In the American Civil War, after the first shots of 1861, both sides realized just how close the enemy was at all times. This, combined with the lifestyle of the 1800's where one hunted for one's food, foraging parties of one or two men became foraging parties of one or two companies. It is the Spring of 1863 in northern Virginia and we have a bold group of soldiers on both sides spoiling for a fight. While foraging, each side spots the other and the maneuvering begins. Johnny Reb, with three squads from the 16th Virginia Volunteers, gets bold and heads forward, firing pot shots and a Yankee company. Realizing they were outnumbered, the Confederates pulled back into a farmer's homestead. Captain Beauregard, of the IX Corps Headquarters has five squads, fully manned. He refuses to shrink from the challenge offered him by the Southerners. He feels already slighted in that he is attached to the Headquarters and not to a proper infantry regiment. He will attack and rid these woods of the invaders. Order of Battle Union Company Commander: Captain Beauregard - sword only Drummer 1st Squad: Sgt Hawthorne and 9 x infantry soldiers 2nd Squad: Sgt Travits and 9 x infantry soldiers 3rd Squad: Sgt Chadwick and 9 x infantry soldiers 4th Squad: Sgt Parks and 9 x infantry soldiers 5th Squad: Sgt McGloire and 9 x infantry soldiers All Union are armed with smoothbore Carbines, except for the Company Commander. Confederate Company Commander: Lieutenant Pipes - pistol 1st Squad: Sgt Pennythwaite and 9 x infantry soldiers 2nd Squad: Sgt Tallmadge and 8 x infantry soldiers 3rd Squad: Sgt Bundrass and 8 x infantry soldiers All Confederates are armed with smoothbore Carbines except for the Company Commander. In the scene to the right, the Confederates are putting up a stiff resistance behind the first tree line. The Union charge across the open space between the two tree lines met with complete failure. Note the morale card due to losses. It turned out to be a Thwack! Squad Leader shot card... Victory Conditions: When one side owns the battlefield, then he is the winner. Optional Rules: Because of the possibility of a two pronged attack, the Union may issue an order to one or two squads and then the Company Commander can move out of the six inch command radius of those squads. The orders given the squads that will move out of command must be very specific and cannot be changed unless the drummer (and courier) with the Union Company Commander is detached and moves to touch bases with the out of command squad(s). In any case, the squads will continue to execute their orders unless the runner can catch up with them (normal movement rules apply to the runner). The squads cannot send a runner to the Company Commander in order to change their orders unless their squad leader is killed. If the squad leader is killed, then that squad ceases action except for finding the nearest cover and defending. The Confederates cannot use the out of command rule - they must keep their squad leaders within six inches of their Company Commander. Brother Against Brother is a rules set for American Civil War Skirmish actions. It is available from HG Walls directly at 3026 Springbrook Drive, South Bend, IN 46614 or Craig Martelle (me) also carries them for $16 (postpaid). They are printed by Strategem Publications in the UK (Duncan MacFarlane, publisher of Wargames Illustrated) and have the same quality pictures and glossy format you expect from WI. Strategem Publications, 18 Lovers Lane, Newark, Notts, NG24 1HZ Notes on the map: The terrain in front of the Confederate position that appears to be a cliff, is an embankment which represents a sunken road. From the Confederate side, soldiers can fire from behind it, but cannot scale it. From the Union side, soldiers can move up the terrain at half speed - incurring a stopping penalty when they initially reach the terrain. Only one of the buildings should be two-story. All trees are considered linear obstacles for purposes of rifle fire or charging. All trees count as soft cover. The sunken road and the buildings are hard cover. Figures firing from the sunken road, get the rested weapon bonus. All figures should be mounted individually and figures, of course, should all be 25mm Wargames Foundry (although Essex, Redoubt, Old Glory, Elite, Firing Line, and Dixon will work quite well, too)! Back to The Gauntlet No. 11 Table of Contents Back to The Gauntlet List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by Craig Martelle Publications This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com