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.