David R. Moody - Mar 22, 2007 2:28 pm (#17817 Total: 17831) ¡Señor Beavis! ¿Donde está tu hall pass? Last night hooked up with Jason Pipes at Endgame for Something Not ASL. No, Jason has acquired many of the games in The Gamers' Civil War Brigade Series, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite game series (got 'em all, except August Fury, which I sold after I got 3 Battles of Manassas; played all but 3 Battles of Manassas). He wanted to give one a try, so we did. Since Jason had never played CWB before, I thought it best to do the Savage Station scenario from Seven Pines; this smaller, shorter battle is recommended as a learning scenario. I took the Yankees, as the Rebels have more to do and I believe strongly in the learn by doing method. So we punched out the pieces, I gave a brief summary of how the game works, we set up, and had at it. Savage Station was the fourth of the Seven Days Battles (after Oak Grove, Mechanicsville, and Gaines Mill), fought on June 29, 1862. Historically, it wasn't much of a battle. John B. Magruder's wing of the Army of Northern Virginia assaulted the Union rearguard, consisting of the II Corps and one division of VI Corps (III Corps and the rest of VI Corps had departed the area, Little Mac not being around to coordinate anything), and was repulsed with some loss. Stonewall Jackson and the Valley Army was supposed to cross the Chickahominy and join in, but the bridges were down and Jackson's infamous lethargy throughout the campaign also played a role. Our game was much bloodier than the historical battle. Jason threw forward two of his divisions, under Lafayette McLaws and Magruder, against my left flank, John Sedgwick's division, posted in the woods covering a crossroads that was one of the two objective hexes (the other being Savage Station--to win, Jason had to take both hexes and inflict more losses on me than I on him). Heavy fighting ensued, with the brigades of Edmund Dana and Alfred Sully exchanging furious volleys with McLaws' men in the woods. Burns' brigade, overlapped by Magruder's hard charging troops, also fought back. On his left, Jason moved up DR Jones' two brigades and his reserve artillery, taking Savage Station and engaging in long range artillery fire and skirmishing with Israel Richardson's II Corps division. William French's brigade was driven back in disorder by the opening Rebel salvo. To the rear, Baldy Smith's VI Corps troops remained in reserve, Smith unable to roll for initiative. Sully and Dana fought hard, shooting out all their ammo (at one point Sedgwick's entire division was Low Ammo), but the gray tide could not be stopped, and both brigades routed back, with Rebs in pursuit, overrunning and taking guns. French's brigade, personally rallied by The Bull of the Woods, took their place in line, right at the objective crossroads. And still the Rebs came on, despite wrecked brigades. Richardson's men, unable to come help out Sedgwick, dealt out a deadly fire to the Rebels in their front. Kershaw and Semmes brigades, wrecked, faltered but still came on. Then Baldy Smith entered the fight, just as French and Burns men, caught in a crossfire, reeled back, losing more guns to the Rebs! Driving though the woods, Hancock's brigade, leading the way, hit Kershaw's flank and drove it back. Israel Richardson went down wounded, French assuming command of the division, as Caldwell and Meagher's men kept up heavy fire. Still, the second objective hex beckoned. But Magruder had had enough. At 5 PM, after two hours of bloody fighting, with two of his three divisions wrecked, fresh Yankees (the vanguard of God knows how many more) coming up, he failed his Corps Attack Stoppage roll and pulled back. Smith's division followed, clearing the second objective, and stopped, effectively ending the battle. At that point it was 10:30, and we rolled to see if Magruder would get initiative before the scenario ended (he didn't). My Yankees weren't inclined to offensive action, so we tallied up the losses. My troops lost 34 SPs (3,400 K-W-M), almost all in the II Corps; Jason's losses were slightly less than 30 SP. A draw--II Corps, despite a bad mauling, held on and beat off the Rebel attack, then joined the retreat toward the James that night. Great game, and hard fought. Jason liked the system, so next week something grander: the first day of Gettysburg. Still soloing Kolin (Prussia's Glory II) at home, but I've been painting Flames of War minis mostly so haven't done much with it. Need to file my orders for our MechWarrior PBEM game, and still awaiting a new mission in my B-17 PBEM game.