Ist Corps...by old Glory!

Today, Ian brought his newly painted 1st corps (Army of the Potomac) company to take on my Confederates.

We decided the time had come to fight in the western theatre, so the Union troops would look ok with their hats, and my Virginians were always painted to act as Georgia/Tennessee troops at a pinch, so Tennesseans it was!

Lawrence took the Tennesseans right platoon on a hill. I took the left. Our plan was to surge through the woods to our front  and take the house, the aim of our game.

 We deployed alternately with the other side, and saw the Union had deployed differently to our expectations, in a clear area away from the house!

Ah well, no plan of battle survives first contact with the enemy, so they say! 

These are Ian's new 'Black hats' - on their maiden outing!

 The Union got to move first, and advanced in 2 offset lines.

To my great surprise, they halted and fired at extreme range! 

We, of course, immediately returned fire...

Our skirmishers on our right took the whole volley. 

 Our fire caused heavy casualties on the Black hats. 

 The Federals, undeterred, sent their second platoon to the front. 

 They fired.

Shooting over the skirmishers, Lawrences men took several casualties. 

 We, in turn, withdrew our front rank men, allowing the second line to shoot.

 Phil's platoon took casualties to match Ian's! 

Once reloaded, another volley from the Feds again targeted Lawrence.

 The Feds were clearly trying to eliminate Lawrences men, leaving me alone.

 Having reloaded too, we returned fire.

Unlike the Federal fire, ours seemed to wound rather than kill most often. 

 Switching lines again, the Federals fired a devastating volley at the hill.

The Confederates reeled...

 The skirmishers were hit especially hard... 

2 sections, including the skirmishers, skedaddled! 

We still had plenty of men though, and fired back. 

 The Union line was filled with a plethora of red wound markers, but again, not many dead. They kept passing morale checks though!!! 

 They fired another volley... 

 Another of Lawrence's sections was shredded.

The survivors headed back to Tennessee! 

 My platoon was still almost untouched though, and fired. 

 The Federal line was ragged, but still held its ground!

Fire from both sides was becoming less damaging as both sides lost volume of fire, the next Union volley only caused a couple of casualties on Lawrence's men.

 With little chance of a victory, both sides now gratefully fell back to lick their wounds and bury their dead. 

This had not been a game of manoeuvre, but a simple shooting match. Perhaps not the best type of game to play, but the terrain, and the Union decision to try and fight in the open made a slugging match unavoidable!