AAR: Pickett's Charge: My First Game Of:

     I will not lie! I expected a "Rebel Yell" from my Confederates! Instead, I got a "Rebel Whimper" in return! This was my first experience with the "Pickett's Charge" rules that my fellow Cape Fear Wargaming friend had been recently talking about. As in the previous post, we experimented with the rules. The only real reason I was not involved was a simple hangover from the night before. This was well deserved based on a case of beer and a bottle of whiskey. But I  rarely get it so badly to not understand a new rules set!
   But in this game, the rules meant more for me, because I was playing them. I am a firm believer that a rules set is best explained by playing. Even if it does not sound that great, you can be surprised! The good thing about this game is that there were no veterans to the rules. I played against a friend of mine named Tim. He ran a bunch of Union forces against my Confederates that were owned by my friend, Danny. It was going to be an interesting match, since I have never played against Tim in anything that I am aware of  in the last five years.
    What I found interesting with these rules are that you place down your troops at once. There are no back and forth placement of troops or one side down before the other. Based on this, both opponents get a tactical surprise. It our game, it was a little closer than normal rules. We wanted to get into the action as soon as possible. This was also part of the downfall with the Confederates in the game. The Union slightly outgunned me with Brigade artillery that was more scattered. And with good die rolling, the blood and death on my side stacked up quick.
   Another note was the lack of passing orders to you various general staff. If your did not roll well for initiating a staff officer, parts of your army was not allow to do anything, because they hesitated. This can have a crippling affect in the game upping the level of tension in the game. And the ones who need to move never quite get there orders. In my case, the local drunk must have been relied on to pass out orders. He never really made it.
    the last thing I thought was interesting were the rules chaos in charges. With the various modifiers, there was never the feel that it was going to be a sure thing. One assault left my Confederates standing off unformed while taking shots by Union Troops who spent their time shooting at birds instead. The other charge I had was simply repulsed! Tim charged a battery of guns to take some serious casualties. The battery somehow survived in withdrew. This seemed like the only unlikely event in the game that did not make sense. We all thought that even if the battery fired off the guns, they would have been abandoned or destroy automatically. But in truth, if we had started the game at the further distance, there was a very good chance that these guns would have not gotten into this situation. At least, the distance the Union troops crossed might have been checked, instead of flanked. We will have to try the rules out again. First blood in a set of rules is never a defining moment when testing.

The battlefield.

Positions at the beginning.

Attacking the Yankees.

One regiment retreat through the supporting one.

The one with the cross gained an exceptional modifier for shooting.

The Yankees double-quick to attack Rebel guns. 

The Confederates left flank collapses.