Dave Demko (your esteemed editor) and I were playing the first day scenario of This Hallowed Ground several months ago. The game was going well and both of us were enjoying playing a long scenario that spanned many weeks and sessions. We have a way of quickly recording positions and then restoring the game at the next session. It usually takes about half an hour to save the game positions.
I have been playing wargames for over 30 years now and cannot remember actually finishing one. By finishing I mean playing through the last turn and then counting the victory points to see who actually won. I have played several monster wargames past the 50% point and have seen some wild swings in fortune over many game hours of time. I think that most players give up too easily on situations that could reverse themselves; especially in a game like THG which spans 4 days.
In for the Long Haul
With all that said I had the inspiration to play a campaign game of THG. At Origins '99 the players would start at the beginning of day 1, play until a reasonable stopping point was reached, record the game, and then continue at upcoming conventions. Dave liked the idea and thought it might be interesting to write articles for Operations after each of the sessions so that others could follow the continuing campaign.
So, at Origins, we set up the game and played for roughly 2 days (Friday, Saturday, and some Sunday morning). We used historical arrival times. I did not want any wild irregularities in the arrivals to influence the game. We used the optional cavalry rules. Personally I can't see why they are optional, since they're so good. We also used the optional defensive orders. I like the Corps Attack Stoppage rules, and by using the defensive orders things can be a little more difficult for the Union. The final rule we are using that might need some explanation is our interpretation of the Loose Cannon rule. This is an interpretation that Dave Powell and I agreed upon in a previous playing of the game.
What happens on a failed loose cannon is that the opposing player is given 2 options: he can order a one-turn duration complex order or he can issue a long-term simple order. The one-turn complex order is for a player that would like his opponent to make some fruitless, bloody frontal assault against an enemy within which he is in contact (a brief Hood on morphine). The long-term simple order is more insidious. The opponent orders your division or corps to go defend some useless terrain feature. This terrain is usually about as far away from any place useful as the demented opponent can come up with. In my game with Dave Powell Pender's division got the wonderful assignment of defending "Bream's Blackhorse Tavern" (Map A, hex 46.10). At least it was a victory point hex and, from its name, entertained the men for a while. This second simple loose cannon order stays in effect until another initiative is rolled, the unit comes under higher command, or another loose cannon is rolled. For the Confederate player loose cannon is a real fear as Lee's anti-initiative has a chilling effect early in the battle.
Here is how the battle went. Dave Demko started as the Confederate player and I took the Union. Dave marched Heth's men down the Chambersburg Pike until coming close enough to Buford's men to have to go into line. He also deployed the corps artillery to good effect as the Union only have one battery at the start. His artillery were having good luck against the Union battery, reducing it to 3 gun points. Then Archer, Davis, and Pettigrew finally got lined up and started up McPherson's Ridge. There followed some inconclusive small arms fire for a couple of turns when, on the 9:30 am turn Heth failed his corps attack stoppage roll! To Dave's chagrin Heth's division pulled back to Herr Ridge to await further orders. Heth is too poor a leader to risk a loose cannon roll, especially with Lee's anti-initiative. This was not the only time in the game that a really peculiar event occurred to annoy the Confederates!
More Players Join
At this time, Milton Janosky joined us and took over Pender's division. Pender had entered the map and was in line back on Whisler's Ridge. Milton marched Pender's division, in line, up to Herr Ridge to reinforce Heth's division. The Confederates decided to try initiative with Pender and had amazing results (more later).
While all this was going on the Union was just biding time on McPherson's Ridge (I always like to have someone visit Elle McPherson's house (A23.05). I'm usually just checking to see what kind of bread she is baking. The hope for the Union cavalry is to stall the Confederates long enough for 1 Corps to arrive while taking as few casualties as possible. Heth's failed Corps Attack Stoppage played right into this plan. With Heth stalled 1 Corps marched up onto McPherson's Ridge and deployed. This freed up the Union cavalry so Reynolds gave them In-Person Verbal orders to go deploy between Oak Hill and the Carlisle road north of Blochers' run (essentially guard entry area C). The cavalry trotted off immediately after a lucky order acceptance roll. At 10:30 am game time Dave Powell joined us to take over the Union 11 Corps. This is not a difficult job as we decided to stay with the historical 11 Corps orders and they just had to move in column to positions north of town.
Now is when the fun really started. At 11:00 am the Confederates received the first elements of Rodes's division, including Doles's excellent brigade. These troops followed their orders and marched to the top of Oak Hill just as the Union cavalry was lining up to slow any advances on Gettysburg. With the action slow in front of Union 1 Corps and Doubleday's division arriving, I decided to sidle the 1st Division of 1 Corps up to defend against Rodes. All this time Milton was trying initiative rolls so that Pender can go crush the thinning line on McPherson's Ridge. Also, the Confederates were having very good luck picking off Union artillery trying to deploy on McPherson's Ridge. I lost around 8 artillery points to Confederate long-range artillery. Here is where playing a continuous campaign had an influence on decision-making. Once the Union artillery finally got unlimbered the Confederates decided to stop their long range bombardment in order to save ammunition. These kinds of decisions aren't needed if you do not intend to play the whole campaign.
At 12:00 noon Pender finally made his initiative roll and issued himself orders to go crush the Union left flank in the Fairfield road area (A34.10). Pender was then to roll up the Union line to the Chambersburg Pike. This was a good plan that would have hurt the Union enormously; being caught between Pender and Rodes, 1 Corps certainly would have had to retreat.
Confederate Brain Damage
But it was not to be. The same turn Pender made his initiative roll AP Hill showed up, fresh from a heated discussion with Bobby Lee about what his men were up to. When Hill arrives his whole Corps get immediate orders to stop everything and to go to Herr Ridge. This canceled Pender's initiative and the Confederates had to fume over a lost opportunity.
The fighting between Rodes and Wadsworth was now heating up. This looked to be an intense battle between some very good troops; the Iron brigade and Doles brigade. Unfortunately for the Confederates along with Doles you get Iverson. Iverson's brigade was deployed to the right and rear of Doles brigade in the are of A09.09. A lucky artillery defensive fire by the Union disorganized one of Iverson's regiments and it retreated, leaving a Doles-regiment flank open to almost all of the Iron brigade. I took advantage of the opportunity and initiated close combat with the Iron brigade. When the Iron brigade was through with their rampage, 3 out of the 4 regiments of Doles brigade were in the destroyed units box and the fourth had over 50% casualties. Dave Powell remarked to Dave Demko, "Congratulations, you've just thrown away a great brigade!" This Union counter-offensive stopped up Rodes division.
We played a couple more turns with most of the action being Union 11 Corps lining up north of Gettysburg and on Cemetery Hill. When the game continues we will be starting the 1:00 pm turn. I think the game is going well. For the Union the casualties have not been bad, 20 dead and 30 stragglers. Most of the stragglers are in 1/1/Cav and 2/1/1. The Union has 4 wrecked regiments, one in the Iron brigade. The Union has also suffered considerable artillery losses. The Confederates have 29 dead and 28 stragglers. All of Do/R/2 is wrecked and O/R/2 has 3 wrecked regiments. I think that the slow performance of AP Hill's Corps may turn out well in the long run. The Corps is currently untouched. In my experience this is very unusual and will help the Confederates throughout day 1 and into day 2.
We plan to set up the game at HomerCon and play for 2 days. I think, given some help by players who wish to join the game, that we might get through most of the first day at Homer. As more units arrive on the map, I will be looking for more players to take over commands. Anyone planning to be at HomerCon with an interest in THG is welcome to play in the game. I can be reached by e-mail at jhreed@pipeline.com if anyone is interested in commenting on the game.
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