Cumberland River Assault - February 2014 Game Day

Yesterday our club got together for the first of two of our game days this year. The game was created by Bob, Charlie and Ralph and was named "Cumberland River Assault". It was an alternative historical scenario based around the action preceding the Fort Donelson surrender based on the thought that if reinforced and aggressively lead, the Confederates there could have made the Union capture of the fort quite difficult. The scenario featured a 'river' made from the void between the main battlefield and a smaller island table. Union and confederate armored ships battled for superiority of the river and to protect their troop transports.

This was a MASSIVE game with beautiful figures, boats and terrain. The rules were Fire & Fury Regimental with 28mm scale changes and some house rules for Fortifications, Naval Guns, Balloons, Naval Rules and hidden troops in terrain/works. Everything added to the rules worked quite well for the scenario thanks to good play testing by the game hosts.

In the end the Union scraped out a narrow victory by collapsing the outer works of the fort Donelson area and landing their naval troops and heavy siege mortars at the foot of the fort. Confederates from nearby Dover gave the Union right flank some significant trouble, but in the end the Union forces on that flank delayed them long enough to allow the main attack on the fort to go in. Well played by all and a fantastic game. Several people commented that this is the type of game you usually read about in the wargaming magazines, but instead we got to play it! Thanks go to all three of the game masters, Bob, Charlie and Ralph.

Video I tried to take from the Union naval position: