The Fight for Forney Farm : a Sharp Practice game

1st July 1863 - a small part of the battle at Gettysburg

The 55th North Carolina are coming through the woods top right, heading for Forney Farm on the left.  The 9th New York Cavalry have to stop them ! Ian has the Confederates, me the Union.

Captain Forrester's Rebels make their way through the trees

and Sergeant Mordecai's skirmishers leap ahead of them

Captain Timothy Hanley's 9th New York cavalry arrive at Forney's Farm

The Rebels 2-i-C, Captain Walter Whitted, takes some troops towards the Hoffman House in case Union troops are there on the flank.

Forrester's men reach the edge of the woods and the fence line

Mordecai's skirmishers are first to open fire

Hanley orders his men to take up positions in and around Forney's farm and the orchards

This is the open ground the Confederates have to cross

Whitted is confident there are no Union troops at Hoffman's

Sergeant Alvin Lattin has dismounted his men and they line the white fences in front of the farm

and immediately gets hit - he's out cold and two men are dead !

Whitted marches his men alongside the woods to catch up with Forrester 

Stevens skirmushers draw ahead of them 

Sergeant Lattin's men have pulled back and remounted, leaving the sergeant !

Whitted's troops now fan out into line in the open

Forrester orders his men to cross the snake fencing and head towards the enemy as the Federal fire has slackened (Hanley has found his ammo is duff and their fire is halved).

Hanley's men are getting some shots home but the Rebels can handle the shock well enough

The Rebels press home the advance as the Union command structure seems to be breaking down (not only is Sergeant Lattin unconscious, so too now is Lieutenant Robertson, the second in command).

The cabin behind Forney's has caught fire causing concern

and now matters get even worse for the Union, their commander, Captain Hanley, has been shot dead by Rebel skirmishers !

Sergeant Lattin has recovered and joins his mounted troop behind the trees

the Confederate skirmishers enter the farmyard

Lattin's cavalrymen remain mounted hoping to catch them unawares

Forrester's men see the enemy retreat following the death of their leader, so run to the Union tree line

The stuffing has been knocked out of the Union cavalrymen

Lattin has missed his chance as the Rebel skirmishers have dashed into Forney's farmhouse and captured the Union deployment point which is their victory requirement. 

 Game over.

It all fell apart for the 9th New York Cavalry. All three Big Men were hit. Their British born commander had lived through fighting in Afghanistan and the Crimea but now falls on the field at Gettysburg.

Forrester can be well pleased with his day's work.

You never know what's going to happen in Sharp Practice !!!

Combat at Alcolea : Black Powder in the Peninsular

 French General Dupont has been ordered to advance to Cordova but he hears that Spanish forces under Colonel Don Pedro Agostino de Echavarri are preparing to make a stand at the river bridge at Alcolea.

Rafael picked the Spanish forces so I had Dupont's French.

In addition to forces at the bridge, Echavarri has placed cavalry and infantry on the high ground looking down on the French approach road.

Despite a shaky start, when Pannetier's brigade threw a blunder and went backwards two moves (!), the French now march on.

Rafael opts to send forward Spanish cavalry immediately to threaten the French forcing Rouger's brigade to form square

More Spanish cavalry move up in support

and a Spanish infantry brigade crosses the wooded hill towards the centre

The Spanish dragoons attempt a charge but the squares stand firm and the cavalrymen are disordered

The Spanish cavalry retire just as French dragoons arrive to assist the infantry

Chabert's infantry brigade has pushed on towards the bridge, with one eye on his threatened left flank

With good reason, the Spanish infantry charge down towards Chabert

This could be tricky !

The French infantry have been disordered by artillery fire from the area of the bridge but French cavalry have threatened a charge and the Spanish infantry hastily form square

The French infantry swing round and attack the Spanish infantry

The Spanish succeed in breaking out of square into line during the combat

but the French quality shows and the Spanish brigade breaks and runs

The French dragoons have seen off the Spanish cavalry too but two French infantry brigades have broken due to artillery fire from the bridge and fled the field leaving just one infantry brigade on the field. 

They advance purposefully and blaze away across the river at the Spanish infantry in front of Alcolea village

The Spanish infantry don't like it and start to melt away

More musket fire sees the rest of the Spanish infantry flee, leaving the gunners to try and hold the crossing

Now Dupont orders the cavalry to come forward

The Spanish gunners keep up their deadly fire

The French dragoons head for the bridge

Keep firing !

They do disorder the lead dragoon regiment but the second one charges across the bridge and hits the gunners in the flank

Brave as they are, the Spanish gunners are cut down and the way is open for the French  - but at quite some cost !

They Are Coming For The Village !

 The cry came up from some herders. A strong force of Roman Auxiliaries with support units was approaching and they were carrying wood to burn the village down as retribution for some perceived insults by our Germanic tribes.

The War Lord quickly prepares his warriors and sets off. The start of a new Infamy, Infamy ! campaign. This time Steve has the Romans and I have the Germanic tribes. 

They know the Romans are coming from the bottom right of the picture, our village is opposite at bottom left.

In the advance are a group of Roman Auxiliary archers

Followed by a group of Tribal Levy making their way through the wooded hills

Next on, a group of armed Roman servants carrying the wooden faggots to speed up burning the village

Then the Centurion marches on with a column of Auxiliary infantry

Slingers follow the Tribal Levy and two groups of Auxiliary cavalry lead by a Decurion trot ahead

The Centurion sends ahead one group of infantry as skirmishers

The cavalry advance again on and beside the hills - so far, no sight of the enemy.

But no ! Dashing from the marshes, a group of German Foederati cavalry attacks the Roman cavalry with javelins

And out of the woods, an enemy mob appear and throw their spears 

Followed by a charge by Fanatical Warriors from amongst their ranks

This surprise attack has greatly shocked the Roman cavalry

and they break

The other remaining Roman cavalry continue to engage the Foederati attacking them

But the tussle ends with both sides losing their cavalry

The Centurion turns his infantry into line and faces towards the threat from the hills

At this moment, the German Warlord charges out of the marshes and hits the skirmishing Romans who are thrown back although the Germanic warriors have taken casualties too.

To support them, Tribal Levy arrive on the German right flank

The Auxiliaries turn again now to face the new threat from the marshes

The German warriors charge forward again

The Roman Tribal Levy try to stem the tide by charging the German warriors on the hill

But they are beaten off and the Germans charge into the flank of the Auxiliaries already engaged to their front

Attacked from two sides, the Romans are in deep trouble

Their losses mount and their cohesion is broken

The German Tribal Levy have chased off the Roman archers on the right flank

At this point, the Roman morale completely collapsed and the remaining troops fled the field with all thought of burning villages long forgotten !

Despite his success, the German War Lord failed to impress his fellows enough to merit an increase in his status in the campaign.

The Roman Centurion and one junior German tribal leader were wounded but would recover in two weeks. Battle will recommence in three weeks on the Roman calendar.

Another tense game of Infamy which never fails to deliver !