Last Monday we decided to revisit the Sixty-One-Sixty-Five ACW Skirmish Rules. We set up Scenario 1, 1861 First Blood from the Rulebook and went for it! In this game the Victory Conditions require both the sides to 'kill' 1/3 of the opposition to secure the win. The CSA is sort of on the defensive and have a fence line to defend if they can get to it while the slightly superior USA force have to splash through a stream to try to get to grips with the CSA men while they are in the open.
Yankee infantry firing as the advance on the Confederate line!
Dave took up the cudgels commanding the Southerners and Al and George led the Northerners I sat back in a no lose position and Umpired! I'll let the pictures tell the story.
The Yankees start well surging across the stream!
On the other hand due to cripplingly poor activation rolls the Confederates struggled forward in dribs and drabs!
The Yankee Zouaves reached the fence first which boded badly for the Rebels but despite that the boys in grey drew first blood and knocked out a couple of the Bluebellies skirmish teams...
This overall shot view shows the Union troops taking cover behind the fence while over a third of the Southerners still haven't moved and are far to the rear of the action! On the right of the picture you can see some of George's 'pantalooned' troops moving to flank the Rebel right...
The Yankees begin turning the Confederate left as well, volunteer militia skirmishers can be seen in the woods... at this point they got a crucial shot in and killed a Rebel NCO, this severely hamper the Confederates for the rest of the game!
Overall view showing the field of action with the formed Union troops firing from the fence. They picked off several Rebel skirmishers and losses for both sides stood at a handful men, the Rebels needing to kill 25 and the Yankees 18 to secure victory...
The Rebel Captain urged his men on, yes as I have said before with 61-65 AAR's Unit Colours probably wouldn't be at such skirmishers but the look so good!
Not to be outdone the Union command team showed their true colours!
The Zouaves flank move on the Rebel right is developing as a Union infantry charge took place on the opposite flank. That charge failed and the Rebels held their ground and inflicted more casualties on the boys in blue. At this point the Rebs despite the dice were stymieing every Union effort to break them!
With fewer troops and their opposition on their flanks the Confederates decided discretion was the better part of valour and began withdrawing but again poor activation rolls made this difficult to achieve. They managed to pick off a couple more Union troops amidst the confusion though to keep the pressure on the Northerners. It was now 14 Yankees down for only 8 Rebs!
At this point of the game the Southerners bad luck with activation rolls hit an all time low! Requiring 2+ on 6 sided dice to get into the action a team of Skirmishers rolled three 1's the initiative turned over to the Yankees and the last of hope a Confederate victory evaporated!
The hand of God...well George actually indicating the Rebs right flank was hanging in the air...
Another view of the Rebs right with a unit of Zouaves about to charge...as luck would have it the result was not as devastating as it could have been...
...but combined with a few casualties from fire it was enough to push the Confederates to their breaking point!
Huzzah!
The view of victory from the Union side of the battlefield...
The Rebels beaten but still defiant...just moments before skedaddling!
The battlefield at the end of the game.
Well an enjoyable night! Victory to Al and George. Despite his poor rolling Dave kept in the game until the very end, he was able to keep the Yankee losses higher than his until last moment despite being severely handicapped with poor activation rolls.
Even though not a 100% accurate representation of how skirmishers were deployed in the ACW these rules give; a great ACW feel to the action and a very good game! we will replay Scenario 2 from the rules after a couple of WW II sessions.
An aside I am toying with turning these rules into a true ACW skirmish format where every man can be a skirmisher and 'lines' can be formed in groups (with subsections each of up to 8 men) when the player requires them, I am going to try that solo before unleashing onto anyone else!
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