Cedar Mountain Table 2

[kipt]

Go to Table 1 first.

Battle of Cedar Mountain, August 9, 1862
Played September 24, 2022, by the Gentlemen's Gourmet Wargaming Society

Table 2:  This set up of the battle had one Union player (another could not make it) and two Union.
Refer to Part 1 for the battlefield map and the Order of battle.  The same criteria for set up as Table 1 also applies to this table.
"The battle starts at 5:20 PM and lasts until the end of the 7:40 turn (eight 20-minute turns) with the last three turns in twilight.  All Union troops are on the table, deployed, while three brigades of AP Hill's division are marching up the road marked A.
Ewell's two brigades and battery on Cedar Mountain cannot move until turn 5 but can fire.
A special rule, based on the actual battle, had Garnett's Confederate brigade roll a die to see if it was surprised (which did occur in fact)."

Crawford attacks across the wheatfield against a totally surprised Garnett and breaks him.  The other brigade of Williams division, Gordan moves up behind Crawford while the Union cavalry of Bayard moves toward the brush filled field.




Augur's division of Geary and Prince advance into the corn field.  The Union artillery on the crestline fires on the rebels.  The last brigade of Augur is deployed on the left flank.




Union artillery has silenced D'Aquin's battery on the right of Early and silenced and damaged Pegram's battery between Taliaferro and Early.  Thomas of AP Hill is heading south.




The Stonewall brigade, Ronald, seen above at the west end of the brush filled field, moves to the right.   Branch from AP Hill's division advance from point A on the map. Thomas turns around and heads north.

Prince moves up and exchanges fire with Early and falls back.  Geary attacks Taliaferro but becomes spent on the exchange of fire.




Greene's small brigade covering the left flank moves into the cornfield.  Greene dodges artillery fire from Latimer.  Crawford, having driven back Garnett who is reforming in the woods, prepares to confront Ronald to his right front.  Gordan moves up.



Archer and Pender from AP Hill arrive on the field and advance east.  Thomas in field column attacks Crawford and breaks him and continues to advance threatening Gordan's right flank.




Gordan then attacks Thomas but is broken in the combat and retreats beyond the crestline. The confederate brigade of Ronald attacks the now dismounted cavalry but is repulsed.




Williams' division of Crawford and Prince reform behind the wheat field, facing Thomas.  Augur's division is in the cornfield.  Bayard advances into the woods, facing Ronald.




Gordan attacks Thomas and breaks him.  Crawford moves to support Gordan.  AP Hill's brigades, in field column, move up in mutual support.




Finally, Ewell, who up to now has only been firing with Latimer's battery at Greene's brigade, feels the time is right to advance (constrained by the scenario to hold, except for fire, until turn 5).


However, the brigades of Early, Branch, Taliaferro and Ronald all fail their maneuver rolls (high casualties plus more casualties than the Union).

Thus ended Table 2 with 2 Victory Points per side (each had high casualties, Rebels has higher casualties than the Union, but the Confederates held the crestline throughout the game).  A tie.

Both tables had very aggressive Union players but the Confederates gave back as much as they got.  An item of interest in both games is that the Union artillery totally dominated the Confederate guns, either silencing or wrecking every battery except Latimer on Cedar Mountain.  Also, dismounted Federal cavalry with breechloaders were very deadly.

So the Union bloodied the corps under General Jackson and delayed them (Banks in this case being rather an effective general).  The Union will fall back as night falls to supports in the rear, McDowell I believe.

[Chris Pringle]

I love how the standing crops turn into trampled corn!

[pierre the shy]

Great write up of both tables' games Kipt

You should be very proud of your terrain set up, its outstanding.

As Chris says the corn and wheat fields turning into trampled crops is a brilliant idea....have to remember that one for our future games.

I hope the farmers received compensation for their lost crops in due course.

[paulr]

   

I second Chris and Pierre's comments

I'm not sure about the farmer but he probably had better luck than Wilmer McLean, a wholesale grocer.

His house, near Manassas, Virginia, was involved in the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861. After the battle, he moved to Appomattox, Virginia, to escape the war.

Instead, in 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in McLean's house in Appomattox.

The Union officers at least paid him some money for the various souvenirs they took including two tables.

[Steve J]

Another close game and as others have said, the trampled corn or wheat is a neat idea.

[fred.]

Great looking games, thanks for sharing!

[T13A]

Hi

Excellent reports and photos of what looked like two close games. I'd be interested in how do you feel about the rules?

many thanks

Cheers Paul

[kipt]

I think both Brigade Fire and Fury and Regimental Fire and Fury are great.  Simple mechanisms and only 1 d10 is needed.