We ended the first part with the Right Flank at a turning point. The rebel cavalry had flanked the union defending line, which was anchored by a cannon. The cannon chose to grapeshot the cavalry marching column......and failed to see them off. Bad things are afoot for the union....
While the cavalry is stunned into doing nothing, a small unit of rebels crashes into the artillery, handily routing it. This leads to a breakthrough assault on the flank of the large union unit. Flush with success and hooting their crazed rebel yell, the union is dispatched with such ferocity the entire unit disappears as a viable entity.
This flank is largely a mop up operation for the confederates now, and the cavalry rushes back towards Gettysburg to support the advance.
On the left, which was expected to be an easy go for the confederates, everything is as expected. There's a massive, but slow, breakthrough in the woods.
The union speedbumps on the road are recoiling fast and losing men.
The rebel left and centre have just about connected, to pressure Gettysberg from multiple directions.
At the town itself, the union reinforcements have fully engaged with the rebel push in the centre. Desperate to change the tempo of the battle, the men in the cornfield advance agressively to try and put a rebel unit out of the battle.
Unfortunately, the cavalry from the right flank chooses this time to reappear and charge into battle.
History does not repeat itself and the union manages to chase off both the cavalry and the rapidly diminishing rebel brigade facing them.
Despite local successes, the day is lost for the union, as the confederates have handily taken Gettysberg and are still have day light to march on the important hill to the North.
Good battle report, and a fine looking game table. The battle sounds exciting. It seems that as soon as the Rebel cavalry got around that flank, it was curtains for the Union.
ReplyDeleteHow many hours did the game take?
It sure seemed that way. Funnily, the cavalry didn't charge on the flank, they really just acted as a backup for the developing flank attack.
DeleteI think we played to an obvious conclusion in 3 hours (time stamps on the pics are 2.5 hours) including set up, and a young wargamer (7 maybe?) controlling 2 of the brigades with help from dad. We had 3-4 adult gamers/commands, so that helped speed things up a bit too.
Thought I'd leave a comment on just this post, but promise I read both part & 2. :P
ReplyDeleteOnly played RF&F thus far and it was fun. reading your AAR, regular F&F with your mod doesn't seem all that different, though I agree that it's hard for units to get destroyed by fire. I think that's because they typically didn't, rather more likely to run away once the situation looked untenable.
Regardless, were those your ACW figs that were used? Am having a crappy time trying to paint my own 15mm Reb infantry - so boring and fiddly!
Is there any sort of higher level morale in RF&F? With units that run away and then rally but don't decrease in size (without the mod we used) I could see this turning into a real bug hunt at the end.
DeleteThere were Nate's figures. I have some lead in bags. I think the union will paint up fast, but I can totally imagine what you say is true. Various shades of brown, khaki, and dun. whooooo.
Yeah - I think the next regiments will be just grey. Sod the authenticity.
DeleteI'd need to play again, it's been a while so I can't remember exactly. Am also wanting to try out the Longstreet rules set.