Tuesday 29 July 2014

Henry Hill – turns 6-8

By the end of turn six I was able to concentrate the fire of 4 Union regiments against Dave’s line of 3 Confederate regiments. In addition the 1st US artillery was now ideally placed to open a destructive fire on the newly arrived 13th Mississippi. It looked as if I might be able to shift the enemy from Henry Hill by weight of fire-power alone.

The battle in full swing (view from behind the Union right flank).

 The 1st US artillery blazes away at the 13th Mississippi.

But of course it was never going to be that simple and the situation changed quite dramatically at the end of turn seven when the 69th N.Y. failed their morale test and routed (they had been exposed to an enfilading fire from Imboden’s battery on Henry Hill as well as being at the receiving end of volley fire from the 5th Virginia to their front). With the 13th N.Y. having failed to rally, my entire left flank had disintegrated!

The irishmen of the 69th N.Y. skedaddle.

Meanwhile across the battlefield my troops were starting to stack up behind the 79th N.Y. where the lack of space (and command points) was hampering deployment. Dave chose this moment to deploy more skirmishers and these emerged from the tree line on Chinn Ridge and pitched into my own skirmishers who they quickly eliminated.

The skirmishers clash in front of Chinn Ridge.

In the confusion of battle the 79th N.Y. accidentally stray in front of the 1st US artillery masking their guns.

It was all starting to look bad for the Union but then a stroke of luck – Sherman was in a position to be able to reach the 69th N.Y. and attempt to rally them (We only allow a unit one chance to rally and this can only happen if a general officer is present) and with a die roll of 5 this is exactly what he did. Disaster had been averted – for the moment at least.

Sherman rallies the 69th N.Y. - hurrah!

 Unfortunately there was no stopping the 13th N.Y. who by now were passing the Robinson House well on their way to Washington!

At the end of turn eight the Union have 6 VP’s and the Rebels have 5 VP’s – still a close run thing but remember if I haven’t won by the end of turn 12 the game will be deemed a Confederate victory.

The situation at the end of turn 8 (click on the image to zoom in).

3 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures Ian .... and Dave of course! Troops look brilliant. Great game.

    Lee

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lee - the game has been good fun but is moving at a slower pace than the 1/300 games we are used to!

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  2. Great pics and maps, very enjoyable to read...

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