I had a great fun game on Monday night, a friend and I played another game of my new ACW Ironclad rules set.
We just did a simple meeting engagement on a stretch of river somewhere maybe along the Mississippi, we used about 1500 points per side, the list of ships was –
The Union force was –
USS Switzerland
USS Signal
USS Essex
USS Onondaga
For the Confederates –
CSS Planter
CSS Neuse
CSS Tuscaloosa
CSS Tennessee
So, my opponent chose to take the Union force and so I would be commanding the Reb’s for the game.
We set up at each end of the river and steamed towards each other on turn one, I had already decided to try and keep my distance from the very scary Onondaga with its heavy guns, they would make a mess of my ships if I wasn’t very careful.
Turn two saw a few long shots testing the range and the gunnery skill, but no real threat from either side.
Turn three saw CSS Tuscaloosa and CSS Planter head out towards the USS Switzerland, both trying to get some early damage on the wooden ship, but they only managed to get a couple of points of damage.
CSS Neuse and CSS Tennessee kept on my side of the river and waited to see how the attack would go, and to see if they could slip around the back of the Union force.
Turn four saw the first real damage on several ships from both sides, CSS Tuscaloosa took serious damage from three Union ships including the USS Onondaga, even my high armour was no match for those heavy guns!! Fires were burning now on the USS Switzerland, USS Onondaga and the CSS Tuscaloosa.
The fifth turn saw the CSS Tuscaloosa take her last point of damage from the fires burning onboard, so the first loss is from the Confederate force.
Turn six sees a real scrap begin as the two Reb Ironclads move in behind the Union ships, they manage to get a few fires on the Union ships which was starting to be a real problem for them.
The Union crews were starting to suffer from the constant hits from my Confederate guns, the crew on the USS Switzerland and the crew of the USS Signal were both shaken and were having a bad time.
My only ship with heavy guns on took a real pounding in this turn, CSS Tennessee had several fires burning out of control it and the CSS Neuse had managed to put more shots into the Union ships, but they just could not sink them!
Fires also burned on almost all of the Union ships, but their crews managed to put most of them out.
Turn seven was the end for the Confederate force, by the end of the turn the CSS Tennessee and the CSS Planter had taken too much damage and their crews run up the white flag and took no further part in the battle.
The only remaining Reb ship left on the river was the CSS Neuse, even though it was undamaged it decided that it was time to leave, and I gave the well-deserved victory to my opponent and the Union force.
The Confederate force didn’t really make many of their shots count in the game, I rolled lots of ones when trying to penetrate the Union armour, and my opponent managed to roll maximum damage almost every time!!
At the end of the game the Union ships were almost all on their last point or two damage except the USS Onondaga, so even though I lost all but one ship it was much closer than it looks, just another point or two of damage and it could have easily been a victory for the Confederates.
Again, the rules worked really well.
