Game: This Hallowed Ground

Union: Zack Waltz, John Reed, Jim Ferguson
Confederates: Jimmy Eaton, Max Workman, Chip Pharr

Report by: Zachary R. Waltz

War Story: John Reed: 1, 11, and Cav, Jim Ferguson: 12, 2, Zack Waltz: 3, Art. Res.

A possible crushing Confederate victory. The Confederates maintained the initiative from the first. At the start, the Union, expecting an immediate attack on Cemetery Hill and Ridge, rushed 2 Corps to those areas and put 12 Corps on Culp's Hill. 1 Corps/11 Corps maintained their defensive orders, but pulled back. As the morning progressed, Longstreet and AP Hill's Corps started moving south either to attack the Round Tops or circle around. Our response was to send 1/Cav to Pitzer's School, interrupting the march of AP Hill's Corps, and to send 3 Corps and the Artillery Reserve to hold Lott's Run from Big Round Top to the woods to the east. That order was accepted in 45 minutes and successfully accomplished. 12 Corps was given an order (delayed for 1 hour) to occupy the Round Tops. Finally, the Union had to send 2 Corps to accomplish the same goal as AP Hills Corps was advancing from the west on the Tops. The race to occupy Big Round Top was won by AP Hill's Corps. While this was happening, 3 Corps and Art. Res. was conducting a successful, but bloody, defense to the east of Big Round Top.

Once AP Hill started attacking down the east side of Big Round Top, the 3 Corps/Art. Res. defense cracked (numerous close combats by Longstreet didn't help, from the Union point of view). 3 Corps and Art. Res. conducted an ECR to Gobbler Knob. While the Art. REs survived with about 90% of its guns intact (but expended about 150 rounds), 3 Corps was almost destroyed, with three or four regiments surviving. This retreat left 2 Corps' left flank exposed, but 2 Corps used initiative to fall back on Gobbler Knob. Where was 12 Corps? They were marching/countermarching behind the Union line, making sure they stayed intact while the rest of the army got cut up. One 12 Corps division used initiative to cover the retreat to Gobbler Knob. 5 Corps made it onto the map and was waiting for attack orders to stabilize the valiant defense of Cemetery Hill, where a battered 1st/11 Corps were single-handedly wrecking Ewell's Corps' attack.

Other Remarks: THG = "The Heaviest Game"

Game: This Hallowed Ground II

Union: Zack Waltz, John Reed, Jim Ferguson
Confederates: Jimmy Eaton, Max Workman, Chip Pharr

Report by: Max Workman

At right: Jimmy Eaton, Max Workman, and John Reed (left to right) over the marathon THG game.

War Story: Max Workman commanded Lee and 1 Corps, Chip Pharr ran Ewell's 2 Corps, and Jimmy Eaton led AP Hill's 3 Corps. The situation began with Ship's 2 Corps around Gettysburg with Jimmy's 3 Corps south and my 1 Corps and one division of Jimmy's corps camped on the roads to the west. Our orders were to march south with 1 and 3 Corps. 1 Corps was to deploy along Culp's Ridge and attack east towards Taneytown Rd. and wheel north to turn the Union flank. 3 corps was to follow, form on 1 Corps' left, advance to seize Dolly's Knob and the Round Tops, and turn north as well. 2 Corps was to redeploy from Gettysburg to Spangler's Woods in case of a Union attack.

Our move seemed to confuse the Union, so they were only able to form a defensive line as far as due east of Big Round Top along Lott's Run. Seeing the Union out of position, we issued attack orders for 2 Corps to seize Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge.

At this point all Confederate divisions were attacking. During the march south, the Union did send a cavalry division west to disrupt the Confederate advance. We had to peel off one division from 3 Corps to deal with this, resulting in the destruction of the cavalry division. The southern flank attack was met with strong Union artillery with an excellent defensive setup. 1 Corps did manage to close assault without artillery preparation, resulting in the destruction of the Union 3 Corps.

The game ended with the Union left withdrawing north and Union right losing Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge. 1 Corps losses were one brigade wrecked and one brigade close to wrecking. Hood's Division was intact. 3 Corps had two hurt divisions and one OK. 2 Corps suffered heavily and was doubtful it could hold the hill and ridge very long.

Other Remarks: I want to thank all commanders for what I think was one of the best Civil War games I've been involved in. All players helped each other with rules, even if it was to their side's disadvantage. Zack did an excellent job running the Union 3 Corps defense against overwhelming odds (using over 150 artillery points in the process).

More HomerCon

Introduction and Participants
DAK
April's Harvest
Marengo
A Raging Storm
Air Combat Maneuver
This Hallowed Ground
Stalingrad Pocket II
Ardennes
Yom Kippur
Hube's Pocket
Crusader
Tunisia
Circus Maximus