The Battle of Walton's Acre

 For the second game with Jon since restrictions were eased here in GHQ I rearranged the table from the previous ACW game with Phil, incorporating the latest terrain tile he's kindly made for us. The game is the fictional War of 1812-15 Battle of Walton's Acre with Jon as Lord Walton commanding the Anglo-Canadian army and yours truly as General 'Mere Marching' Bykleigh leading the the American forces. It has to be said right away that mere marching was largely beyond the American infantry! The game lasted only 7 of the alloted 12 turns and then largely only because my Saving Throws were exceptionally good, which is far, far more than can be said about my Command Rolls!!!

The Anglo-Canadian force sweeps down on the cumbersome US forces. The going must have been really difficult on the US side of the table!

Such poor Command Rolls, failing repeatedly to achieve the target score, sees the two right flank US brigades flanked by the Anglo-Canadians!

The Anglo-Canadian centre has deployed to effectively block the US deployment. Only the Militia brigade has reached its designated position in reserve.

At least Initiative Moves come to the aid of my hapless commanders! That and the first of many exceptional Saving Throws which dilute the effects of Anglo-Canadian musketry.

To say it had been a struggle to deploy for action would be an understatement, but the US columns can now deploy into line and trade lead with the enemy!

On the Anglo-Canadian right flank columns of infantry advance with no effective opposition thanks to a Blunder seeing the US left flank brigade retire off table!

A wonderful sight, unless you are the American commander of course...

Too little, too late as the US infantry begins to deploy into firing lines.

The Canadian Light Infantry seize the farm and split the US line! The Militia couldn't budge them no matter how hard they tried. The far left US brigade is Shaken and effectively out of the game!

The US centre and right are constrained by the Anglo-Canadian deployment and struggle to bring effective fire on the masses of the enemy. Casualties are mounting despite my continuing excellent Saving Throws!

It's all up for old 'Mere Marching' as the third US brigade breaks for the rear. It's a case of every man for himself at this point I'm sorry to report!!

Despite a thrashing of epic proportions I really enjoyed the game and not just for the good company and banter. Black Powder never fails to deliver the combination of uncertainty and the unexpected which we feel accurately recreates the fog of war for commanders at all levels in the army. Next up on Monday should be an AWI game, with yet another tweak to the existing table layout. Meanwhile it's on with painting the Pendawar Grenadiers and the first of the British Light Dragoons for my Pendawar project!