"Champion Hill 1863 Scenario help request" Topic

Hi all,

I am putting together a Scenario for our yearly ACW game and I am looking at the above battle.

I have the Across A Deadly Field Scenario book and that has an excellent map / orbat to work from.

My question is, having looked through the orbats, is in relation to the morale classes and weapons of the troops involved.

AADF has all the Union Troops as either Veteran or Elite all armed with Rifle Muskets. I can see the weapon being right but were ALL the army that good ?

The Confederates too are virtually all Veteran or Elite bar 8 trained units in Bartons and Cummings Brigades all are armed with Rifle Muskets too.

Would the Rebs have at least a smattering of Smoothbore or Mixed Musket units ?

We will be using Johnny Reb 2 as our rules. ACW is not my specialist subject so any help would be great.

Regards Ken
yarkshiregamer.blogspot.co.uk

The Confederates may have been better armed than you give them credit for. Grant commented that after the surrender of Vicksburg, some of his regiments upgraded by swapping out their muskets for captured CSA weapons. Perhaps worth remembering that Union small arms are travelling south and west from the east coast seaports and New England factories, while at least some Confederate weapons are moving north and east from Texan and Mexican ports.

And from accounts I've read of the battle, the regiments on both sides fight well, so the ratings may be right. The problem was getting the corps and division commanders to follow orders.

Nice to see someone else still using Johnny Reb 2! It is my rules set of choice for ACW operational-level. It seems to have held on better in the UK than in the USA. I hope to put on a game at Historicon 2018.

I have not actually seen the rules for Across a Deadly Space, but my impression was that the figure ratio is quite different from Johnny Reb 2. How are you adapting the orbat?

Thanks Robert, as I say it's not my chosen subject on Mastermind! I had read about Union Troops upgrading their weapons on the day it was just unusual for everything to be Rifled in the orbat. In absence of anything else I will use the orbat as is then.

Hi Grumble, a fellow JRII player hooray!

Although I enjoy looking at other sets of rules I generally stick to a set I like and know rather than Change for change sake or a new trendy rule set. Here in the UK I am lucky enough to have a permanent set up and the same guys play each time we game so there is no pressure to change rule sets to obtain opponents.
Regards the orbat the printed version gives number of men so it's a straight forward job to convert to a 1:20 ratio to give a number of figs. We have a large stock of units based in the JRII 5 stand way with 3,4,5 and 6 figure bases so we can put together anything.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Ken, are you a member of the Johnny Reb Yahoo Group? The author of the scenario you are referencing (Dean West) frequents the group and can likely shed some light on your questions.

Ken,

I've asked a friend about your questions. He is a local expert of the Battle of Champion Hill. As soon as I get a response, I'll post it for everyone's edification.

Personally I'm not sure all of the Union troops should be veteran or elite. I believe that some of the regiments of McClernand's corps were only raised over the winter and early spring of 1863 and had not "seen the elephant" yet.

Jim

Hi all,

Thanks ColCampbell that's very kind of you, I look forward to the answers.

Hi BTC, I am part of the Yahoo group, or was, I haven't looked at my Yahoo groups in ages but I will try and dig out my Id etc and log back in.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

I had heard the same thing in regards to the weapons of Grant's army.

I still play JR2 as well!

Sounds like you have enough info now, but if you want another take on it, Vincent Tsao's Champion Hill scenario for BBB is freely available in the files of the BBB Yahoo group.

Good luck with your game!
Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
link
bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk