The Battle Of Little Bluephoam River.

Since this was essentially a  test  of the revised board and the revived rules, I decided to just go with a straight encounter battle. Two forces vying  for control of a bridge seemed as good a scenario as any, classic really.

The Rebel cavalry got to the bridge first and dismounted to hold it rather than rushing across in hope of winning a piecemeal battle with the Dominion cavalry.  An indecisive firefight between the opposing cavalry lasted until the infantry on both sides took their place.

As the infantry came up, Gen Douglas sent the Dominion cavalry to the right to cross the river. Gen Lannigan reacted quickly to send his cavalry to block them and ordered two "brigades" of infantry to cross over on his right.

It took a while for the armies to march on and deploy, (about 1/2 the game) but once they did, things quickly heated up.

A charge by the Gentlemen Pensioners in their shiny breastplates broke two squadrons of Rebel cavalry but not without losses and the Reb battery soon scattered the remnants of them. The Rebel infantry assault was broken up by terrain and ended  up going in piecemeal.

Each side rushed reinforcements into action and the fighting became heavy across the board.

Encouraged by the appearance of their Spirit Cat, the Rebel infantry poured across the river and closed with the enemy.

An attack by the Grenadiers on the farm was easily repulsed and things were looking dark for the Dominion forces.

The battle was not yet lost or won though and the Hochelaga Fusiliers renewed the assault.

The Dominion right flank had taken horrendous casualties but the men rallied and held their ground.  Finally the Blue wave halted and one flank began to give way.

As the sun sank towards the horizon, the Fusiliers drove their enemy from the farm and repulsed all counter attacks while the Grenadiers poured back over the river to reinforce the bridgehead. On the far flank, Rebel losses mounted and soon the whole army was on the edge of giving way. General Lannigan signalled a retreat. Best to save the army to fight again. The Dominion  forces had a crossing but they were not going to get far tonight.

(In other words, at the end of 15 turns, Red had a secure foot hold on the other side of the river while Blue had a very insecure one and had also suffered more units lost and most of his units were only 1 hit away from breaking. The GM declared it a marginal win for Red.)

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