English Civil War: English v. Scots

Scots:  Jim & Renfrey
English: Mike & SteveJ

English on the near side.

The Scots had put all their cavalry on their right flank & immediately attacked as the English had only half their cavary & some detached musketeers on that flank.  The English advanced their left a little to gain a ridge to defend while the other half of their cavalry moved from central reserve to support their left.
The English infnatry generally held back hoping their cavalry would win & support them before the Scots infantry could beat them.

On the far flank the Scots are wraping around the English flank.
On the near flank the English musketeers have been ridden down, but their cavalry is getting the upper hand.

On the near flank the Scotts cavalry is being mopped up.
In the centre a shaken Scottish pike & shot block is hanging on keeping the English cavalry at bay.
On the far flank the Enh]glish foot is being beaten.

The English have won the cavalry fight on their left flank, the Scots have won the infantry fight on their left flank.  Niether side would be able to attack the other as the Scots have enough pikes left to stop the remaining English cavalry.   The Scots will claim victory as they lost fewer units than the English.

Medieval Battle

Each of the four players had a battle of 8 infnatry & 3 cavalry units with starting points on the table diced for.

Lancastrians: Mike near RHS allied with Steve fat end.
Yorkists:  Jim near LHS allied with Renfrey mid LHS.

Renfrey formed a defensive line facing SteveJ's rapid advance.
On the near flank both sides tried to advance, but poor command dice by Jim meant that Mike did most of teh advancing.
Both battle lines formed into an L with the cavalry in the centre.

The forces are engaged all along the front.

   

On the far flank SteveJ's foot is gaining the upper hand, on the near flank, Jim's infantry is winning.  Te cavalry fight in the centre is still indecisive.

Both side's left flanks have collapsed.  The cavalry melees ares till in the balance.

Renfrey's battle has broken.  Mike's battle has broken.  But the Lancs have gained the upper hand in the cavalry fight in the centre so the Yorkists concede defeat. 

Shendoah Campaign recap

 Part campaign map

Jackson started at Harrisonburg (Bottom left), Ewell at Luyay (bottom centre).  The 2 CSA corps were similar size, but Jackson had more artillery & Ewell more cavalry.
Fremont started at Mt Jackson, MxDowell at Winchester & Banks at Manassas (off map to the right). McDowel's force was bigger than Fremonts.  The two togetehr were about the same size as th CSA forces.  The Manassas corps was smaller..
The CSA troops were rated stuborn so took 1 more casualty before becoming shaken.  The Union had superior numbers overall, but the Manassas corps had orders to defend east of the Blue Ridge untill all CSA forces were identified to be in the valley & no threat to Manassas.

The campaign plot was that the Union were accumulating supplies at the rail heads at Manassass, Winchester & Mt Jackson for an upcoming offensinsive in the valley.  The CSA objective was to destroy the depots & thus preclude the Union attack.

The CSA immediately advanced both corps.  The first battle was at Mt Jackson where the outnumbered Union force tried to defend the river line in front of the town.  The CSA won,  The Union retreated whle the CSA plundered the depot.

On the south fork, Ewell's advance was resisted at the bridge over theNorth Fok Roiver near Cedarville.  The Union were greatly outnumbered, but the river was uncrossable except at the bridge & reinforcements were coming to theri right flank rom Strassburg.  Ewell gained a foothold over the river before dark & the Union withdrew overnight.

The Union fell back a day's march to a defensive position where they joined reinforements from Winchester. In the 3rd battle the CSA atacked & drove the Union back, but more Union reinforcements arrived from New Town to the west late in day & the Union held on.

Next day, those froces looked at each other & reorganised while 8km to the west at New Town  Jackson's pursuit caught up with Fremont's retreat by forced marching. Jackson attacked late in the day & Fremont held on until dark.

The next day Fremont safely retreated before Jackson coudl strike again while McDowell held off Ewell's attack while he also executed a withdrawal.

The Union forces retreated to Winchester & the CSA followed up.  At dawn a day later the CSA attacked.  The union held a good defensive position.  The forces were equal in number, but in the previous battles the CSA held the battlefield so got better recovery, so carried less caualties & they also had their tough fighter's advantage.  It was tough fight.   In the centre a grand battery balsted a hole for teh CSa to exppoit.  On the Union left, good use of skirmishers by the CSA wore the Union down. The Union made a spirited counterattck on their right, but the CSA fell back to a defensive line & held it off.  By mid afternoon Winchester was filling up with broken units as the Union left & centre collapsed.   The Uniomn decoded there was no point in making a stand defending Winchester as they had lost most of their artillery & though Banks was on the way to help by now he was still days away.  

So the campaign ends with a CSA victory as they have taken 2 of the 3 depots.

Shenandoah Campaign: Battle of Winchester continues

We pick up where we left off last Tuesday.
Mike commands the CSA left, Steve the CSA right.
Mark commands the Union centre, Chris their left, Renfrey their right.

On the union right, the cavlry fight has played out & both sides have regrouped.

In the centre, the CSA battery has cleared the Union front line & is being moved forward.
The firefight continues in the wood.

On the Union right, the CSA skirmish line is peppering the formed Union line.

On the Unuion right, the Union are advancing with theri cavalry wrapping around the CSA left.
In the cemtre the CSA have redeployed theiri battery & are gradually getting the upper hand in the wood.

On the Union left, their line has collapsed.

On the Union right the CSA have fallen back to a good defensive position.
In the centre, the union line is crumbling under relentless pressure. 

The Union left & centre is colapsing back into the town whiel theri attack on their right is petering out against a strong defensive line.  The Union concedes the battle & orders a general retreat.

The union losses include a lot of their artillery.  Holding the town against superior artillery is unlikely, so the Union begin a retreat back to Harpers Ferry conceding the CSA victory in the campaign.

 

Shenadoah Campaign: Battle of Winchester

In the indecisive double battle at New Town & Dinosuar Jubnction the 2 Union Union Corps fell back ro theri supply base at Wincheaster with the Rebs fiollowing them.fell back
By dawn the next day the Union is deployed in front of Winchester & the Rebs are deplyong to attack them.
Both sides have many units carrying casualties forward from past battles as Jackson's aggressive advances have provided no respite for either side to re-organise.

At the start only the Union front line is on the table, the location of their reserves has been disclosed to the umpire.  Jackson's Corps has come on the road rto the right of the centre of far side of the table.  Ewell's Corps on the closer road.

Ewell's cavalry is advanceing around the Union's left flank.
Jackson has set up a massed battery in the centre.

On the Union right they have advanced cavary to threaten the Reb's left flank.

On the Union left Ewel's cavary has dismounted & formed a slirmish line wrapping around the Union's flank while his infnatry is skirmishing in the wood.
In the cntre the Reb artillery is pounding away at the Union centre.  

On the Union right, they have now advancinginfatry to support their cavalry & the Rebs are falling back.

There are now contiuous lines exchanging musketry form tje cntre to the Union left flank.
In the centre the Uniuon front line ahs been broken by artillery fire, but they have reserves.

On the Union right, a cavalry fight has developed between the lines of infantry.  The Reb cavlary are outnumbered & look doomed.  

At this stage we adjourned for the night with the battle still in the balance.  Next Tuesday we will finish the battle & probaly the campaign.
 

Conitnuing our Shenandoah campaign

 After the battle at Dinasaur Junction ended in stalemate, bith sides settled in for a day's rest.
On the same day 8km to the north, the Union army that retreated from Mt Jackson received reinforcements from Winchester & took up a defensive positon at New Town.
Late in the day Jackson;s army cught up with them & immediately attacked.

I had had to pack up the Dinasaur Junction battel field for our ancient campaign, but re-instated it ina  different orientation on the table so I could also set out teh New Town battllefield.  The terain between the two battlefields is rough hilly wooded terrain with one good road.  The spacing shoudl be bigger, so the seam at the middle of the table will take 4 turns to cross.
In this pic the New Toan battlefield is at the far end.

At New Town the union army is deployed.  The Rebs column has just come on the trunoike at the other side of the table.

By night fall the Reb were deployed but the only action some artillery fire, skimishung in the woods & one charge & coumtercharge by cavalry on the near flank (which the Rebs lost).

Overnight the Union fell back & the Rebs consolidated.  
At dawn the Renbs began to advance & the Union fell back to make a full retreat towards Winchester.

Over at Dinasaur Junction action also recommnced at dawn.  The Union began to retreat on the oad to Winchester (behind their left flank), but they had to advance their right first to gain the road to allow the artillery & baggage of teh division that joined the battle from NewTown 2 days before to escape.

The Rebs made an attempt to cut off the retreat, but were unable to do much to stop it & the Union army got away towards Winchester woithout serious loss.

The Rebs gained control of both battlefields as the Union forces retreated to combine at their suply base at Winchester.
  

  

 

Napoleonic Naval

 A little Nap naval game to show Dale form Canberra our rules.

The French (Jim) & Dale both have 3 squadrons of 3 ships.  The deployment is random. French left corner & right corner, Brits top left & centre.  The wind is accross the table from the top edge (so the French on the left are close hauled).

The opposed squadrons paired off, the two on the right at close range, the other pair at longer range.  After a deadly first fire double shot exchage the two flagships on the right converged.  

The Brits were getting the worst of the fire fight in the close action & tried to board, but the French flagship fended them off & the leading British ship was so badly damaged it struck its colours as the French surrounded it. But the other two ships successfully grappled & took the other two French shios in the RH squadron.

The LH French column had got teh worst of their fire fight so the French cut their losses & turned awa.  They ran for homewith a rare British prize, though leaving two ships behind in enemy hands. 
 

ACW pick up battle

 An ACW pick up battle for Steve & Dale Daniels visiting from Canberra.

The battlel started with the Jim's CSA in two columns on the roads from the near side of the table, Dale's Union on the road from the left & Steve's Union on the road from the right.
The CSA galloped cavalry forward to seize the railway station & stock exchange as both sides march ther infantry towards the town.

The Union treid to drive the Reb cavalry out of the buildings but were repelled as REb reinforcements came up.  On both flanks the Union formed up behind the railway embankment where they were egaged with musket fire.
Union cavalry have moved around the Reb's left flank.

On the right the superior Union artillery & the embankment have given the Union an edge & the Rebs have pulled back.
On the left there are losses on oths ides, but the Union failure to take the stock exchange has given the Rebs an advnatage there & the Union are falling back.

On the right, the Union foot has not followed up the Reb/s retreat, but the Union cavalry from their right flank has crossed river & charged the shaken infantry at the left end of the Reb line.
On the left the Union have pulled back as the Rebs take the town.

The Union cavalry charge shoudl ahve rolled up the Reb flank, but somehow the shaken Reb inf held the line & Reb inf from the left crossed the river behind the cavalry perseuding them to retreat.
On the left it looks like the Union have more troops, but the Unionregimenst are enarly all shaken & the Rebs are occupying the buildings.

At this stage neither side has anywhere near half their units broken, but the Union only have 3 regs unshaken to the Reb's 6 & the Rebs hold the town, so it is a win for the Rebs.

Ancient Campaign: Battle #2

 After trhe battle last week Ventidus' broken cavalry escaped off the field down the road they had came from.  His infantry which had done nothing in the battle retired to their camp.  Next Ventidus's infantry was on the move at dawn marching down the road after their cavalry nefore the enemy could getup & stop them.  The cavaly halted in one of their overnight camps built on their advance & reoganised waiting Ventisus' arrival.  On rejoininghis cavalry Ventidus mdrew up for battle to face Labienus' pusuit.

Ventidus is on the left deployed for battle when Labienus arrives on the field between mountains & sea.

As Lanienus deploys, Ventidus advances with his whole army.

On the far flank the cataphracts deply in massed formations along the road.  Ventidus' infnatry stop their advance & bunch up to the right to form a more solid line to face the cataphracts.right flank  On the neasr flank Ventidus' cavlry rushes forward to meet Labienus' Roman cavalry.

On the far flank the cataphacts charge Ventidus' infantry which has so far held their ground.
On the near flank Ventidus' cavalry has pushed the enemycavalry back. 

The cataphracts are now fuly engaged along the line, but teh infnatry ares till holding on.

On the near flank Labienus' infantry are now suporting their remaining Roman cavalry.

On the far flank, the catphracts have finally made a breakthough.
On the near flank Ventidus's cavary have run out of decent dice & are falling back, now trying to save enough cavalry to cover a retreat.

After holding on well for a long time, Ventidus' line has suddnly broken up as the cataphacts make 2 more breakthroughs.  Ventidus sounds the sauve qui peut bugle.  He can outrun the cataphracts & has saved just enough cavalry to hold off Labienus' lighter horse. 

Again we had a good turnout with a different set of visitors Steve & Dale Daniels from Canberra.

SteveJ, Mark, SteveD, Dale, Renfrey, Chris, Jim.

In this battle the commanders were:
For Ventidus: Jim (cav), SteveD (centre), Dale (right).
For Labienus: Chris (right flank cav), Renfrey (inf), SteveJ (cataphracts). 

 

Ancient Campaign 65BC: Battle of Solo

PeterC is running an ancient campaigns set in a Roman civil war fought in Asia Minor. This was the first battle. 

Ventidus' army is all Roman troops & is deployed on a hill side in front of his camp.
Labienus with a smaller Roaman force plus his Parthian ally Pacorus I have deplyed to attack.

Pics from now on taken from Pacorus's end of the table.
Pacorus' cavalry force is advancing on Ventidus' much smaller cavalry while Labienus has moved up, but not closed with Ventidus' infantry.

Ventidus' cavalry are outnumbered & only have the slope to help them against Pacorus' mix of horse archers & cataphracts.  Ventidus has declined r=to advance his infnatry fearing attacks on hsi flanks from Labienus on hsi left & Pacorus' 2nd line on his eright.  He turns his right flank to face left to guard against loss by his cavalry.  The only ation on the far flank & centrre is a bit of skirmishing.

Ventidius' cavalry has been broken, but the allies decline to attack his foot.

There are steep wooded hils behind Ventidius' pisiton so his routed cavalry escape to their right (near side of the table).  The other troops retire to theor camps for the night.

We had quite a crowd here for this with several veterans of the group from the 70's that now live elsewhere visiting Hobart at the same time.