BG (Rob) Lyons won a great victory at Wilson Creek Missouri, Fall, 1861 yesterday!
We re-fought the Black Powder scenario of Wilson Creek where The Bing team took command of the Rebel forces and Rob commanded the Yankees. The first game 3 weeks ago was a minor rebel Victory and BG Lyons was killed almost in the exact same spot he died on in 1861. I did chop one turn off the scenario making it 9 turns and reminded the players that if you move more than one you DO NOT get to shoot. (we forgot that rule last week)
Turn one, 3 of the 6 Rebels BDE failed their command test and did NOT move… this allowed the Yanks to push forward and set up defensive lines and using their rifled musket range (16") to stay out of the Rebels Smoothbore range (12") The Yank musket fire took a toll on the rebels troops as Zach could not roll a save (3+ due to the woods and fences) to save his life…and in this early war game where stamina is only a 2, makes every hit HURT! Within 3 turns the Rebels were in trouble with 2 BDE's on the verge of breaking.
Ron's two Confed BDE pushed across the creek but on turns 3&4 one my BDE's failed command check and stay put!!! So by the end of turn 5 the rebels had taken a lot of KIAs and had two BDE broken and in retreat! While the Yanks were laughing, in fact one of Robs BDE's had not even taken a hit yet!
Then on turn 6 the Rebel Cav BDE arrived…they came in dismounted and march into a Yankee BDE flank, firing a deadly blast with their short range shotguns… finally breaking one of the Yankee BDE. Rob
Rob was now hoping for his one off board reserve BDE to arrive but he failed to pass its command roll to enter the game from turn 5-8!!! (They were lost in the wilds of Missouri!?)
Turn 6 was a bloody turn for both armies…Rob charged into one of the Shaken & Broken rebel BDE but found out that being bloody doesn't always mean beaten. They went 2 turns of hand to hand before the Rebels retreated back but not before they "whipped" (broke) the Yankee BDE too and sent it in retreat.
At the start of turn 8, both Armies were within ONE broken BDE of having a Broken Army!!! The Rebels continued falling back to defensive position and in hope of rallying (HOUSE RULE: we allow a broken BDE to be rallied by a Div or Army Commander after the Broken BDE makes at least one move to the rear) The rebels did fire on the attacking Yanks but to no avail, as Rob's save dice were HOT tonight!!!
In the Union Turn 8, Rob fired every piece of artillery at one Rebel unit in hopes to forcing it to go shaken and in turn break the BDE…it worked and 4 of the 6 Rebel BDE were now broken and in retreat and two BDE Generals were killed!
Union VICTORY at the end of turn 8!!! And Union off board reserves remains lost in the woods!
It was a fun game and Wilson Creek is a good scenario.
We will play ACW Black Powder again next week using the same OB's but I will change up the battle field some adding another road and a few more farms….this may prove deadly for these Stamina 2 Regt's… but a commander does not always get to choose his place of battle?
For his Victory at Wilson Creek BG Lyons (Rob) will get promoted to a command rating of "9" next week that is if Rob decides to command the Yankees again? :) I look forward to see if BG Lyons can continue his march thru Missouri and into Arkansas?
Look forward to your comments
SFC Retired
snapped some photos of games he didn't get a chance to play in at Council of Five Nations.