Hypothetical Valley Campaign Overview

After a long spell away from wargaming and posting on my blog (teach and coach so summer is my time to play) I have found it time to try a ACW campaign within the realm of wargaming.  However, following a historical campaign has significant limitations.  To that end I am using historical OOBs which come from the books of my good friend John M. Priest, author of a number of great Civil War books, but with the intention of running my own version of the Valley Campaign.

I am using a historical Valley Campaign map but the OOBs come from John's latest book Stand to and Give them Hell which covers the second day of Gettysburg.  My original intention was to recreate the Battle of Gettysburg using John's OOBs but my interest has always been on the Valley Campaign.  By using totally different OOBs for this campaign I am not inclined to follow any historical pattern.

My campaign I am running solo.  This makes it really hard to out think myself or not lean in a bias process one way or the other.  To that end I have taken the concept behind the Saga rule set and tailored that idea for a solo campaign.

My basic campaign rules set, sorry its sideways, allows for the use of six dice.  Two must be used to activate a unit. Once done, orders are given to march in a general direction.  Orders have to be given (fortunately I keep having an extra 5 on remaining dice so I can maintain position).  General orders can then be given using remaining dice or not given.  I added at the bottom right of each sheet special battle abilities which enable a unit to either go in with 150% ammo, automatically conduct a flank march or enable them to march (within C&G II) up to 900 yards for the first four turns without suffering penalties (figured just for kicks).

Campaign Map

This is just a screen shot from a ppt slide.  I took the map which I found online, put it in paint and colored in the waterways, roads (all different colors) and made a key.

As I move troops, apply the actions, etc I will update the map.  Simple.

My rule set is Carnage and Glory II.  Great rule set...http://www.carnageandgloryii.com/...you can't go wrong with a program that can monitor weather, ammo, fatigue, casualties, leadership losses and compile all of it so you can either run it as a campaign or reset the oobs.  

I could write my own post about it but I find that using JJ's write up from JJ's Wargame is the best way to learn about it.  He has already written extensively about it so to learn more go here......http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2014/01/carnage-glory-ii-whats-it-all-about-then.html

Side Note: JJ's Wargame is in itself amazing and is my inspiration when painting and wargaming.

My next post, to follow very shortly will outline the premise and structure of my campaign....

1st Kernstown Table/Board

I have completed 90% of the Valley Army under Thomas J Jackson in  March 1862.

As I've stated before I use Carnage and Glory II as my rules.   I find them very good and it punish the person who uses poor tactics while factoring in ammo, terrain, weather, morale, etc. at the same time.

I have run two solo 1st Kernstown games.  The table I used was 6x5, and to be honest it was just too big.  It took forever to move troops.  With this in mind I am taking a page out of the guys who put together the Alter of Freedom rule/website.  My board will be significantly smaller.  Just in putting things together as a template it looks much better, although it feels strange with such a small board.  I posted a pic at the end.

In both my 1st Kernstown games the Confederates suffered 24% and 20% casualties while the Federals suffered 7% and 3% respectively.  The first time I used 1 inch equals 50 yards.  Although this worked ok for faster movement it didn't really seem to fit 6mm.  I use 1 inch equals 50 yards for 18mm.  So I redid my measuring sticks (C and G have specific rulers - they are cool) to 1 inch equals 150 yards (taken from the Alter of Freedom guys).  This worked better but made the 6x5 board way too big.

As for casualties, the Confederates have a mixture of good and bad rifles, so do the Federals but that Federal artillery just eats Confederates for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Its murderous.  The first solo game saw the Confederates get eaten up in a head on assault towards Prichards Hill.  The second solo game saw two enveloping attacks which resulted with the Federals occupying good defensive ground in woods on their right flank with Kimball's troops.  Given this position the Confederate attack against these forces in the woods caused three of the five regiments of Garnett's command to rout after serious casualties.  The Confederate right flank pushed hard into Sullivan and was supported by guns but could not break the Federals.  Now would have been the time to launch the reserves at Prichards hill and drive the Federal guns off, but with the Stonewall brigade unable to keep the Federals occupied on the Confederate left it would have not been a good move.  Also at that time word came that Tyler had arrived with his command and was somewhere nearby.  So the Confederates withdrew....and there were 20% casualties to contend with.

Typically I play the C and G Napoleonic rules.  This is my second time with the ACW rules.  I have to say that the rifles of the ACW period are bloody murderous!  Closing on your enemy is a death sentence in many cases, and if you happen to have a unit that has to get within 200 yards of an opponent to fire at long range, and the opponents optimal range is 300  plus yards, say goodbye to your unit because it will not survive long enough to get more than one volley off.

I can see why R.E. Lee used woods to neutralize Federal superiority; why old soldiers went prone and did their fire fight instead of "charge valiantly", and why it is critical in C and G to use tactics.  Fall back, regroup, send i skirmishers, but don't just march in to the fire.

I did not send in a unit or two as skirmishers for the Confederates but i know now that my habit of using them when playing the Napoleonic rules for C and G will stay in place.

Lastly, I am posting a picture of the board I am making for 1st Kernstown.  This styrofoam board consists of three parts and use some recycled pieces I obtained from when we bought cabinet and it was surrounded by styrofoam. (My wife thinks I'm nuts)  Although white styrofoam, and I know it is not the best, its cheap and serves as my first official battlefield board.  It comes in three parts.  It is a total of 2 feet 7 inches by four feet 10 inches.  It'll work.

I have mapped out my hills, roads and water course and carved out the water course.  I vacuumed up those white little puffs after carving out the water water course with a dermal tool.  I will probably use the water down pvc glue - paper towel - pvc glue method.  I will post pictures as I go.  

You see the board as the Confederate player.  Prichard's hill is in the center.  Roads are drawn in, water curse is carved out.  I will probably use cork board for the hills but I am kicking around another method I saw the Alter of Freedom boys show recently.  Probably cork board though since its my first attempt.

If this works I believe this will be my new method of playing, and I will eventually buy 6mm NAPs and Great War figures from Baccus (via Scale Creep Miniatures) and continue this battle board process.

1st Kernstown Scenario Test

The goal was to play test the OOBS via Carnage and Glory.

Jackson's Valley Army 1862 in 6mm

Below are pictures of my 6mm Confederate army of the Shenandoah commanded by Major General T.J. Jackson in 1862. This is the initial set up for Kernstown in March of that year. More units are being painted but this is the start.

Stonewall in the Valley by Robert G. Tanner

Great read on the valley campaign of 1862.  Gives a quality analysis of the Confederate action and fairly evaluates Jackson and his subordinates.  Jackson's early victories are certainly due more to luck than skill.

As i start the first of the 1862 valley battles this read has been particularly helpful in prepping for Kernstown. Jackson issues confusing orders, his subordinates are not experienced enough to manage the assault,  and it is amazing that the Confederates don't come away more mauled than they did. 

The book does a great job of highlighting the vital role the Valley campaign played in shaping the course of the war in the east during the spring of 1862. It also helps show Jackson's development into a military commander.  Poor at first but a market improvement. 

Tanners book was a great resource for getting a confederate perspective. I only wish there were more OOBs, but given that even the Confederate brigade commanders reports on strength are spotty and this due to loss of troops to fatigue or desertion, it can be overlooked.

The biggest concept I take away from this book is that Jackson lost more men from marching than from battles (these are no return men), and this casualty percentage matched those of R. E. Lee during the seven days battles.  Good thing for Jackson he didn't face a more capable Federal commander in 1862 or he would have gone down as an eccentric but unsuccessful Confederate leader.

Federal casualty markers

I always like the idea of marking the ebb and flow of battles in a game. Using carnage and glory as my rules system it makes this very easy. Each time there is combat action the computer registers the impact on the unit affected.  This makes it very easy to know how many casualty markers to put down at any given time.

The main problem I faced was acquiring enough markers to make this goal  of tracking the flow of battle visually happen. The simple solution presented itself when I came across paper figures at the following link.
ACW casualty figures

These are designed I believe for 28 mm figures. I just copied them into a word document,  shrunk them down to a size I liked and then printed them off. They needed only a little detail adjustments before printing to fit my happiness expectations.

I then cut them out and glued them on to small popsicle sticks I found in the craft section at Walmart.

The figures with all 6 icons equals major damage,  3 figures moderate damage, 2 figures equal as minor damage.

A little more work is needed to finish these off by cutting and pasting but the goal is to use up the 150 popsicle sticks in the process. Before that I need to complete by Confederate division. 2 brigades are underway at the moment.

Completed 6mm Federal Division

After a short delay due to a vacation I completed the first federal division to re fight the 1862 valley campaign.

The figures are baccus, based on a 60 x 40 base.

Regiments on parade. 3 brigades of 4 regiments each. 8 artillery batteries.  One battery base contains 2 guns.

Brigades marching to the attack. Front brigades were my experiment at adding more detail. Although I like the diorama effect I passed on using it for the other units and just based them. I will put officers and skirmishers on each base.