ACW - Battle for 7 Pines May 31 and June 1, 1862 - Day 1

The Union forces were dug in along two lines of earthworks, the foremost one was defended by Casey's division which was made up of green troops.



Casey's Line awaits the Confederate advance



Confederate sheer weight of numbers mean that Casey wont hold for long

Confederate forces moved up the road and through the woods to engage the first line of dug in troops. Fierce musketry fire ensured, but the rebs weight of numbers meant that despite union forces slowing down the confederate advance, Casey quickly had to withdraw or lose his division.

Casey's bloodied brigades withdrew in good order behind the second line, which were manned by fresh union forces and significant artillery which were waiting for the rebel forces to come within range.

The confederate forces took the first line of fortifications, but they found it difficult to pick their way through the earthworks, and struggled to maintain good order or impetus to carry onto the second line. All along the confederate line, orders were being given to form up and close onto the second line. Longstreet was acutely aware that time was critical, if he could capitalise on the early successes he could roll up the union forces around seven pines before their reinforcements could arrive and bolster the line.

The rebels lack of discipline and order meant that the line didn't all charge as one. Brigades went in unsupported as others stalled. Confederate artillery due to the rapid advance of some of the lines meant that they were forced to limber and find alternative fields of fire. This lack of unified attack and no artillery support allowed the Union forces to roll up and down their line with volley after volley of death into the packed and disorganised ranks of the rebel lines. Those confederate brigades which made it to the Yankee line were quickly repelled due to the defensive works barring their entry to seven pines.

Longstreet brought all his might towards getting a foothold on the second line. He repeatedly sent confederate forces again, and again into the defenders. Sporadic confederate fire tried to dislodge the defenders, but was not of any volume or focused enough to show any great effect.

Keyes knew that if the Union forces could hold for another hour then they stood a chance, Casey's division was badly beaten up so was positioned in support and reserve to help plug any gaps appearing across the breastworks.

Longstreet in a final effort to break the deadlock tried to bring the rebels numbers to bare on the thin Union line. He ordered two brigade down the road to hit the Union line in the middle in attack column. He hoped the weight of numbers would crack the line and allow the rebel forces to spill into the gap.

Union artillery poured canister shot after canister into the advancing brigade. Within one attack both columns were decimated and broke harmlessly onto the earthworks.

As the day wore on, the Union forces held. Their concern was not enough ammunition, whereas the Confederates concern was not enough men!

Over to the North of seven pines, Confederate forces arrived and could hear the fierce fighting in and around seven pines. They marched with all haste to support the attack.  During this time a Union force had also arrived from the NE and was heading toward these forces with an intent to delay. Union forces charged the confederate forces and despite having the element of surprise the union forces had overstretched themselves to reach the Confederate forces and were quickly fought off and bloodied.

At the same time, two Irish brigades arrived behind seven pines and were making all possible speed to support keyes. These two deployed and were straight into the fray, being ordered by Keyes to plug his right and left flank where confederate forces had almost broken through...

Longstreet's final assault saw the Union lines buckle in the centre and withdraw. However, the confederate forces couldn't pursue due to the depth of the earthworks so were tantalising close to breaking through if they only had more time....

Keyes seeing this rallied the union line and dove straight back into the rebels who were picking their way through the defenses. This quick charge resulted in the rebel forces withdrawing for another and final time.

The light was fading and Longstreet couldn't ask his boys to try again. He would learn later that evening that over 5,000 of his forces were dead or seriously wounded in and around seven pines.

He knew that the union forces had suffered as well, but the butchers bill had been a heavy one today with little gain. He knew that trenches and fortifications were the future of warfare. While he had many doubters about this, he was convinced more than ever after today what a smaller force can accomplish if behind defences.

Weariness grew over him, as he knew he would have to ask his troops to do it all again tomorrow. He just hoped he had enough men to do it....


Keyes knew that him and his men's survival was in the balance many times today. He had met the enemy and had survived. Union forces still held seven pines with fresh men and supplies being moved up under darkness.

If the confederate forces didn't come again tomorrow then he knew he would have to go to them to try and finish this once and for all. He had lost nearly 3,000 men; more than he could afford to. However, he knew that for every union man who fell today had cost the life of 2 rebels. Perhaps that ratio was enough....

Union and Confederate forces to the North of Seven Pines engage each other.



The Rebels break through the first line, but are disorganised and reel from a devastating volley from the Union forces





Irish Brigade marches towards Seven Pines to help defend the earthworks





Confederate forces break through the second line, but can not push on. Union forces quickly rally and drive Confederate forces back.... again!



A great game. We used Fire and Fury and played the first day in about 6 hours. We have worked out which units have suffered what losses, with a view for us to finish day 2. Cant wait!

ACW

It’s been a long time coming, but a blog update is well over due.

What have we been up to?

Recently we have now got to grips with American Civil War. The old guard at the club (Nev and Paul) have been using fire and fury for many a year and still swear by them (and often at each other).

The games normally played were normally the pick up and play battles and I have been involved in a couple and thoroughly enjoyed it....

After a bit of musing, games are always better when you get to play with your own models and the idea was forming around history corner that there were some great battles and scenarios out there which would really bring ACW to life. This would be further enhanced by the fellow ACWers who had at various states some nice 28mm forces which with the help of Black Powder wanted to do battle.

Following on from an excellent narrative Napoleonic campaign last year, we wanted to add some flavour to the ACW games and decided on replaying the major (and some minor) engagements starting at the beginning with a league type scoring for wins/losses/draws for the victorious Confederate forces (can you tell I’m a rebel).

First up was the First battle of Bull Run which turned out to be one of the best and fun games I have played for a long time and frighteningly the game actually turned out similar to actual events.....almost like 'proper' wargaming that....

We used a cobbled together scenario intended for fire and Fury

The morning opened with Hunters Division coming down the road from Sidley in March Column. Evans Brigade was on the edge of the wood at Matthews’s house hill. Hunter moved Porters brigade to the foot of the hill, formed up and set about moving Evans from the hill, while Burnside and Palmers cavalry marched straight down the road to the stone house.

At 10:00 Hunter, supported by Burnside began to press forward. Evans` small force fell back and rallied on the road with Bartow in support. Bee had trouble rousing his brigade into action and couldn’t advance down henry house hill to meet the approaching Union forces at the cross roads with the Stone house which were allowed to enfilading Evans already beat up brigade.

Porter attacked the formed confederates and a vicious battle pursued. With the confederate cannons supporting Evans and Bartow meant that the advantage was with them so Porter eventually fell back, worn and disordered.

Over on the right Sherman has forded the Bull Run and had taken up position and exchanged volleys with Cockes brigade. The sudden charge by Sherman dislodged Cocke from his stone wall and he fell back. Sherman tried to hold his troops behind the wall but followed up, carried away with seeing Cocke run. Cocke rallied his brigade and threw them back into Sherman. The rebel yell and the withering fire from Confederate artillery meant that Sherman retired to his original position. No ground had been lost or won, but Sherman and Cocke had been bloodied and a stale mate ensured.

Jackson got bogged down on Henry House Hill and couldn’t bring his numbers to effect. A union brigade led by Wilcox continued to push on past the Stone House and reached Henry house hill. However, Wilcox had overstretched his line and with Confederates pouring out of the woods at the back of the hill meant that he had t withdraw.

Stuart’s cavalry came on the confederates left flank and got raked by musketry so quickly withdrew. Palmer’s cavalry remounted at the stone house and moved forward. Stuart caught them and quickly ran Palmer and his force down.

The Union forces had pushed the confederates back to the back of Henry House Hill but their supplies were becoming low and McDowell ordered the conservation of Ammunition which meant that they could not continue the assault for long. They had to withdraw to the Stone House, leaving the confederates to reorder, form up and control Henry House Hill.

We unfortunately didn’t get to finish the last two turns, but the Confederates had two more brigades to arrive, and this together with Jacksons brigade now being formed up, the unions ammo being low and Stuart now at the house and behind the Unions forces I think would have meant the likely withdraw in good order of the Union forces - so a better result that actual events.... perhaps all the civilians who turned out to watch wont be trampled and scattered!

Sherman was holding his own next to the Bull Run and if Schenk ever turned up would have meant that the confederates would have had to withdraw to the woods and form up there.

Some pics to follow soon and an update on our next engagement Battle of Wilsons Creek....

A Clash of Iron

The Germans while heavily outnumbered made their troop quality and superior firepower count. The high velocity armament out ranged the approaching Sherman's with only the Firefly's in the opening hours able to dual at a distance with the Panther Battalion on the left, the Jadgpanthers supported by Tigers in the centre and the probing advance on the right by a Panzer IV battalion.

The British outnumbered the Germans by at lest 3 to one but had to close the range to give the Sherman's a chance to make their guns tell. Meanwhile the British infantry battalion debussed and occupied the town of Borouex where they dug in and managed to repel an attempt by German infantry to dislodge them from the North East part of town. This was thanks to the close bombardment called in which supressed the assaulting Germans.

The jadgpanthers and tigers were knocking out Sherman's consistently in the centre where the weight of numbers of the Shermans meant a few shells found their marks. The British advanced their reserves to the ridge line in the form of a company of Achilles and the lended weight of their 17pdrs quickly saw a couple of platoons of Jagdpanthers brewing up.

The threat of German air power was ever present but failed to materialise.

Over on the left the Panther Battalion wiped the 2nd tank battalion out to a vehicle and nothing was opposing them other than some dug in infantry within a wood. Other than them the Panthers could quickly roll up the British flank.

As night fell, the British still held the town and the volumes of British vehicles now had the range closed on the centre and right which meant that the German losses were starting to be felt harder than the British ones. However, with the Panthers soon able to bring their guns to the centre would have meant that the outcome would have been difficult to guess.


Conclusion

A very enjoyable game and a number of times the command and control rules meant that we couldn't just do what we wanted to do. For example, I wanted to change my orders on the infantry on the left to support the Sherman's facing the Panthers. However, I gave them orders at the beginning to occupy the Woods and then take up defence positions. I failed on two turns to issue orders which meant that my Shermans were outgunned by the panthers and quickly destroyed.

The Germans had the best of the early part of the game as their initiative bonus and better quality of troops very often meant a hard earned suppression in a panther was recovered. Their superior guns meant that they ruled the long/mid range engagement, but only when the Sherman's swallowed hard and moved to close the gap with the fireflies and Achilles in the rear to provide support did the British get the kills.

Artillery was effective, even though you are rolling to suppress tanks. However, because they fired first the effect of artillery is effective, but subtle. The Brits having 12 x 25pdrs (admittedly half couldn't range in for most of the game) meant that they had superiority over the Germans in this respect.

Germans had a chance of Air support, but it never materialised (relief) which showed it to be quite an expensive resources with minimal chance of turning up....

A very enjoyable game... roll on the next one.

Spearhead Revisited

After a successful 1st innings of the Spearhead rule set Paul and I are taking things a bit easier and we are hoping to get to grips with the rules and nail the command and control and spotting aspects. It seems really alien as a wargamer who can see the whole battlefield not to move their forces to counteract some unseen threat from the ground. That is what really intrigues me with this ruleset as you can have your forces marching blindly into an ambush, but cant do anything about it (or try to) until the ambush has been sprung and they have engaged with the enemy. Recon, Recon, Recon!!.

Very realistic, which I think most rule sets I have played don't allow.

We are playing a moving engagement between British and German forces set in the Normandy Countryside.

Day 1 of operation Epsom

Our first game of Spearhead was a success!

The rules played very well, and even though it was our first game and as a result missed some parts of the rules, the feeling and the outcome seemed spot on.

The British advance over the river Odon with the two bridges quickly became a bottle neck. The armoured reconnaissance advanced to the wood line and spotted entrenched German infantry and SPGs. Before they could radio in the recon was brewing up!

With the British infantry in the rear of the armoured column the armoured regiment engaged the entrenched infantry and SPGs which had effectively blunted the advance. In addition the German FO was calling in howitzer support which left the approaching British column confused and dazed.

Over on the right flank the German Panzer's started rolling, fortunately the British right had advanced with dismounted infantry and had enough time to deploy the attached 17lbs which now laid in waiting for the advancing panzer's. When they opened up, the lead units of Panzer's were quickly wrecked. As the Panzer commander couldn't pinpoint where this fire was coming from orders to fall back were issue and obeyed.

Back to the left the British infantry had been brought up and hard fighting follwed to try and dislodge the dug in engineers from the wood.

As darkness fell, the British forces had established a strong bridge head with further armour, infantry and supplies still  rumbling over the Odon late into the night

The Germans had blunted the British offensive with minimal losses, hopefully giving the time to mobilize the Panzer reserves for the British offensive on Hill 112 which will surely continue in the early hours of the morning.

Observations:
We used a lot of kit for the first game and perhaps bit off a bit too much.
Didn't use the indirect fire factors for artillery which would make them not as powerful
Infantry anti tank fire was wrong. Not the same as normal AT fire, so again a bit too keen.
Could be useful to have a crib sheet to record losses to easily assess break points for regiments (Nev's idea).
Vehicle who fire can only move at combat speed (1/2)

Roll on the next scuffle!

Spearhead

Our Micro forces have been dusted off and tarted up.

4th November will be Operation Epsom!

Spearhead rules are for divisional combat and should give a taste of bigger type WW2 battles....James Montgomery Mills will be leading the British attack hopefully to smash his way around Caen ...

It has been reported that elements of the 12th SS panzer Division "HitlerJugend" division will be in the contested area commanded by the Obergruppenführer Josef "Sepp" Dietrich and his wily crew.

The game will be played using an Umpire with hidden deployment and Orders and off table Artillery support, hopefully the game will inspire the FOW players to see the possibilities of larger type games using 1/300th scale mini's.

Prelude...

The Channel storm of 19-22 June delayed the arrival of the three new divisions (the 7th Armoured had already landed), with the result that Epsom was postponed until 26th June. Because of strong German positions on high ground to the west (the British right flank), 49th Division (known as the Polar Bears after their distinctive shoulder badge) were to attack Fontenay and Rauray a day before the main assault to secure the high ground the Germans occupied. This attack went in on 25th June, so by 26th, the German defenders – mostly 12th SS Hitlerjugend Division (Hitler Youth) – on Hill 112 were expecting an attack. The attack was launched at 0730 hours with a tremendous artillery barrage, rather like a First World War set-piece infantry attack. Amongst the indirect fire support assets were three RN cruisers anchored offshore and firing shells accurately fifteen miles inland! The first objective was to reach and force a crossing over the Odon river. As the opening barrage crept forward one hundred yards every three minutes, the infantry of the 15th Scottish division, moved confidently forward, supported by Churchill tanks...

Epsom night will hopefully concentrate on the bridgehead gained by the 15th across the river Odon and Major-General George Roberts commander of the 11th Armoured Divisions breakout and push on to Baron and Hill 112 with a view to control the high ground that overlooks Caen and cut it off from support before the 9th SS Pz Division and 21st Pz Division in turn cut the salient.

Even with Spearhead, the orders of battle for Epsom would mean a lot of kit so we will only be using a fraction of the forces involved in Epsom.

Lets see if the Brits can get to the Hill. Watch out for the Panthers!


The preliminary bombardment begins...

The 15th move out ...

The 11th Armoured in convoy to the river Odon crossing... 

What's the big idea?

The idea for the Exploration series came about when Paul and Nev had a game of Impetus with Wayne and the Lasalle game with Paul and Paul.

Its about tying up loose ends and unfinished projects all wargamers have in their draws, cupboards, garages, sheds etc.

The exploration series is about getting to grips with rules/periods that we have always wanted to do, or have done in the past and want to bring back to life. Its also about getting people involved and on board.

Having fun is the key and having nicely painted models on good quality terrain helps as it brings the game to life and hopefully inspires others to join in or tackle their white elephants of the gaming world.

Some of the proposed topics for the exploration series include;

Spearhead .....WW2 Divisional Combat
Grande Armee ....Napoleonic 6mm Divisional/Corps
Disposable Heroes / Rules of Engagement ....WW2 Skirmish
Force on Force ....Afghanistan/Vietnam
28mm dark age skirmish


First up is Spearhead....