Rebels and Patriots - ACW

 Yesterday I popped up to see Graham H. We had planned to go to Culloden to attend one of the talks there, but got the days muddled. So instead we had a couple of games with Grahams fine 40mm ACW collection, which hadn't had an outing for quite a long time. 

To keep things simple we used the suggested army lists in the rules, picking two mid war sides. Some terrain was placed, a long road crossing a river with a stone bridge, and a church, quite an idyllic scene til the soldiers came!

The first game kicked off with Graham's Confederates advancing along the road over the bridge and deploying onto the southern side of the river. My union troops were a mix of veterans and green men, and the latter proved somewhat tardy getting off the road and into line. I had enough time to get a line of my Irish veterans out before the firing started. Graham started to move round my flank, but his gun was soon masked by his own men and was forced to redeploy onto the bridge. My new recruits were still sluggish, and at one point panicked and fired on their own men, but later  I received some reinforcements from the rear and eventually got myself sorted into two lines, bringing a halt to the Grahams advance. 

The Irish took several casualties and were forced back, luckily to a more protected position. My gun was now in action and wearing down the rebels to my front and the men in grey were taking casualties from my springfields too. My recruits were now in position to the right of the Irish and in time to catch a unit of rebels as they advanced over a hill. They opened up and the Irish managed a double volley and Grahams men were forced back. 

With the union troops gaining the upper hand and high casualties amongst the confederate ranks, it was time to call it quits for lunch.

After sandwiches in the patio in the warm Moray sun, it was time for game two. This time with early war forces from the book. Green infantry for me, supported by a gun and aggressive inf, a unit of cavalry and a gun for Graham. 

This time the terrain was more open the table being nipped in at its waist by two wooded areas, a cabin on the left and the county church on the right.

The confederates advanced quickly, cavalry galloping to the cabin and taking up skirmish line behind its picket fence. The rest of Graham's men headed for the church woods. Again my troops were sluggish and difficult to get moving, but I uncovered my gun early and this meant I was able to score some early hits. 

When I did advance I got the cavalry winkled out from behind the fence and drove them off and swung my line across the table. Grahams men were in the woods, and I couldn't get my troops to go in and get them - sevens to activate, kept rolling six. So a firefight erupted, and gradually I was able to bring my numbers to bear, although again the gun did most of the killing. Although my activations were poor, my morale tests were good and my troops held their positions, whilst the rebels were whittled down. 

Two quick games was good fun. Rebels and Patriots is a good system, though the guns were probably too much for skirmishes. We intend a to have a mini campaign, giving each player a few named units to draw on, and a few officers to lead them. This will let the units gain some history and the leaders some honour and add a bit of flavour to the games,