Another Night Another Ambrose.

Wednesday 14 March 2018

From this

                                       

To this

And ending up with this!

  A repeat battle tonight where Ambrose Adamson had morphed into Ambrose O'Brien and that's were the similarity ended.Four weeks ago we recreated the Battle of New Berne in North Carolina during the early part of the American Civil War using the Bonnie Blue Flag rules.This evening we went back to using Black Powder rules which I find a lot easier to play.Also the Union commander had lost all of his white hair and regenerated into Ambrose O'Brien.

"Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue flag that wears the single star"

Locked and loaded.

Our generals confab

                                             

Our naval support.

   Our favourite rock star Mr Ray O'Neil and myself took charge of the Sons of the South again hoping to be a bit more adventurous than our last adventure where we just stood our ground and took all the hits.Colin Jack and our host Bill Gilchrist were Ambrose O'Brien's subordinates.

My militia hoping for bigger things.

My cavalry horsing about.

                                   After seeing the Union disposition where our right flank looked as though it was going to get a kicking,we decided just like a quarterback at line of scrimmage to call a change of play and Ray's forces were going to go over the wall and attack the enemy in the flank.

The forces of oppression.

A big traffic jam evolving.

Battlefield R&R

                                              The initial skirmishes saw Colin's command move quickly up the Union flank scattering my unit of militia and carrying on towards my emplaced regulars supported by artillery.Bill's forces headed for the gap in the wall created for the railway but due to the Union plans Dave's command got held up by Bill's forces.

Union firepower.

"Here they come boys"

"Onward to Richmond"

                                                     Our initial firing was confined to long range artillery fire hoping to disorder the enemy but my dice rolling at the start set the tone for the evening -pitiful!Mr Ray's dice rolling wasn't any better.It was going to be a long evening -at least that's how it seemed at the start.

My cavalry advance to the rear..

My boys fighting tooth and nail.

Not for long.

                                    After the initial mad rush towards our positions the Union attack begin to stagnate especially when Dave couldn't maneuver with Bill's men in front  of him.Colin's men were sticking to their plan and attacked my defenders with relish and my men were definitely getting in a pickle with my artillery running away and my regulars lasting for a wee bit longer as they were getting attacked on two sides.Bill had peppered one of my cavalry units who had intended to ride around the Union flank but due to terrible dice rolls didn't move a muscle.My other cavalry unit retired to a place of safety in order to plug gaps. Bill's units where heading up the railway in order to plough through the gap in the wall,zouaves to the front.

Bill's forces hoping that there is not a train due.

Dave's artillery vapourises  from Mr Ray's rebel yell.

                                                            With Dave's forces following up it gave the chance for Mr Ray's infantry to let out a rebel yell and head over the wall towards Dave.s artillery hoping to inflict some mortal damage on the Union and relieve the pressure on my defenders.

Hanging on for dear life.

Ambrose has a chit chat with his commanders.

                                                             This gave me a chance to reinforce my defenderless wall and also a chance for my cavalry to redeem themselves.This they did making Colin's infantry stutter in front of my positions and my defenders held their ground albeit precariously till the final whistle.

Plugging the gap.

My lads making life changes

Final picture of plugged gap.

Game changer.

                                                Bill's lads were moving now with vigour through the railway gap and forced my defenders back from the wall hoping to reorganise at the bottom of the hill.He didn't have any support from Dave as he was too busy fighting of the attentions of Mr Ray's rebs.
                                                     Once again the final whistle arrived and what looked like an evening of disappointment for the rebel cause turned into a slight Union victory unlike the real thing.
                                      A great game as always played in a friendly manner unlike real battles.
                          All the scenery,scenario and most of the figures were supplied by our host Bill with added troops from Mr Ray and Dave O'B's collections.Bill also provided an excellent repast watered down by a nice glass of Chardonnay to bolster the Confederate cause.
                                        Speak to you again next week with a report from the League of Gentlman Wargamers VBCW game in Kirriemuir organised by our Colin.