Civil War Campaign: Union

As Union troops filed into the three house village that lay on their side of the river they observed the Confederate positions. The Confederates were hastily searching for a viable ford by which they could cross the river, the bridge that was marked on their maps had been destroyed.

Captain Marshall observed their activity for the better part of the afternoon until at 4pm the Confederates abandoned their search for a crossing position elsewhere and opted to wade through the river and take his brave Union boys head on.

Two things.

First these photo’s are staged but nothing in them is staged. I only had the idea to do this Campaign as a project in the last few turns and so we hadn’t taken any real pictures. These battles happened as you see them, luckily deaths, moments of bravery/cowardice and other meaningful events were all meticulously recorded for the campaign anyway so this isn’t a huge hurdle.

Secondly the table shown is only half the table, there was an extra two feet behind the Union players with fields and houses but it played no part in the game so was omitted for obvious reasons.

The Confederate Player had to cross the river but didn’t want to take on the Union troops dug into their positions in daylight. So I decided to give the Union player a choice, fight a defensive night battle or take the fight to the enemy by moving their deployment point forward the the sunken road. Wanting to get stuck in as soon as possible the Union player opted to make the crossing well and truly opposed.

The Union skirmishers clambered up the sunken road and screened the rest of the company as Captain Marshall lead a force to oppose the main landing while Lieutenant Bernett held the second formation in reserve behind the sunken road and out of line of sight of the enemy. Bernett was ready to either oppose the Confederate Flankers or reinforce Marshall’s men if things turned sour.

Allen’s men took up position on the “Rocky Knoll” and traded fire with the Confederate Skirmishers. Marshall’s men moved to take up position in front of the fence hoping to screen their flank with the rocky knoll and prevent the Confederate flankers from hitting them with enfilading fire.

As the Confederate’s started to cross the river Marshall began to deploy his men into a line. His men were not fast enough and a Confederate Volley inflicted both kills and shock on their unit.

Marshall rallied his men into a line and they fired their own volley at the Confederate’s who proceeded to charge them. With fewer numbers, lower moral and unloaded muskets Marshall’s men were thrown back.

Only Burnett could save the union now.