ACW Pickett's Charge AAR

Got together today with the gang to finally play test the Pickett's Charge scenario that I will be running at DundraCon 2017 (February).

Roy Scaife, John Lantz and Matt Hilzendrager took on the role of the rebs ... taking a brigade each (5 infantry units with 2 artillery batteries).  Dan Kerrick, Wade Shows and myself played the stoic Union line.

Scenario outline (including order of battle) can be found here.

This game played out very well!  The Confederate units advanced quickly but got bogged down in the fence line and started taking very heavy casualties closing in on the Union position.  The Confederate attack was --- as expected --- halted.  However, all but one of the Union 2nd line (reserve) units had to be committed to the fray, with the Confederates actually breaking through in the center.

You might ask, how did they break through?  Well, the way we did this is that there are 5 Union infantry units along the "wall" --- each with a single reserve unit behind it.  Think of each Union unit + the reserve unit as a "lane" (like a swim lane).  One of the key deciding factors as to if the Confederates carried the day (essentially lost with honor and after achieving extra-ordinary progress given the situation), was the result of each swim lane at the end of the battle ... which was one of three following possibilities:

1. Original Union unit is still in place (and the reserve unit has not been committed).  For each lane in which this is the case, +2 VP to the Union.
2. The reserve unit is committed (original unit has been destroyed/removed from play).  For each lane in which this is the case, +1 VP to the Confederates.
3. Bot the original unit and reserve unit have been destroyed/removed from play.  For each lane in which this is the case, +2 VP for the Confederates.

By games end, we had a single lane (center) that was broken through (#3 result), a single lane that was with the original unit (#1 result), and 3 lanes with reserve units committed (#2 result).  This put the final VPs for the battle based on accomplishment at 5 for the Confederates and 2 for the Union.  The Confederate division was in bad shape, which was expected, but they "won" the fight.  

In order to make the scenario playable - and victory possible for the Confederates - we didn't count regular VPs and instead determined victory only by the results of each lane.  Two Confederate units from the center managed to break over the wall in the center, but didn't get any farther.  All in all the result was in line with the historical outcome of the battle, but in such a way that was also playable and enjoyable as a wargame.  I still have a few things to finish up for the scenario, but not at all a bad showing for the first time out/play test.  Anyways, lots of pictures below --- note that the pictures are from three different sources ... phones, cameras and such from three different people ...

Picture Group 1

Picture Group 2

Picture Group 3

There you have it.  I'm really happy with the visual aspect of the game ... which is hard to capture with a camera --- nothing can show you the visual spectacle of looking down the Confederate line at "table level" with the naked eye ... something just awe inspiring at that level that for some reason is just not something a camera can capture IMO.