Rindis.com

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.

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.

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.

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.

After a long silence, Mark gave me a call Friday night, and we arranged a game for the next day. After some discussion, we decided to do another scenario from Battle Above the Clouds. At first we were looking at something moderate-sized, but ended up going for the one-turn “Crossing Chickamauga Creek” scenario. Since we did a fair amount of catching up before and after the game, this worked out fairly well.

Not only is it one turn, but it takes place in less than one quarter of the northern map, just covering the Confederate attempt to Missionary Ridge near Rossville and interpose themselves between Chattanooga and the bulk of the Union Army. Confederates occupying a section of the Lafayette-Chattanooga road is worth 6 VPs, occupying a parallel road to the south is worth 10, taking Rossville itself is 3 VP, and casualties are also worth a fair amount at this scale (with Confederates being worth more). I ended up with the Confederates, trying to figure out how to dislodge the Union position.

One thing I had forgotten was that the dice that came with BAtC are very uneven (the red die has a strong tendency to roll low and the white one has a strong tendency to roll high—after lunch we switched to other dice). I tended to take the white die for activations, and got to do whatever I wanted for quite a while (though it took quite a while to roll a ‘5’ so that Hood showed up to speed along Bushrod Johnson). I started by moving up Forrest’s cavalry to either side of Wilder’s mounted infantry and tried to one-two punch him out of there.  I had a small flanking bonus, so Davidson attacked with an overall -1 that I hoped would at least force some fatigue onto the defenders, and then Scott (with Forrest) would hit on the other side with an even roll (due to Forrest’s better tactical rating). One or the other should do something.

Instead, I grabbed the red die for the attack, and 6-1 roll ended up with Davidson’s brigade being wiped out, loosing the small flank bonus. I went ahead with the second attack anyway, and rolled poorly for that too, putting Scott at Fatigue 4 while losing another strength point.

3 losses in the hole, and nothing to show for it.

Lots of little maneuvers followed, trying to find a way to get a decent attack. Hood finally showed up, and I sent Johnson forward and across Lambert’s Ford, and his attack finally dislodged Wilder. This was the opening I needed, and immediately parked part of Walker’s Corps on the closer (lower value) road. Things were a little stable at that point, with me not wanting to stick my neck out any further, but trying to figure how to get onto the next road.

Mark sent Whitaker’s brigade forward to extend the line, and I managed to get part of Buckner’s Corps up to him, and defeat him before Mark could send anything else forward. This got me onto the second road, and things kind of petered out at that point, with no good opportunities left.

I had 16 points in objectives, and 2 from one Union manpower loss, but I lost six manpower doing it for 18 VP, and a total of 0 is a Union Substantive Victory. If the beginning hadn’t been quite so bad, it would have been a Minor Victory… for someone, depending on the details.

I’ve played some tiny scenarios from other GCACW games before, but this one turned out to be better than the others. It’s still not a great show of the strengths of the system, but there’s just enough maneuver there to sink your teeth into.

I’m on my usual trip down south to see my parents, and hopefully get in some wargaming with my dad. After some discussion, he decided to try out the GCACW series. We went with the fourth scenario in Stonewall in the Valley, “Cross Keys and Port Republic”, which is on just the south map, and is probably the biggest basic scenario (though only six turns) and looks about the most even in forces on each side. (I thought I had played the second scenario before, not just the first one twice….)

My dad took the Confederates, and since all of their infantry starts exhausted at Fatigue 1, they stayed in place the first day, while the cavalry advanced to screen them. I tried getting around behind the cavalry to cut them off, but lost one cavalry regiment to an attack by Ashby for my trouble, while almost the entire Union force had a case of the slows.

I got lucky on the rolls for Shields’ division, and had activated everyone by turn 2. The Confederates naturally got to go first, and set up a fairly strong line from Pleasant Run Church to Cross Keys. I decided to continue down the main road, and threaten to go around his west flank while Shields slowly advanced behind the Shenandoah River.

Ewell’s division moved up into contact with the brigades that Fremont was leading (not organized into a division), and a couple of fights followed, one of which drove off Stewart’s brigade behind the North River with some losses and a Demoralize-1 marker. On the other end of the line, both Schenck and Taylor’s brigades were exhausted in a fight.

Not liking how exposed Stewart was to a possible Union advance, my dad moved him out to just north of New Haven. This would keep him demoralized, thanks to the extra fatigue, but got him out of any danger. I moved Cluseret forward to sweep Ashby out of the way, but he stood, and I rolled horribly to lose two strength points. With the Confederates still blocking the main pike across the river, Blenker moved his entire division to the same hex at the west end of the main line, adjacent to Ewell’s position (lots of minuses for a potential assault, but 13-3 odds if he could pull it off). This forced the Confederates to pull back 2-3 miles. Fremont attempted to follow, but a series of poor rolls kept me from doing anything fancy, and Shenck lost a strength point in stragglers.

Shields’ division got close to the solid Confederate position between the Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge, and the Stonewall brigade moved to joined Taliaferro’s bridgade there.

About my best plan was to continue as I had started. Patton’s brigade moved over to eject the 1st NJ Cav before I could do anything, which made getting at Ashby difficult again.

After three ‘2’s for movement in a row (and I did that well  only because of using the division commander), Blenker’s division hadn’t gotten to where I had hoped for my first movement. Steinwehr caught up to Ashby, who then retreated over the North River, which I had hoped to reach at least a turn earlier.

I managed to get three activations in a row to get the 4th NY Cav into a small gap in the line and then attack Taylor near the middle of the line. Everything went right for Fremont, getting a Grand Assault off for 2-1 odds with a +1 flank bonus… and then blew the combat itself for a final -1. This lost another strength point, and finished two brigades for the turn (1 fatigue for the attack, +3 from the battle).

After that, the Confederates pulled back another couple of hexes, and then I got a couple of good initiative rolls and very good movement to surround Patton’s brigade. This attack went better (final +2, after +3 flanking bonus…), disorganizing both brigades, but retreating Patton out of his bad position so I couldn’t hit him again.

The turn 5 check showed that the river had fallen, and it was now possible to cross the Shenandoah. I got the first activation and moved Tyler’s brigade from Shields’ division across the Shenandoah river to circle behind the Confederate defenses. Jackson then activated both brigades there twice to get between Tyler and the victory hexes, and then activated Stewart to block the ford I’d used while activating the main two to attack Tyler. With a +3, the first attack drove off Tyler, causing two losses in a retreat though bad terrain.

Shields then sent two more brigades across the river, hoping to find some way to threaten to get to the victory area. The Confederates got the next initiative, and pulled back into a ring. After some maneuvering, I finally got a +2 flank attack on Stewart, which wore out both units, and followed up with another from the other flank which sent him retreating south of the Shenandoah River.

Taylor moved over to cover that gap, which left Patton disorganized and without immediate support. I moved Cluseret up to Patton, and then Ewell moved over to attack him, exhausting both units. Ashby pulled out of covering the river to cover the victory area. The 1st WV wore themselves out putting themselves onto Ewell’s flank, but then Ashby moved up to cover that flank, which negated any bonuses I could get. Freemont sent Stahel in anyway, and forced a retreat. Patton pulled out after that, leaving the Confederate line just north of the river.

The river was still crossable for turn 6, and the Union got the first initiative again. Blenker activated his entire division, with two brigades crowding Ewell’s main position, and the third setting off around the North River. The Confederates then fell back on positions right along the river. The Union cavalry went on a ride wide around south, finally arriving near Port Republic. Over several activations, the entire Confederate force crossed south of the Shenandoah, abandoning Newhaven to eventual Union control, and then eliminated the 1 NJ Cav in a sharp battle with Ashby.

With everything compacted down, and the Confederates solidly in the lead from Union losses, there weren’t a lot of options left. First, Shields tried to force a Confederate line that ran from Lewis Mill on the Shenandoah to the victory area in Mt Vernon Furnace. Two attacks disorganized the defenders, but couldn’t force a retreat or losses, and caused one loss to each of the attacking Union brigades. I then tried to get at the Confederate cavalry that was screening the western approach to the area, but they moved out before I could try to eliminate them, and the troops were too worn out for anything more. I called it at that point, with the understanding that I’d have no trouble actually taking Newhaven, or getting a unit within five hexes of Staunton.

The Union losses amounted to 10 strength points (plus another from an extended march), and the Confederates had only lost one (plus two more in extended marches on the last turn). With 3 points for taking Newhaven, and one more for being close to Staunton, the total was -5 for a Confederate Substantive Victory.

Ashby certainly lived up to his reputation in this game, being a constant problem for me to deal with. Losing a cavalry regiment early on did me no favors either. Overall, my dice were fairly cold in battle; most fights were at around +1 for modifiers, and while the first fight went well for the Union, the next three all saw the Union roll poorly. One more winning fight at that point probably would have made a dramatic difference. Lots of opportunities were missed thanks to the superior Confederate initiative, but I got some good streaks that forced positions to be abandoned, and allowed me to stick my neck out with Taylor near Three Springs, but not to fight on my terms.

My dad generally likes the system, but finds it a bit too procedure heavy, which I have to agree with. I think it’s a rule set that could do well with introductory sections giving the basic concept of the rule, and then going into the all the exploit-resisting procedure. Some early problems just came from the fact that it is an usual system for a hex-and-counter game.