The fourth battle in my OHW mini campaign is probably the least interesting of the 30 scenarios in the book. I have added a road, and a building that represents the toll booth for a now removed turnpike, to the otherwise symmetrical landscape. These have no affect on the game mechanics. The side with the largest surviving force at Turn 15 (or when both sides reach exhaustion point) will win. The two sides diced to see who would play Red (moves first each turn) and the CSA won. With this in mind I decided to play the CSA, under General Gilder, aggressively, and the Union force, led by General Wise, defensively.
Game 4 Pitched Battle, or the Battle of Gushville Turnpike
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| The two armies face each other across the Gushville Valley |
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| General Wise establishes himself on the hill known as Little Square Top |
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| CSA cavalry roar towards the Union's left flank |
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| The Union guns miss their mark |
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| Early action on the left flank |
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| Musket fire rings out across the valley - the Union side take hits |
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| The Blues fall back to the hill... |
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| ..and are soon at Exhaustion Point |
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| The CSA troops close in on Little Square Top |
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| The CSA hit EP and win the day |
General Wise and his surviving men escape, abandoning their guns, but with a chance left to stop the Confederate surge towards Scrubyville, the supply hub for the State of New Wiltshire.
Campaign Scoreboard after four games: USA 3 CSA 7
With 5 points on offer for the final game, can the Blues cause an upset?
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Perhaps the Union general would have been more “wise” to have spent less of his time watching his own artillery and more time using his telescope to observe the enemy forces 😉 Let’s hope he puts up a better performance in the forthcoming final battle ⚔️
ReplyDeleteFWIW I’ve just got a “village in a bag” from eBay - the buildings are most useful.
Cheers,
Geoff
Yes indeed, it all went sour due to some sharp shooting from the Greys, plus some truly awful dice throws from the Blues.
DeleteThe little wooden houses are very handy - some of the other bits are peculiar though!
Great campaign…loving the battles, and the ever increasing value of each win has certainly made it ‘all to play for’. Very amused by the Little Square Top reference…😁.
ReplyDeleteCheers Martin - yes it's been a lot of fun; I'm already starting to think about the next mini campaign!
DeleteThe worm definitely seems to have turned with the CSA holding the upper hand, still, all or nothing in the final engagement!
ReplyDeleteFrighteningly bad dice rolls for the Blues helped the CSA in this game!
DeleteThe action all seemed to favour CSA forces as they steadily drove back Union forces. I do like seeing the old Airfix figures, they always trigger memories from my youth.
ReplyDeleteA bad day for the Union Army. Many hours were spent playing with Airfix ACW figures, especially in the first half of the 1970s when they moved from the garden to the tabletop.
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