Cedar Mountain & February Game Night

Tonight at our monthly club game night I ran my Cedar Mountain game that I play tested a couple weeks ago. Where the first play test was a major Union victory, and the second play test was a marginal Union victory, this game was a stark contrast as the confederates were able to score a major victory replicating history in result if not in tactics. The game was limited to eight (8) turns, but the confederates were able to collapse the Union army's morale in a mere six (6) turns. With the three games running 1-1-1 I think the scenario balance is pretty close to correct, close enough for me to use it at the upcoming Huzzah! convention in May.

I was able to keep this game to my preferred size of five players. Below are photos of the teams. In the left photo are the Confederate players left to right Tom, Charlie and Byron. In the right photo are the Union players left to right Bob and John. The title photo above shows the starting positions with the Union on the left behind the Cedar creek and the Confederates on the right coming down the road and perched on Cedar mountain.

The game started off with the Confederates rushing to each flank and all but ignoring the center. The Union reacted by rushing their cavalry reserve into the woods to attempt to delay the Confederate advance while simultaneously trying to swing their line to react to the confederates on the Union left flank.

After eliminating the Union cavalry the Confederates continued to pressure the Union right flank. In the center the Union drove off a Confederate attach and mounted a successful counter attack but the Union left flank continued to falter to continued attacks by Tom's command which included the excellent Louisiana Tiger Zouaves which lived up to their reputation in this game driving several Union units from the field. In the end the pressure from this flank drove it into the backs of the Union on the other flank all but destroying the Union army. The photos below show the final turns of the game. Units with red and yellow markers are in rout and the Confederates all but hold the crossroads and the battlefield.

Below are a few photos of the other Games at our club's game night. Leo ran a Pacific theater WWII naval game using modified Axis and Allies War at Sea and Phil ran a French and Indian War skirmish game using the Brother against Brother rules.