Boxing Day - Wilson's Creek

The Wilson's Creek scenario in the newer edition of 'Battle Cry' is quite an ambitious one to play, using as it does most of the troops and almost all of the terrain tiles.

However it does look good when it's set up, and seeing as it's another favourite battle ... :

I took the Union, whilst Catherine played the Confederates.

Sigel's flanking force, and the opposing Confederates, are in an interesting position, in that their retreats are blocked by enemy troops. It struck me as an area where combats could get bloody very quickly, so to create manuever room for Sigel I opened the game by attacking with his troops. They quickly drove back the opposing Confederates:

Confederate counter-attacks dealt with Sigel's cavalry, and things stalled on that part of the field:

Catherine advanced on Plummer's troops who were advancing on the opposite side of Wilson's Creek to the rest of the Union army. They drove off the boys in blue:

Then eliminated one of the infantry units. Plummer took refuge with the Union infantry unit making up their far laft flank:

I drew the fortifications card, allowing three of my units to dig in. Sigel's infantry did so, along with the infantry which made up each end of the Union line on Oak Hill.

However Catherine used cavalry to outflank Sigel's position, and whittled down his forces some more:

The focus of the battle switched to the Union right, where a lone unit was all that made up the flank. It came under heavy attack:

As it fell, Union reinforcements came up:

And they quickly destroyed or drove off the attacking Confederates:

The Confederate left was then pushed further off-balance by a concerted artillery barrage:

Catherine tried to switch the focus of the battle to the Union left, attacking Plummer and his infantry atop their hill. She failed:

After playing a Rally card I pushed Sigel's infantry back to full strength, and resumed the offensive against the wobbly Confederate right/rear:

A Confederate cavalry unit fell to Union musketry to clinch the last of the seven flags required for a Union victory:

The final position. The Union won 7 flags to 3. Many of the troops in both armies' centres hadn't moved.

The keys to the Union victory were cards allowing an fighting start for Sigel's flanking force, followed by the chance to dig-in just as Catherine tried to assault the two ends of the main Union line. After she smashed herself to pieces against two defensive positions, I was able to use my artillery offensively to prevent her regaining the momentum. The Rally card put Sigel back in the game and allowed him to pick off some weak Confederate units to win the game.

This is an excellent scenario. It would be interesting to see what happens if and when the main forces set to in the centre, as the terrain is quite heavy there.

Back to work tomorrow :(