[Consim-l] At All Hazards Bethesda Church scenario - part 1

[Markus Stumptner]

Played the first of the full sized scenarios from Hampton Newsome's game 
over the last few days.  Like the Haw's shop scenario, it goes over two 
days, but now both armies are fully on the map.

It's got an interesting strategic situation. Lee has only three corps in 
the army (I-Anderson, II-Early, III-A.P.Hill) as opposed to four in the 
Union army (II-Hancock, V-Warren, VI-Wright, IX-Burnside). Historically, 
Lee attacked the Union left wing (Warren's V Corps) and that's where the 
victory points are.  Ironically the Confederate corps on the right wing is 
Early's which is the weakest. So I feel I need to pull two corps together 
to attack V Corps. Unfortunately that will open up either the Confederate 
left wing or center for a Union counterattack. In any case, if they don't 
strike, the Union will most likely just move around a flank themselves, 
and the Confederates don't have enough troops to reach across the whole 
map. At some point the Union will get a crack in the door.  The question 
is whether that happens fast enough for them to get some VPs.

06:30 Advance orders for Early and Anderson's corps. Both sidle to the 
right, towards V Corps. On the Union side, Burnside's corps advances 
towards the roadblock Anderson is leaving behind.

10:00 The chits fall the right way. Anderson is activated first, and 
leaving Kershaw's division behind, falls on Warren's flank. Now we see why 
V Corps is a good target: Warren's troops are low quality, and even though 
Anderson cannot achieve more than 1:1 odds, both of the divisions on 
Warren's right are pushed back and disorganised, although no major losses 
occur. Cutler falls back from Fields and Pickett chases Crawford across 
the church road and into the woods. Before Warren's men can recover from 
the shock, Early's attack comes from the south and Rodes and Ramseur's 
division now push Lockwood out of his position. The Confederates have 
taken Bethesda Church.

However, the knockout blow may be out of Lee's reach. Only Rodes' and 
Ramseur's divisions have escaped disorganisation, and since their move 
came before Warren's, the Union V Corps will have a chance to shed 
disorganisation before the attackers do. Otherwise, the straggler losses 
that Warren's divisions have taken would now make them an easy target. 
Still, the disorganisation means that some of the Union units cannot even 
get out of their hex; leaving the EZOC would leave them without the 1MP 
they need to turn and face back towards the enemy; being open to a flank 
attack is a Bad Thing. So the Confederates stay in contact. The other 
problem the Union has was that I sent Wright's VI Corps to the right wing 
in the hope of stirring up trouble there. However, it's now clear that 
he's way out of position; as a result the Union will have to do some major 
reshuffling to help Warren out.

13:30 New orders are underway to A.P.Hill, but will take a turn to arrive. 
Bad luck for the Union in the Command Phase. Burnside passes his dieroll 
to attack, but Warren rolls a 4 - his units can conduct only Stationary or 
Rest actions. They decide on straggler recovery; Lockwood manages but 
Crawford and Cutler do not. Next, it's Anderson's turn. Kershaw is pulled 
back; Pickett, though disorganised, manages to join the line. Meanwhile, 
Field's division continues the attack on Cutler's tired division and 
smashes him. Cutler suffers a step loss and is pushed back over the 
Topotopomoy, with Fields, though now tired, in hot pursuit. Kershaw has 
reestablished the line just in time, since now it's Burnside's turn. 
Burnside, who has spent four hours bringing his troops into position, now 
launches an assault with his whole corps on a broad front, resulting 
(after some rules adjudicating since this is a complex attack) in 1:1 odds 
at -1 modifier, and rolls a 6. That is sufficient to send the Rebels 
reeling back by a hex. Pickett's division suffers some stragglers and is 
exhausted, although most of Burnside's corps is now also tired.

Finally, it's time for Early's assault to go in against Warren's corps. 
Gordon's (relatively fresh) and Rodes' divisions go in against Crawford's 
division, the closes one to Bethesda church, and the assault completely 
smashes the division, causing an extra step loss. VPs are now at 22, and 
half of Warren's V Corps has been destroyed. However, the two divisions 
that are still active are astride Old Church Road, blocking the way to 
Linney's Corner where the victory points are, and Anderson's corps is now 
as exhausted as their counterparts. Better to go over on the defense for 
now.

More to follow...

Markus

Last 3 games played: ASLSK, Air & Armor, At all Hazards
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