Chickamauga 1863 AAR BBB

We played the Bloody Big Battles scenario of the September 1863 battle of Chickamauga last night. Bill played Bragg, with Ken as Longstreet. I played Rosecrans with Rick as Thomas. Bill faced Rick while I faced Ken. The field is largely wooded with some clearings here and there. Most of the action would take place in the woods and most artillery would see little action. Bill started the game bemoaning having deployed Forrest’s cavalry in column, mounted. This delayed his attack.

I forwarded troops to Thomas as they arrived from the south, retaining some for my own use.

Ken’s attack was delayed by his abysmal movement dice. The odds of any one of his units not moving at all in the woods was 10 in 36. During the first day he never had more than half of his infantry moving. He didn’t want to go in piecemeal. This gave me time to get Van Cleve in position and dig rifle pits anchored on the deep Chickamauga Creek.

Things started to heat up on the Union left.

And likewise on my front.

This ended the first day. Overnight some rifle pits were dug and Palmer improved his rifle pits to entrenchments, making sure that his part of the line would be avoided by the Rebels.

We broke for our usual leisurely dinner. I think the Confederates were too cautious on the first day. They have to drive into the Union lines to win. Coordinated attacks in the woods aren’t easy. But waiting for everything to click lets the Union dig rifle pits and position artillery.

Dawn broke on the second day and things got considerably more heated.

You will note that I kept better track of what was going on in my sector. This game is a sprawling thing of many small battles, not unlike the real thing.

Stewart advanced into range of two artillery battalions which I then forgot to fire. This would cost me. Stewart’s rifle fire silenced one battery on his next defensive fire phase. My return fire from other units disrupted him. He rallied and came on as in the photo below. I was disconcerted to see Wilder routed after a very short time in combat.

Wheeler’s newly arrived cavalry attacked on foot and put heavy pressure on the Union left, which began to give way. Reserves were committed, perhaps too many. Negley was about to be needed in the center.

The game was called on account of time, with 2 turns left to play and the game up in the air. Cheatham had broken the line, in sight of objectives, nearly taking Thomas down. Could Palmer and Wood redeploy in time to stop him? We’ll never know. The crew didn’t want to leave this set up for the next session just to play 2 turns. 

We played 9 turns in 4 hours. Perhaps we could have played faster, since the first day saw less combat than the second.

Union losses: 10 infantry bases, 1 ran off and 2 artillery battalions. Confederate losses were 10 infantry bases, 1 ran off. Losses were lower than in the actual battle, which I chalk up to the quiet first day, and stopping the game with 2 turns to go.

The big question is what shall we play the next time, two weeks hence? I have a hankering to try the Rebels in this game, but Bonaparte in Italy 1796 also beckons. And there’s always another French & Indian War skirmish via Muskets and Tomahawks. We’ll see.

Two thoughts about this scenario: a minor one is I think Cleburne’s division should be rated as veteran and aggressive from Stones River until Cleburne's death at Franklin. Perhaps to balance this, rate Sheridan as veteran, though this was not one of his heroic outings. The other is perhaps with 11 turns we should plan on playing the first day (and night interval) in one session and then leave the second day for another time. 11 turns seems to be beyond our ability to complete to 3-4 hours. During the game Ken regaled us with tales of how he would blame everyone else in pamphlets after the war and claim whatever credit was available. Talk about historical accuracy!