Big Muddy Historical Gaming Alliance – St. Louis Semi Regular Retirees Gaming 08/20/26 ACW Ironclads and Chariot Racing
Our Thursday group showed up in force for Greg Dieckhaus and Jay Clendenny’s ACW ironclads game. The pregame scenario description read “The confederate James river squadron attempts to break out and destroy city point supply depot. The only thing that stands in there way is fortifications at Trents Reach and the twin turreted monitor Onondaga.”
Jay was kind enough to not only help run the game, but send in some pics and a short report so we will allow him to share the day’ events…..
“Commodore John Williams paced aboard the cramped ironclad CSS Fredericksburg. Desperate times called for desperate measures, but Williams considered this to be beyond desperate. All he had to do was to take the James River squadron (composed around the ironclads of the Fredericksburg, Richmond and Virginia II) down the James, get past several Federal artillery batteries, over at least one barrier of obstructions in the river, defeat whatever Union ships lay in his way, get to City Point (Grants base of support for forces sieging Petersburg, VA) and destroy it. Williams looked up through the grate at the moon and decided that it might be easier to get there than City Point, let alone destroy Grant’s base of operations.”
“The Battle of Trent’s Reach was the last major ACW naval battle and featured a desperate attack by the Confederate James River Squadron. While the battle lasted several days in January of 1865 up and down the James river, the semi-retired gang was going to re-enact the part of the battle where the squadron had to get past the Federal barrier in the river. Gregg put on the scenario with Jay assisting. The game system used is a mashup of rules from various civil war naval game systems with some home brew rules tossed in to try to find a good balance of realism and playability while keeping a good pace of play going.”
“Kent L and Steve L took the part of the Union forces while Bill, John and Edwin took the CSA James river squadron. Mark J would join later to help out the CSA. This is a very tough battle for the CSA as they never really tried to breach the barrier and retreated after engaging Union naval and shore battery forces in the area. “
“The opening of the game saw the CSS Richmond stuck with the CSS Drewry alongside trying to help her get free. There was a pre-game bombardment by a Union fort battery on the Drewry for some pre-game damage. The Drewry lost their bow gun, but was otherwise not severely damaged.”
“As more forces for each side come on the river, the Richmond manages to unground herself. Unfortunately the fort battery make up for their pregame bad dice by hitting the Drewry’s rudder and jamming it to the right so the Drewry could do nothing but turn right until they got a chance to repair it. Unfortunately, the Drewry is also flooding from the hit and must try to get it stopped soon.”
“The Richmond unfortunately runs aground again. (Cursing could be heard from the ironclad) while a torpedo boat launch races by towards the obstruction line. (The torpedo launches are very small and fast boats that have a spar torpedo out in front of them. They are generally one shot wonders that don’t take much damage to put out of action, if you can hit them). “
“The torpedo launch actually manages to move across and hit the USS Onondaga (double turret monitor and flagship for the Union). Unfortunately when the sailor pulled the lanyard to blow up the torpedo, it failed to go off (dud). Furious, the crew fires off the tiny 12 pounder gun and hit the Onondaga with no effect. In the meantime, the CSS Fredricksburg is moving up and exchanging fire with Union ships (mostly missing) and the shore battery (some damage) while the fort gunners are pounding the Fredricksburg in return. The Drewry manages to get the flooding stopped, but no luck on fixing the still jammed rudder. The Virgina II heads for the middle of the minefield (torpedo obstructions) with a intent to force passage.”
“As the other CSA torpedo launches move up, so do the USS Hunchback. Both the Hunchback and Onondaga bag the torpedo boats with some excellent gunnery. The Federal fleet then repositions itself to avoid the more shallow part of the river while the Fredericksburg continues to get the worst of the battle with the shore battery and fire from Union ships. The Fredericksburg gunners are cursing their luck, but continue to fire away. The Richmond manages to get unstuck again and is more in the middle of the river.”
“The Virginia II draws all sorts of fire as she forces passage and actually makes it through the minefield without having a mine go off. She fires back at the Federal force, inflicting damage on USS Hunchback. The other CSA ironclads make their way towards the minefield part of the Union barrier while the Drewry continues to circle to the right with her jammed rudder and several threats to the die that won’t cooperate to indicate the rudder is fixed.”
“The battle continues with the Virginia II continuing to take all sorts of fire and suffering heavy damage. The USS Spuyten Duyvil (Union torpedo boat), manuvers to try to ram the Virgina II, but just misses. The Virginia II is finally finished off as the USS Onondagia decides to ram and hits. The shore batteries continue to do work on the CSA ironclads, especially the Fredericksburg, which also hits a torpedo/mine while trying to force passage. While still afloat, the Fredericksburg has flooding events that suggest she won’t be floating for long. The CSA ships do their best by doing more damage to one of the shore batteries and doing severe damage against the Hunchback.”
“As the Fredericksburg’s flooding continues and she sinks, the Richmond tries her luck with the torpedo/mine field and unfortunately strikes one that does severe damage. She would shortly sink, effectively ending the scenario.”
“This was one of the better CSA attempts I had seen with this particular scenario and that was despite the CSA not packing their lucky dice. The Federals did well and especially Steve L’s 1st Connecticut heavy artillery of the shore batteries doing some fine work, especially against the Fredericksburg.”
On Table two we broke out our enlarged and enhanced version of “Chariot Race”. Mark J, David H, DeeJ C and Kevin F all mounted up and readied their teams hoping that fortune would smile upon them.
This was another familiarization game with our big set as we continue to learn the rules. The game plays quickly and the lead will change hands numerous times. We limited our race to the two laps called for in the rules as time was short for some of our players and a sixty minute game fit right into what was available to play.
David H got off to a great start leading the two lap race for a couple of turns but fortune was not to favor him with the ultimate victory as DJ pulled it out in the end.
Thanks to Jay for his great report.
Thanks to Greg & Jay for running the ACW scenario and a Thank You to all the players who came out and our ongoing appreciation to Miniature Market Cave Springs for their continued support.
Remember to shop local!
