F&F ACW: Battle of Chantilly

Stonewall Jackson and A.P. Hill Attack

Since it was Valentines Day only a few of us could get out of our relationship committments to attend this gaming session! We decided to do a F&F ACW battle and Gary chose Chantilly. This is an unusual fight in that Jackson came tearing down the road at an outnumbered Union force, but only had a few hours of daylight to accomplish anything. In F&F turns that meant that the CSA side had about six turns to march 3/4 of the way across the board and attack, carry the position, then move off the road in the Union rear! As you can see from the images, the CSA forces were set up in long battle linies, ready for contact with a few additional brigades coming up on their left, plus the artillery. The main problem was the terrain, which channelled the attack right down the center, which was where A.P. Hill and his division went. Nothing was held back on the CSA side as there were very few turns, so although there were some flanking attempts, their chance of success was slim. The Union forces arrived, deployed quickly and within a few turns were under heavy attack. At one point one of Hill's brigades broke through the Union lines and it looked as if the end was in sight. However, a Union brigade counterattacked and held the ground, allowing other forces to come up in support. Several other attacks made some headway, but the Union forces continued to counterattack, desperately holding the line. With about two turns to go the Confederate forces made one final lunge in the center, but could not break the Union brigades that continued to hold firm. In the end the attack was called off and the union forces escaped with a victory, despite heavy casualties and out of reserves.