AAR; ACW (Longstreet rules) 16 Oct 2016

We managed to fit in another Longstreet ACW battle (late 1864) of the mini-campaign. This time we played the ‘Railway Embankment’ scenario, and I again won the scouting phase and choose to be the defender. Additional terrain was added, with Ian placing some woods just forward of my deployment area, whilst I placed areas of swamp across his lines of approach. Ian placed the objective marker as far to my right as possible. I chose to leave my new 10-base US Coloured unit (E/R) as my off-table reserve (arriving on turn 6). I forgot my camera (again!), so no photo’s. Ian did take a couple on his phone and I may add these to this report at a later time.

In the opening turns I advanced my battleline forward to give me some breathing room. The central wooded area Ian placed actually helped me because I deployed my 2 sharpshooter units in them. It soon became clear that Ian’s attack would fall upon my centre, and especially on my right flank. I deployed a battery of Napoleons (37^th Pa) and a unit of men armed with repeaters (8^th Maine) on the gentle hill to block this. I was also able to redeploy my other 4-base Coloured unit (E/R) and a battery of light rifles to act as a reserve, and cover the objective.

For some reason, Ian did not press his attack in the centre and seemed to be content to remain just outside 6” engagement range. His main focus was on my right flank, but again he initially concentrated on fire combat rather than coming straight in. This gave me time to bring on my strong reserve formation and at this point I was confident of victory. Ian finally KO’d my artillery battery and charged the 8^th Maine, who were totally destroyed, but of course his troops were now vulnerable to my counter-attack. The large and eager US Coloured units duly obliged and were successful. The Union was now very much in the ascendency and began an advance in all areas. The Rebel loses mounted as they were forced back and finally victory was achieved.

In the Campaign phase, I rolled well, lost few bases and none of my units lost any Elan. I did not successfully roll for promotion, but achieved the coveted 4 Eagle rank by drawing a promotion Campaign card. My revised force for the 9^th and final battle of the campaign is shown below:

Commander	Personality				Rank		EP’s
“Art” Rooney	Indian Wars Veteran (Scout: 2D6 & keep higher)				4 Eagles (2/64)		30
Unit	Type	Elan	Exp.	Strength		Notes
37th (Prov) Pa Infantry	INF	Season	Veteran	6
13th\14th Pa (Prov) Inf.	INF	Season	Veteran	4		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
16th\45th Ohio (Prov) Inf.	INF	Caut.	Veteran	4		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
26th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Lt Rifle
29th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		2x Lt Rifle, 1x Hvy Rifle
7th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	4
8th Maine	INF	Season	Veteran	4		Repeaters
10th Vermont	INF	Season	Veteran	4
11th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	9		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
1st NH Artillery NEW	ART	-	-	2		2x Lt Rifle
3rd NH Infantry NEW	INF	Season	Recruit	7
				50 bases
Sabotage: enemy removes an extra 4 cards when first re-shuffles.

Notes: The units are listed in order of campaign appearance. The Pa units are from my original force. The 9^th Pa Artillery (the only original unit left) was destroyed.

At the end of this game I have amassed an unassailable EP points lead (with 6 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss). In all our games, apart from the draw, the attacker has lost. Because of my Indian Wars characteristic, Ian’s Rebels have generally been forced to attack. He is understandably beginning to get a bit ‘peeved’ about this, so for the final game I have agreed to take on the role of attacker. We will be playing the ‘Walled Farm’ scenario, which leaves the ‘River Crossing’ scenario as the only one we have not tried out. This is some relief to me because I think the ‘River Crossing’ is heavily weighted in favour of the defender!