Scrivsland: The Battle of Harris Wood Turnpike

Friday 11 January 2013

The Battle of Harris Wood Turnpike

Yesterday evening myself, Ian, Pete and Steve had a great game of Black Powder ACW.

We were recently discussing about the problems of playing Black Powder in 28mm on the normal 6ft x 4ft tables available on our 'Wild Geese' club nights at Battlefront HQ. Even a small game of Black Powder in 28mm with respectable sized units (about 24 foot) takes up a huge amount of space, and as table space is quite limited at the club I suggested that Pete and Steve had a crack with the 6mm Black Powder ACW stuff that I have.

I put together four small divisions as follows:

Union Order of Battle - First Division

Major-General John A. McClernand– Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Stewart's Company Illinois Cavalry	Small Cavalry	Rifled Carbines	4	2	4+	2	Reliable
14th Ohio Battery	Large Artillery	Rifled Artillery	2	3-2-2	4+	3

First Brigade - Colonel Abraham M. Hare – Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
8th Illinois	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
13th Illinois	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
11^th Iowa	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
13^th Iowa	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3

Second Brigade- Colonel C. Carroll Marsh – Staff Value 7

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
11th Illinois	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
20th Illinois	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
48th Illinois	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
Detachment 1st US Sharpshooters	Small Infantry	Breech Loading Rifles	4	2	4+	4	Marauders, Skirmish, Reliable, Sharpshooters

Union Order of Battle - Second Division

Brigadier-General Stephen A. Hurlbut – Staff Value 9

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Detachment 5^th Ohio Cavalry	Small Cavalry	Rifled Carbines	4	2	4+	2
Mann's battery, Missouri Light Artillery	Large Artillery	Smoothbore Artillery	2	4-2-1	4+	3

Second Brigade – Brigadier-General Jacob G. Lauman– Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
31st Indiana	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Sharpshooters
44th Indiana	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Sharpshooters
17^th Kentucky	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Sharpshooters
25^th Kentucky	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Sharpshooters

Fourth Brigade- Colonel Everett Peabody – Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
25th Missouri	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Sharpshooters
16th Wisconsin	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Sharpshooters
Detachment 1st US Sharpshooters	Small Infantry	Breech Loading Rifles	4	2	4+	4	Marauders, Skirmish, Reliable, Sharpshooters

Confederate Order of Battle - First Division

Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Cheatham – Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
1st Mississippi Cavalry	Small Cavalry	Rifled Carbines	4	2	4+	2

First Brigade - Brigadier Bushrod R. Johnson – Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Blythe's Mississippi	Infantry	Smoothbore Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Tough Fighters
2nd [Walker's] Tennessee	Infantry	Smoothbore Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Tough Fighters
15th Tennessee	Infantry	Smoothbore Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Tough Fighters
Tennessee battery	Artillery	Rifled Artillery	1	2-2-2	4+	2

Second Brigade - Colonel William H. Stephens – Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
7th Kentuck	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Tough Fighters
6th Tennessee	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Tough Fighters
9th Tennessee	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3	Tough Fighters

Confederate Order of Battle - Second Division

Brigadier-General Daniel Ruggles– Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Alabama Cavalry	Small Cavalry	Rifled Carbines	4	2	4+	2

Third Brigade - Brigadier General Patton Anderson– Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
17th Louisiana	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
20th Louisiana	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
9th Texas	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
Washington Louisiana Artillery	Artillery	Smoothbore Artillery	1	3-2-1	4+	2

Third Brigade - Colonel Preston Pond, Jr.– Staff Value 8

Unit	Type	Armament	HtH	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
16th Louisiana	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
18th Louisiana	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
Orleans Guard Battalion	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3
38th Tennessee	Infantry	Rifled Muskets	6	3	4+	3

My amendments for playing Black Powder ACW are:

Infantry may form in either:

Supported line – two bases deep counting as line
Mixed order Supported line – two bases deep with skirmishers deployed counting as mixed order line
Extended line – one base deep counting as skirmishers for shooting and movement (not for evasion)
March column

Additional Rules:

Units shot or in melee to the flank or rear suffer -1 to Moral Saves and -1 to Break Tests
Brigades are broken when more than half of all their units are lost
Cavalry are really dismounted infantry so may not charge enemy infantry from in the front
Smoothbore artillery is as per the rules, Rifled artillery gets 2 dice at each range bracket
Rifled Artillery has a range of 60"

When we play in 6mm all distances are halved.

We randomised sides, Pete and Steve would have the Union forces while myself and Ian had the Confederates.

Pete, Steve and Ian prepare for battle.

The battle opened slowly for the Confederates, our cavalry garrisoned one of the towns and one infantry brigade occupied some fields almost the entire remainder of our force failed to move for two turns. The Union start was much brighter, their left surged across the table and on their right, although the troops were sluggish, the cavalry managed to catch a limbered battery of Confederate artillery and drove them from the field.

Union horse garrison the town, while Confederates hold the cornfields.

Things continued worse for the Confederates, the Union troops always seemed to be first to the areas of dominating ground or fence lines so always held the advantage. Soon one of Ians brigades was broken. I was faring slightly better and eventually managed to drive first the Union Cavalry and then the Sharp-shooters from the village on my side, but by this time, the second of Ians brigades had been Broken and things were all but up for us rebels.

All in all it was a great game and we are going to give 6mm Black powder another go when next month we are going to have a go using the 6mm AWI stuff I have been painting of late.