An ACW Campaign for Pickett's Charge

Myself and my friend Adam have decided to play another ACW campaign. We already played a campaign with the Longstreet ruleset some years ago. Our ACW figures have been languishing in boxes and it was time they saw the table again.

I have really enjoyed playing the two rulesets put out by David Brown in the last couple of years as published by TFL under the Reisswitz Press banner. I have played quite a bit of Général d'Armée with my friend Iannick in Montreal and have become quite comfortable with the ruleset. Pickett's Charge has similar mechanisms but the overall game is a little simpler. I liked playing Longstreet but I find that Sam Mustafa's rules, although superbly written in a very clear fashion, are pared down a little too much for my taste. I really enjoy the complexity of decision making that is the main characteristic of TFL rules in general. Yes, they are a little less clearly written (both Rich Clarke and Dave Brown use a much more conversational style of writing than Sam Mustafa) but if you do not overthink what is written, I actually find them quite intelligible. They are my first choice for Napoleonics and ACW.

I initially planned writing a historical campaign and I still do but Adam recommended that we use the campaign system in Longstreet. George A. had given me an excellent pamphlet he had written surrounding the Pea Ridge campaign which I plan to work on. But impatience and finding time has lead me to agree with Adam, especially after I saw the preliminary work he had done on translating the Longstreet campaign system in such a way that it can be used with the Pickett's Charge ruleset. I generally do not like playing a-historic or points based games but I think this is going to be OK.

The first step in making the Longstreet (LS) campaign work using the Pickett's Charge (PC) ruleset was dealing with the fact that LS is at the brigade level while PC is at the divisional level. Also LS uses the number of bases in a force to make a lot of decisions in respect to victory points, attrition, and reinforcements. In respect to PC, the most important command decisions are made by the ADC function which does not exist in LS. LS also has a set of campaign cards which are fun to use which we wanted to keep for our campaign.

Below, I will go through the LS Campaign section as laid out in the rulebook with our modifications. I will keep this updated as we go through the process. I think if you are unfamiliar with LS some of the following maybe a little puzzling but of course if interested you can always buy the ruleset.

Campaign Overview
The campaign will be 9 turns and will cover 1861-1865 with a varying number of games per year. We have decided to go with historical battles for our game set up in respect to terrain and victory conditions. The scenarios have been selected with respect to the historical situation during that specific year in order to balance out which side is the attacker and who is the defender. 

Game one will be the First Battle of Bull Run where the Union Army is the attacker. Forces utilized will be generated as below.

Green Rectangle defines terrain at scale of 1mm to 1m

Starting Forces
PC is a multi-brigade game but we are going to start with a small force that will increase as each game is played. Each army will have 6 large green infantry units, 1 standard green cavalry unit (the USA may subsitute infantry unit) and 1 three base mixed artillery battery. The player will arrange his army in 2 brigades with a composition of his choice.

In PC, each brigade gets an ADC as well as extras as determined by CiC. We have decided to double the brigade ADC complement for 1861 and increase it by 1.5 for 1862 (2 turns).  We will also add ADC's as follows:

• CSA 2 extra ADC's in 1861 (1 Battle)
• CSA 2 extra ADC's in 1862, USA 1 extra ADC (2 Battles)
• CSA/USA 2 extra ADC's in 1863 (3 Battles)
• CSA 1 extra ADC, USA 2 extra ADC's in 1864 (2 Battles)
• USA 2 extra ADC's in 1865 (1 Battle)

This is to reflect the changing fortunes of each side as the war progressed.


Epic Points
LS uses a system of Epic Points to accrue experience. A lot of it is based on the number of bases in combat etc. etc. I have to say that I always thought this was overly complex. This has been simplified as below.

• 2 points for each game played
• 1 point for a victory
• 1 point for each enemy dispersed unit as per PC

We are planning to use this system as a tool to increase the size our forces as well as the LS campaign cards. So an extra unit for each point gained in a turn. Limits on composition and total army size are discussed below.

The type of unit added is dictated in campaign card system but in respect to Epic System you add units as follows;
1862:  Large Green Units
1863: Large Green Units or Standard Regular Units.
1864: Standard Regular Units


Promotion
Dealt with by the ADC system as above. Instead the CiC gets to decide before each battle how he is going to field his army with the proviso that there is no less than 3 units and no more than 6 units in each brigade.

In respect to individual unit promotion, this happens through the campaign card system and through time after 1862 (first 3 battles). If a unit has survived the year and has </= 4 casualties at the end of the year, a green unit will be promoted to a regular unit and a regular unit will be promoted to veteran unit.


Battle Losses
In PC, each unit acquires casualties points with a standard sized unit being dispersed after 12 casualties. If the unit is dispersed it is lost but at the end of each game the number of casualties in the non-dispersed units will be reduced by 1/2 rounded up for each unit. So if a unit has 7 casualty markers at the end of a game, it will only carry over 4 casualties to the next game. It should be remembered that in PC units do not lose bases, they accrue attrition.

The only mechanism to shed attrition is through the ADC Rally Posting or the Serendipity Test Roll.


Reduction
Not in use.


Campaign Cards
At the end of a turn each player has a deck of campaign cards pertinent to the year and his army. Each player draws 4-6 cards depending on the year and can use them to improve or increase his army. We can not use all of them but can use most with some modification as below.

• New Artillery: as it written or add 1 standard unit of regular infantry
• Hail to the Chief : add 2 standard units of of regular infantry
• Sharpshooters: add 1 three base unit of veteran skirmishers
• Transfer: add 1 standard unit of veteran infantry
• CS Replacement:  add 1 standard unit of regular infantry
• Rebel Cavaliers: as written
• See the Elephant: Promote 1 unit from Green to Regular or Regular to Veteran and so on
• US Coloured Troops: add 1 large Green infantry unit
• Union Repeaters: +1CD to unit when firing

Maximum Army Size
LS lays out a minimum number of bases that each army may have, this ratio was converted to units as below for maximum army size.

Units include artillery, cavalry and infantry batteries and regiments. The player may have a maximum of 6 brigades, each having a minimum of 3 units (except in the case of attrition where it may be reduced to 2)

Artillery is limited to 4 batteries with a maximum of 6 guns (3 bases) but the CSA may only have one 3 base unit. One base artillery units are not allowed.

Cavalry is limited to 4 units for the CSA and 3 units for the USA.


So that is where we are now, I suspect a few things have been missed and some changes will be made.

updated 9-21-19

Longstreet Campaign: A Rebel Victory!

Myself and Adam had the final game in our American Civil War campaign last night at the Hobby Bunker. It was by far the longest game we had (going almost 4 hours), probably because of the difficulty of the scenario. Adam has been rolling for the scenarios and he rolled a 10, the River Crossing. This is a scenario we had not played before and looked like a difficult one for the attacker. Neither of us had an advantage in the dice roll for initial position so we decided, after some debate, to go with it. Of course, I lost the toss and ended up taking the attacker's role.

used with permission

Essentially we have a wide river that only can be crossed at 4 different fords. The defender sets up first after the additional 8 pieces of terrain have been laid. The attacker gets to place one additional ford as well as the two objectives. I placed the last ford to the bottom right and the two objectives as far apart as I could, I also broadened one ford (they were all 3 BW's wide) to 4 BW's.

I think Adam kept on thinking that I had a specific strategy, but really it was pretty simple........to get Epic Points by engaging in combat. I had a significant advantage in both troops numbers and some advantage in quality. I think in retrospect, I should have placed the broader ford to the right of the one I chose or to the central ford. I also should probably have placed the far right objective a little more west and  north.

I really wanted to split Adam's forces so he could not concentrate in one place, forcing him to hold some of his troops to the centre in reserve which he did. I did not really appreciate before the game that if Adam got entrenched on the far side of the ford, how difficult it would be to cross the ford or dislodge his troops.

The center of the battle from the confederate POV, those cannon were a big problem.

Far west of the battle with it's well protected objective.

I think the battle played out in a fairly historical sense. Artillery fire comprised the first third of the game, I believe we both placed our artillery batteries well and there was a lot of counter battery fire, with which I was generally successful. I believe by the end of the game Adam had lost 6 of his 9 cannon, while I had lost only one. Unfortunately, his cannon did cause significant infantry and cavalry loses before I was able to eliminate them from the game. I suppose I could have held back my infantry attack until my cannon had done their work, but that would have lengthened an already long game and have been pretty boring. Really I probably should have just raced to the fords in the hope of arriving before the rebels and hopefully not too badly mauled.

I was able to eventually advance my troops to position where they were able to get in position and cross over the river, I think I did get three infantry units over ultimately. It was very difficult though as Adam had by then entrenched so all my infantry fire was skirmish (hit on 6's only) and all attacker melee was hit on 5 or 6 as I was fighting against troops in cover from difficult terrain. The Union troops also had to suffer canister fire from the remaining Rebel cannon, before they could engage the Rebel infantry.

By now I had lost 18 stands to Adams's 12 with a breakpoint of 22, fortunately Adam lost the first morale test so I got to have another turn. Knowing it would be most likely my last, I threw the remaining troops of the 5th NY, the 7th Wisconsin and the 54th Massachusetts against the rebel troops in an attempt to gain an Epic Point (I had 15 bases, so one EP). All were in poor combat position but both the 54th and the 5th had an even chance of winning their combats.

And lo and behold, Adam plays the Old Rivals card on the 54th...........immediately halting their attack! There was really not much to do then but withdraw and concede the game to Adam. Well played. Victory to the Rebels by 1 Epic Point.

You can see Adam's AR on his blog the Fencing Frog. This was my first campaign and it was enormous fun. I really have to thank Adam as he lugged all the terrain to the Hobby Bunker for each game and lent me a Union army until I got my own troops in place. Longstreet is a great game and I felt the campaign system was very well designed. We are hoping to get a multi player campaign started.

Well what is next for Thursday game night at the Hobby Bunker? Well myself and Adam are going to initiate a Dux Britanniarum campaign so we will finally see the return of the Chronica Iohannes.

Longstreet Campaign: Game 8

Our 8th and penultimate battle was fought at the Hobby Bunker June 26. We played the Crossroads scenario for a second time and I elected to defend. 

used with permission

I set up my artillery on both flanks but this was a bit of a mistake as Adam's main thrust was towards the centre. It took me quite a bit of time (ie near the end of the first deck) to get them brought into battle.

Adam's initial attack was quite successful and I was thrown back and he captured the crossroads to earn himself an Epic Point. I was also a little unlucky with my deck as all my interrupt cards were very slow in coming. It really did look quite grim but eventually my cannon were brought to bear and I was able to defeat the Rebels. It was a very close game though and we both I believed played quite well. I lead going into the last game by 1 Epic Point. You can see the complete AR on Adam's blog the Fencing Frog.

146th NY being pummeled in combat.

My post game process was so-so, I got 2 Light Artillery cards which were of little benefit. But the Priority card will be quite useful in the last battle and with the See the Elephant and Hail to the Chief cards I was able to improve my units. But the best card was the US Coloured Troops which allow me to field a 10 base regiment of eager troops. You can see the full post battle process below.

As you can see two new units have entered the fray (still need to base them), the 19th Indiana and the 54th Massachusetts. I see that Adam has had two more Longstreet games at the Whiz and he has a many experienced troops. He has been a formidable opponent. 

Well we will see how it goes, the Campaign deciding game is in two days. Stay tuned.

Longstreet Campaign: Game 7

Almost a month since my last post, and gaming activity almost down to zero. I have been finishing up some Soviet vehicles, but otherwise on the painting front........zero. The Drive on Minsk-1941 Chain of Command campaign at the Hobby Bunker has trickled down to zero, I do not think I have had a game since January, but maybe it was even before Xmas. It is always a challenge for me to game on a regular basis as as I work shifts and every second weekend but unfortunately the other players involved appear also to have had multiple distractions. Hoping for a game in early July. I have had my June, 1944 Operation Tonga campaign for the same group ready to go since April!

Then there is the tragedy of Iannick's knee. He had elective surgery on it in February and he is still not up. He has been my regular opponent and excellent gaming friend since the start of my interest in the hobby, we usually have a game every 6-8 weeks alas now none since last year. Life is just not the same without lugging figures and terrain to Montreal. Hopefully though a game in early August.

Finally there has been my Longstreet Campaign with Adam. Now is Adam is a gamer, from his blog I get a sense he gets in at least two games a week. So meeting and getting to game with him on a regular basis has been great. That has been a little slow as well unfortunately but hopefully our next game will be next week. We did get to play the last Thursday in May, and I finally gained a significant victory. We replayed the Walled Farm Scenario.

used with permission

Adam won the toss and elected to be the defender. I placed almost all my terrain choices in the middle in front of the farm. I have become quite apprehensive of Adam's superiority in artillery, and wanted to advance under cover. You can see the AR on Adam's blog. He was a little unlucky with the dice, but I think I played a pretty good game defeating him just after one deck.

The post game process is quite interesting in Longstreet and it all went well without too much attrition until the Campaign Card draw. I pulled 3 artillery cards which were of little value to me, aside from being able to upgrade to another heavy artillery battery. The Name in the Papers did allow me to pull ahead in Epic Points, but I have always found this card a little unfair. I was hoping to get the Coloured Troops card, my only route to Eager troops or at least a See the Elephant card, but nada. I did however finally get promoted up to a Major General, I think Adam must be the equivalent of a Marshall of France by now!

You can see Adam's post game process here. He still has a force with which to be reckoned as you can see.

Other things:

• Well the Habs lost to the Rangers but a great season!
• I just received my Soviet troops for my Winter war project, I selected TQD Castings and the figures are just great, plan to have 3 squads of Soviet regulars and 1 squad of NKVD. I think they are going to look very good.
• Hopefully will have some images of my Soviet vehicles up soon.
• The next Longstreet battle will see the debut of the 146th NY.

Longstreet Campaign: Game 6

This is a bit of a late update. I have been quite busy at work, have been really stuck into the progress of the les habitants through the Stanley Cup Playoffs (including driving to Montreal and see their stupendous victory over the Bruins in game 6) as well as trying to get my ACW army based.

used with permission

For our sixth game we played the Meeting Engagement scenario. I took the attacker side. The game started off well enough, but Adam is just getting better and better at playing Longstreet and I got trounced yet again. His artillery supremacy was also quite a challenge, but he is quite a willy player and now for the first time in our campaign he has pulled ahead in Epic points. You can find the AAR on his blog The Fencing Frog.

Our next game is scheduled for next Thursday, this is a full 4 weeks since the last game so I am hoping that Adam has become a little rusty! Unfortunately although I now have the advantage in the cards, he still really has a good army whose ranks are stuffed with eager veteran troops.

Adam's Order of Battle for 1864

This is quite a challenge as you can see from my OB, which is filled with seasoned units. I did get a good draw on the campaign cards and now have a complete artillery regiment with 3 full batteries.

My Order of Battle

Anyway the exciting thing about the next battle is that we will see the debut of my own troops. Many thanks to Adam's friend Cortland who has lent his troops to date. I hate basing, but I got all the troops done that I need for the next battle and their flags fortuitously arrived this week. Still have 4 more infantry and 2 more cavalry regiments to base, as well as one more heavy rifle artillery battery unit with 3 more limbers (not yet painted). But here I present the first six infantry, one cavalry and 3 artillery units.

From back to front the 24th Michigan (mixed iron brigade regular army uniforms), the 19th Maine (thought these northern boys wold need havelars) as well as 7th Wisconsin (lead unit of the iron brigade).

Lovely flags from Flagdude

From back to front the 15th Massachusetts, the 1st Minnesota (in firing line without bayonets) and the 5th New York (hard to do a unit army without some zouaves) 

Wait until you see the 146th New York in their sky blue uniforms.

The 6th Ohio both mounted and unmounted.

Three batteries with their limbers, have a unit of howitzers,  12 pd smoothbore as well as  10pd Parrotts  light rifles.

Longstreet Campaign: Game 5

We had game 5 in our Longstreet campaign last Thursday and I have to say that the Union forces (me) got completely crushed, it is the most lop-sided game we have played. I am not sure what really happened but a series of snake-eyes on the German dice and the fact that I did not get any red-bannered interrupt cards in my hand until the end of my first deck (and then had 5 at one time) did not help. I suspect that maybe my tactics were not the best either!

We played scenario 8, The Cornfields.

used with permission

I again lost the toss (it was a tie) and ended up being the defender. I set up a token force to my right flank and my cavalry to my left, with the bulk of the forces being in the centre. I got off to a good start as I had a quickstep card in my first 6 cards, but it went down hill quickly after that. I quickly took some hits and my dice absolutely failed when I tried to fight back. Before I new it the confederates were all over me and that was sort of it. You can find the AR on Adam's blog, the Fencing Frog.

Notwithstanding the horrible loss of stands during the game, my post battle process went rather well and I did earn some Epic Points, and our campaign is now tied. I am going in our next battle with finally a numerical superiority (as should be the case in late 1863) of stands, but very weak in artillery.

As you can see above, most of my units are not small, and I was able to get rid of some cautious units (weak in combat offense) by forming a new provisional cavalry unit and adding to the provisional infantry unit. Still when you compare my forces to Adam's as you see below, he still has a significant number of infantry units with eager élan (strong in combat offense), a challenge to be sure. You can also see that his units are almost all veterans (strong in shooting and combat defense)

Anyway the last battle of 1863 is scheduled for next Thursday, I will really have to start cutting down his forces and do something with all those guns.

A bit of good news though, Fernando has completed the painting of my Union army and they should be leaving Sri Lanka shortly. The photos look good, I plan to apply some washes when they arrive and they have to be based. I am still unsure about their OB, but still 1-2 weeks to think about it I suppose.

The Longstreet Campaign: Game 4

Another game was played in our excellent American Civil War campaign at the Hobby Bunker last Thursday night. Again the rebel forces led by Adam claimed victory. But as we all know this is a war of attrition and my noble Union forces again initiated many heroic combats and are still holding on to lead. We know it is all about strategy rather then tactics!

This time we played the Clear the Tree Line scenario. I had a good look at it before the game, it definitely seemed an advantage to be the defender here, but this was the first game in our campaign where I did not have the advantage in choice by pulling the Broken Code campaign card in the previous post game process and of course Adam won the toss and I ending up being the attacker.

used with permission

You can see the basic layout of the table as above, in this game the terrain placement phase was going to be pretty important as the attacker gets to place the objective. My initial plan was to place the objective on Rebel's left flank where there was a clearing so my attack would not be encumbered by the cover provided by the trees. I pulled a stream as my first terrain card, and placed it running vertically  through the Confederate set up area, thus forcing the bulk of the Confederate forces to set up to their right flank thus making them expend valuable cards to cross it to protect the objective. Well what do they say about the best laid plans, Adam promptly laid down a ford across the stream. So we continued to lay the terrain mostly to the left Confederate flank and of course I then decided to of course to change my plan and place the objective on the Confederate right flank!

I set up first and as you can see from above the objective was very well protected. In previous battles the rebel cavalry had been used to great advantage, and in this battle I added a large unit of Union cavalry and I planned to use them. The Union forces advanced rapidly to my right Rebel flank and the objective but of course my blue riders get decimated by the Rebel guns.

At this point I felt my initial plan was going to fail, I had just lost too many troops to the guns, but I ordered the troops to get stuck in and order a massive frontal assault all along the Rebel line. Up until then the dice gods had been against me, but I felt my luck was about to change. I got rid of the White Hand of Saruman dice and pulled out the good old Westphalia dice. 

Adam cleverly plays Couldn't hit an Elephant  as well as the Old Rivals cards so my initial charge gets somewhat delayed and my troops get a good chewing up by rifle and grapeshot fire. But they are resolute and launch a massive engagement gaining me two Epic Points.

I won all combats by a decisive margin aside from one, which was a tie and at this point I was able to carry through with an advance to the objective. My clever use of the Trackless card limited Adam's response and lo and behold my much weakened 4th US Cavalry unit was able to capture the objective and gain an Epic Point.

At this point I wanted to finish the game and gain a victory. I was very close to my Shatter Point, but alas I rushed it and launched a second charge when really I should have been more patient and readjusted my lines. Adam was able to recover and charge my very tenuous position and he recaptured the objective so I lost that hard earned Epic Point. I had reached my Shatter Point and the victory was Adam's.

Well it was a great game again, Adam is a much more patient player then I, and he has now gained 3 victories in our 4 games. My impetuous style though has kept me ahead in the Campaign and lead by one point. I am going to have to be much more careful though in our upcoming games as I am burning through the troops and Adam had a relatively successful post game process and has now many veteran units, and more cavalry and guns then I going into our next battle.

Adam's Roster mid 1863

John's Roster mid 1863

The Longstreet Campaign: Game 3

Myself and Adam had our third game in our American Civil War campaign last Thursday, it was the best game of Longstreet I have had yet (probably because I am starting to understand the rules). Adam has posted an action report on his blog with plenty of photos. Have a look.

This time we played Scenario 1, "Outflanking" from the book, I again had the advantage in choice, so I picked being the attacker. It was an interesting scenario in that terrain placement was going to be obviously important as well as the need to be quickly advance the troops.

used with permission

I placed the majority of my troops on my right flank, with a small force to my left just to keep the CSA distracted. They were all placed in column so to rapidly advance. As you can see from the photo below, I was pretty successful in moving the troops on my right to the objective which I captured with relative ease. The objective is the large command base in the left foreground.

Adam is quite wily and although I had launched a massive assault to the right...........

he was carefully planning the same on my abandoned left. My union infantry battalion took it from behind with a small harrying cavalry regiment. Adam is quite clever with his cavalry, and uses them just at the right time.............

................and causing this unit to break and me losing the game.

My troops were heroic though and we gained a lot of Epic points and in the post game process I actually gained 3 more points just pushing me 1 point ahead of Adam in the campaign.

In the campaign we are now entering 1863 and the north is now starting to gear up their industrial might and manpower advantage. 

I am really enjoying this campaign and ruleset and the great news is that Fernando has now received my Blue Moon miniatures and has started painting. Hopefully I will see my own ACW miniatures within a couple of months.

Anyway for the next battle I have added a large US cavalry regiment, which I hope I will be able to counter the rebel riders.

The Longstreet Campaign: Game 2

Myself and Adam had our second game of Longstreet last Thursday at the Hobby Bunker, again Adam has posted an AAR on his blog The Fencing Frog. Unfortunately the game was quite intense and we never took many photos. 

In this my second game, I focused on utilizing the cards as well as their intrinsic abilities. Longstreet is complex game with a simple mechanic. In my first game I was just trying to get an overview. The card driven aspect of the game is great and really everything depends on saving the best cards and playing them at just the right time. For my next game I plan to focus on terrain and well as the innate qualities of the units in respect to shooting and combat. The mechanics of shooting and combat are very similar to Lasalle.

We played the Walled Farm scenario, and as I had the Broken Code campaign card from the first game, I got a +2 on scouting roll. I subsequently won and chose to be the defender. 

used with permission

I set up all my cannon in the middle and my infantry on each flank, with one cavalry unit and an infantry unit in reserve. Adam essentially set up in the centre of his deployment zone. Here we can see some of the action mid game, but more on Adam's blog.

Well I did score a victory, and earned 4 more Epic Points, I am now only 3 points behind Adam, and the Union does get stronger through each year of the war. The post game process is a lot of fun, essentially you see how many troops die of illness and remove their bases from your roster. You also pull campaign cards which can reinforce or upgrade your troops and also may give you an advantage going into the next game. Here is my roster as it now stands going into game 3.

Other Things

Acquiring some ACW forces: Well the money has been sent and I am hoping to have a fairly hardy Union army in 2-3 months from Fernando and Blue Moon miniatures. I have never utilised a painting service in the past, but I suspect I will be pleased.

The Painting Challenge: Well I still have a number of figures painted that I have not submitted, this includes a platoon of Panzer Grenadiers, some Sharpe Practice forces, a small unit of  FIW figures that are almost done and hopefully some more Winter War Finns, but alas I will not meet my goal of 1500 points. C'est la vie.

Normandy Campaign Terrain: This is pretty well done aside from the base board itself (which is the easiest part). I am about to put together a 4Ground shed and hoping it will size out with my Italeri houses. I suspect I will have this ready for April, the Soviet campaign I am currently involved in is going quite slow, so the timing will work out.