Advisory Note

Please Note: This blog contains poorly painted toy soldiers that may offend those of an aesthetically sensitive disposition.

Monday, 30 December 2019

Bottleneck by the Lake (OHW #24)

Introduction

A brief battle was fought this morning in my on-going ACW "campaign" (in its loosest possible definition). I chose a scenario from One Hour Wargames but used The Portable Wargame rules. In case you don't have the book, Scenario 24 (Bottleneck) pits a small force (in this case the Union Army) against a larger force in a tight space - the original map has a little space to the right of the lake but I removed that option forcing all the action to be along the road. The Lake is of course inaccessable; the Rebels' scouts have also mistakenly determined the woods to be too dense to allow movement. In fact a unit of Federal skirmishers control the woods and is the only force that has access to them. The objective of the Confederate force is to complete the game with no Union troops within one grid square of the road.
Cheeky use of image from Plastic Soldier Review

The Game

Looking for a way to out flank the Federal Army, General Gilder despatches a force along the road that runs to the West of Lake Constance. Scouts report that a smaller force of Union troops is positioned to the North of the Lake. 

Turn 1 - Rebel force arrives from the South (bottom of pic)

Cavalry melee begins (and lasts the whole game!)

Skirmishers open fire from the woods


Rebels approach the main Union force

Disaster! The Union commander is killed and they reach Exhaustion Point 

Despite not being able to make further moves the Union Army holds the Rebel force

The Scenario worked exactly as the name suggests; an initial bottleneck on the road, coupled with some spectacularly bad dice rolls, held up the Confederate advance. Even though the Fereral Army reached Exhaustion Point early on, the Rebs couldn't break their resolve. The Confederate artillery took a few long distance shots but made no impression on the defenders, and it was left to the infantry (that had got past the ambush from the woods) to slug it out. The Greys reached their own Exhaustion Point at Turn 10 ending the game.


14 comments:

  1. Great report Jack, it's a fun scenario and looks like it worked well with the portable wargames rules.

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    1. Thanks Mr Sprinks! I'm hopefully going to try a few more in the near future..

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  2. Airfix... The only figures suitable for ACW games.

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  3. I remember this box art well!
    Nifty little scenario. I really ought to get some of these OHW scenarios on the table.

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    1. I recommend the scenarios for nice quick games - Neil Thomas has done a fine job.

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  4. Looks a fun game and great to see the Airfix chaps.

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    1. Thanks Tradgardmastare! I think it should be a New Years resolution - More Airfix toy soldiers playing more wargames!

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  5. A pleasing little action. The thing about the Airfix box art was that the landscape had (I thought) a uniquely ACW 'feel' to it. The Confederate box was the same.

    But this all reminds me - I still have that 'Stonewall in the Valley' Campaign to finish...

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    1. Thanks Archduke. The boxes were a big part of the pleasure of Airfix soldiers, a bit like LP covers!

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  6. This shows why it'd be handy to have some boats in your train.

    Still can't go wrong with Airfix!
    All the best in 2020!

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    1. So true!
      Thanks Ross and best wishes to you and yours for the coming year

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  7. Thanks for this report, bringing back very nostlagic memories from the very early 70s of myself and one other buying every box of ACW figures in a 3 mile area that we could find for our Wargames group. (some 50-60 boxes iirc)

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    1. Wow that must have been some Plastic Mountain Joe!
      It's amazing how important these figures are to so many people!

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