My ACW armies are back!

 Last week John and I fought an ACW battle using my rebased armies. So technically it was a sort of inaugural affair. I would like to thank Shaun Bryant again for taking the trouble to rebase my armies, he did a wonderful job, and yes Tony, Shaun and John you were right, the figures look better on 40mm bases as opposed to my initial 50mm ones.

 John and I are totally won over by Dave Brown's Pickett Charge rules and although we hadn't fought a ACW game for several months it all came flooding back very quickly. We decided to fight with only five brigades of infantry and a brigade of cavalry. To spice things up we diced for each regiment to see what status they were classed as, ie Green, Regular, Old Lags, Veteran and Elite.

 As I had lost the choice of armies and had been given? the Union I opted to confuse John by making my feared Irish Brigade all Green. Actually what it shows is just how pants my dice throwing can be.The beauty of being a green regiment is that they are easier to initiate charges but poorer at changing formation or firing. It reflects their lack of experience of the war and their naivety [stupidity] in being willing to attack an entrenched enemy. My Irish didnt disappoint.

 Again in an effort to confuse John, one of my regiments of zoaves was also Green. It didnt matter when it came down to fighting as they were just poor anyway.

Seizing the bull by the horns I opted for a strong attack through the centre whilst ignoring the fact that John had placed his cavalry on my weaker flank. Big mistake. Normally cavalry are more of a nuisance than a battle winner except of course when they are facing me.

On the other flank I placed my cavalry who were thrown at a heavy skirmish line of two regiments.They cleared them and then were battered by the Tiger's who were a veteran unit, naturally and forced to retire after being 'whipped.'

I thought I was doing well in the centre as John struggled to get a brigade moving thus allowing my Irish to pile forward. John did however manage to place one regiment behind the fences and although repeatedly charged were able to turn back each successive wave. Realistic probably, galling definitely.

My Irish Brigade, ALL green eager chaps.

                                                        Rebel Headquarters.

The high point of the Union attacks, ONE battered regiment of Green troops finally drives off the rebels and is able to clamber over the fences. The rest of their brigade looks on in wonder and exhaustion.

These cornfields proved a pain all day for my troops. Not helped when a rebel rabble charged out of the fields into the flank of my zoaves.

Meanwhile the Rebel Cavalry stopped skirmishing and charged my right flank which buckled immediately simply because they couldn't shoot for toffee. Once the one regiment was 'whipped' the rebels piled into my artillery who somehow failed to empty any saddles!

It was a magnificent charge and I would have done exactly the same if I had been in John's position.

Union Headquarters where confusion reigned most of the day.

                                             A couple of over views of the battlefield.