Longstreet Campaign AAR (1861 - 1st Battle)

At our last club meeting in September, we played a very fun game of Sam Mustafa's Longstreet and decided that we would all like to do a campaign game. Starting yesterday, we put our forces into action with the first battle in 1861 pitting myself, Lord Ashram, and Rob (who commanded 2 brigades) against 4 formidable Union foes. When we rolled for the scenario, it came to the River Crossing.

After the terrain was placed, we had reduced their 4 easy river fords down to only one with terrain obstructions (forests, rocks, and hills) which was my brigade's task to defend on the far right flank. The Union forgot that they were able to place a river crossing rather than other pieces of terrain and only remembered after they had already placed 2 pieces so they added another ford which we promptly obstructed.

My Force Roster at the start of the battle.

My forces and Ashram's cavalry on the right flank guarding the objective and open ford.

Ashram's forces in the center and Rob's 2 brigades on the far left.

The battle was mostly focused on Rob's side where our friend John's union forces quickly engaged him from across the river in an attempt to weaken the Confederates for a crossing. It was a 4 hour long slug fest for them that resulted in big casualties for each side. In the center and on the right, Lord Ashram and I mostly bombarded the Union approach and chewed their forces up a bit. Not a single Union regiment would ever even get onto a river ford.

Slug fest on the left flank.

Rob and John's forces battling it out.

Where my forces did see action was in a cavalry engagement that did not go my way at all. It was the original intention of myself and Ashram to get in the rear of our enemy and then dismount for a flanking attack. The Union CiC came to the rescue of that flank though and played a card that allowed them to throw a swamp in front of our maneuvers.

*POOF* God damn magical felt swamp!

We were able to maneuver around the magical swamp with my 5th Texas Rangers going left and Ashram's cavalry going right. After a little horse dancing show, I had just drawn a card that would have extended the reach of my cavalry for a charge. As soon as it was my turn I was going to throw that bad boy down, make contact and win the day....that is until it was my foe's turn first and he played the same card.

See explanation below.

(1) I was hemmed in against the river, beaten in combat and forced into position 2. (2) The Union opened fire with a volley and, thankfully, they were terrible shots and missed. I was then forced back into position 1 in an attempt to retreat but was again charged. There, I lost 6 out of my 8 bases of cavalry before I was able to pull away to position 3.

The game was extremely fun and ended with the left flank having seen the majority of the action but a major Confederate victory as they neither took our position nor did we suffer too many casualties in comparison. Longstreet remains one of my favorite games to play and I look forward to my next engagement against my friend Phil which will take place in 1862. At the end of the battle, we had to do the Post Battle Process. I was promoted to II Eagles (Longstreet uses Eagles in replacement for the Union/Confederate ranks) and awarded 3 Epic Points. Drawing campaign cards proved to be a major coup for me as I received a new unit of infantry, cavalry, and artillery!

My new units: 2nd Texas Partisans, 3rd Alabama Lt. Horse & Southern Guard Artillery

The typhoid outbreak did hit all of us though and even though I recovered some units through rolling, I only later lost them to typhus. As Sam explains in the rules, while Civil War casualties are staggering, the vast majority of losses were caused by disease. I look forward to engaging my next opponent in a 1 on 1 game and updating everyone on what happens in 1862.