Sunday, 11 May 2014

ACW batrep - Battle of the Academy

The Initial setup
 Last weekend some of the Rejects got together for an ACW game using Fire and Fury rules. Me and Ian were the Union, and John and Surg were the dirty Rebs!!!
It was a hard fought battle, possibly the game was one and lost on the first throw of the dice???

My command move on the table in column.

Myself and Ian's challenge was to defeat the forces of evil, John and Surg's Confederate force and try and take the Rebel Academy as a great piece of Propaganda for our war effort.


The Academy


My left wing was out in the open, but facing them on the road were 4 units of Reb Cavalry. They were also in column, but move a hell of a lot faster then my troops.


Ian's command on the other hand were on the wrong side of the river, which meant he'd have to get across  the bridge to play a part in the game, BUT although he had a lot of units the 4 in the front were Green units, which if you've played Fire and Fury, you'll know that's not good!!


We lost the first move which enabled Surg to get a unit to the bridge before Ian. 
An early battle winning opportunity lost perhaps???


As my and Ian's Commanders were on opposite sides of the river we were unable to talk or even make a pre-battle plan. I knew I had to get some if not all of my troops over to the bridge to aid Ian's crossing. this turned out to be a lot harder than we both thought. While the evil twins were allowed to converse freely as they were attached from the start of the game.


John moved his Cavalry round to my flank, forcing me to deploy rather sooner than I wanted too.


Surg's troops continue to enter the table, all heading for the bridge.


In a bit of a puzzling move, John moved 2 regts of Cavalry towards the centre of the table??


So I unlimbered my 2 artillery pieces, to give the Rebs cavalry a few shots!!


Ian was having a real bad day at the dice, while Surg wasn't!!


Surg moved a unit to try and challenge my forward movement.


Taking advantage of John's movement I shot both infantry and artillery at long range, knocking 
off a stand from each unit.


The Rebs didn't like taking the casualties, so I fired again, both units received a yellow marker, denoting them as "Not Fresh" anymore.


It just wasn't happening for us on the bridge....If only we'd won the first move!!!


I carried on moving my right flank troops up to the bridge.


In a daring move Ian, managed to get a unit across the river, but it was in such a state, he just tried to get it out of the way, before it retreated back over the bridge and disordered all of his troops!!


I charged and smashed one of John's unit's of cavalry that he'd just dis-mounted, they were
 destroyed to the man.


Now it was Surg's turn to charge!! His dice rolling was crippling!!!


Luckily he failed to charge, Ian's Green unit in the flank!


I carried on my movement to the centre of the battlefield and the Academy.


It was looking bad.............


Our Union reinforcements turn up, unfortunately for us they were only 2 units of cavalry, while the Rebs received 5 units of Reb infantry!!! We thought it looked dodgy before?? How wrong we were!!!


Luckily for the Rebs, they were trying to flank us with their cavalry, when our reinforcements came on. So were in the right place at the right time.


Me and Surg squared each other up!


By now Ian was getting quite sick of Surg and his lucky dice rolls!!! 
Git!


I dismounted a unit of cavalry, with just average dice I should see off the threat from the Reb Cavalry?


We were never going to get over the river, Surg threw well again in melee and Ian was thrown back 
over the bridge. The game was nearly up....


Our last and only hope was for me to defeat Surg on the hill and follow up towards the bridge...


I outnumbered him 2:1, but the dice gods bit us on the arse again!
I threw a modest 4 to Surg's 10!!!

We threw in the towl without even working out the result!!!!

Fire and Fury strikes again!!!


71 comments:

  1. Shame about the dice, but, as a fellow sufferer, there's nowt you can do. Looks a decent game though.

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  2. Sounds Like Surg had a great game! Ian not so much! Sometimes the dice gods smile at us but often they just laugh! Unlucky Ray. Better luck next time.

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    Replies
    1. They did more than laugh Clint, they practically mocked us both!!!

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  3. Ahh the fickle fate of the six sided demons strikes again! Nice game report it look great!

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    1. They were 10 sided demons, that mocked us Simon

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  4. What a beautiful terrain for a beautiful game...and an awful dice! Excellent batrep!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, awful dice they certainly were!!!!

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  5. John, Surg + Dice Gods 10-0 Ray and Ian

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  6. Good looking game, pity I had to miss it! I love F&F so I'm double gutted!!

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  7. What a glorious battle it was! Love the little river, the bridge and all the details!

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  8. Good looking game! Sad to hear the dice gave you so much pain... Been there recently myself!

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  9. Sounds like a good battle, even though the odds (and the dice) were against you.

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  10. Beaten by the dice gods again although it did sound like great fun.

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  11. Nice game , wonderful looking units!
    I keep telling ya...you really need Company K from the Michigan 2nd Sharpshooters! If you brought some proper Algonquin troops, the Union would easily cross those bridges! ;)

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    Replies
    1. I'll tell Postie, only if I'm the Union next game though!!

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  12. Hail to the dirty Rebel !

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    Replies
    1. ......and to their expert dice throwing abilities!!!

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  13. The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
    Down with the traitor and up with the star!
    So we'll rally 'round the flag, boys!
    Rally once again,
    Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
    (That should do it!)

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  14. Great report! Looks like Burnside's Bridge has been topped by Ian's Bridge.

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  15. Even if the dice don't roll your way, it still
    looks like a fun day, all said and done.

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  16. you may want to pay someone to just roll your dice for you, the results must turn out better, then.

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    1. We actually rolled ok dice during the game, Surg was the odd one out, he just kept rolling high.............the sod!

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  17. Great batrep and it looks like you guys had great fun playing it. Cheers!

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  18. Onwards to Washington for the Reb's!! great looking game Ray!

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Rodger, with Surg's die rolls Washington would fall very quickly!!!

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  19. Well done to Surj and John, well deserved winners, curse of the fire and furious anger rules!!!!!!

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  20. Oh dear, you now have to think back and decide when and where you upset the dice gods (and maybe Postie too).
    Good report Ray, a very enjoyable read.

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    1. When we walked into the shed me thinks????

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  21. Another fine looking game with excellent terrain and figures.

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  22. I like the scenarios you guys come up with. Easy looking yet a tactical challenge. Great looking terrain too.

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  23. So it was the dice, not your attack over a defended bridge?

    ;-)

    Ian

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    Replies
    1. T'was Ian's doomed attack over the bridge, not mine!!

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  24. Blimey Ray, that was exciting stuff - love ACW! Nice one ;)

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  25. Your description of the battle was great, Ray! I'm sorry you didn't win but hey, sometimes the dice aren't with you.

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  26. Great looking game! Fire and Fury is a great rule set, but those dice can be merciless!

    Christopher

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  27. Dice: the great equalizer.

    Nice report!

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  28. Massive Table. Love this.

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  29. Great AAR in a fantastic game table. This rulebook is really good!

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  30. It kinda seems like you had a lot of advantages on this one for that to be the ending that took place..

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    1. That's what we thought at the start of the game, how wrong we were???

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  31. Attacking Rebel troops across a bridge (was) is never fun, just ask Ambrose!

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    Replies
    1. Wish I'd have picked the Rebs ot of the hat!

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  32. Have I been asleep or something? When did your gang start playing ACW?!?

    FMB

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  33. Must be 20 years ago!!! Check out the batrep link on my Links, there must be at least 15 ACW games??

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  34. Fantastic looking battle! Great pics and write up Ray. Thanks!

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  35. Great report Ray look a great game

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  36. "Dirty rebs"? ", "...forces of evil"? You certainly have things backwards, my friend.

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