After Action Report: ACW (Longstreet; battle #5) 31 May 2015

This was the 5^th battle (mid 1863) of a 9 battle mini-campaign using Longstreet rules by Sam Mustafa (Honour Publishing). I commanded the Union force, whilst Ian commanded the Rebels. Previously in the mini-campaign I was ahead by 3 victories to 1 defeat, and in each battle the defending force had won. The composition of my Union force can be viewed in my previous blog post. I’m sorry but I forgot my camera (and mobile phone), so there are no pictures.

 We randomly selected the ‘Cornfields’ scenario and the terrain placement was fairly neutral; another area of standing crop filled the central section with intervening corn, and the flanks each had a small wood and an area of rocky ground, none of which had a major impact on our deployments or strategy. Each side had an objective maker placed centrally. The attacker (Ian’s Rebs) had to deploy first. He concentrated in the central section of the battlefield, advancing in column, sheltering behind the obscuring tall crops. I also deployed centrally, keeping 6” back from the crops with my Napoleon artillery battery placed on the Objective marker. I deployed my Light Rifle batteries on the flanks with some weak infantry units as protection. I kept some of my infantry in a second reserve line behind my centre, allowing me to easily re-deploy if Ian tried any fancy flanking moves. My strategy was to sit back and await the Rebel onslaught as they came out of the corn. I wanted to shoot the enemy down as they charged, and not to get involved in a close fight inside the corn fields. The only downside was that my artillery superiority would not help me because the corn prevented any bombardment of the Rebels as they advanced. It soon became clear that Ian was going to attack my centre and the game would hinge around whether or not I could stop it! Card management would be key.

Sure enough, the battle was effectively decided in couple of hectic turns. Ian carefully gathered his forces at the edge of the corn and then charged out. I fired everything I had at him, boosting the effect with a ‘Devastating Fire’ card (re-roll failed hits); I caused significant casualties which Ian partially mitigated using up valuable cards. On the next turn, Ian charged using the ‘Rebel Yell’ card and close combat ensued. Both my flank units (45^th Ohio and 13^th\14^th Pa) were pushed back, taking casualties, but my central eager-veteran unit (37^th Pa) and Napoleon battery (9^th Pa) held firm. I was slightly concerned at this point but I had shot a fair number of Rebels on the way in. In my next turn I again blasted the Rebs using ‘Withering Fire’ (re-roll failed kills) and again killed many. I had yet to use my reserve units (14^th & 88^th NJ) and Ian’s weakened forces again had to charge. This time I played the ‘Seen the Elephant’ card which reduced Ian’s hand of cards by 3, and then boosted my defence using the ‘Stonewall’ card. The rebel attacks were beaten off, and the number of stands he lost meant that I was declared victorious!

This was a comfortable Union win. I can take little credit because I simply stood back and took the assault. My limited action meant I could build a strong hand of cards when the charge came. I don’t think there was anything wrong with Ian’s plan; my reserves would allow me to re-deploy to meet any flank attack, and a central assault did benefit from the cover provided by the crops. The rebels charge could possibly have been better: playing a ‘Thick Smoke’ card could have reduced my shooting to only skirmish levels; maybe playing ‘Old Rivals’ could have disrupted my lines, moving one of my units out of position; also playing the card allowing units that shot to move or charge would have helped.

I did not get to use my ‘Sabotage’ advantage from the previous game because the Rebels did not need to re-shuffle! Both sides gained 4EP’s (2 each for playing, 1 each for holding an objective, plus I got 1 for the win and Ian gained 1 for charging with more than 10 bases), and I have a narrow 20–18 EP lead. I gained a promotion to 3 Eagles, whilst Ian remained on 4 Eagles. In terms of reinforcements, I gained some more Light Rifles, a 10 base Coloured unit and some veteran sharpshooters. Because I lost few bases in this game, my base count for the next game increased to 50, which is significantly more than the 44 minimum size!

My Union force available for battle number 6 will be:

Commander	Personality				Rank		EP’s
“Art” Rooney	Indian Wars Veteran (Scout: 2D6 & keep higher)				3 Eagles (2/63)		20
Unit	Type	Elan	Exp.	Strength		Notes
9th Pa Artillery	ART	-	-	2		2x Napoleon
37th Pa Infantry	INF	Eager	Veteran	6
13th\14th Pa (Prov) Inf.	INF	Season	Veteran	6		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire), Hero
16th\45th Ohio (Prov) Inf.	INF	Caut.	Veteran	5		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
26th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Lt Rifle
29th NJ Artillery	ART	-	-	3		3x Lt Rifle
14th NJ Infantry	INF	Season	Recruit	4
88th NJ Infantry	INF	Season	Veteran	5
7th US (Coloured) Inf.	INF	Eager	Recruit	10
12th NH Infantry	INF	Season	Veteran	6		Sharpshooters (5,6 Skirm Fire)
				50 bases

Notes: The 40^th Pa (an original unit) has been totally destroyed. The 45^th Ohio has been merged with the 16^th Ohio, but lost the Hero figure as a consequence.