The Corlears Hook Fencibles played day two of our Shiloh game using Bloody Big Battles rules on Thursday. (Day 1 can be seen here TMP link ) Ken commanded the Confederates, with Rick remaining in command of the Confederate left. I led the combined Union armies of Grant and Buell.
The situation at the end of the first day, seen from the balloon over the Union rear:
You will note a gap in the rebel lines before Shiloh Church (the small brown house). I hoped to exploit this before the rebel line s could be reshuffled.
The Confederate artillery that had managed to get behind the Hornet's Nest late on day 1 pivoted and fired at the advanced Union artillery, hitting and silencing them. This left them open to an attack on their rear by McCook's division, which duly overran them and exploited to threatened the flank of rebel troops just beyond the Hornet's Nest.
This would prove a grave error, as the Confederates pulled back smartly and Confederate artillery enfiladed McCook. The gap in the line was repaired in a trice. On the Union right, Lew Wallace went forward. The separate battle of the day before continued, this time with the Union attacking.
WHL Wallace flanked the rebel guns and forced them to pull out. This would backfire.
Lew Wallace drove back the first line with bayonets but was savavged by the rifle fire of the second line.
McCook came under severe and accurate enfilade fire. Ouch.
Lew Wallace charged again and was thrown back.
Union guns arrived to cover McCook's flank.
With success.
McClernand had some troops rejoin after wandering in the woods overnight. This led to a charge that was repulsed.
On the Union left, Clark moved forward, joined by the guns that had recently been pushed back. The combined firepower was deadly.
In the center, Nelson finally arrived after a two-turn rest break and made a charge that was stopped by rifle fire.
On the last turn, the battered Union right was unable to more than rally in place.
The rebels held Shiloh Church for a tie. There were a lot of casualty markers.
We played 5 turns in a little under 2 hours. Final losses were some 22 Union infantry bases (!) with 5 run away and 1 artillery knocked out. 7 or 8 of the infantry losses were from day 2. The Confederates lost 8 infantry bases with 1 having fled, 1 cavalry lost and 1 fled, and 2 artillery bases.
On one hand, a tie didn't do much for the Confederates in the strategic situation, on the other ghastly Union losses would have Grant's critics baying for Grant's head. Would Lincoln be able to keep him?
I thank Ken for letting us see what the second day at Shiloh looks like. This is the first time in five games that we've played the second day.
Rick said he thought 5 turns wasn't enough for the Union player to attempt retaking Shiloh. I agreed. We also thought that the reason Beauregard fell back was because the Confederate army was near breaking.
The second day has a lot to do with how the field looks at the end of the first day. I may be wrong but it seems that the forward deployment of Prentiss resulted in extremely heavy losses.
bases them up.
