I've played CWBS games on six or seven occasions. I'm no expert, but I know the system well enough to guide new people through the learning process. Tom had never played CWBS games, but he's a long-time wargamer with a big ASL collection on his shelves, and I knew he'd pick it up. Patrick is just getting into wargaming proper, though he's played games like Struggle of Empires, and in fact Three Battles of Manassas was his first full-fledged wargame. I sent links to the on-line rules to Tom and Pat, who downloaded them a few days ahead of time for review. Here's the link to the series rules, followed by the link to the scenario book:
www.gamersarchive.net/theGamers/archive/cwb/CWBSRules32-6-11...
www.gamersarchive.net/theGamers/archive/cwb/COV.pdf
We arrived at Tom's house out in the woods of Bolton MA at about 10am. Tom lives in a beautiful tree-covered area with a view of two horses in a pasture situated right off his driveway. He has a basement game area with a 3' x 5' table that's just perfect for the 34" x 44" map area of the scenario we had decided to play, and custom-fit plexiglass to cover everything.
We had decided to play Scenario 6.3 from "Clash of Volunteers," the First Battle of Bull Run game (if you buy the game you also get a Second Battle of Bull Run game and a hypothetical Third Battle of Bull Run game, each with multiple scenarios. There's a lot in the box!) This scenario is ideal for learning, because the command structure is simple (no corps yet at this stage of the war) and there aren't too many units. In addition, the USA has pre-set orders at the start of the game and USA commander McDowell is not on the board, allowing the USA player to ignore most of the Command rules for the first few turns.
Given the experience levels of the players, we assigned Tom to play the USA, with Pat and Eric working as a team to play the CSA. There were two CSA commanders at First Bull Run, Beauregard and Johnston, so it was thematic to assign two players to play this side. Eric took the role of Beauregard at the start, writing orders, while Pat moved the units in response to the orders.
First Bull Run (or First Manassas, as the Confederates called it) featured a classic military situation. The CSA was arrayed behind Bull Run, a small river that nonetheless served as a barrier to troop movements except at a number of bridges and fords. They prepared to ward off any USA attack by stationing a small force behind or just in front of each crossing spot. The USA tried to foil this plan by marching west with two divisions and crossing the stream at Sudley's Ford, which was past the extreme left flank of the CSA position. This spared them the need to make a river crossing against opposition, always a difficult task. Having crossed the river, they then turned left and tried to take the CSA in the flank. The battle, and our scenario, opens at 9am with the USA 2nd and 3rd Divisions just at the ford, under orders to march down the Manassas-Sudley Road and take Henry House Hill, a commanding position from which they would be able to wreak havoc on the CSA left flank. The CSA spotted the USA movement, and at the start of the game, three small brigades already have orders to take up a delaying position on Matthews Hill or Dogan's Ridge blocking the Manassas-Sudley Road while other CSA forces can come up to join the battle.
Pat moved his three brigades into position, reinforced by a few artillery pieces, and by JEB Stuart's small cavalry brigade. Eric pointed out that the cavalry was fragile, and would not be able to stand up to enemy fire for long. Tom moved the 2nd Division, which was in the van, forward into range and pitched headlong into the CSA position. A sharp exchange of fire ensued, and before we knew it, one of the USA brigades panicked, leaving their positions and fleeing headlong back up the road toward the ford. In game turns, Pat had rolled a '65' on the morale dice, generating a "Rout" result for the USA brigade. Firefights can inflict casualties, but they also cause unpredictable morale results, something that is especially appropriate given the unpredictable performance of the soldiers on both sides as they faced their first big fight.
The temporary disappearance of one of the USA's three brigades provided a welcome respite to the outnumbered Rebels, and in an hour or two's fighting they had fought the 2nd Division to a standstill. It was only a temporary respite, however, as the USA 3rd Division had crossed the ford as well and came pounding down the road to join the action. The CSA was now severely outnumbered, as well as being weakened from the earlier action, and the fresh troops of the 3rd Division drove them down off the hill and into the valley formed by Young's Branch, a tiny rivulet that separates Dogan's Ridge from Henry House Hill. In the process, Stuart's cavalry took one volley and rode off to the south, not to be seen again in this battle (e.g., they rolled poorly on the straggler and morale tables and the unit vanished from the board.) Here's a picture showing the action; you can see the 3rd Division just crossing Sudley's Ford, McDowell atop the routed brigade, attempting to rally them, and the 2nd Division trying to drive the Rebels off the ridge.
Pat and Tom had been handling the fighting, but Eric had been writing orders in his role as Beauregard all the while. Johnston, though the senior general, had just arrived by train from the Shenandoah Valley and was reluctant to take command out of the hands of the commander on the spot, while Beauregard was curiously lethargic during the early part of the battle (e.g., his commander rating is a lowly '0' at the start.) Each turn the CSA rolls two dice in an attempt to get Johnston to join the fray with his '3' rating, an event that also raises Beauregard to a '2' as he is inspired by Johnston's example. Pat rolled turn after turn, but he needed a 10, 11 or 12 and Johnston remained inactive until the early afternoon.
Later in the war both sides created army corps to facilitate coordination of military activity, but there were no corps in July 1861 when our battle took place. This spared us the need to learn all the rules about corps command. The USA had formed divisions, but the CSA had not even gotten that far, and each CSA brigade must be ordered separately. This is a serious handicap for the CSA; not only does it take many orders to get their army moving as a group, with a long time commitment when Beauregard is slowly writing the orders, but it is hard to make sure the units work together, since each one accepts and obeys according to its own time frame (e.g., the dice rolled for that brigade's order acceptance.) Eric wrote order after order directing a number of brigades to Henry House Hill to help form a defensive position, and as the morning progressed, most of them began to arrive, with Stonewall Jackson's Virginia brigade the most critical of the bunch. Other brigades took their own sweet time about moving, with the most extreme example being Holmes' brigade, which got orders at 11am but didn't start moving until 6pm.
The USA division structure is a valuable asset, but once Tom was able to bring McDowell onto the board, he found that his orders were misunderstood or delayed for hour after hour while the 2nd and 3rd Divisions fought alone along the Manassas-Sudley Road. The 1st Division is posted just across Bull Run near Henry House Hill, in ideal position to support its fellow divisions' attack, but it sat for hour after hour, all morning and for much of the afternoon, while its commander, Tyler, scratched his head as he read and re-read the orders Tom had written. Without the hoped-for support, the 3rd Division marched gamely up the northern slopes of Henry House Hill only to be beaten back handily by the now strong CSA forces at the top.
It wasn't long before the USA divisions failed their attack stoppage checks (rolling low numbers on two dice) and pulled back behind Young's Branch to collect stragglers and prepare to resume the assault. A strange quiet settled over the battlefield as the initial attack had stopped, but the new orders had not yet been accepted. There's not that much to do when there aren't orders to implement, and you can play turns quickly during this time.
It's not only the USA that has the opportunity to attack in this game. The CSA can also attack, and there are many victory points available if they can seize Centreville, the communications center of the USA position. Eric had ordered several CSA brigades to seize intersections along the Warrenton Turnpike, a key thoroughfare from which it would be possible to move against Centreville, but none of the commanders responded for quite some time. Finally Elzey's brigade swung into action, marching north, crossing Bull Run at Ball's Ford and heading for the Spindle House where Tyler had established his headquarters. Eric had two thoughts in ordering this attack. First, if the 1st Division had moved out by the time Elzey arrived, the Spindle House would be a key blocking position that would shield an attack on Centreville. Second, he might lead Tom to divert units otherwise committed to the attack on Henry House Hill to defend against this threat.
As it turned out, Elzey's attack ran right into the 1st Division, which was still in place. Eric quickly wrote orders to withdraw back to Ball's Ford, but Elzey faced most of the 1st Division for an hour and a half. Elzey was most fortunate, rolling a '66' on one morale roll to rout Keyes' 1st Division brigade, taking them out of the battle for good, as it turned out.
Pat felt confident about his position on Henry House Hill, and when Johnston finally came awake, Pat took over Beauregard, who was directing operations atop the hill. Pat detached two brigades to cross Lewis Ford and seize the Stone Bridge, but his orders were also delayed. The larger brigade, Bonham A, left Henry House Hill but refused the follow-on orders to take the Stone Bridge, leaving this powerful brigade out of action for most of the day. The smaller brigade did take the Stone Bridge, but then, finally, 1st Division (minus Keyes) arose from its lethargy and plunged into action. It marched up to the Stone Bridge, blew the CSA brigade away, and headed straight for Henry House Hill. At the same time 3rd Division accepted orders to attack from the north, and the result was a converging attack from the east and north against the now weaker CSA position.
The 3rd Division was still facing Jackson's veterans, but the powerful 1st Division marched straight up the east side of the hill against Bee's brigade. Bee had been fighting since the very start of the battle, and his men did well to delay the 1st Division for a half hour before melting away. Jackson was forced to wheel eastward to meet the onslaught of Sherman's brigade, which had faced little action so far and was raring to go. The following picture shows Pat's hand as he puts the CSA defenders into position. You'll note that many of the USA units are Low Ammo by this point; the USA supply train was still in Centerville, unable to move to the action because the CSA had seized Cub Run Bridge.
Sherman's men pushed the last few weak remnants in front of Jackson out of the way and came storming across the hill. The sun was beginning to set, and Tom knew he had only a brief opportunity to sweep Jackson off the hill and take the victory points that Henry House Hill is worth. He launched a close assault with one part of Sherman's brigade. This involves a deadly exchange of fire followed by a pair of morale checks, but both sides passed the morale check and Tom rolled the die. The USA was unable to dislodge Jackson's men! The second part of Sherman's brigade now came crashing into close assault in the wake of their fellows, and again both sides passed the morale check, leading to a second close assault die roll, in which Jackson's men once again held the Yanks off. Finally the third wing of Sherman's brigade smashed into Jackson's brigade, hitting a wing where Beauregard himself stood in the front ranks, braving the massed rifle and musket fire in an effort to encourage the troops, and this time Sherman's men quailed at the thought of pressing the attack home with the bayonet, falling back to the middle of the hill.
The sun set and both sides still held part of Henry House Hill. It was time to add up the victory points. The USA earned 10 VP for wrecking six CSA brigades and the CSA earned 9 VP for wrecking five USA brigades. No one got VP for Henry House Hill, but the CSA earned 5 VP for holding Stone Bridge (which they re-took after 1st Division had left) and Cub Run Bridge. The net score was +4 for the CSA, which according to the scenario victory conditions is a draw, and that's how it felt to us.
Here's a picture of the CSA team after 9 hours of real time gaming and 11 hours (22 turns) of game time.
We all had a great time with this highly immersive game, and we're aiming to do it again some time soon.
Posted Mon Feb 23, 2009 12:55 am
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