Nate, always a fan of the ACW, was convinced to try out longstreet, a ruleset I've owned for some time but hasn't had an airing yet. We grabbed the stock 1861 forces, flipped for who was the union and confederates, and got to gaming. General Stevens, a confederate mexican war veteran, has been tasked with driving off the union blocking force of General Brewer (a well connected officer). With complete parity of men and equipment, Stevens has managed to draw off one of the union regiments which will arrive late to the defense of nowheresville.
Nate's cavalry raced across the table and smashed my unsupported guns handily. Unfortunately he wasn't able to pull together the command focus (spending cards elsewhere) to get them to finish swinging around and hitting my flank. It helped that a squelched at least one move with a 'rivals in love' card which had the cavalry commander not too interested in follow commands as a result of a matter of a southern belles interests in the past.
The rebels finally cracked their breakpoint and fellback from the tenacious union defense and counter attack.
Final casualties were fairly light, with 7 bases of 38 lost on the rebel side, and 3 on the union. The complete loss of union artillery is a little uncertain, not sure if the gunners skeddle and return, or if they are toast. After all that, the real cost in human life and suffering begins.....camp fever! Another 8 rebel bases and 9 union bases died in the filthy disease factories that their camps represent. War is hell, innit it?
I still have to type up the rosters for us both, but I expect this system will see some additional clashes.
Excellent to see you having a go with this rules set (And with some nice minis too - 15mm?).
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed Longstreet, though it felt a bit more like the "Video game of ACW" than a tactical miniatures rules set. The best designed part of Longstreet I think are the campaign rules, which were very flavourful.
My ACW pal and I managed to get in about 5 or 6 games into our campaign until it stalled in favour of us trying out other ACW rules (Pickett's charge, RF&F, Sharp's Practice 2), but I'd like to return to it to finish the campaign out.
Camp Fever is a bitch.... Can't believe how deadly a pooey bum can be!
Yes, 15mm. I can totally see what you mean.....certainly not a 'simulation' ruleset. I think the big draw for me is that I don't know enough of the war/period to choose battles/forces/scenarios. Longstreet seemed to be a great way to drop into play the period without heaps of reseach.
DeleteProbably more campaign rules should reflect the casualties between battles. Course wargamers battles kill way more than historically, so maybe a gamers casualties represent both in game and post game losses.