Our Thursday group gathered at Miniature Market Cave Springs to scroll back to the 1860’s and the War Between the States with Greg Dieckhaus at the helm of his modified “Beer & Pretzels Ironclads” rules. Greg, Jay and Kent have been busy pulling pieces from several rule sets of the era and play testing them to reach that happy medium of playability vs realism. Based upon the consensus after the game it seems that they are just about a few tweaks away from getting there.
We had a great turnout for the week after Barracks Battles with 10 players and GMs at the table. During the game we also had visits from several folks that stopped by to catch some of the action and chat for a bit. Our Semi Regular Retirees Game day continues to grow in both size and participants with folks that can’t make it for the start of the game being sure that they come to check in with their gaming buddies.
Even though he was busy running the charts for the game while Greg checked ranges and movement, Jay Clendenny sent in this game report so we will turn it over to him…
CSA: Steve L, Mark, Bill and Pat.
USN: Steve, DJ, Kent and Jules
“Commodore Josiah Tattnall III nervously paced the deck of the CSS Virginia. In charge of all the CSA ships in the Hampton Roads area, he had the hard task of trying to defend both the Norfolk area and the entrance to the James river (which led up to Richmond) from the Union naval forces in the area. The Confederates had nearly lost Norfolk a year earlier after the Virgina faced the Monitor, but for some reason, the Federal ground troops they had heard about coming never showed up (in this “what if” scenario, General McClellan called off the Peninsula Campaign early and moved most of his troops back north). After Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan had been wounded and then reassigned, Tattnall had been placed in charge. The Confederates had been busy constructing additional vessels both up the James river and at Norfolk with an eye towards breaking the Union blockade, but unfortunately the Union always had Fort Monroe to fall back on. The Confederates kept hearing that the USN was going to try to force the James with a naval squadron and advance on Richmond from the south. It was up to Tattnall to prevent that and also to safeguard Norfolk. Captain Catesby Jones approached Tattnall with a message. It appeared the Union was coming out to make the long awaited attack. “
“The Federal force consisted of the USS Monitor, USS Lehigh (Passaic class monitor with a 15″ smoothbore and a 150 pound Parrot rifle), USS Pittsburg, USS Queen of the West, USS Galena, and two side wheeler wooden vessels. The Confederates had the Virginia along with the CSS Richmond (casemate ironclad), CSS Webb, CSS Little Rebel, CSS Morgan and CSS Patrick Henry.”
“The CSA force started out split with the Virginia leading part of the squadron out from Norfolk. Richmond would lead a small squadron from the James river area out to meet the Federals. With the wooden vessels being faster on both sides, they forged ahead and met in the middle of the roads. The Confederates got the better of the initial exchange as the Union was somewhat distracted by the appearance of two torpedo launches on the Confederate side. Unfortunately, one launch was sunk by the Monitor without being able to do anything, but it did allow the Confederate bigger ships to fire unanswered at the Federal ships. Pretty soon, one of the Federal ships was reduced to a sinking mess and the others had taken damage. One of the Federal side-wheel wooden ships ignored a crippled torpedo launch who promptly surged ahead the best it could and hit the target ship with a spar torpedo causing heavy damage. The Richmond arrived a bit before the Pittsburg and the Confederates continued to keep the upper hand against the lighter Union units and the Pittsburg being on the recieving end of more damage than she was causing. “
“On the Confederate right, the Virginia faced off against the Galena, Lehigh, and Queen of the West. The Queen was heavily damaged, but managed to get a half hearted ram off on the Virginia before being left in a sinking condition. The Lehigh took the Virginia under effective fire and knocked out one of the broadside guns on the Virginia. Virginia was then rammed a second time (this time by the Lehigh), but damage to both ships was very light.”
“The end came quickly for the Union as the destruction of the Pittsburg, Queen of the West, and heavy damage to the Monitor and other wooden side-wheeler made the Federal flag officer realize that the Union force was not going to be able to force their way past the Confederate flotilla this day, so he signaled to break off the action. The action was not totally one sided as the Richmond had its bow pivot gun wrecked in the closing moments of the battle.”
“The Confederates had lost two torpedo launches and had several vessels with varying degrees of damage, but not anything so severe that a few days of repairs would not make right.”
“(Essentially, we ran out of time for the day and although the Union was behind at the time we ended the game, they were not by any means out of it).”
Thanks to Jay for this game report, getting us into the action. A Thank You to all the players for taking time to join in and continued appreciation to Miniature Market Cave Springs for their for their support.
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