylvania Road exit to reorganise. Anderson and Hill inflicted enough losses on Slocum to force his Corps back into the Wilderness once more, while Rhodes advanced to the road between Stuart and Anderson. 

Back at Fredricksberg the guns continued to roar, enough to inflict some actual losses by now, but units in siegeworks can rally adjacent to the enemy, so damaged units paused to reorder their stragglers. The two CSA divisions here were comfortably holding off the Union troops.

Hooker had however lost confidence in the original plan and instead led Sickles and Howard back down the Potomac, where they are dimly visible in the northeast corner.

Suddenly there were an awful lot of Union troops around Fredricksberg as night fell on 1st May. Reynolds I Corps had left its siegeworks and moved opposite the crossing to Fredricksberg. Overnight units rallied and there was some shuffling around. The units in the open dug hasty fieldworks.

In the north, JEB Stuart reoccupied the ground he'd held earlier and Griffin moved back to the front as well having rallied. The other units dig rifle pits along the line. The CSA had numerical and qualitative superiority here, so what would the next day bring?

Dawn on the 2nd May saw the Union attempt to overrun Tabernacle Church! The charge failed in a hail of musketry and Griffin fell back once more, leaving dead and wounded behind him.

The guns roared out at Fredricksberg with losses on both sides, but McClaws (on the hill with Lee) lost a base but didn't feel able to make a rally attempt as Sickles crossed the Potomac via Banks Ford right next to him.

Lee indicated to Jackson that help was needed further south so Hill broke off and headed back down the road. There was now a parity of forces in the north. Hmm, well that is an interesting development. The CSA have pretty much got the objectives locked down here, but have just given up any real hope of taking Chancellorsville. Perhaps more worrying, is that overall losses (in bases) are now equal, whereas earlier in the battle, the CSA had a clear lead.

We broke for the evening at that point as the game moved into the afternoon of 2nd May.

The ring around Fredricksberg tightened, Sickles declined to charge(!) Mary Hill but Reynolds moved across the river into Fredericksberg while everyone else covered them with fire.

In the north Sykes drove Stuarts cavalry back again, but Griffin fell back with heavy losses into the wiilderness to join Slocum. Both these units were finding it hard to rally.

As night fell on the 2nd, Sickles charged up Mary Hill covered by the rest of the Union army, but was bloodily repulsed, many routers drowning in the river as they fled. AP Hills division had meanwhile moved into position northeast of Mary Hill to shore up McClaws position on the hilltop.

Stuarts cavalry infiltrated back into the woods as Sykes didn't show any great inclination to follow them, but Griffin and Slocum dithered in the forest although Griffin finally rallied a base back. The Confederates were probably a bit over committed here, but with three objectives in close proximity there was little choice.

As night fell the Confederates dug in (both Anderson and Rhodes had now improved their positions to fieldworks). Sykes also extended his entrenchments, but under cover of darkness Griffin moved back up the threaten the Tabernacle Chapel while Slocum marched west to join Sykes, hoping to overwhelm Stuarts cavalry the next day.

Around Fredericksberg there was mainly the sound of pickaxes and shovels overnight as most people dug in where appropriate. Howards Corps moved down to the Fredericksberg crossing ready to follow up after Reynolds however. Couch and Sickles exchanged places at the ford east of Fredericksberg as Couch's Corps was still fresh. The Confederates sneakily moved the Corps artillery from the Tabernacle Chapel and placed it on top of Mary Hill instead.

Dawn of the 3rd opened with Couch charging McClaws on top of Mary Hill. They were cut down in droves as Lee himself encouraged the defenders, and like Sickles, they found their retreat route blocked by the river so losses were catastrophic.

Reynolds Corps slipped northwest of of Fredericksberg, impeded by ZOC while Howards marched into the town. Suddenly that big gap between the two CSA trench systems was looking to be a problem (of course the Union could have done this manouvre days ago with the units already over the river, but it didn't seem to occur to them).

The CSA responded with fire. Hill routed and destroyed Couch, blocked in by the river. Combined fire from McClaws and Early inflicted 50% losses on Reynolds, and in the north Griffin was flung back once again with losses while JEB Stuart hung on grimly against two Union divisions. Slocum attempted a frontal charge but failed his morale test. If units want to charge in the ACW, they need to find an open flank, and Stuarts flank has been wide open all game. Union losses have skyrocketed in the last couple of turns while the rate of CSA loss has remained steady, mainly among the poor unfortunates on top of Marys Hill under attack by six Corps(!).

Reynolds sets off west towards the objective on row F, but Rhodes simply abandons his fieldworks and moves south the block the move. Having destroyed the threat at the ford, AP Hill starts to move back around Mary Hill. Reynolds needs to try and break through the CSA fire to move further west but has already taken heavy losses. The rest of the Union troops batter McClaws who is reduced to 50% strength, despite his siege trenches.

The tide turns on the afternoon of the 3rd. Reynolds takes enough losses to be forced to retreat, reduced to one active base., and hard up against Hills division, it is hard to see him surviving another turn. McClaws inflicts enough losses on Howard to force him back out of Fredericksberg and the Union position around the town is starting to look a bit dicey.

Catastrophe in the north, Stuart weathers heavy fire from Sykes and in turn puts enough hits on Slocum to force a retreat, but with their back the table edge there is nowhere to retreat to, so losing another base is enough to destroy them completely. With the losses this turn the Union army is well past its exhaustion point and is now coming close to its rout point.

With the army exhausted it is unable to take offensive action any more and Hookers attack grinds to a halt late on 3rd May. Lee still holds all his starting objectives and has managed to shatter the Union army as well, so a great Confederate victory! The CSA are well off their break point, despite heavy losses on Mary Hill and being outnumbered almost 2:1.

Gosh, that was a slogging match and quite hard to run, with more moving parts than I was happy with for two short evening sessions. We did reach a conclusion however with ten minutes to spare no less. A very interesting result as Hooker basically gave up on the Chancellorsville encirclement on turn 2 and decided to refight the battle of Ferdericksberg instead, but with the units in the north pinning the CSA (which they did very successfully until 3rd May). 

Sadly Fredericksberg is a horrible position to attack and not worth any VPs at all. Lee could use his interior lines to reinforce threatened positions and the Union suffered disastrous losses trying to attack the fortified heights across the river, just as they had in 1862. It was a brave effort and pressed home with vigour however, and the Confederates had some agonising command decisions to make about how many troops to commit to each sector.

Many thanks to the players for taking part in such good spirit. Following the requests to run Gettysberg, I am working on a scenario which may appear in due course....

Bakers Creek May 1863, with players

 Having fiddled around with the ACW rules a bit more, time to try them out with players. I thought I'd run Bakers Creek/Champion Hill again, but this time a proper historical scenario. This is based on the scenario in the Fire and Fury ACW book. Briefly, in 1863 the US were trying to open up the Mississippi to allow them to strike into the heart of the Confederacy but were stopped by the fortress at Vicksburg. Eventually Grant bypassed Vicksburg and mounted a raiding campaign east of the river. Johnson tried to concentrate his forces to defeat Grant, but the Union managed to bring Pembertons Corps to battle before it linked up with the rest of the Confederate Army. 

Battlefield from the south. Champions Hill is on the left, Vicksburg is some miles to the west while Jackson is to the east. the short section of rail line visible is the Jackson-Vicksburg railroad, which crosses Bakers Creek.

Pembertons Army, mainly facing east. He was aware of Grants approach and took up a strong position on the ridge, the crossroads on the rise (the actual 'Champions Hill') was fortified.

Loring and Bowens Divisions. The units are generally brigades for the CSA, each stand is around 1000 men. Bowens division was small, so only has single stand. Jim commands Loring while John A has Bowen and is also CinC.

Stephensons Division (Tim) has three brigades up on Champions Hill. Pemberton can be seen directing operations and there are various baggage trains etc in the rear. The CSA win by avoiding the destruction of their army, and it may be advantageous to retreat off the table at some point. Historically Grant attempted to encircle and utterly destroy them. They are all experienced troops, and their breakpoint is 16.

Grants pinning force is McClernands XIII Corps with a division attached from Shermans XXI Corps. 9th and 10th Divs are commanded by Mark and Ian, with Simon taking over on Wednesday. Jerry has Blairs 2nd Div from Shermans Corps (with a white dot) in reserve, and 14th Div also enters later in the day.

Historically McClernands Corps was very reluctant to engage and allowed Pemberton to escape, some people speculate it may have been deliberate as McClernand had a strong rivalry with Grant. I'm treating XIII Corps has having 'poor staff; until 2pm when a staff stand enters, which will hamper their activation.

Grants brilliant manouvre had been to find an open flank around the hill - it looks pretty obvious on the table but irl it was harder to find. Champion House was a small farm near the river crossing. The two lead divisions of McPhersons XVII Corps are here (Terry), as is the veteran 12th Div (Jerry) from XIII Corps. US Grants (John B) is personally supervising operations.

Oddly the V&B scenario starts with the CSA having responded to the flanking manouvre. I've reset it so the CSA are facing east, the US have one good chance to hammer Pemberton in the flank and they'd better make the most of it as while Grants army overall is larger, they are outnumbered locally. 

The rest of XVII Corps comes straggling on later in the day, John B has these as his strategic reserve. The Union Army is quite big with a starting breakpoint of 16, rising to 22 as reinforcements arrive.

The Union has quite complex victory conditions, they need to drive all non-spent CSA troops off the table in 10 turns (hours), but if they exhaust the CSA Army and and expend or destroy four CSA units they get a decisive victory. Under some circumstances it would be worth the CSA voluntarily leaving he table.

Right, to battle!

Grant directed an aggressive advance so XVII Corps simply charged at the ridge, covered by their artillery. Despite McClernands reluctance to engage, all the divisions of XIII Corps managed to activate and rolled forward into long range, again covered by their artillery. Blairs 2nd division also came marching on up to the Union gun line.  

The CSA seemed somewhat thrown into disarray by this manouvre, and while two brigades of Stevensons division fired, the third (Taylors) marched northwest to protect the flank of Barton. All well and good but now Bowen crowded onto Pembertons command post on Champions Hill, blocking the retreat of every single one of Stevensons brigades. 

Loring also seemed keen to take part in the action, despite one brigade dithering and his whole division swung northwest, apparently oblivious to the three Union divisions to the east.  

Hard pounding time! As in any ACW battle, a lot of firing now broke out. In the north Hoveys veterans took heavy losses from the entrenched CSA and fell back to the woods. In the east 9th and 2nd Union divisions pushed forwards, covered by 10th Div.

Up on the ridge Taylor also took heavy losses under close range fire, but was unable to retire being blocked by Bowen, so lost an extra base. Realising their peril, Bowen slipped west along the road. Loring now noticed Blair and his brigades swung east again. Sadly one had failed its activation check so could only pivot in place.

Grant kept attacking. Hovey rallied easily back in the woods and Logans Brigade marched up onto the the ridge in the far west. Heavy Union fire caused Cummings to fall back to Pembertons command post up on the ridge and 10th Div followed up, also gaining a Union foothold on the ridge.

The CSA were now once again in a very unmilitary 'pudding' formation with everyones retreat routes blocked apart from Bowen,

Further south, Blairs 2nd Div was dithering east of the stream and began exchanging fire with Lorings Division, now laboriously marching back to its previous positions! 

Sadly for the Confederates, the 'pudding' formation didn't prove very resiliant. Taylors brigade lost another base and was unable to retire due to being hemmed in on all sides and disintegrated. Barton up in the trenches had exactly the same problem under fire from three sides and blocked in by Cummings. They were reduced to a single base and became spent. 

Bowens firefight with Logans 3 Div was also going the wrong way as they were blocked in by Lorings Division and reduced to two bases.

Faced with the impending encirclement and destruction of his army (Grant need to expend or destroy four CSA units for a decisive victory), Pemberton decided to cut and run. Bowen and one of Lorings brigades broke contact and retired over Bakers Creek to the west. Tilghman fell back towards the camp, aided by the whole of McClernands XIII Corps failing their activation tests.

Bartons Brigade were left in the fortifications as a rearguard against XVII Corps. They were doomed anyway.

Barton duly succumbed to massed Union fire, and Hoveys veterans overran the position at bayonet point, exploiting along the ridge to clear Champion Hill. Logans 1st Brigade and Blair also advanced and managed to partially surround Tilghman, whose position was now looking dire.

Pinned by ZOC they retired to the Confederate camp, accompanied by General Pemberton. 

The Union units shot them up, destroying another base and they promptly failed their morale test (Pemberton declined to rally them under fire) and retired westwards too. Blair followed up and occupied the Confederate camp.

With three CSA units destroyed or spent and the others driven from the playing area, Grant has won and the whole thing was wrapped up by 4pm. Grant was however denied his decisive victory, as Pemberton slipped away to the west, just as in real life.

Well, that cracked along, and as I said in the commentary, I think the Rebs suffered an actual morale collapse in the face of the aggressive Union attack and fell into a degree of confusion. The situation might have been retrievable if they had fallen back behind the reverse slope (as Pemberton did irl), but given the ferocity of Grants attack, they may have been inviting total destruction.

Hats off to Grant (John B) for managing such a decisive result, and another hat off to Pemberton (John A) for taking the brave decision to withdraw. Posthumous medals to Barton for fighting to the last man on Champions Hill.

Many thanks to all the players for their enthusiasm and spectacular hat wearing. We shall return to the ACW in future.

 

Chickamauga September 1863

 Time to try out my minor revisions to my version of Neil Thomas's ACW rules with the Zoom gang. This time we are off to Tennessee in 1863. After being forced out of Chattanooga, Braggs Army of Tennessee retreated across the mountains towards Atlanta.  Rosencrans pursued with the Army of the Cumberland, but became dispersed crossing the mountain passes. Bragg laid a trap and concentrated his forces to defeat Rosencrans in detail. The Union rushed to concentrate their forces along the Chickamauga Creek as Bragg struck.

This scenario is based on the one in the excellent Volley and Bayonet ACW scenario book. I've played it solo before but never with actual players.

Battlefield from the south, you can see the Chickamauga meandering through the woods. The woods are dense but the creek is fordable. There is a mill (Gordons Mill) in the southwest, which is presumably why the woodland peters out down there.

The CSA are coming on from the east and need to capture all the roads leading west and north as well as exhaust the Union army. The game lasts two days, six turns per day with an overnight segment.

Here is the table with the troops deployed. This is a BIG battle, and is using almost my entire collection of ACW infantry. The Union only start with four infantry divisions deployed and a couple of cavalry brigades, while most of Braggs army is already approaching the creek like a coiled spring.

Here is Braggs centre and right. I've colour coded the bases with dots for each corps and also marked the veteran and green units. Bragg didn't seem to believe in Corps integrity as the individual divisions are scattered all over the place. These are Hoods division (Longstreets Corps), Cheatham (Polks Corps), Forest and Walker. Bragg himself is just visible in the middle of his units.

John B is Bragg and also commands Hills and Walkers Corps. Tim has Polk and Buckners Corps while Jim has Longstreet and Forests Corps. Simon is joining on Wednesday and will take over Walker and Forest.

Cleburnes division (Hill) will enter during the day, while the other two arrive on the night of the 19th. Breckenridge (Hill) and Johnson (Longstreet).

Braggs left, heading towards the mill and the road exit at I1. This is Buckners Corps (Stewart and Preston) plus Hindman from Polks Corps. There are bridges and fords all over place. There are also quite a few hills, which can see over the woods, to a certain extent anyway.

Rosencrans left. You can just see Mintys cavalry brigade in the far distance, and on the nearby wooded ridge are 1 and 3 Division from XXIV Corps (Thomas). John A is Bragg and commands the overall Army and the cavalry. Micheal commands XIV Corps and XX Corps with Ian taking XX Corps on Wednesday.

Down at the mill we have Wilders mounted infantry brigade armed with Spencer repeaters! There are also 2 and 3 Div from XXI Corps (Crittenden). These are commanded by John for now with Mark taking over on Wednesday.

Marching to the rescue is this lot. No less than five more divisions. 2 and 4 Div from XIV Corps, 2 and 3 Div from XX Corps (McCook) and finally 1 Div from the Reserve Corps (Granger). Most of this lot march on along the southern road, but Granger will enter on the 20th in the north. Rosencrans is just visible on the end of the ridge at the top of the screen. From here he can see most of his army which will help with C3. 

Union traffic management could be interesting, but the horrible terrain in the north will delay the CSA.

The Union breakpoint is a mere 11 bases, rising to 21 as the various reinforcements turn up. The much bigger CSA Army starts with a BP of 19, rising to 25 as their reinforcements arrive. Bragg needs to strike hard and fast while he has the advantage. 

Right, to battle....

The action opened with Buckner and Polk (Tim) trying to sort themselves out a bit. The CSA pushed forward in the south, covered by their artillery on the hill as Polks stray division marched southeast to join them.  Stewart got as far as the hill behind the stream while Hindman took position in the treeline further south.

Hoods Texans moved aggressively west down the main road to keep Thomas's Corps busy, while Forest very appropriately moved into the middle of the woods. Braggs plan was to hit hard in the south, pin the centre and largely ignore the north until reinforcements arrived.  

Sadly this came unstuck when Stewart came under a storm of very accurate (lucky) fire which managed to knock a base off in one salvo, and they retired back behind the hill to recover. Rosencrans took the opportunity to push Wilders cavalry up onto the hill,  while Palmer marched up the road to hold the cavalry's vacated position.

Thomas' Corps in the north just took Hood under fire, but at long range and against cover, it was largely ineffective. The CSA responded with fire and managed to knock a few hits off various exposed Union units and Stewart rallied. Sadly Forest managed to dither, presumably lost in the forest.

In the northeast, Walkers reserve division marched north, presumably to clear away the Union cavalry. You can see the green dither marker on Forest. The players all seemed to find this very funny. Bragg had moved south to better control the southern attack, so Forest was no longer in immediate command distance and hidden in the trees.

The Union hung on tenaciously at Gordons Mill as reinforcements moved up the road from the southeast. Thomas was trying to unite the four divisions of his Corps, but unfortunately the road was blocked by Palmer, who chose this moment to dither. The firepower of the Wilders Spencer rifles came as a horrible surprise to the Confederates. Polk and Buckner seemed content to stand and shoot at long range in the south, whereas ideally they would have been closing in while the Union army was still deploying. 

Thomas (XIV Corps) by now had all four of his divisions in roughly the right place, but Jim was doing a great job of keeping them pinned with Hood and Forest. The latter had finally made his way to the treeline. Polk made a devastating attack on Wilder, inflicting no less than seven hits on the cavalry. Van Cleve had also had enough at Gibsons Mill and fell back, so Preston pushed west once again.

Both Gibson and Wilder fell as far back as they were able, and by now XX Corps (McCook) was able to support the defence of the mill, although there was a great traffic jam on the road behind. 2 Div (Johnson) involuntarily took up position behind the hill north of the mill as it dithered, although in fact the reverse slope was quite a good spot. Van Cleve failed to rally however.

Up in the north, Forest and Hood kept skirmishing with Thomas, neither side inflicting decisive losses, but the Confederates were tying up four divisions with two of their own!

Walker closed with Mintys cavalry who loosed off an ineffective volley into the forest.

With that we had to close for the night going into turn five. Unfortunately it was all taking longer than I'd hoped. A combination of the number of moving parts and player unfamiliarity with the rules which led to discussions on the various options. Maybe it will speed up tomorrow but I suspect not as we are into the 'dogfighting' stage of attrition, as Montgomery put it. 

Afternoon of the 19th saw more heavy fighting around the mill as Polk and Buckner threw their divisions forwards. The fresh XX Corps was in a decent position but still took heavy losses. Cheathams veterans hung on in the ccentre and combined with Hoods Texans, drove back Palmers inexperienced division in the centre.

In the north as night fell, the Confederates began to gain the upper hand. Although Thomas secured his right flank on the ridge, the left flank began to collapse as Palmer fell back and then Baird as the fire became too much. A dangerous hole opened up in the Union centre just as Walker finally finished off Mintys cavalry brigade after a successful bayonet charge which overran them.

Overnight, two more CSA divisions arrived and Polk assumed command of the southern wing of the Confederate Army and either dug rifle pits in place or extended the line. The Union just dug in, but Wilders cavalry finally rallied and moved back into line behind the stream. Palmer could have moved back into his old position but chose to dig in instead.

In the north Longstreet took over but both sides largely consolidated in place. Thomas rallied his Corps and dug in along and behind the ridge. You can just see the two CSA reserve divisions on the right, Breckenridge and Johnsons divisions.  Cleburne had already been allocated to Polk.

Hindman charged in the south and finally took Gibsons Mill, driving back the Union and capturing their artillery. In turn his division was destroyed by concentric fire by the Union troops entrenched in depth behind the bridge, but Breckenridge was now in place to exploit the bridghead. The entrenched CSA troops on the hill north of the mill held their positions and along with Cheatham, poured fire into the Union positions.

In the north Cleburne advanced due west and occupied the wood south of the ridge but was driven out again by fire. Walker cleared the road in the north and joined the extreme flank of the Confederate army. Thomas' Corps just hung on as best it could.

Breckenridge occupied the bridgehead again in the south while Longstreet pushed divisions forwards aggressively in the centre to exploit the gap in the Union lines.

Walker crossed the stream in the extreme north to flank Thomas, while Cleburne and Johnson held on to their foothold on an south of the ridge despite heavy fire.

In the south XX Corps was forced back from the river line, but Cleburne was also repulsed. This looked pretty much like the Confederate high water mark as losses were disproportionately mounting on the CSA side.

We were running short of of time and called it at that point. Although the Confederates had dented the Union line and inflicted heavy losses, I couldn't see them achieving their objectives in the time remaining but both sides declared honours even.

After a slow start, that actually went pretty well. I was very pleased with the rules tweaks as they all worked fine although there are still a lot of moving parts to manage. Actually running a game with people clarified some bits where I'd been unclear or made mistakes - in particular I got the sequence of morale tests in the charge sequence wrong, for which I apologise to the Union. Im minded to tone down the cover effect of dense woods, making them soft cover if you will, compared to Rifle pits etc. A break from Neil Thomas cover/not cover, but necessary I think. 

There was a certain desire expressed to try some more ACW battles, so I'll add the clarifications and tweaks to the rules and put on another game in due course.