Monday 4 May 2020

Skirmish at Pleasant Valley Church : ACW

Having seen somebody else using Rebels and Patriots (and forgotten which blog) thought it would give a good opportunity to run a small virtual game. The main benefit being I could get my ACW skirmishers out who rarely get much of a look in during bigger battles. I set up a small (non historical) scenario, although there is a Pleasant Valley in the Shenandoah. Two small forces have been sent to probe the whereabouts of the enemy and have met close to the Pleasant Valley Church.
The Rebel forces rush forward under the command of Major Corona, he has already dispatched his unit of fast moving cavalry who have dismounted undercover of the church itself
Lt Harrison advances forward behind a solid skirmish screen
Covering his right flank by a screen of sharpshooters. We kept things simple not having played these rules for a while. In essence their are three troop types on the table, line infantry, skirmishers, the sharpshooters who are skirmishers but with longer and more effective shooting skills and the cavalry, who when dismounted are also skirmishers. The rules do give the option for much greater variety.
The 2nd Virginia boys form into close order which allows more effective firing and the skirmishers exchange fire around the church
A second unit of rebel skirmishers look to out flank the sharpshooters
Hot change of fire around Pleasant Valley Church
All is fairly equal at this stage but the Union forces are going to need to advance to take the centre ground (the battle would continue unit one side had only one unit remaining)
The 1st New York hold the Pleasant valley Road, the 2nd NY advance to the left of the church accompanied by Lt Harrison
Finally the skirmishers have chased off the sharpshooters
Time to advance Major Corona leads the way
..but his eye is off the ball and the 2nd NY supported by a company of skirmishers has surprised the rebels at the church. Suddenly things are not looking good for the Confederates and the boys from Virginia retreat back up the hill. The rebel skirmishers out of shot to the right have been beaten back as well.
But then a single failed morale check by the 2nd NY and everything changes (I should say here that like many rulesets R&P you take a test when you take casualties taking a single casualty and with their commanding officers it is hard to fail ! Unless you roll 3 on 2xD6 and have an already shaken unit)
And then the skirmishers in the church yard flee when they see their commanding officer gallop past.....well you would wouldn't you and then next turn after another volley into the 1st NY they fail their test as well another double 1 !
Haha seem them off boys ..........Billy Yank is sent fleeing the field and Lt Harrison has snatched defeat from victory

A fun game and good to use these rules again, we will definately play with them again in a slightly larger battle in the near future.

That time for the scenic cycling shots 
With some time off last week i headed up into the Pennines
Bleak but beautiful and very quiet
This is  Border Reiver country....

On sunday i also got down by Ullswater 35 miles and only saw a handful of cars, normally this is a pretty busy run down along the lake road.


21 comments:

  1. As we expect from you, Matt, superb table setup and photos. Enjoyable battle account too!

    You have some beautiful cycling country. Your bike is becoming somewhat of a star managing to get into all of the photos.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan some fun during lockdown. As for the cycling country I can only agree I am very lucky every direction I head is beautiful in its own way, the only Difference is the size of the hills you have to climb 🚴🏻‍♂️

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  2. Nice game and table ...... and some fickle dice! I think the physical R&P rule book is one of the nicest around with all those wonderful pictures.

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    1. Thanks Norm, yes the dice gods played their part but as a small game this is perhaps not unexpected ? We will try to play R&P again soon

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  3. game looks good. You should try nenthead, the mine there is one of my favourite places and not far from the wilds of Alston Moor

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    1. Remember going ages ago but might be worth a trip if the lockdown continues🤔

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  4. Great stuff as usual Matt, most enjoyable, really like your outdoor shots.

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  5. wargaming and cycling in the same post - I love it!

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    1. we are lucky to have two hobbies which seem to work well during lockdown 👍

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  6. That looked like a fun game Matt and the scenic views continue to inspire.

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    1. Thanks Michael I take no credit for the views...that is just beautiful Northern England 😀

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  7. Lovely looking game Matt. The cycling pictures continue to delight, thanks.

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    1. Thanks David good to get a skirmish on the battlefield.

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  8. Lovely looking game, can't help thinking of the Monkees song! Nice bike shots too!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain ....now I am old enough to remember the monkees but I’m afraid lost on the song ?

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    2. Pleasant valley Sunday by I think Carol King and somebody else, it was a pretty big hit for them, you'd know it when you hear it!
      Best Iain

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  9. Great looking table as usual. As someone who will need 28mm snake fence in the future; can I ask if you made all of yours or what manufacturer it is? I like the look of it.

    It’s true, ACW skirmishes rarely see the tabletop. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew. You will probably have spotted that there are two different types of snake rail fence. If you look in the last photo the section close to the Rebel skirmishers, I picked up from a show flee market. I believe it to be home made but it is reasonable robust. In the same photo the section on the other side of the ploughed field is Rendra plastic comes with the Perry box set but can be bought separately. I have made one alteration which was to increase the angle between sections it is about 50 degrees but this makes a fence section very wide so I increased the angle upto about 130, it stretches further and looks in my view better. You will also see some straight fence which is home made using barbecue sticks or similar. Happy to show close ups of any of these if you want.

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    2. Thanks Matt for the information. Appreciate it. 😀

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  10. Another lovely looking game Matt...
    Nice scenic views as well... all I get to see is my back garden...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly I’m lucky of course that I live close to some nice places

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