'Ol Fezziwig
Repressed Dissident
Second Manassas AAR 8/28 5:30 P to 8/29 1:00A
Mike and I started this scenario the other night. Wanting to give our ASL predilection a rest for the time being, we picked this scenario after deciding we both have had CWB games left unplayed for far too long and were pleasantly surprised to find we both wanted to explore the system at some length. Despite some pre-game ASL analness, we embark thus...
Second Manassas
Union Player: Mike Allexenberg
Confederate Player: The Ruffian
Deciding to get right into the action, Starkes’ Brigade leaps into close combat with one of the Iron Brigades’ extensions. I thought, briefly, of opening this action by loosing a Rebel Yell, but decided against it, what with the effect my imposing size, a crazed hairstyle only us men with male pattern baldness and a delusion that if we grow it long, the thinning crown of our heads will be less noticeable, a scraggly Joe Johnston goatee, Rasputian eyes and the acoustics of my cellar would have. I also feared my Rebel Yell might be construed as an in-progress infarction or, even worse, a vote of support for Howard Dean. All that notwithstanding, Starkes’ boys manage to hold their ground and force back the extension; a most favorable opening. Quickly, the Stonewall Brigade marches up point blank to the parent brigade, trading close range volleys. Quickly I realised, the Union commander meant to punish this storied unit, even as I, myself, desired to do the same to the Iron Brigade. Following behind Baylors’ boys, a rebel battery unlimbers should the Stonewall Brigade falter, for ‘moral support’. Taliaferros’ Brigade and Pelhams’ Horse artillery moved to the right rear of Starkes’ Brigade in support, should Patricks’ Brigade show some inclination for flanking moves. Being too far away for coordinated support just yet, Trimble and Lawtons’ Brigades of Ewells’ Division move up, Lawton being able to place fire on the left of the long frontage of the Iron Brigade.
Longer ranged fire is exchanged between a pair of Confederate batteries and the lone Union battery located on the right of the Union line. Apart from the expenditure of ordnance, nothing substantive results from this exchange.
The infantry battle continues unabated with both sides taking fairly equal losses, though the Union force struggles with its morale. As an example, Patricks’ Brigade moving to its’ right to help support the engulfed Iron Brigade, routs under fire from Pelhams’ Horse battery, leaving the Iron Brigade without support on its’ left flank with two hard charging Confederate brigades bearing down on that flank.
Continued Confederate pressure ultimately cracks the resolve of the Iron Brigade when a determined flank assault strips one of the extended portions of the line away, though denying the Confederates the rear and flank shots they so desired when the rest of the brigade follows suit. In this vignette also, Hatch is wounded, with dire consequences for his division. Though the right was anchored on a prominent knoll with a battery in support, the divisions’ resolve cracks and they start the movement to the rear. This Battle of Brawners’ Farm ends with the Confederates in control of the whole of the Warrenton Turnpike from Pageland Lane to the heights just vacated by Doubleday and the yankee artillery. As this action ends, Stuart rides up with Robertsons’ Brigade just ahead of the entry afield of the cavalry of 2-3Va, who lay up in Gainesville. Dispatched to guard the right of Jacksons’ line, Robertson settles in for the rest of the night.
After the fall of dark, the brigades of Ewell and Taliaferro fall back to the railroad cut in good order. After settling in for the night, they, too, gather up the stragglers of this evenings’ action and rest for the impending fracas certain to come on the morrow.
The retreating division of Hatch meanwhile, takes several hours to form up enough to attempt to reorganize; gathering stragglers and formulating orders for the division. Ultimately, this division decides to follow the original orders and retreats back on Manassas as discussed earlier in the day. Reynolds and his Pennsylvania Division of 3Va choose instead to face the Confederates where they are, deciding this indeed is the main body of the wily Stonewalls’ corps and marches up to Matthews Hill, ready to move in the morning. Sometime after midnight, the cavalry of 2-3Va decide as well to move on to Manassas, moving through the hills and vales of the Bull Run drainage.
The day ends uneventfully with both sides having inflicted equal losses upon the other; the Confederates being able to lay claim to having gotten the better of the damnyankees, having driven them from the Turnpike and holding the field. Fourteen hundred soldiers still lie in the fields and woods of Brawners’ Farm, none of whom care much of such matters.
Mike and I started this scenario the other night. Wanting to give our ASL predilection a rest for the time being, we picked this scenario after deciding we both have had CWB games left unplayed for far too long and were pleasantly surprised to find we both wanted to explore the system at some length. Despite some pre-game ASL analness, we embark thus...
Second Manassas
Union Player: Mike Allexenberg
Confederate Player: The Ruffian
Deciding to get right into the action, Starkes’ Brigade leaps into close combat with one of the Iron Brigades’ extensions. I thought, briefly, of opening this action by loosing a Rebel Yell, but decided against it, what with the effect my imposing size, a crazed hairstyle only us men with male pattern baldness and a delusion that if we grow it long, the thinning crown of our heads will be less noticeable, a scraggly Joe Johnston goatee, Rasputian eyes and the acoustics of my cellar would have. I also feared my Rebel Yell might be construed as an in-progress infarction or, even worse, a vote of support for Howard Dean. All that notwithstanding, Starkes’ boys manage to hold their ground and force back the extension; a most favorable opening. Quickly, the Stonewall Brigade marches up point blank to the parent brigade, trading close range volleys. Quickly I realised, the Union commander meant to punish this storied unit, even as I, myself, desired to do the same to the Iron Brigade. Following behind Baylors’ boys, a rebel battery unlimbers should the Stonewall Brigade falter, for ‘moral support’. Taliaferros’ Brigade and Pelhams’ Horse artillery moved to the right rear of Starkes’ Brigade in support, should Patricks’ Brigade show some inclination for flanking moves. Being too far away for coordinated support just yet, Trimble and Lawtons’ Brigades of Ewells’ Division move up, Lawton being able to place fire on the left of the long frontage of the Iron Brigade.
Longer ranged fire is exchanged between a pair of Confederate batteries and the lone Union battery located on the right of the Union line. Apart from the expenditure of ordnance, nothing substantive results from this exchange.
The infantry battle continues unabated with both sides taking fairly equal losses, though the Union force struggles with its morale. As an example, Patricks’ Brigade moving to its’ right to help support the engulfed Iron Brigade, routs under fire from Pelhams’ Horse battery, leaving the Iron Brigade without support on its’ left flank with two hard charging Confederate brigades bearing down on that flank.
Continued Confederate pressure ultimately cracks the resolve of the Iron Brigade when a determined flank assault strips one of the extended portions of the line away, though denying the Confederates the rear and flank shots they so desired when the rest of the brigade follows suit. In this vignette also, Hatch is wounded, with dire consequences for his division. Though the right was anchored on a prominent knoll with a battery in support, the divisions’ resolve cracks and they start the movement to the rear. This Battle of Brawners’ Farm ends with the Confederates in control of the whole of the Warrenton Turnpike from Pageland Lane to the heights just vacated by Doubleday and the yankee artillery. As this action ends, Stuart rides up with Robertsons’ Brigade just ahead of the entry afield of the cavalry of 2-3Va, who lay up in Gainesville. Dispatched to guard the right of Jacksons’ line, Robertson settles in for the rest of the night.
After the fall of dark, the brigades of Ewell and Taliaferro fall back to the railroad cut in good order. After settling in for the night, they, too, gather up the stragglers of this evenings’ action and rest for the impending fracas certain to come on the morrow.
The retreating division of Hatch meanwhile, takes several hours to form up enough to attempt to reorganize; gathering stragglers and formulating orders for the division. Ultimately, this division decides to follow the original orders and retreats back on Manassas as discussed earlier in the day. Reynolds and his Pennsylvania Division of 3Va choose instead to face the Confederates where they are, deciding this indeed is the main body of the wily Stonewalls’ corps and marches up to Matthews Hill, ready to move in the morning. Sometime after midnight, the cavalry of 2-3Va decide as well to move on to Manassas, moving through the hills and vales of the Bull Run drainage.
The day ends uneventfully with both sides having inflicted equal losses upon the other; the Confederates being able to lay claim to having gotten the better of the damnyankees, having driven them from the Turnpike and holding the field. Fourteen hundred soldiers still lie in the fields and woods of Brawners’ Farm, none of whom care much of such matters.
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