The Corlears Hook Fencibles played a scenario of the First Battle of Bull Run using the Bloody Big Battles (BBB) rules. We did this last week and I wasn't satisfied with the way the battle played out. I read some more accounts, dropped most of the cavalry out of the OB (most of them had been dispersed into penny packets that had no effect), put some serious restrictions on the Union 1st division and started the game at 10 AM when the first real fighting broke out. This time the fighting took place where it did in the actual battle, more or less. Rick and Ken played the Union while I played the Confederates, keeping my great-great-great grandmother in chattel slavery. (I am unsure how many greats go into that title.)
Evans' brigade was formed on Matthews hills and was attacked by Burnside and Porter. The charge was stopped by musket fire and a firefight broke out.
A second charge dislodged Evans. The brigade then panicked, first losing a stand and then the whole outfit headed for the hills (I rolled some truly bad movement dice). By then Bartow had come up behind Evans' original position.
Bee, on the road to Sudley Springs, fell back after forced Heintzelman's three brigades to deploy. Union rifled guns disrupted and slowed this retreat.
Back at the Stone Bridge over Bull Run, Bartow faced down hordes of blue coats. Bad Union movement rolls made their progress slow.
On the Confederate left Bee continued to withdraw. A high movement roll saw his brigade fall back across Young's Branch in good order.
Back at the Stone Bridge, Bartow put murderous fire into Burnside and became low on ammunition. The movement roll said only a half move. Seeing that he couldn't fall back very far, he fixed bayonets and charged Burnside, looking to make short work of the spent Union brigade. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Burnside managed to tie. Each side lost a stand and the fight was resolved again immediately. This time Bartow lost a stand and fell back. Both brigades were wrecked.
On the Confederate left Union artillery disrupted Bee's brigade in their new position. Franklin's and Howard's brigades surged forward and charged across Young's Branch. Confederate artillery rolled high and took a base out of Willcox's supporting brigade. This green unit panicked and fell back for several turns.
Bee's fire failed to stop the Union charge. The two Union brigades fired devastating volleys at close range, taking two bases off Bee and both going low on ammunition. In the ensuing assault they wiped out another two bases. Bee's remaining base lit out for Richmond. Franklin exploited into supporting Confederate artillery, pushing them back. Howard's brigade overran Bald Hill, one of the objectives and stared down Stuart's cavalry. Victory calls for 3 objectives of the 5. The Union now held 2.
And here I made some errors that hurt the Union. I had forgotten that artillery does not get disrupted. Instead it gets silenced and this can only be cured by moving at least half a turn back. Instead I treated the artillery as disrupted and rolled. They rallied and got half a move which I used to unlimber within 3 inches. Jackson's brigade wheeled left and came up in support. Union fire was ineffective, as was the massed fire of the artillery (which should have pulled back) and Jackson's brigade.
I had misplaced the rules. (My filing system is inspired by the French "systeme D" of 1870.) We haven't had infantry go low on ammunition in previous games. So I wasn't sure how to solve this. Bartow solved this by immolating his brigade.
The artillery (which should not have been so close) rolled high, killed one of Franklin's bases and went low on ammunition. Kirby-Smith charged Howard, which negated Howard's zone of control. Stuart then charged Franklin in flank while Jackson charged from the front. Howard drove Kirby-Smith off with heavy casualties, but Franklin collapsed and was driven from the field. Jackson exploited into Howard's flank and drove him off Bald Hill with heavy losses.
With his right flank in tatters and too many Union brigades crowded around the Stone Bridge and Matthews Hill, Rick threw in the towel. Ken agreed. We had played 7 turns in 2 hours, 30 minutes, averaging a little over 20 minutes a turn. Rick agreed with me that this was much more like the actual battle than the game we played last week. Union losses were 11 infantry bases hors de combat and one ran away. the Confederates lost 9 bases and had 6 head for the hills.
Had I not made the mistakes at the end of the game I think the Union could have held Bald Hill. Franklin's brigade was in for a tough time no matter what, but the exploitation into Howard's flank was probably not in the cards. I owe Rick and Ken my apologies.
Some things came home: you need reserves with these rules. A very successful attack unraveled very quickly. And when someone rolls 11 or 12 on a fire fight, something almost always dies. The flip side is the firing unit goes low on ammunition.
Here are some photos of the table at game end. The rules don't call for it but I try to put a casualty figure down whenever a base is removed in combat other than by running away.
Note the carnage around Jackson and Bald Hill.
Lesser carnage near the Stone Bridge, where Bartow and Burnside savaged each other.