Longstreet Campaign Early 1862 (game 2)

"Cher Père,

The winter so far North of our beloved warm Louisiana has proven difficult on the men who are so used to their warm bayous and Southern hospitality.  Whilst we are all made to feel 'brothers-in-arms' here in Virginia, there are grumblings amongst the ranks that the local Virginians are treated far more civilly by the local civilian population and Quartermasters alike. I have done what I can to silence such rumours, but fear that the cold and rains of this wretched season only add fuel to their ire. 

We have been tasked with seeking an errant Yankee force that has been reported to have been sent as a feint with an intent to draw out the main of our army. The gallant General Lee though is not fooled and my brave regiments have the honour of rooting them out and sending the Northern Invader (A new Virginian term I've since taken on) home with their tail betwixt their legs!

Merci à maman pour la confiture. It was most delicious and of great comfort this past sodden week. My love as always to sweet Monique and Estelle. 


Meilleures salutations, 

Jean Claude."

The first inter-battle section of the campaign saw the Union forces thoroughly ravaged by bouts of camp fever and Stewart saw most of his regiments devastated as men were too sick or just plain dead from poor sanitation and gammy tummies. My own forces suffered also, though not as severely. We both received reinforcements (Notes on these I've since misplaced - of course.) and our forces looked very different from our beginning rosters in the first game.

From memory almost every one of Stewart's regiments bumped up to "Seasoned" (Obviously due to the jolly good thrashing they received from my stout Rebs!). He also drew a card that gave one of his regiments a bump to Veteran status and another one "Old Reliables" which means they are immune against Confusion effects during battle. He also got a brand new, fresh 10-base regiment of Eager recruits, but his poor cavalry ended up being only 2 bases strong! His general, due to the previous defeat (We decided after his roll failed.) was not promoted.

My own Confederates gained a 6-base regiment of Eager recruits (Which was convenient as that was exactly how many I had painted prior to the day in case I even got recruits!) and some extra bases within the remaining infantry regiments to bulk them up after the dysentery casualties. My general also got to add a new ability "Friend in the Statehouse" (Stewart's general drew this when we first began the campaign.), which was helpful and bumped up my army's minimum size by 4 bases. In turn, my own general was promoted for his victory to a 2 Eagle General.

We played another defensive scenario (Rolled at random), I think called "Defend the farmhouse" or some such, but this time I rolled poorly for scouting and ended up having to attack Stewart's entrenched army (We considered my poor scouting roll to account for the fact that Stewart's army had time to prepare for the Rebel arrival.)... The following pictures will illustrate how bleeding difficult is to assault a dug in army! Hope you enjoy.

My army marches in from right to left. I split my force in two, with the 2x Louisiana regiments and new Virginians heading directly at the farmhouse supported by my artillery (Now sadly only two guns.) who were heading for the hill ridge facing the blue lines. The other part of my force was racing through to try a flanking manuever with my Cavalry and Floridian Infantry trying to doubletime it and hope to find a weak seam in those defenses. The Yankee defenders were very well positioned and knew that their own artillery had good fields of fire to smash the Rebs with, especially if they march through the bottleneck between the hill and rocky outcrop to the north.

That's a long way to have to march. And not nearly enough men to march with...

The Union lines were thin, but determined. The red bead was used to represent the veteran regiment, the blue bead "Old Reliables." This formation had to hold the line until turn five when  the Northern reserves came on, in this case, a full 10-base regiment of infantry! 

After a turn or three, my artillery are where I wanted them to be and my infantry are in column, trying to close the gap as quickly as they can before the Union artillery can cause too much damage. Unfortunately, our scouts did not see a well hidden swampy area near the farm! The Confederate approach is even MORE bottle-necked!

On the left flank, Stewart's tiny 2-stand cavalry regiment and my own  6-stand dismount and trade fire. My rolling though is so poor that this ends up going on for about 6 turns with NO CASUALTIES!!! Badly stalling my planned flanking maneuver. The Florida infantry in column though use the woods as cover in case the artillery decide to look for new targets.

The commander of the Florida infantry, seeing the cavalry struggle so form a line to help rid the battlefield of the stubborn Union cavalry. (It doesn't help much though...)

Meanwhile, some careful maneuvers by the Louisiana regiments cancel the impeding effects of the swamp and close to charge-range, but leave them perilously open to rifle fire. At the bottom, the Virginians taunt a regiment of Union recruits out from the cover of their wall, ready to charge! (But Stewart played "Old Rivals", cancelling their attack move altogether! Drat. Those poor Virginian boys are stranded in the open now as well.)

On the left flank, Stew is very clever, keeping his cavalry back each turn, moving just out of charge range. 

Finally, a mass of carbine fire eradicates those pesky Northerner cavalry, but too late to continue the flanking maneuver! Stewart's large reinforcing infantry regiment marches in column onto the field of battle! Double-drats! Meanwhile over on the right flank the Rebel Artillery, Louisianan and Virginian infantry trade fire with the Union defenders.

Yankee return fire is pretty nasty.

Things are truly stalled on the left flank and casualties are mounting. Will the young General call a general retreat?!

Mais non. One last round of fire boys!

Ugh... Stewart's canister shot get's bonus dice and wipes out the poor 3rd Louisiana Rifles. :(

Undaunted, General Jean-Claude Pedisclaux sounds the charge and with a Rebel Yell the Southern lines slam into the Northerners. 

But it's not enough. Not nearly. Even with extra dice rolled the charge fails. A devastating loss for the Confederates. 

Another very fun game. And another that clearly illustrates the difficulty in the Longstreet rules set for two (mostly) equal forces to play an "Attacker assaults Defensive position" scenario. Historically, no general would attempt such an assault without at least 3-1 odds in their favour, at least in my mind. O well.

The post-battle section was not so kind to my General and he was denied promotion, whereas Stewart's was and  is now a 2nd Eagle General like my own.

None of his regiments’ Elan levels changed and he gained a bunch of recruits and replacements for his losses in order to bring up his army size to the minimum required for the Union at this stage in the war. This included new guns for his existing artillery battery and a 2nd battery. No bueno.

Campaign Score-wise (Score is kept tracking “Epic Points” that are awarded for mass charges during battles and of course winning said battle.), Stewart’s win took him a point ahead of my total 10 to 9. I’ll have to change that next battle!

My own troops did not fare so well post-scrap.

*edit – I found my notes, though they aren’t as good as I remembered*

3^rd LO = 5 Bases-strong due to battlefield losses and dysentry. Now Seasoned.

4^th LO = 6 Bases-strong “              “ now Seasoned Veteran.

12^th FL = 5 Bases-strong “              “ remain Eager.

26^th FL Cav = 4 Bases-strong "               "now Seasoned.

16^th TX Art = received no reinforcements, remain 1x 6lb Cannon and 1x light rifle. :(

15^th VA = Disbanded after a rather nasty batch of possum stew!

Recruits

7^th VA Cav = 8 Bases-strong Eager Veteran (From Campaign card draw “Rebel Cavaliers”)

6^th VA = 8 Bases-strong Eager Recruits

I also drew Priority (+4 dummy cards to my deck for next game) and Broken Code (+2 to my next Scouting Roll in our next game) from the campaign deck which will be handy but damn I needed Artillery replacements instead...

Game 3 and 4 are scheduled to be played on the 23rd of this month!