In the autumn of 1864 the faint strains of the Confederacy's swan song were becoming louder as the veterans of the II Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia under General Jubal Early valiantly, but pathetically attempted tc stave off the assault of Phil Sheridan's Union blue hordes of steadfast infantry and lethally efficient cavalry in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. The 1864 Valley campaign is filled with heroes, glory and tragedy. The story of those valiant adversaries is better told elsewhere. However, it must be said that Early's little army marched on and threatened the capitol in Washington, fought numerous skirmishes and a series of pitched battles until the ragged Rebels ground themselves into oblivion. Following the engagement at Waynesborough there were no troops left for Early to command. The B.A.S. had already re-fought the battle of Monocacy, and our re-fight of Opequon was more of an historical recreation than that of a "classic" wargame scenario that could be played again and again, since the overwhelming superiority of the Union forces negates all thought of balanced forces. In spite of this, the Union assault on the Confederate center was not a walkover and it was only the arrival of VIII Corps and the cavalry divisions that made further Confederate resistance futile and ended the game. It must be remembered that in this battle the Confederates were opposing a well led force that outnumbered them more than three to one. Although they were driven from the battlefield in defeat, just weeks later they surprise attacked the same Union army at Cedar Creek and almost routed it. The B.A.S. had a splendid time fighting this out and even though the Union victory was a forgone conclusion, it was hotly contested with the Rebels doing "Old Jubilee" proud. TERRAIN Red Bud Run - no penalty to cross, but any unit crossing it becomes disordered. Confederate works at Winchester are hasty type field works (actually in disrepair), providing +1 for small arms and + 5 for morale benefits. TURNS: 12. At game start, C.S. Divisions of Rodes and Ramseur are behind fences. No cover is provided, but the small arms benefit for resting weapons is allowed. TURN 5: Breckinridge with Wharton's Brigade and King's Battery arrive from the north on Valley Pike. TURN 8: Crook's VIII Corps enters. Thoburn enters just south of Red Bud Run and Duval just north of it, both advancing to the west. TURN 10: Merritt's 1st Cavalry Division enters on Valley Pike from the north. For the first turn only, the card deck should be stacked so that the Union Division cards are drawn first (they are attacking). CONFEDERATE FORCES Confederate Command Rating: Early, Breckinridge, Rodes, Ramseur and Wharton are AGGRESSIVE; Gordon is a FIREBRAND; and Munford is CAUTIOUS. All the Confederate troops are veterans except the Stonewall Brigade under Terry in Gordon's Division. Gordon - Brigades of: Evans 5 stands, Terry 4, York 4, Braxton Arty. (smoothbore) Ramseur - Brigades of: Pegram 4' Johnston/Godwin 4, Nelson Arty. (smoothbore) Wharton - Brigades of: Wharton/Patton/Smith 6 stands, King's Arty. (smoothbore) Rodes - Brigades of: Battle 5, Grimes 4, Cook/Cox 4, Cutshaw Arty. (rifled) Munford - Brigades of: Munford's Cavalry 6, Breathed's Stuart's Horse Arty. (smoothbore) UNION FORCES Union Command Rating: Sheridan, Merritt are FIREBRANDS; Emory, Grover, Russell, Getty, Ricketts, Crook, Thoburn, Duval, Averell, are AGGRESSIVE; Dwight, Wright CAUTIOUS. All Union Brigades are 6 stands. VI Corps and the Cavalry are veterans. XIX and VIII Corps are all regulars. VI Corps Russell 1st Div.: Campbell, Upton, Edwards, Maine Lt. Arty. (rifled) Getty 2nd Div. : Wheaton, Warmer, Bidwell, Rhode Island Arty. (rifled) Ricketts 3rd Div.: Emerson, Kieffer, 5th U.S. Arty. Battery "B" (rifled) VIII Corps Thoburn 1st Div.: Weils, Northcott, Harris, Ohio Battery (smoothbore) Duval 2nd Div. : Hayes, Johnson, 5th U.S. Arty. - (rifled) XIX Corps Dwight 1st Div. : Beal, McMillan, Currie, 5th N.Y. Lt. Batty. (rifled) Grover 2nd Div. : Birge, Molineux, Sharpe, Shunk, 1st Maine Lt. Arty. - (smoothbore) Cavalry Corps Merritt 1st Div.: (Spencer repeating carbine armed) Custer, Devin, Lowell, 1st U.S. Horse Arty. (smoothbore) Averell 2nd Div.: (breechloading carbines) Powell, Schoolmaker, no artillery. This is an optional command that may accompany Merritt's entry. Large Version Map (slow: 73K) Back to MWAN #53 Table of Contents © Copyright 1991 Hal Thinglum 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