Second Manassas BBB

On the 6th we played the ACW scenario of 2nd Manassas, the one which may be found on the BBB GroupIO page.

I have so far played with a labelling script, which has produced all labels required for the game. They are scaled to fit exactly my 30mm bases, so if you wish to use them, they should be scaled down to fit into the standard 25mm bases.

The battlefield and the figures

The Battle

The game was played between four of us. Maurizio and me were playing the confederates, Riccardo and Marco playing the USA.

The initial deployment in the center and North of Groverton. The unionists have decided to occupy the Village of Groverton and to defend the hills, menacing also the ford (Knowing how the battle developed, the troops on the hills were a bit dispersed. They did not manage to fully support the troops in the village and they did not have enough elan to attack the ford).

The confederates have decided to attack the town and to the left. Stuart’s cavalry defends both flanks of the Confederate army concentration.

This picture shows the confederate attack on the extreme left of the confederates, to gain the hills overlooking the railroad under construction. This confederate movement countered the unionist movement to reach the ford.

The unionist in fact managed to hold the hill for a long time, even if the brunt of the attack was taken by a raw unit, which managed to hold even if spent.

On the forgeround a left hook from Stuart’s cavalry. On this side the confederate cavalry was not super effective, while on the right it charged and annihilated a union cavalry division.

This picture shows the confederate attack on the village of Groverton. The initial attack was repulsed, but a second attaempt, carried after a heavy artillery bombardment, was succesfull.

Here the final, and succesfull attack. Patrick and Gordon Brigades were reduced to 50% effectives by bombardment and then charged on the two sides of the village.

The night comes, and the troops in the open retire to cover. The village is firmly held.

The union troops had to retreat behind the hills, since they were in the open and easy target to the CSA artillery.

Also, the confederate units, due to they higher morale, recovered 5-6000 men, which rejoined the units during night. The new day would be favourable to the confederates on both initial dispositions and number of troops.

We did not manage to finish the battle, but the probability that the confederates would win the second day was very high.

The confederates admit to have, completely unknowingly, cheated. One of the objectives was on the wrong hill and when the unionists were happily approaching the objective, it readily moved behind the CSA lines.

Someone stated that the movement of the objective can be found on page 22 and 3/4, all clearly stated. There is some magic that only the Unionists corps commanders may do in some extreme situations, no die roll is necessary!!

The confederates also admit that they made many lucky rolls, during moves 1 to 4. When the luck dried out, the confederate brigades started to be eliminated one after the other…

In the end we had a great day, thank you again Chris for having designed BBB!!