Union forces had pushed a railtrack up from the coast, but their protective covering force have been decoyed away from their task of protecting the railhead. A Confederate raiding force moved toward the railhead, intent on destroying the buildings and the supplies accumulated there. The Union forces, realising they have been decoyed, were moving back up the rail line, to protect the railhead & the supplies there.
The Confederate forces would win by either driving the Union
forces from the table, or by burning down two, of either; the railhead
supplies, the station, or the Water Tower (each with a Task Roll of 11). The
Union forces would win, by either driving the Confederate forces from the
table, or by preventing the Confederates achieving their objective.
The river & marsh areas count as ‘Heavy Going’ and the
supplies area counts as broken ground, but provides Light cover for foot troops
within Supplies area.
The Confederate forces were led by Mal and the Union forces
led by Dave.
The Union forces opened with a bold cavalry move, straight up the road, while their infantry moved up the road and rail track, to provide a covering force. The Confederates pushed their main infantry column up the road, while the cavalry, skirmishers and second infantry column moved along the river bank, directly toward the railhead.
The Union cavalry very quickly reached the supplies area and were feeling pretty pleased with themselves. However, the main Rebel column surprised them, by equally rapidly moving up the road and then smartly deploying into line! The Union cavalry promptly sheared off the road, trying to take shelter behind the cross-rail fence, to the North. However, the cavalry didn’t manage to get out of the Rebel volley firing arc, only managing to dismount and take cover behind the fence. However, this did them little good, as the massive volley from the Rebel line killed 4 of the Union cavalry.
Back at the railhead, the Rebel skirmishers and 2nd column were closing-in on the station building. Sadly, the rapid movement of the main Rebel column, left the Rebel cavalry in a bit of a predicament, being blocked to their front by the main infantry line. Before they could unravel this mess, the Union skirmishers rather roughly handled the Rebel cavalry, shooting into their rear.
As the shocked Rebel cavalry retired behind the main Rebel line, one group of Rebel skirmishers moved up to the station building, to try to fire it. Sadly, it seemed rather unclear as to who had brought the matches!?
The other group of Rebel skirmishers started to exchange fire with the Union skirmishers, much to the annoyance of the commander of the 2nd Rebel column, which by now was deployed in firing line, but their firing blocked by their own skirmishers!
After a bit of stumbling, eventually the Rebel skirmishers cleared the Rebel firing line and a couple of good volleys sent the Union skirmishers scurrying back behind their own infantry firing line. Both lines then started to blaze away each other, but it was the Rebels who were suffering most!
Back on the supplies side of the track, the Confederate main line was now trying to wheel around, to bring the Union infantry, located on the road, into their firing arc, but it was all happening too slowly. The Union line, supported by a flanking skirmish group, was plucking big holes in the main Rebel line.
Back at the station, the Rebel skirmishers, now aided by the second Rebel skirmish group, had fired the station, now they were moving into the supplies, to fire them too. This left a rather ‘target rich environment’ for the Union forces, into which they sent ball after ball!
The Rebel skirmishers, sheltered by the supply crates, were not faring too badly, but the main Rebel line was suffering. Realising that he could no longer win the fire-fight, as his left flank group was now retiring, the Rebel commander called for his troops to join the efforts to fire the supplies. These supplies were then quickly burning.
Having achieved their objective, the Rebel forces were now retiring, if not ‘in good order’, leaving 14 dead on the field, but they had won their victory, if at rather a high price!?
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