Shenandoah Campaign : Battle of Winchester May 1862

Finally getting back into the swing of things with a battle on Saturday, what better way than the next in our Shenandoah Camapaign. We are upto the First Battle of Winchester which took place on 25th May two days after the battle of Front Royal. Stonewall Jackson had been attempting to cut the Union army off as they moved north. After a skirmish around Middletown the day before. Although outnumbered the Union forces under Banks took up s defensive position just south of Winchester to make a stand.

A map of the historical battle, the Confederates heavily outnumber the Federals so I made a few tweaks to balance the scenario. The key element of which is the timing and arrival of Taylor’s Brigade on the flank of the Union position. 

Our setup at the start

The combined brigades of Winder, Taliaferro and Campbell with artillery opening up to support the advance

Trimble’s Brigade starts to advance from the SE supported by Stuart’s Cavalry who have pushed to the front

Donellys brigade forms up on Camp Hill south of the town of Winchester supported by artillery

Jackson’s forces begin the advance

Gordon’s brigade on Bower’s Hill taking up defensive position behind a stonewall which was a feature of the battlefield historically

We had set the time limit for the battle at 10 turns, the Confederate reserves could arrive on turn 6 but might be delayed ? The Union forces must try and hold the town

The Confederates quickly move to attack looking to use their advantage in numbers charging the forces behind the stonewall

Trimbles forces are forced to cross the bridge and the lead unit fails a morale check reluctant to push forward

The rest of Trimbles units start to spread out, their cavalry have dismounted to add support

Fighting now all along the front

A second Union unit has taken up a position at the wall and another hand to hand combat takes place to try and push them back, the confederates are now eagerly waiting for their reserves to arrive on the Union right flank, but the dice gods intervene 😢

On the right rebels have now taken Camp Hill but they face a hard fight to get into the town

But the Fenederals are a very thin line of blue !

On the left, the Rebels are making progress

And a leading unit charges into the town hoorah ! Unfortunately they become isolated and get swamped by the defenders

Finally Taylor’s Louisiana brigade arrives on the flank , but they are too late to turn the battle arriving on turn 9, why oh why did they get lost !

The Union forces are seriously depleted but have just managed to hold on to the town and the Rebels have run out of time.

A great battle the Rebels were close but were plagued by some poor dice rolling especially failing a number of morale checks. Glad to be back to gaming 🙂 as far as the campaign is going the Federals have a clear advantage, but it really isn’t about the score is it ????

Thanks as always for checking by , some more games planned in over the next weeks and I have some more Naples photos to share when I get a chance.

Matt 👍