Great Campaigns of the American
Civil War: 1862
The year 2000 brought change to The Great Campaigns of the
American Civil War (GCACW) series tournament play. Instead of
trying to pack an ever expanding series of games into a five-day
tournament it was decided to consolidate down to two events.
Additional campaign games were added for those who love truly
looonnnng games. The first tournament was titled '1862' which
encompassed four games: Stonewall Jackson's Way, Here
Come the Rebels, Stonewall in the Valley and On
to Richmond.
16 players entered the Great Campaigns of the American Civil
War 1862 tournament for the second straight year. Scenarios for
the preliminary rounds were South Mountain from Here Come the
Rebels, Jackson's March from Stonewall Jackson's Way, Brandy
Station and The Great Flank March from Stonewall's Last Battle,
and Seven Pines and The Great Flank March from On to Richmond!
The preliminary rounds saw the balance tilt towards the Union
for a change, with a 13 to 10 lead. However, the elimination
rounds would soon see the balance tilt back towards the Confederates.
This year saw a Union trend in Jackson's March with a wide
variety of Union and Confederate strategies. One of the most
interesting was Joe Doughan's use of Stuart to slow the Army
of Virginia instead of trying to damage the railroad stations
on the Orange & Alexandria.
The semi-finals matched Paul Nied vs. Chris Withers and Ed
Beach vs. David Cross in Sedgwick to the Rescue. The first match
had Paul's rebels roll poorly during Jackson's surprise attack
but still managed to rout Howard's corps. Night fell before Jackson
could attempt any other attacks but Jackson still managed to
capture Chancellorsville in a Grand Assault with the 23rd GA
regiment leading the attack. Turn 2 saw Reynold's I Corps reinforce
Sedgwick while Hooker also transferred to the eastern wing of
the Army of the Potomac. Hooker then lead the Union back by successfully
breaking out to the west and combining the flanks while causing
numerous rebel losses.
In the other match, Ed as the CSA managed to capture Chancellorsville
by the middle of turn 2 but his units were too exhausted to keep
up the attack. David as the Union commander patiently set up
two different +0 attacks, needing only a +2 result to advance
and win the day, the first failed but everything looked great
when Ed rolled a '1' on the second attack. The Union commander
was jumping up in glee. However, his spirits were soon dashed
when he too rolled a '1'
Paul Nied (left) and Dennis Mason
re-fight the Civil War.
Our final saw Chris as McClellan hold off Ed as Lee in Retreat
to the James. Ed had generally poor dice, he would push the Union
back but wasn't able to get enough initiatives to follow up his
gains. Chris was able to hold the line while conducting some
spoiling attacks of his own. The rebels resigned early on turn
3 when it became apparent that McClellan wouldn't be forced to
retreat to the James. Congratulations are due to Chris for winning
this event for the 5th year in a row.
Next year at Lancaster GC2 and GC3 will be combined into a
single event.
|