Battle of Port Republic : Shenandoah Campaign 1862

Full of enthusiasm we played the final of our Shenandoah campaign battles at the weekend, Port Republic. As always with Jackson Valley campaign lots of info on the web. Those that Ed or staged this battle will know the challenge is either creating balance or objectives which give balance. As the Union forces are pretty much overwhelmed quite quickly if you are not careful

For our battle the confederates would only have Three brigades available, Winder, Taylor and Ewell. The second two would arrive on a reducing D6. The Rebels would be seeking to break through the Union line and would get extra VP’s for capturing the Coaling. To avoid the Union General just sitting back for the whole battle I added a couple of twists. Firstly they would have no overall commander so the two brigades would not get a free activation, V&F allows you to use a card is desperate situations. On a failed activation ie a 1 each unit would be tested for and had a chance they would choose to advance towards the enemy 😂

It is a lovely battle to setup with fairly easy to identify and characteristic features. We would be using V&F again so dropped the units to 16 man .

Union artillery on the Coaling with Carroll’s brigade

Winder with the stonewall brigade set off across the fields they are under time pressure so can’t simply sit and wait for the reserves.

First turn the Tyler fails to activate and the centre units advance towards the Rebels LOL 😂😂😂

All hell breaks out …..

After about 4 turns Taylor arrives along the road, with his Louisiana Rebels and the Tigers 

The battle unfolds on both sides of the road

Breaking with history Carroll decides to push troops forward into the ravine to protect the Coaling

Taylor’s brigades forms up for the attack

Tough fighting and the rebels eventually win the fight

But the Ravine of course slows progress and they can’t get much momentum to move forward

The guns on the coaling blast away

….and again !

Finally Ewell arrives with the final confederate reserves

The Stonewall brigade has been at the front fighting since the start and have been shaken and rallied several times, they finally find themselves fighting in the orchard, loose the fight I fail the valour test but am able to play the Like a stonewall card to keep them in the battle so appropriate 👍

Finally the rebels are getting up the coaling

But are again sent back down

Only to be replaced by more troops coming up the hill

On the left things are eventually going with the numbers and with the stonewall brigade now supported by Ewell the Union forces are driven off the field

The rebels have captured the field and ultimately a minor win, we classed it as a minor win as they are clearly holding the ground but have taken a lot of casualties with two brigades having wavered.

Just don’t ask how the scoring system works as basically I allocated points for each battle on how I felt the two armies had performed. The final score of course a Union victory but this wasn’t the point we have had a lot of fun playing these battles and will definitely be coming back to a couple in the future. My thoughts are now turning to the Seven days battles and how we might play them as a series next ?

That’s it for now thanks for checking by, I’m off to see George tomorrow for the next installment of our Konigsberg campaign and then taking a game to Battleground at the weekend, hopefully,some fun with xeno rampant, if you happen to be there come and say hello.

Matt ♥️