SOUTHERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY To: Confederate Field Commander Be advised that our intelligence has discovered an enemy force in your area. They must be dealt with as soon as possible so that you may move to join the army for the coming campaign. Spare no effort in defeating the enemy. Signed: Braxton Bragg, Genl. Commdg. HEADQUARTERS: ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND To Field Commander: Our intelligence has revealed that the enemy proposes to move immediately to attack the main anny. Your force is hereby ordered to attack swiftly and without hesitation to give us time to respond to this threat. You must succeed in breaking through his lines to disrupt communications and supplies. God be with you. Signed: W.S. Rosecrans Commdg. Genl. As stated in a prior issue this year, sometimes the best scenarios are those that never actually happened. This being so, there should be a premise behind writing a non-historical game. The concept for this scenario is based on accounts of the fierce fighting in dense woods at both the battles of Chickamauga and the Wilderness. The whole idea of blindly plunging into a forest to fight an unseen enemy, with almost no ability to coordinate attacks or know where to find the foe, seems to me to be a true test of tactical skill for the field generals. Further, it is an ultimate experience for the army commander, having to set up units with nothing more than a "feel" for where the enemy is likely to be or where the hot points of the fight are going to take place. Communication is highly limited in these circumstances, and the resulting struggle has been called a "soldier's fight" by those who took part in similar enagagements. The orders for each side's commander are listed above. Those orders define the very concept of what is expected - victory at all costs. How you plan your attack and defense will dictate your chances of winning, with a bit of luck from the dice, of course! This scenario was designed for a moderate sized club of about three players per side. However, it can be used by a larger group, or even by two people (I don't know about solo gaming). While written by one who uses the JR2 rules, all that a person needs to do is simply transpose the terms in order to make the scenario compatible for any other rules set. Forces will be randomly rolled for as per the Summer 1989 Vol. III, #2) issue of The Zouave, page 20. If playing a regimental rules set like lohnny Reb or Stars 'N Bars each player should field at least a brigade. If using a brigade level set such as On To Richmond, players would likely field a division or more. Your own level of experience should tell you how many troops you an comfortably handle without feeling too spread out on the battlefield. There will be some variations to the random olling of units in that there will be the potential for sharpshooters (both sides), Spencer Repeating Rifles Union), smoothbore muskets (either side), and shotguns (Confederate). For each brigade, roll a six sided die (D6). If you roll a 5 or 6, you get a 100 man mit of sharpshooters armed with breechlocks. If using a regimental level rules set, roll per regiment to see what each is armed with. If using a brigade level et, roll per brigade (every figure in the brigade would be armed the same for OTR): SMALL ARMS TABLE (UNION) DIE ROLL WEAPON 1-4 Rifled Musket 5 Smoothbore Musket 6 Spencer Repeating Rifle SMALL ARMS TABLE (CONFEDERATE) DIE ROLL WEAPON 1-3 Rifled Musket 4-5 Smoothbore Musket 6 Shotgun If you are used to playing wide open games with little terrain, you might not be familiar with the damage that can be done with smoothbores and shotguns at close range. These are ideal weapons for use in the woods. TERRAIN MAP There is no terrain map needed for this scenario since the terrain formulation is very simple. I advise (if using a regimental rules set) having a table that is at least two feet wide for each brigade used. There needs to be sufficient space so that commanders cannot make a line of regiments from left to right across the table. The idea is to have some holes that may need to be plugged up. At the same time, don't make the table so wide that there are huge gaps between units, as you will probably want to concentrate a few units somewhere on the table for your main assault. The table is easily set up. There are two good roads going straight north and south, each about a third of the way across the table. There should also be a border by each team's table edge of between 12 and 18 inches, depending on the depth of the table, where there is no terrain at all. These areas can be viewed as grass fields with no movement or visibility penalties. The remainder of the table is the forest. If using a table that is 8 feet long by 5 feet wide, the best setup is to have woods extending from one edge of the table to the other (east to west), a 1 foot clearing at each teams table edge, and woods that are 3 feet deep. Divide the wooded areas into equal squares of any size and then roll a D6 for each square to find out if it is densely wooded or regular woods. A roll of 1-4 will equal dense woods, which count as Rough Terrain, while a roll of 5 or 6 equals regular forest, which will count as broken terrain. In dense woods all visibility will be limited to two inches (80 yards), while regular woods have a visibility of three inches (120 yards). Players may elect to have other types of terrain included within the woods, but the game will be hard enough without this. If you add anything, I suggest that it be a small stream or gulley going across the table from east to west. This should be placed in the middle of the table so that both sides have an equal opportunity to get to it. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS Artillery cannot be used in the woods at all. It may be deployed on the roads or in the clear areas at each team's table edge. If your rules set includes bonuses or morale minuses for "surprise", ignore these modifiers since each army knows that the enemy are near at hand. One of the most important parts of this scenario is the idea of the fog of war that the generals do not have a clear idea of exactly where the enemy is. Each unit should be represented by a counter, with the counter representing the exact center of the unit. All units should be in line formation, since there is rio ability to use columns in the forest. For each two real counters, a "dummy" counter can be used which does not represent a real unit. Such dummy counters are meant to add to the confusion and to keep the opposing side from knowing exactly where your real units are. Once opposing counters are within "sight" they are replaced with the actual troops, and dummy counters are simply picked up, even if the opposing counters are both dummies. How you use these counters is a major part of strategy. Players should decide the length of the game before starting. VICTORY CONDITIONS The conditions for victory are fairly simple. At least 2/3rds of your units must have been engaged in combat before the end of the game, either melee or in a fire fight. Each side gets I point for every casualty inflicted on the opponent via a wound or death. Each casting captured gives you 2 points, and the capture of an enemy standard gives you 5 points. If your rules set does not cover captured standards, roll a D6 if you totally destroy an enemy unit. A 5 or 6 means that one of your men captured the standard, while any other number signifies that one of their men was able to take the standard to safety. You can earn 20 points per road if you totally control the entire length of the road by game's end (no enemy within 400 yards of any point of the road). Further, you can earn 10 points for each gun captured or blown up by your own fire, and 15 points for each of your units that exits the enemy's table edge before the end of the game. This is where your artillery can come in. If the enemy manages to break through your lines, you have the artillery at your table edge to hold them from exiting the table. Have a good plan and try the scenario more than once. Each time can be different. Good luck! Back to The Zouave Vol III No. 4 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1989 The American Civil War Society 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