Daytime Games - ACW or Nap

I've got one made up but it is very simple and not at all designed in the "Kevin S-and-M" format. I am thinking something simple so that Jim and Jess can get used to MP games with the rest of us at first. The twisted sadistic scenarios can come later.

Ah, a poncy, French, cheesemonger scenario. After yesterday, I can stand a simple fight.

Thanks for organising this - it was interesting experience... and thanks to Jim who saved the day (was it Jim? if not, sorry - I'm terrible with names)

Yes, thanks to Martin for setting this up and making the scenario. And thanks to all who played. That was as much fun as I've had wargaming in years ! In particular, I appreciated the perseverance of those who solved the "Windows 10 drop out problem". What exactly was done to solve it, I'm unclear on that?

You got the name right, Miko, and thanks .

In your case it was joining by IP rather than through the lobby.

This encounter involved three vital road junctions that both north and south needed to control in order to facilitate the movement of supplies and other resources through the region to further their war efforts:



The Confederates numbered a corps of three divisions commanded by General Longstreet:

Longstreet's Corps: Maj Gen James Longstreet (8781 Inf. 36 Guns)

  Jones' Division: Brig Gen David R. Jones (2815 Inf. 14 Guns)
    Garland's Brigade: Brig Gen Samuel Garland (1286 Inf. 6 regiments Avg. Exp. 5.0)
    Drayton's Brigade: Brig Gen Thomas F. Drayton (774 Inf. 5 regiments Avg. Exp. 3.1)
    Anderson's 'Georgia' Brigade: Col George T. Anderson (755 Inf. 5 regiments Avg. Exp. 5.3)
    Troup (Georgia) Artillery: Capt Henry H. Carlton (2 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Sumter (Georgia) Artillery - Battery B: Capt George M. Patterson (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Sumter (Georgia) Artillery - Battery D: Capt James A. Blackshear (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)

  Detachment McLaws' Division: Brig Gen Paul J. Semmes (2653 Inf. 11 Guns)
    Cobb's Brigade: Brig Gen Howell Cobb (1035 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 4.7)
    Rodes' Brigade: Brig Gen Robert E. Rodes (1194 Inf. 5 regiments Avg. Exp. 5.0)
    Evans' Independent Brigade: Col Peter F. Stevens (424 Inf. 5 regiments Avg. Exp. 3.6)
    Sumter (Georgia) Artillery - Battery E: Capt John Lane (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Pelham's (Virginia) Battery: Capt James Breathed (2 Guns Avg. Exp. 5.0)
    Hardaway's (Alabama) Battery: Lieut John W. Tullis (3 Guns Avg. Exp. 5.0)

  Hood's Division: Brig Gen John B. Hood (3313 Inf. 11 Guns)
    Colquitt's Brigade: Col Alfred H. Colquitt (1392 Inf. 5 regiments Avg. Exp. 5.2)
    Semmes' Brigade: Lieut Col Philip Thomas (761 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 2.5)
    Law's Brigade: Brig Gen Evander M. Law (1160 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 5.0)
    Sumter (Georgia) Artillery - Battery A: Capt Hugh M. Ross (3 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Portsmouth (Virginia) Battery: Capt Cary F. Grimes (4 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Jefferson Davis (Alabama) Artillery: Capt James W. Bondurant (4 Guns Avg. Exp. 5.0)

The south was weak in infantry but the regiments were well seasoned and committed.

The Union corps was commanded by Major General Reno and again comprised three divisions:

IX Corps: Maj Gen Jesse Reno (11405 Inf. 34 Guns)

  1st Division: Maj Gen Henry W. Slocum (3337 Inf. 12 Guns)
    1st Brigade: Col Eliakim P. Scammon (1064 Inf. 3 regiments Avg. Exp. 3.9)
    1st Brigade: Col Alfred T. A. Torbert (1319 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 6.0)
    1st Brigade: Col Harrison S. Fairchild (954 Inf. 3 regiments Avg. Exp. 2.4)
    Massachusetts Light Artillery - Battery A: Capt Josiah Porter (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Maryland Light Artillery - Battery B: Lieut Theodore J. Vanneman (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)

  2nd Division: Brig Gen Samuel D. Sturgis (3401 Inf. 12 Guns)
    3rd Brigade: Brig Gen George L. Hartsuff (1163 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 4.4)
    1st Brigade: Brig Gen James Nagle (1430 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 2.7)
    3rd Brigade: Col Thomas F Gallagher (808 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 5.2)
    4th United States Artillery - Battery B: Capt Joseph B. Campbell (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)
    Pennsylvania. Light Artillery - Battery D: Capt George W. Durell (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 4.0)

  3rd Division: Brig Gen Isaac P. Rodman (4667 Inf. 10 Guns)
    4th 'Black Hat' Brigade: Brig Gen John Gibbon (1135 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 4.5)
    2nd Brigade: Col Edward Harland (1848 Inf. 4 regiments Avg. Exp. 2.7)
    3rd Brigade: Col William H. Irwin (1684 Inf. 5 regiments Avg. Exp. 3.9)
    Pennsylvania Light Artillery - Indep. Battery C: Capt James Thompson (4 Guns Avg. Exp. 5.0)
    Ohio Light Artillery - 1st Battery: Capt James R. McMullin (6 Guns Avg. Exp. 3.0)

The Union infantry considerably outnumbered their opponents but many regiments were raw and untested. However Torbert's brigade of Pensylvannia Reserves in Slocum's division was the best brigade in either army. The north fielded 2 artillery pieces fewer. Taking the force comparison calculation into account, the Union had a very slight edge:



The two corps met at 9:30 in the morning and after 10 minutes of marching the first opposing units were sighted. Longstreet's plan was the push Semmes and Jones rapidly forward to secure the west and centre objectives respectively with Hood on the right to observe the east objective but act as support to the centre. Reno's plan was a mirror image of this, with Rodman and Slocum moving to secure the west and centre objectives respectively and Sturgis held back on the left on the excellent ground of Bishop's Farm Hill:



By 09:50 Semmes and Rodman in the west were facing off without either commander committing to an attack. The vital road junction lay between the lines. In the east Hood had deployed on the good ground of Miller's Farm Hill but two of his brigades, Thomas and Law, were straggling and would take some time to come up.

Opposite Hood, Sturgis was siting his guns south east of Bishop's Farm on a dominating hill. He had detached a brigade to support Slocum in the centre and here the first fighting flared up as he and Jones clashed in a ragged and messy fight about the centre objective, both divisions feeding regiments into a slowly extending line in the woods as they came up:



By 10:00 in the morning the situation was developing slowly in the Confederate favour. In the west Semmes and Rodman continued their gentlemanly game of phoney war. In the east Sturgis had recalled his detached brigade, possibly in light of the strong build-up of Rebel forces south of him. In the centre Slocum had boldly pushed his left most brigade deep around the opponents right flank and seeing an opportunity Hood left his guns supported by Law's brigade firing on Sturgis and took his other two brigades, Colquitt and Thomas, to strike the exposed rear of this flanking move:



At 10:15 in the west Rodman was making rearward motions and it was becoming clear that the Union was not going to aggressively contest this road junction. In the centre Slocum's left was broken and forced back with considerable loss and his attempt to contest the central road junction ceased at this point. On his part, Sturgis took advantage of the splitting of Hood's division, sending a brigade back to support Slocum and in turn worry and threaten the exposed right and rear of Thomas' brigade while sending his other two brigades south to attack the weak defence of Hood's gun line:



Fifteen minutes later Law had counterattacked Sturgis while Hood's guns did terrible damage to the attacking Union regiments. Sturgis fell back. In the west Rodman withdrew giving Semmes the objective here and in the centre Slocum fell back under the combined pressure of Jones and Hood. This was the Rebel high point, with all three objectives held:



By almost 10:30 the situation was slipping from the Confederate grasp. In the east Law's brigade collapsed and Sturgis attacked a second time, driving away Hood's unsupported guns and pushing elements south-east towards the eastern objective. Jones came under pressure from the arrival of Rodman's division which had drawn aay from Semmes to the north and then rapidly marched east to come to Slocum's support. Semmes was slow to follow up. The Rebel centre began to collapse with all units of both Jones and Hoods two brigades exhausted. Slocum attacked a second time with Rodman on his right and a few minutes later the centre objective was in Union hands. Within 40 minutes the fight had swung from a potential Confederate victory to a Union one:



Semmes saves the day. Sturgis secured the eastern objective unopposed. Both Hood and Jones were reduced to remnants and a few guns but Slocum's division too was on the brink of exhaustion. Semmes came east and struck the right rear of Rodman to push the enemy off the objective. As often happens in battles, the last fresh troops are those that secure the victory and Rodman's attack had been blunted by the last of Jones' men. Semmes relatively fresh regiments easily retook the road junction:



By midday the Rebels held two of the objectives. The day was won, although Confederate losses were much higher than Union; in the order of 3:2:

Thanks Martin, that was an enjoyable AAR. I always wonder what happened on "the other flank" in games like this.

Nice AAR but entirely fake news. Sad. Those rebel scum fled the field as fast as their bare feet could take them

Jim and Jess - as you can see from the replay, it really helps if you have a short game name

Point taken, Digby . I've changed it.

BTW, how do you include previous posts (quotes) in a reply on this forum?

Jim ;-)

BTW, how do you include previous posts (quotes) in a reply on this forum?

How I do it:

- copy&paste what you want to quote in your post
- select it (click and drag mouse over or shift+arrows, whatever you like)
- click on quote icon from toolbar above (looks like comic text bubble)
 small window appears where you can type in the author, and with insert button below
- click on insert button

btw, Kevin and Mike - what the numbers before your nicknames stand for?

That is for what version of the GCM you have installed in your SOWGB game. Kevins was 900 and mine 919. The number indicates which map update you have.

Oh. I assumed it was the number of battles you'd lost.

That is FUNNY.

Yes, I enjoyed that one too, Diggers..........

Martin (J)

We missed you on Tuesday Martin. Will you be joining us next week?

I can throw together another scenario unless someone else wants to make one?

This week we had 8 players and will probably have similar numbers next week so biggish battles are possible. Our last fight was a straight-up fist fight so something more clever this time would be good.

Thanks Diggers. Am hopeful that I can make it, and will certainly make every effort. Excellent that you've started this session.

Sounds like a good turn-out. I will be pretty rusty. Haven't played in a big game for a year or more.

Martin (J)

No excuses! Two people who played on Tuesday had never played Gettysburg MP at all before. Two more had only ever played 1-v-1 (or 2 vs AI).

D*mn and blast the Kaiser

Digby wrote:We missed you on Tuesday Martin. Will you be joining us next week?

I can throw together another scenario unless someone else wants to make one?

Yes Martin, please show up!

And yes, Digby, please make us another scenario.

And thanks, Miko, for telling me how to insert a quotation   .

Jim ;-)

I have another scenario part completed. It will again feature 3 divisions each side and is a follow-on action from the battle of last week. The action has shifted north and will now focus around Culps Hill and Wolf Hill.

Due to the frighteningly heavy losses of the first engagement east of the Round Tops both sides have converged their broken corps down into one or two divisions. Additional troops have marched into the area to supplement the existing forces.

New formations are a little greener and larger but the bloodied ones have increased in experience.

I shall do this for future games as well. Therefore try conserving your regiments this time! Both war departments cannot sustain such terrible losses as happened in the last battle.

Diggers - How about increasing the number of divisions to 8 so that any extra players over 6 do not lessen the strength of those who are division commanders, allowing them to compete at full strength rather than diluted?

Just a thought. I didn't play last time so that Jim (I think) would have a full complement of troops rather than lose a brigade because they were 7 players.

Jack

We don't have 8 players, or if we do, that is the absolute maximum. If I make a scenario with 8 divisions and we get only 7 players turn up, that scenario is useless. We had 7 players last week and since I know the scenario, it works best if I only take a brigade therefore for the moment, 6 divisions is really the biggest scenario I want to write, unless we fight co-op vs the AI.

Jess & I will both be there, and I think Martin James hopes to put in an appearance as well.

Jim ;-)