The Battle at Jacob's Church 1862 - An ACW batrep

What's this? An ACW Fire'n'Fury game?

Its been a long time since we played these and it'll be even longer before we play it again....if ever?

The Rejects gathered in the Shed O War last Sunday for our first bash of Fire & Fury for a 

long time. We all picked the sides out of the hat. Lee picked out Confederate Command with me in second. The Union were commanded by Smiffy with Richard and Surj being second and third.

In one of Posties usual twists to the game, only the Commanders were allowed to set up.

This led to a rather worried conversation by Rich, Surj and myself about how sound our commanders set up would be (gulp)

Now I've gotta give them both credit here, in the limited time the evil one gave them, they both did a decent job. The only flaw on the Confederate side was our centre was pretty week. I would have preferred a few more units there! But I understand Lee's logic in setting up like he did, our centre was covered by woods and a farm complex with orchards. See above. 

In the usual rules the Union always go first, but this time we threw for the move, which we won

and decided to go first. I'm never sure if its the right thing to do with Fire & Fury??

My command, our right moved straight up to attack asap.

We decided to be a bit more cautious on our left Lee's command, as he was outnumbered.

And we had to try and cover the centre if they moved up.

Plane and simple at my end, get in before the Union do too much damage!!

On our right flank were 3 units of Cavalry, facing 2 units of Union Cavalry.

All of these being dismounted except one of mine.

Now with Union dismounted Cavalry being a right bugger to play against, I decided to play very cautious too, knowing that all Surj would want is a fire fight.

5 pieces of Confederate artillery, 2 of Lee's 3 of mine.

They might as well have been models of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo for all the damage we did with them

Damn dice!!!!

Meanwhile on our left flank, Lee moved through the cornfield to cover our flank.

What a mess!!!

All charges proved uneventful as me and Surj threw dice like a couple of %$£"!

Lee got the flank in position, but there wasn't a lot of movement from Richard.

So it was clear he was in defensive mode as well. Which we were both pleased about

to be honest.

Lee's first charge, in the centre right.

That didn't go to plan either, the dice gods had NO love for us.

Still looks a mess, it was a hard slog for the both of us, neither gaining the upper hand.

Same on the right flank. I kept my Cavalry mounted, hoping Surj would move forward

with his dismounted unit in the open, so I could charge it.

Again the dice let me down again, I just couldn't get that beloved 10-1

So it was a bit more of a fizzle, both knocking stands off without any outright result.

Spent and worn units were appearing everywhere.

Uh oh, they finally move for the centre.

Things just weren't going to plan. I kept passing my morale for my worn unit

in the centre (red marker), with only half a move available all I could do was charge in again.

In a bit of a sneaky move, I charged across the front on the Union lines, at an exposed regt. Of course I remembered to refuse my flank!

Bit blurry, but you get the picture.

Come on Rebs!!!!

Yogi Bear & Boo actually hit something.

I threw a 10 and knocked 2 stands of a Yankee unit, but of course this meant I was now out of ammo

and had to move back one move!!!!

Lee moved over to the Orchard to meet the threat.

I win the melee, but again the result was only a push back.

Rich, Smiffy and Surj

Smiffy charges Lee's worn unit in the centre.

And me too!

I moved my Cavalry over the bridge, this stopped Surj's artillery on the hill

being able to shoot at me, and also meant I could shoot at the unit on the hill.

Its just not happening, time and time again I got myself in a great position, 

but was let down by the dice gods.

I charge in again, but again the dice just don't go my way....

I live to fight and charge again.

Smashing Surj's unit and follow up into the next unit in my path. But lose on the next throw!!

Arrrggghhh!!!!

Another unit goes worn, its just not happening.

I can only see 1 winner here and its not me & Lee.

We called time on the game and disgustingly threw in the towl!!!

 Conclusion

I think we all agreed, apart from Postie, that we've outgrown the Fir & Fury rules. They are good for a laugh (and a cry). But they are soooooo frustrating I cannot write it down in words. I've always said it and I'll say it again. In these rules you can have the tactical know-how of a mushroom and still easily win the game with dice. You get yourself in a great position where all the factors mount up to you beating the opponent unit to a pulp, then go and throw a 1 on a D10 while the smirking &%$£"! opposite you throws an 8, 9 or 10. Its at this point my eye starts to twitch like Herbert Lom in the Pink Panther films!
Now I, on the laws of averages have also been the other player, the thing is you can't gloat too much because you know the same things gonna happen to you you in the next 10 minutes, (ok sometimes you just have to and worry about the consequences when they happen)
The effect of this 10-1 throw is truly remarkable in wargaming contexts, the visual sapping of morale is  visible, as you slump back in your chair and think, I could be at home now doing the ironing!!

So we've persuaded Postie to put pen to paper and either re-write or write a set of ACW rules.
I cannot take another Fire and Fury game....not ever!!

With all that out of the way, it was a great game, non stop action between both sides, just wish Lee would have bolstered our centre more, and we'd had more units than them and we'd thrown better dice and Lee had bolstered our centre ( did I say That already?) A few more sandwiches would have been good too!!