Shiloh : Confederate Onslaught : April 6th 1862

We played this game about two weeks ago and it was my first attempt at adapting one of the scenarios from Brad Butkovich’s excellent ‘This Bloody Field’ book for Shiloh. The first thing to say is the scenarios are really designed for a smaller scale than 28 mm or for people with absolutely massive collections and tables. So the first thing was to select only part of the scenario to play. Getting pretty much all my infantry on the table I could manage a reasonable chunk of the first scenario the Confederate Onslaught which sees the initial surprise attack of the mixed Divisions of the Army of Mississippi against the Fifth Division of the Union Army of Tennessee under BG Sherman.

The scenario includes a lot of excellent details about unit sizes, experience and overall orders of battle. I have taken these and simplified them where it felt appropriate to make our game manageable in terms of detail and timings. Those with a good memory will know that we played a larger battle from slightly later in the morning on the first day, with Sherman falling back to defend the Hamburg Purdy Road.
https://wargamesinthedungeon.blogspot.com/2018/11/shiloh-day-one-hamburg-purdy-road.html

But this is very much the initial onslaught catching the Union troops in the morning 🙂

This was the section of the battle field I was able to squeeze onto my 8x4 table, Pond and Cleburne will start on the table but with Anderson, Trigg and Ruggles’ support entering after a couple of turns, McDowell, Buckland and Hildebrand are pretty much as shown with Sherman on the table close to Shiloh Church.

The battlefield squeezed in on the table, looking west. The Union camps on the right, the Confederate Onslaught from the south (left), this was played before I bought all those extra trees so will be interesting to compare games in the future ?

Sherman taking control of the Fifth Division from close to Shiloh Church Buckland’s Brigade beyond in the Union camp

McDowell’s Brigade on the extreme western flank

6th Mississippi and 23rd Tennessee pushing forward around the Rea Farm

Hildebrand doesn’t seem phased at all and sends the 57th Ohio forward to support the 53rd Ohio who are pulling back from a very exposed position beyond the creek

Sensing danger Sherman is quick to take up a centre command position

Urged on by Cleburne his Tennessee boys have pushed upto the field just south and west of Shiloh Church, but they start to exchange fire across the field rather than pushing forward !

The 24th Tennessee head slightly left to avoid the field, seeing the 40th Illinois exposed this might be an opportunity to break through in the centre ?

Thought I would just try a wide angle to see how it looked ?

On the left flank Pond is making slow progress (to represent the well documented command issues the confederates had at the battle we gave them less order dice than the units they had so not everything can be activated each turn, this is hard but a very effective and simple way of representing the problems they had)

Hildebrand has reformed his units around Shiloh Creek and taken up a strong defensive position

Union fire from across the Wheatfield has forced the initial assault back

.....but further west significant numbers of Rebels are pushing over the Creek

Tough fighting around Rea’s Farm but no break through 

The 23rd Tennessee charge forward to force the issue on the right

Limited Union reinforcements arrive (the scenario allows the 7th Illinois Cavalry to arrive from the Lost Field where they started)

Anderson’s Brigade arrives to bolster the centre, along with Polks Battery

Just in time as the central assault towards the Church is faltering 

The confederates just can’t quite make the break through they need

Hildebrand seems in control on the left

...but suddenly the centre starts to crumble ! The 70th Ohio finally start to fall back

McDowell is taking lots of punishment but is holding firm on the Union right

Still holding this Ohio Regiment is looking increasingly vulnerable as the confederate number start to count

Anderson’s Brigade in full advance but they are still only at the Creek !

Anderson Brigade forms up into line for the assault

But on the Rebel right the 23rd Tennessee have turned tail !!!!! Not good

Hildebrand against orders starts to advance rather than holding the defensive line, this is not how it is supposed to go ?

Anderson is struggling to make a difference in the centre

On the Rebel left a wild firefight with both sides taking casualties but no decisive break through

Hildebrand pushing forward around Rea’s Farm (this is the benefit of knowing that you can’t be attacked from the side, historically I don’t think he would have done this as the Confederates were advancing on both his flanks)

Anderson still bogged down in the centre

This was where we felt the battle had come to a natural conclusion (tea time) the confederates hampered by leadership issues and some woeful dice rolling by me had failed to break through, had they had more troops they might have made it, the Union troops were under pressure all along the line but held.

I missed a couple of photos as this end phase of the battle was accompanied by a large melee in the centre with several Regiments fighting hand to hand, despite inflicting massive casualties on the Union Forces they were able to hold but they have no reserves in this area left, if only the rebels could surge through the gap now !

A splendid game, the Rebel artillery just couldn’t hit a thing, they suffered a leadership challenge and as so often couldn’t push through quickly enough whilst the Union Forces just needed to hold on. The scenario whilst not strictly followed was a great starting point for the game and we will be setting another one up soon. Of course I do need to paint some more Confederate forces up !

😀