The Corlears Hook Fencibles played a game of the 1863 battle of Champion's Hill last Thursday using the "Altar of Freedom" rules. A trip out of town for the weekend got in the way of a timely report. Here it is, late and a trifle fuzzy. We had played this scenario last week but two of our members weren't present and I wanted to use the simplest game (of the four in the rules) to introduce them to the rules. Now that everyone has played, Shiloh beckons. But the owner of the Rebels is not going to be around for a couple weeks and ACW is on the back burner until he returns.
Tom took the Union again, with Rick as McClernand. I headed the Confederates with Bill as Division CO Stevenson. The Union launched two divisions up Champion Hill on the first turn and made some headway.
The Union objective was to get a brigade across the bridge over Baker's Creek, cutting the retreat route into Vicksburg.
Having played this last week, I worked on massing all of the Confederates in front of the bridge, save a cavalry brigade left to delay the Union left flank.
McClernand didn't show up the first two times they rolled dice for him, so the two divisions on Champion Hill fell back and waited for help. Stevenson reformed his shaken line.
McClernand did show up, along with Crocker's division of McPherson's corps. The Yankees began coming forward in earnest.
I sent elements of Loring's and Bowen's divisions back to dig a line of works a few hundred yards before the bridge. Once they were done, the two divisions fell back into them.
The Confederates primed their muskets and waited.
The Union came on strong during the last turn, flanking the entrenchments on our right and over-running a battalion of artillery. But the next brigade in line was one of our strong ones. That and good Confederate dice saw off the attack. Another attack on our left saw both sides recoil. In the center blue coated troops swarmed over Champion Hill.
We had another Confederate victory, with all of Pemberton's army able to retreat into the trap of Vicksburg. An answer from the designer to a question reveals we have been playing one thing – troops engaged in close combat mat not shoot or be shot at, but un-engaged supports may. This may be why our games have had low casualties. If the supports are knocked out of place before combat is resolved, the toll may go up.
The game took 2 hours, 20 minutes to play 8 turns. The first turns were slow because the rules were being explained as we went.
One event during the scrum on Champion's Hill: a Union brigade charged a pair of Confederate artillery battalions. One evaded successfully. The other did not, the battalion commander instead fighting with +1. Rebels rolled high, Yankees rolled low and the blue brigade was sent back to the camp. Our guns have been evading whenever they could. Perhaps they should stand their ground if supported.