Two Long Turns

by on December 14, 2015 at 9:12 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

The latest FtF gaming day was plagued with uncertainty as to who would be attending, with possibilities ranging from three to five (which implies fairly different sets of games). Eventually, we ended up with four this Sunday, and we went for our first game of Virgin Queen in quite a while (I actually like Here I Stand a bit more overall, but it really wants six, which we very rarely have; I really like the ‘active major powers’ rules in VQ).

Random draws gave Jason the Ottomans, me the English (and initial control of the Ottomans), Mark got France, and Dave had the Protestants. Since it had been quite a while, things were slow, and we only got through two turns.

Jason neglected to spend influence on a marriage with Anna of Saxony (he and Mark did stick with Phillip II and Elizabeth de Valois’ nuptuals), so I spent my influence to marry her to the Earl of Leicester, while Elizabeth I was betrothed to William of Orange in exchange for a promise to play Tilbury Speech on my behalf and a possible later minor favor.

My main activity on the board was to besiege Edinburgh (after playing John Knox to give me a proper religious mandate), only to lose one unit while doing no hits, even with the extra rolls from Dave. I think I need a new speech writer. The Ottoman fleet went out and looked menacing, but I didn’t have the cards to back it up. Jason confronted it twice, and blew his rolls both times to let me sink much Spanish shipbuilding when I couldn’t do it myself.

We all sent an expedition to the New World, and founded colonies, but never managed to spend the CPs for piracy. My captain got distracted by the Northwest Passage, and the Treasure Fleet sailed with no one in position for it (Jason had the card). Late in the turn, German Intervention came up, and France got control of the HRE (I noted that I need to pay attention when Mark starts putting influence on a power), and then they launched the Irish Rebellion, but were unable to take Dublin (looks like we missed some of the effects of the card while going through the notes on Irish activation in the rules).

Dave mostly contented himself to positioning for the future by holding on to two cards after spreading Protestant religious influence in Holland and France though his home card and Tridentine Catechism.

Late in the turn, Elizabeth I decided against marriage, but gave William enough gifts to be worth two cards (highest result!). Philip and Elizabeth did well, gaining a VP and card for each power (and an extra Valois VP for France); the second-highest result. Sadly, Leicester and Anna produced no children (no effect).

VQ-1-1
End of Turn 1

Not caring for extra wars, I negotiated peace with the HRE and a mercenary in return for promising Elizabeth’s hand to Charles II (Mark didn’t realize at first this restored peace to Ireland with me still in control of Dublin, but he came out of it well with an extra card draw). Mary Queen of Scots was promised to William of Orange, but we didn’t get to the wedding phase, so we don’t know how that turned out.

The Ottomans had some unrest blocking routes out of Istanbul, but moved 5 units down to Athens in the Spring. They then managed a two-impulse offensive that put the troops ashore in Italy and took Messina (the new Spanish fleet was building in Cartagena, and had taken a loss from piracy after the Sultan’s Harem got involved in politics) and successfully besieged Naples. A naval battle drove off the Ottoman fleet, but with losses to both sides. The Ottomans were done for the turn, and then The Sublime Porte put them inactive, and at peace, still holding part of southern Italy, giving me 1 VP for my efforts. Jason had the card, and wanted to do something about the situation first, but didn’t have any good options. (Selim II came early in the turn, having been given to the Ottomans as a bonus card—I don’t think I’ve ever seen it get naturally dealt out.)

While it was a shame I wasn’t going to get a crack at Rome on turn 3, there’d been quite a build up on the HRE border, and I didn’t really have the attention to spare for a war there too.

Meanwhile, as England, I’d played Jeanne of Navarre on the Huguenot’s behalf (not that I said anything to Dave), getting them established in La Rochelle. Dave decided to go all out, playing Calvinist Zeal to start a rebellion in Antwerp. Neither rebellion saw much action, but were going to be a problem for France and Spain to deal with.

One of the last things to come up was Papal Bull, which was used to convert spaces in France back to Catholicism, but if play was going to continue, there was serious talk of excommunicating Elizabeth.

VQ-1-2
End of day/Turn 2

Things were shaping up pretty nicely at the end of the day; the Protestants were up to 9 VP, and likely to go further. France had 10, but had to worry that he’d taken over the HRE while they were sitting in the 4 VP ‘sweet spot’ of balanced tolerance, and he could end up letting them go after they lost VPs if many more spaces went Protestant. I had gotten up to 12, but was going to have trouble keeping both Edinburgh and Dublin, so I’d be fighting that slide while slowly getting Virgin Queen VP. Spain was down to 14 (and had just gotten a New World treasure VP), but probably couldn’t go down any further.

We really need to get this to the table a lot more if we’re going to do better than two turns, but Dave isn’t really a fan of the game, and since he’s one of the more likely people to be available, that limits options a bit.

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Lookout Mountain & Missionary Ridge

by on December 3, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

While I’m down south with my parent’s for vacation, it’s time to do some gaming with my dad again. Given a choice, he went with a return to the GCACW series that I introduced him to last year, and we played scenario 6, “Lookout Mountain & Missionary Ridge” from Battle Above the Clouds, that I had borrowed from Mark for the purpose.

I’m sure this scenario has more special rules than any other I’ve played. A couple of them are enforcing some reasonable limits, but most of them are odd.

The Confederates have a set of six infantry units which set up in six hexes along Missionary Ridge (the last hex actually goes off the ridge into clear terrain), and the Confederate player chooses who goes where, and keeps them hidden until they move or are attacked. Most of the Confederate units might be entrenched, but this is only found out when they are attacked.

Both sides kind of ignore corps. Any Confederate corps commander can activate anyone in any corps (but only three at a time), and the three Union Army commanders act like Corps commanders, but can activate anyone, in any corps (or army), but only four at a time, and only Grant, the Military Division commander, acts like an army commander.

The Union is expected to attack, with points for taking Missionary Ridge (9 per hex, up to four hexes worth), 15 VP for Chattanooga Station (back behind the Confederate line), and 20 VP for taking Summertown (in the south, on Lookout Mountain). There’s also a 40-point penalty for losing Chattanooga, and the usual 3VP for Confederate casualties and 2VP penalty for Union casualties.

We were both inclining to the Union side, so we rolled off, and I took the Union forces. The Union goes first with two automatic activations for Hooker.

Missionary-Ridge-1
Beginning of the game

I got good movement rolls (5+1) for both automatic activations and moved up Cruft’s division into a flanking position on Walthal (only realizing later that it didn’t do me any good), and then moved up Osterhaus’ division and did a prepared attack with an overall +1. I had the bombardment bonus, but the Confederates were found to be in breastworks, and I rolled one less in the combat for a 0 and both sides became disorganized. Finally Whitaker’s brigade came around the south into the trails around Lookout Mountain. On the second activation, only Whitaker activated, and got another +1 attack against Walthal, but I rolled one higher this time for a +2 to force him to retreat, and advanced onto Craven’s House (forgot to apply the -1 Army of Cumberland modifier here. >.>;)

I got the first regular activation, and had Hooker activate Geary’s division to bring them in to attack Moore, who was in the next hex in line on Lookout Mountain, with no fortifications. I attacked for a +1 that did 1DR, and allowed me to advance into that hex.

My dad passed Wright down to the southern end of his main line at Rossville, covering Moore, and somewhat later moved Grigsby to the south end of the ‘mystery line’.

I decided to activate Sherman with the XV Corps and Davis’s division of the XIV Corps. Davis went to the north end of the southern ‘mystery line’ and tried an attack. Turned out that the strongest position was there with Cleburne’s division and the Art Reserve. Combined with a poor roll, I got a -8(!!) for 5D and no effect on the Confederate position (which had breastworks to boot). The XIV Corps couldn’t get any farther than crossing the Tennessee River with all the crowding.

Next, I assaulted with Howard on the third hex of the ‘mystery line’, and successfully pulled it off, and got a grand assault with Wood’s division of the IV Corps (and artillery reserve). This turned out to be Manigault’s division, with breastworks, for a 1:1 attack that ended at a -1 for me to take 2D.

Next, the XIV Corps moved into position, and Sherman activated Ewing’s division (the only one he was stacked with) for an assault on the second position of the ‘mystery line’. The good news was that there were no fortifications here, but the bad news was that Stewart’s division was there, and the attempt at a grand assault failed, leaving me with another 1:1 attack, and a poor roll ended at -1 for me to take 1D.

That pretty much ended the day. I didn’t have much more that I could reasonably do, but I moved up RW Johnson’s division from Chattanooga to where Sheridan was, with an eye to assaulting on the second day, after transferring an Army leader into the hex.

Missionary-Ridge-2
End of the first day

I transferred all three Army leaders at the beginning of the second day, in preparation for a fresh round of assaults (I don’t think I’ve ever bothered with that many transfers before, and got the first activation to lead off with the assault on the south end of the ‘mystery line’. Or tried to, as a ‘6’ halted the entire thing. My dad moved Moore (still Demoralized) on to Force 4 to shore up part of the line. On the second try, the assault went in with two out three units, to find Gist’s Division who was in a fort. The end result was a -1 on a 1:1 attack for me to take 2D.

Next Sherman ordered an assault on Stewart’s position (the only place I’d found without fortifications) with the bulk of the XV Corps, but couldn’t get a grand assault out Grant, and a 3-6 die roll ended up as a -2 and another 2D for me.

Finally, Hooker brought up one of the fought-out divisions from yesterday onto Lookout Mountain (took two activations) to get over 12 strength points in his hex. I figured the most likely result in Summerville would be both Confederate units to be in breastworks, which would count as 12 strength (both are 3s). Hooker got an assault with all three divisions—and Stevenson’s division was in a fort! Thankfully, Pettens had no fortifications at all for a final 12 strength, and I rolled slightly better for a final +2, Dr/1Da, which let me take my first, and only, victory hex of the game.

I technically had more troops I could throw in towards the middle of the Confederate line, but there just wasn’t anywhere that looked vulnerable, so that was the end. I had taken Summerville for 20 VP, and caused 1 Confederate casualty for 3, but had lost 14 strength points doing for -28 for -5 score and a very Decisive Confederate victory.

Missionary-Ridge-3
The end

My dad was talking about how the major Confederate problem was that they had built most of their defenses too high on the hills, and couldn’t really fire at the Federals until they were too close, and he thought the uncertain fortifications was not a bad way to emulate it. However, this is one of those smaller, tighter scenarios that doesn’t really play to the maneuver strengths of the system.

There wasn’t any real chance for flanking, I couldn’t get better than 1:1 odds (and sometimes not even that) against the fortifications, leaving the bulk of the combats at an overall even, or maybe +1 adjustment, and then I couldn’t get any good rolls/results against Missionary Ridge, giving me nothing to do there.

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SM1 The Planet Crusher

by on November 30, 2015 at 8:53 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming, SFB

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

I’ve been thinking of doing a bit more SFB for a little bit. And then airjudden talked about having gone through all the monster scenarios from the Commander’s rulebook some time ago, and posted a solo game against against a new one.

I’ve occasionally thought about trying some of the solo monster scenarios out. And with some vacation time available, he inspired me to go through with it.

This is part of my group’s plays, so the date is Y158. Starting at the beginning, I went with SM1, which features a monster inspired by the episode “The Doomsday Machine” (but not nearly so tough). I’ve been wanting to get back to the Kzinti, and went with their main cruiser of the era, the Strike Cruiser. (The better CA and CC classes exist, but there’s more CSs than CCs and CAs put together. The first BC will be converted from a CS in about two years.) This meant ignoring SM1.432, which states all drones are speed 20 (such technological marvels are a decade away).

Paying for Type II/V drones wasn’t worth considering. With MCIDS swatting down up to three drones an impluse, speed 12 wasn’t worth the 0.5 BPV per drone. (In general, I’d think speed 12 should be 0.25 instead of the same 0.5 of speed 20, but I suppose the idea is that ships are slower in this era.)

Speaking of slow ships, the CS only has 27 warp, limiting it to speed 28 (with the one point of impulse thrown in). And it only has two disruptors and two ph-1s; the main weapon is pretty much the drones, which I can’t count on.

Starting to wonder if this was really a good idea, I looked over the details. You can’t fire on the monster unless at range six or closer (there goes the idea of softening it up first). And it fires at range six or less, with no adjustments for range, and no effect from EW. At the top end, it does 35 damage—ouch! That’s starting to look like a ph-4.

But the low end is only 10 damage… and it only fires once per turn. Since there’s no reason not to go to point-blank range, the real primary weapon of the CS comes out: 10 ph-3s. And at speed 6, it’s much slower than the CS. The robot rules move it towards the planet unless a ship is within two hexes, at which point it’ll pursue that ship like a seeking weapon.

I pondered loading up on transporter bombs. It wouldn’t be too hard to get the planet crusher to run over them, but the extra BPV cost would up the amount of damage I needed to do to defeat it. So I went no frills; just a stock CS with no commander’s options. With a BPV of 116, the balance formula said I needed to do 186 damage to it, while I would lose if it did 200 damage to the planet it was headed for. I contemplated that if things went poorly, and I needed time, I could let it get to the planet, and chew on it for at least five turns. Assuming the inhabitants were non-Kzinti natives, this should be acceptable to the Hegemony—unless the natives were especially tasty.

With little to fear with a set up on the far side of the map (with the target planet at the upper middle; I went speed 23, charging phasers, fire control on, shields at minimum and no disruptors. I headed more-or-less straight at it, while it mostly headed straight up, with a couple hexes of direction B thrown in, ending at range 16.

I randomly rolled for all planet crusher movement that had two possibilities. One thing I’m not sure of is where in the movement order it goes. I judged it as a ship, so it went first, as I was always moving faster—except when it was in range two of me and ‘pursuing’ my ship, then it gets the ‘no you go first’ exception. It might make sense to rate it as a seeking weapon (targeted on the planet) at all times.

For turn 2, I put disruptors to standard loads, planning on overloading them off of battery unless I took a bad hit, put shields to full, and went speed 25. I immediately turned to heading F to get ahead of the planet crusher and came in, showing my #6 shield. We both moved on impulse 16 and hit range 5.

A ‘3’ did 25 points on the 22-point shield. I spent one battery on reinforcement, planning on using the other 4 to overload the disruptors. Disaster! The two internals hit a phaser and disruptor! I took the left side disruptor and ph-1, since the next pass would certainly be off the right side.

I turned in, and on impulse 22, entered its hex. The planet crusher would have also moved, but in pursuit of my ship stayed where it was. I launched four drones and all forward-facing weapons.

Well, almost. I forgot about the two 360 ph-3s until I noticed my power wasn’t balancing on the follow up shot.

MCIDS fired at the first three drones… and missed! My overloaded disruptor automatically hit at range 0 for 10, the ph-1 did 7, and the ph-3s did 15. The next impulse, the drones hit for another 48. The impulse after that, I finished my overrun and did another 21 points with the remaining 6xph-3.

101 damage and delayed the monster a hex. Not a bad turn’s work.


Turn 2, showing Impulse 16, with movement from beginning to contact on impulse 22.

At the end of the turn, I was still at range 6, which meant I knew it would fire on impulse 1, and hit my #4 shield. I partially recharged phasers, overloaded the disruptor, recharged batteries, went speed 9 and put 8 extra power in the the shield. That would block anything but a ‘1’, and the five batteries would stop that if needed.

A ‘5’ did 15, putting 7 points on the shield. I turned around, executed a snap-turn (slip in one direction followed by a turn in the opposite direction, and then fired at range three on impulse 25 (which kept the weapons clear for turn 4…). The disruptor missed, but the bearing phasers did another 10 points of damage.


Positions at end of turn 2 and turn 3 impulse 25.

The planet crusher went in direction B for its next move allowing me to slip into range 2, and then get to range 1 on impulse 32. It moved into my hex for the end of the turn, where I launched a second set of drones, only to watch the MCIDS instantly kill three of them….

Wanting to be able to get back out of its seeking range, I went speed 13, overloading the disruptor, charging all phasers, and putting 8 onto #1 for the same plan as last time (it had been a stronger shield, until I dinged it with that overload on the first pass…).

The planet crusher did 20, putting 12 on the #1 shield, and I immediately added two more with feedback from an overloaded disruptor. That did 10, the ph-1 did 6 and the six bearing phasers did another 22. On impulse 3, I moved out of the hex and did another 15 with the rear ph-3s for a total 65 damage for the turn.

Sadly, while it followed me, it chose a direction that didn’t lead away from the planet. I danced ahead of it a little, but finally got out of seeking range and paralleled its course until the end of the turn, where I turned in to get to range 2 off my shield #2.

I went with much the same plan as the last two turns, with speed 9 and 10 reinforcement on shield #2. The planet crusher rolled ‘6’ to not even hurt the shield, and moved into it, doing another 40 damage with the right-side weapons.

Total, 216 damage. Creature destroyed.

It really is a pretty simple creature to deal with. Slightly random movement helps give it some more interest. I thought I was in trouble when those two internals took out important weapons, but the complete failure of MCIDS after that more than made up for it. The fact that it never rolled less than a ‘3’ also helped a lot, but I was reasonably well prepared for that after the first pass.

I note that the rules state that the creature gets one shot per turn at each ship present (when it gets within six hexes), so I’d think taking a frigate squadron against it might be a pretty stiff challenge.

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R vs B Coalition Turn 12 in Review

by on November 21, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: BvR - The Wind

Crossposted from the SFU blog on BGG.

After two turns of picking on the Klingon Empire, it’s time to face the music. The Romulans are done with two turns of peace, and have gone over to a Wartime footing.

I’m not entirely sure if going to Peacetime was a good idea or not. Forgoing Romulan involvement for two turns has hurt the Klingons a lot. On the other hand, it forced my hand, and the Gorns will not be involved, letting the Romulans focus on the Federation. Also, two turns of peace delays economic exhaustion three turns, so we’re even further away from Romulan economic collapse. Since they are usually the weak link of the Coalition, shoring up their position could really pay off.

At any rate, Romulan fleets came across the border, hitting three border stations, one interior BATS, the 6th Fleet SB, an adjacent planet (and both neutral zone planets), as well as forcing the Orion Enclave neutral, though they stayed out of range of the 5th Fleet Reserve.


The Romulan invasion begins.


Battles along the Klingon-Federation Neutral Zone.


Kzinti space.

Battles:
3212: Fed: dest BATS, crip FF; Rom: crip 3xSP
3612: Rom: dest K4
3611: Fed: dest CL, DE, FFE, crip 2xCC, NEC, NCD, DD, DE, 3xFF, 5xSIDS; Rom: dest CON, KR, 3xSP, SK, SKF, 8xWE, K5L, 2xK5, 3xSNB, SN, crip 2xK7R, KR, SP, SK, FAL
3810: Fed: dest BATS; Rom: dest SK, crip 2xSK
3912: Neutral: 2xPDU; Rom: crip WE, capture planet
3415: Neutral: 2xPDU; Rom: crip WE, capture planet
3414: Fed: dest BATS
3215: Fed: dest BATS; Rom: crip 2xSN
0117: Hydran: dest LB, crip RN; Lyran: dest STT, crip BC
0116: SSC: Hydran retreat
0803: SSC: Kzinti: dest 2xFF
1303: SSC: Kzinti dest CL; Klingon: retreat
1001: Kzinti: crip SF; Lyran: crip BC, 2xCL
1105: Klingon: dest 2xE4A
1107: SSC: Kzinti: retreat
1803: Kzinti: crip 2xCL; Klingon: dest F5, E4, crip D7C, D5
1704: Klingon: dest D5, F5E
1805: Fed: crip NCL, FF; Klingon: dest D5
1514: SSC: Fed: dest FF; Klingon: crip E4
1714: Klingon: dest D7C
2615: Fed: dest BATS, crip 3xFF; Klingon: dest 2xE4, crip D7, D5
2417: SSC: Fed: dest CL
2518: Fed: crip FF; Klingon: dest 2xF5, crip F5
1811: SSC: Fed: crip DD, retreat; Klingon: dest D5, crip D5, retreat
2012: Klingon: dest D7, crip D7
2010: Fed: crip NCL; Klingon: dest D7, FV, E4A
1609: SSC: Fed: dest FF; Klingon: crip D7, retreat
1708: SSC: Kzinti: dest CL
1808: SSC: Fed: retreat
1909: Fed: crip 4xFF
1807: Fed: crip NCD; Klingon: dest 2xE4

In general, the higher quality Romulan ships are a problem, but they weren’t enough help at the 6th Fleet SB fight where I had a CVA and CVB on the line to help boost ComPot, along with multiple CCs (initial Federation ComPot was 155, including the SB and some drone bombardment). The SB fight went seven rounds, with the Federation outrolling the Romulans overall (we had a couple 6-6 rounds), which along with killing the only scout in the first round made sure I could hold the hex, though the 6th Fleet is going to need a lot of help next turn.

I sent a reserve to 1105 to save it from a small Klingon force; Bel put up a D6V group, and I couldn’t do enough damage to get at the carrier.

He made an attempt at the Marquis area infrastructure, but I had enough in the area that I was able to cover the Kzinti base going up in 1805, and sent a reserve to protect the BATS in 1803. He also raided the SB hex, where the Feds are setting up a MB to extend their supply net, but the CVA MacArthur showed up, and he wasn’t capable of facing that.

Given the number of Klingons out there, the the length of the border, it’s inevitable that some of the Federation border BATS would go down, and I was surprised that I only lost one last turn. 2012 did take two SIDS then, so it was a natural candidate for a push this turn. Instead, I lost 2615, which was guarding a minor planet right behind it (which has a full defense brigade and one of the F-15 squadrons, and so is a tougher defense installation (12(26)).

I’m surprised to still be holding the Klingon major planet at 2518, but while he’s sent enough down to forstall further offensive operations with my available forces, it just doesn’t match what I have in Carrier Fleet 3, so his attempt on the planet just hurt him a lot more than it hurt me. (a 2-5 roll in favor of the Feds didn’t hurt either).

1811 was a nearly even SSC fight: NCL and DD vs 2xD5. The Federation rolled 12 to get four casualties and nearly wipe out the Klingons while the DD was crippled and retreated. I figure the DD got the Federation Jackpot of four overloaded photon torpedoes into a D5 when they got too close trying to take out the DD. (The current SSC system really is an amazing improvement over the previous versions.)

Bel’s retrogrades didn’t have any surprises, but he used the new Lyran BATS in the Klingon home system to deliver 20EPs to the Klingons. This is something he probably should have been doing for a while, but recent events are certainly forcing him to pay more attention.

Meanwhile, all Lyran new production went to the Kzinti border, but a pair of tugs have hauled a stored MB and FRD into Hydran space at the SB in 0416.

The Romulans paid to move elements of the Home Fleet up to the border as well as new construction, and split them between three stacks along the entire Fed border. Klingon new construction went to planet 1916, while the large number of repairs stayed on the capital (formed into two reserves).

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The Battle of Chickamauga

by on November 17, 2015 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Mark came over Saturday as we try to catch up on some gaming. We went with Battle Above the Clouds scenario 3 “The Battle of Chickamauga”. It’s effectively an expanded version of the second scenario, going for three days and bringing in all the action to the south. We decided to switch sides from last time, giving me the Union forces.

Chickamauga-1
Beginning of the game.

Towards the beginning of the turn, I decided to secure the center by sending part of the XIV Corps into Wicker Gap. Light Confederate forces were in the area, and I aggressively pushed an attack, and with good die rolls carried the day. Reynolds rolled 6-1 on a 1:1 attack against Wharton’s division for a 1DR, with the resulting Demoralization putting them out of action for the rest of the battle. Then Brannan’s division came up and rolled 3-1 in a follow up 2:1 attack, which pushed Armstrong’s division back and gave me a position behind a creek. Mark counterattacked with Hindman’s Division vs Brannan but a 1D to the attacker halted that.

There was a lot of maneuvering after that, and Mark came up against the same problem I had in the earlier scenario: The north flank of the Union position, while not superb, is still fairly good, and getting across the East Chickamauga Creek was giving him trouble. Once Hood had shown up and everyone was in contact, he attempted an assault (with a plan to try for a grand assault) to force a crossing, but rolled a ‘6’ to do nothing more than wear out the men. Buckner tried an assault with his corps against a couple divisions of the XIV Corps in the Wicker Gap, but got a high roll that meant only Stewart’s division went in, and both sides took 1D from that attack.

Chickamauga-2
End of turn 1.

Things ground to a halt after that, but early the next morning, Bragg pulled off a grand assault, and forced a crossing at Thedford’s Ford, forcing McCook’s brigade back with a 1DR* (I don’t think we’ve seen a Demorilize-2 marker in action before…). I started trying to pull my southern flank in, but I was out of position with most of my cavalry, and couldn’t do much without letting units get cut off. Crittenden managed an assault that cost me one strength point to nothing, but both sides were worn out by the fighting (‘D’), which was useful in keeping  a good amount of Confederate infantry from advancing further. Meanwhile, Confederates were moving across the East Chickamauga at Lambert’s Ford, and the cavalry was moving around the north end of my line. Liddell’s division attacked the right end of my northern line near Thedford (about where I’d gotten across last time), and got a 6-1 roll to send Wilder’s brigade of the XIV Corps and some smaller units retreating from a 1Dr.

Chickamauga-3
End of turn 2.

We had to call it a day at the end of the second turn. However, we had a decent idea of where things were going. My line had had to pull south, leaving the northern trail over Missionary Ridge (5 VP) and Chattanooga uncovered (10 VP). McAfee Church had already been occupied by his cavalry, but presumably an infantry unit would be by the next day to take it on the way to Chattanooga (5 VP), and he’d already taken Jay’s Mill (5 VP). He had lost 6 strength points (-18 VP) and had inflicted 7 on me (14 VP). So the total was looking like a Union marginal victory, though there would have been further fighting for Kelly Field, and Rossville.

The initial wildly successful Union attacks set the tone for quite some time, and kept Mark a bit extra cautious. It took both of us quite a while to realize that all the VPs were up north, and there’s very little reason for the Union to not pull back the south flank so as to shorten the line and possibly feed units to where the action is, which really hampered me the second day. I’d really like to give this one another try.

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