Normal Service is resumed...

After an eleven day hiatus it was back to action here in GHQ with Phil mustering in for our prearranged ACW game. As regulars will know my collection is almost exclusively from Dixon Miniatures, in my opinion simply the best range of figures on the market for the genre and a joy to paint. (In fact I've just been given some by Matt while we were visiting him and his family!) The game was a straight encounter battle, with the Union defending their riverside camp from a Reb attack. As ever, I’ll let the pictures give a sense of the game. We played 12 Turns using Black Powder 2 with some amendments from Glory Hallelujah ~

The first Reb attack was on the Union right where a bridge allowed the river to be crossed. I threw the Irish Brigadei forwardn in an attempt to block the thrust aimed at turning my right flank.

On the Union left I threw my second Brigade across the ford to occupy a defensive position along the fence line. I hoped to utilise the farms’ buildings as strongpoints if my remaining brigades failed to march to the sound of the guns!

Useless S Bykleigh leads one of his Brigade’s regiments into position.

The first clash between the Tough Fighters of the Irish Brigade and the Rebs of North Carolina. The fight lasted three indecisive turns!

With both elements Shaken  it was the Irish who gave way! 'Whipped!' they fell back two moves, soon to be joined by a second  regiment from the brigade!

A closer look at the titanic hand to hand combat between the Union's Irish Brigade regiments and the Rebs from North Carolina. Tough Fighters all!

All along their lines in Turn 5 the Rebs are on the march! Bar the regiment closest to the camera who had retired shaken under fire from Union artillery and infantry around the bridge.

Nearest the camera, the Georgia Brigade halts in some Disorder along the fence line. Behind them the Brigade from Virginia and Maryland awaits its orders as Hood's Texas Brigade comes up in support. You can just make out the hasty Union defence along the farm's fence line in the left distance.

The Artillery Battery of the Union's Irish Brigade is forced to withdraw due to failing its Moral check when it reached its Stamina limit. The Irish Bigade is 'Whipped!' and the Union right is in the air.

One Irish unit has yet to fall back across the bridge. Combined with Phil's ongoing Command Roll failures, the Reb attack on the Union's left has stalled, for now at least.

Despite things looking bleak by Turn 6 in fact the Union position is strengthening by the Turn as Brigades in camp form up and march towards the sound of battle.

The Reb attack on their left has achieved its objective in driving off the Irish Brigade and is in position now to support the attack in the centre. At least it would if Phil could pass the Command Rolls for his Brigades in the centre rather than failing time after time!

At the end of Turn 12 the Reb attack has stalled. The second Brigade on their left, made up of regiments from North Carolina and Louisiana, has stalled in an indecisive firefight with the Union troops on their side of the river. The Brigades from Georgia had failed to advance beyond the fence line, leaving the Virginians and Marylanders unable to attack without support. As to Hood's Texans, the less said the better I thnk...

Having felt that I was loosing my grip on the battle after six Turns, it came as very welcome news at the end of Turn 12 to have secured a draw. I shall replay the game later in the month when Matt comes up to go to The Other Partizan with me and see how the battle shapes out in its second incarnation. Meanwhile I have picked up the brushes again and have almost completed a Militia unit for my AWI Colonials.