“The boys stood their ground,sir, indeed they did sir!”

For our monthly Wednesday night game in April Jon and I had agreed on an ACW game, using the Black Powder ruleset with the Glory Halelujah additions as we deemed appropriate. My figures are almost all Dixon Miniatures, still in my opinion the most characterful range for the period, though other ranges are of course available. The trees are from The Last Valley, whose products I highly recommend, while the fences Phil and I made back in the day! The Confederates, commanded by Jon, had the objective of seizing the bridge and turning the flank of my Union army which was camped along the river, somewhere in Virginia as they’d say. The Union begin with three small Brigades deployed defensively, one of Regulars classed as Large, but with not sufficient manpower to cover their front, with one more Brigade arriving in Turn 3. The Confederates begin with three large Brigades, each having one Large unit at least. The game ebbed and flowed, as all great games do, and so there are not as many pictures to tell the tale as I would have liked ~

The Rebs advance to the attack over a wide front. This caught me by
surprise I have to say, expecting a stronger thrust on my right to take the
bridge and turn my right flank.

The Union position from the bridge, defended by a battery of 3” rifles and a
Brigade of Colored Troops.

Turn 3 saw some relief on the Union side with the arrival of the Irish
Brigade to steady the left flank and prevent the camp being overrun.

In the centre the Reb attack has slowed somewhat due to poor Command
rolls! For the Union the Regulars are in reserve to steady the centre or
shore up the flank.

On the Union’s right the Colored Brigade seems to have blunted the Reb

attack for now, but a weight of men are building against them!

With time running short, the Rebs get one Infantry Regiment over the bridge
though the remaining Colored Regiment stubbornly refuses to give more
ground up to the enemy.

Despite several incidents of personal bravery in leading his

troops, General White is unable to exploit his advantage as 

time runs out.

As time ran out we decided on a winning draw for the Rebs who, despite driving back the Colored Troops defending the bridge, could not make the Union army quit its position. Their attack in the centre was driven off in the end while on their right it stalled completely against the Irish Brigade.

General Useless S Bykleigh was more than satisfied with the end result as at times it had been a desperate fight all along the Union front.