Another battle of the Great 30mm Civil War has been fought. Bob Hurst's Unionists against Simon's, the Lion of Ostlandt's, Federalists. And once again the Lion voiced the question raised by the Persians at Thermopylae, by Rommel at El Aleman, by Prince Charles at Culloden: "What have I done wrong?" We've all heard of Sickles' Salient at Gettysburg, wherein General Sickles, without proper coordination with his fellow commanders, advanced his men too far forward and got beaten back. This time, it's Hurst's Salient, wherein that General successfully stormed through the gap, and set up a defense which proved the undoing of the Federalist cause. Note that the map indicates that we started on opposite sides of Snake Gulch, a wooded gully running right across the field. The Haub Pike was the only clear thoroughfare through the Gulch... control of the gap through the woods was worth 2 Victory Points (VP), while each of the four hills was worth 1 VP. Additional VP were earned when enemy units routed, when one side won a melee, etc., etc. Hurst's Unionists had five brigades of 3 regiments each. The Lion's Federalists had four brigades, also of 3 regiments. Although these forces were of division size, they were deemed "Corps" for campaign purposes. Each regiment, infantry and cavalry, was composed of 12 figures. For initial set-on, each side had a choice. A brigade could corne on in column via the Haub Pike ( Point A for Hurst, Point B for the Lion), or if chosen to enter off-road, on the baseline, dice would be tossed to determine the entering point. A throw of percentage dice determined the number of inches, measured from the western edge of the table, that the brigade would show itself. One brigade could enter each turn. A dice throw told us that the Unionists would enter first. Hurst's Fourth Brigade appeared in march column on the Haub Pike. A card from the movement deck was drawn: a "3", indicating that the Fourth Brigade could perform 3 actions. Here, an action was defined to be Move or Fire or Reface or Reform, etc. Each Move action permitted a 4 inch advance for infantry, hence the Fourth Brigade moved 3x4, or 12 inches down the Pike. Additionally, since the Fourth was in march column on the Pike, its Road Bonus was defined as (2 x 10-sided die throw); Hurst threw a "10", and the Fourth whizzed up the Pike a total of 32 inches. The Fourth, therefore, was just about into the gap on the very first turn. It should be noted that roads are extremely valuable in our games, permitting units to zip fluidly around the field ' much more so than most wargame rules allow. There is a risk of doing so close to the enemy, however, for a unit is fairly impotent if caught in march column. Hurst's draw of a "3" was followed by a Federalist draw of a 1% a brigade in column appeared at Point B... the "1", coupled with a low die roll for the Road Bonus, didn't permit much forward movement. The second turn: another Unionist "3", the advanced Fourth Brigade was through the 3ap, and a second brigade, aided by a huge Road Bonus, raced forward to support the Fourth. When this was followed by the Lion's draw of a "l", it was obvious that critical times wereur the Federalists, calling for critical measures. The Brigadier in charge of the Federalist cavalry, General George Armpitt Custard, was called on to relieve the pressure. Although Custard was nominally in command, the man who pulled Custard's strings was that experienced cavalryman, Fred Hubig, who received his training in the elite Paprican Armed Forces. The Lion knew, just knew, that General Hubig was the man to rely upon. Where to bring on the cavalry? Due to the previous "1", the entry point on the Haub Pike was thoroughly clogged up, and so dice were cast for the baseline position. A "100" appeared; Custard's men now squnched on the table at the very southeastern tip of the field. Not good. Trouble. More trouble: more "3's" for Hurst, more "1's" for the Lion! And a Federalist dice throw of "98" determined that another Federalist brigade squnched on the table behind the already squnched cavalry. No need to dwell on the outcome. General Hurst's salient was not to be ignored; he established a strong defense'around the gap before either Hubig or the Lion could say "Who stacked the deck?" After nine or so turns, seeing it was impossible to break the Unionist hold, the Lion called for a truce. There was no sense in battering his forces any further, as the Corps now on the field would be needed in future campaign battles. A VP tally showed Hurst clearly ahead. Again I must cite Paul Koch: a risky move that pays off is termed by the historians a "bold move", while a risky move that leads to disaster is characterized as "dumb". Here, General Hurst's bold move through the gap proved decisive. If, after moving through, he had been unlucky enough to have fallen prey to a series of "l's", his advanced Fourth Brigade, set out in the middle of Federalist territory, would not have been able to have been reinforced, and would gradually have been chewed up. Simon and Hubig have been teamed against Hurst and Haub in the first three campaign battles. Simon and Hubig have lost the first three campaign battles. There are only 10 battles in the entire campaign. Is there a message here? Back to PW Review July 1987 Table of Contents Back to PW Review List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1987 Wally Simon This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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