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| Union cavalry rush ahead of the main attack to deny Confederate reinforcements. |
Turning the airfield table into a railway station and enabling the owner to send orders every half hour instead of by courier was a good way of being period specific with a vulnerable but high point objective table. Linking the table to 3B and making it an alternative route to attacking the other high point table, as we did with the renaissance operational game, also makes sense and keeps the defender worried about his rear defence.
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| Come on boys we get a +1! |
But what if we allowed the holder of the railway station the option of calling in extra reinforcements from outside the immediate operational area? Extra reinforcements would mean surrendering additional points and could turn an attack/defence game into an encounter game by default.
For example, in our last game the Confederate defenders were outnumbered 3;2 by the Union attackers but managed a win of 10 to 8. Another hour of play would certainly have seen the loss of 1B making the game a draw and possibly 3A leading to a Union victory of 13 to 7.
Would I have surrendered an extra point to the Union for another division to secure 3A? Probably. Would I surrender 2 points for two divisions in order to counter attack and secure the river line on 2A and 2B? Possibly as this would give me 3A, 3B, 2C and a point on 2A and 2B which would be 10 points minus 2 = 8. The Union would hold 8 leading to a draw.
This makes 3A as valuable in a 19th century setting as it is in our 20th century games. The attacker has to consider denying this extra point of reinforcements for the defender as much for the points as well as for the tactical play.
Just an idea!
4 comments:
I would have surrendered a point for a Division
Maybe a point per 8 company brigade.
This is the debate. You need to make sure there is enough of an incentive to consider using the reinforcement versus the cost of using it. As ever in operational games its making sure there's a balance.
I toyed with both allowing the Confederates to reinforce via the railway station, or having a Union Seaborne raiding force (Marines and Freed Slaves) , but as it was our first ACW outing, operationally speaking and would have required more figures I wasn't sure if it would have been too much so opted for the safer route ensuring we would get a game. I also considered having a Railway Junction near the station and extending the line , across the river up the tables to 1A (through the Gaps). Again I thought it might have been a step too far so early on. I'll keep painting figures for ACW so our games can expand for any operational scenario you guys want to run.
You were right Jon - keep it simple for the first outing. This could be a good option for an encounter game where we take turns to place the tables and then share out objective points. Whoever has the rail station can move troops faster and call in further reinforcements. As ever with operational games the options are endless.
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