Campaign Climax - Battle of Vicksburg, 1863

It is six months since we played a trial version of the Vicksburg campaign at the club with Lawrence and Dennis.  Since then we have started (back in July for an initial face-to-face meeting, followed by play-by-mail for a few months) the campaign proper.  I intend to give a full account of the campaign in a separate post, but suffice it for now to say that the Union managed to invest Vicksburg on turn 5, and as the Confederate operational commander, Gordon realised that unless he could break that siege, the campaign was going to very quickly wind up as a Union victory.  Accordingly, he scratched together several divisions of the Army of the Mississippi in a rapid concentration, and persuated Ross, as Grant, to accept battle in the field just south of Vicksburg.  Here is the operational situation as the battle opens (the battlefield is the red rectangle):

Campaign Rehearsal

In addition to individual historical battle games we have resolved to play a campaign. The campaign itself will be historical, but since our operational moves will be made freely the battles that result will not necessarily align with what occurred historically.

Initially, this was just a vehicle to create battle scenarios for the two of us to enjoy together.  But then I got to thinking, and naturally had to complicate things.  It was part of the original idea to use Greg Wagman's Vicksburg campaign.  I don't like orthogonal maps, though, for regulating movement, and have been working on an 1805 campaign using rules based on Greg's but more generic and more Napoleonic.  At the operational level these are linked to a mapping system that has roots going back twenty years, that I have used as a sandpit to test out various ideas.  So, I thought, how about I knock up a map covering the appropriate area for the Vicksburg campaign, and we play it on that?  No problem - just a few hours of enjoyable work.

Second Battle of Corinth (October 1862/April 2019)

Our first game (played on 28 April) represented the second battle of Corinth, in October '62.  The Union, having captured the town and its vital rail junction from the rebels some months earlier, are now expecting an attempt to re-take it on the part of Earl van Dorn's Army of the Mississippi.

I play the Union, Angus the Confederates.  The Confederate victory condition is to occupy, at any time, the rail junction in the middle of town.  I have to stop him.  The Confederates are in no hurry - they have two days, if necessary, to achieve the objective, but they have a difficult task.  Numbers are approximately even, and the defenders enjoy the advantages of interior lines and prepared fortifications (thoughtfully built by the Confederates to keep the Union out in the previous battle back in May).  In addition the country north of town, where the attack is coming from, is hilly and wooded - difficult to get through if you do not control the few roads.

Hello World

After many years' absence I returned to tabletop wargaming a couple of years ago, attending the same club as I did long ago (although not in the same place) and playing with some of the same people.  My major project in that time has been adapting and testing a set of grand tactical Napoleonic rules, and that account can be found here.  Recently my old schoolmate and wargaming companion Angus has re-joined also.  Angus is heavily into the American Civil War, and also happens to live not far from where we used to play as boys in the local club.  He also has a very fine dedicated wargaming room, with a permanent table surrounded by his collection of figurines, terrain pieces and historical prints.

Angus was kind enough to invite me for a game at his home, and asked me afterward to write it up as I have done for Throne & Altar games elsewhere.  I was glad to accept the invitation, and hope that this game will be only the first of many.  Indeed, we are already planning a campaign.  The resulting report, I thought, therefore deserves its own dedicated space, rather than just a guest spot at T&A.

Enjoy!