WinSPCW Scenario Testing - Antietam, morning, September 17, 1862

[mkr8683]

I'm writing a scenario of the battle of Antietam for my American Civil War mod. The orbats for both sides are complete, and I'm dividing the battle into phases. I'll also be writing a copy of each scenario for both sides. As it is, advancing as the human player is so much easier to model, but these test scenarios are useful to predict where the AI's troops should be per turn, so the AI in attack can be scripted.

nb - by orbats, I mean that the units on both sides are named. Capitalized leader names are historical.

[mkr8683]

The focus of this scenario is the action at the West Woods and Miller's Cornfield, which was the scene of intense, horrific fighting.

"..the most deadly fire of the war. Rifles are shot to pieces in the hands of the soldiers, canteens and haversacks are riddled with bullets, the dead and wounded go down in scores" - Captain Benjamin F. Cook of the 12th Massachusetts Infantry, on the attack by the Louisiana Tigers at the Cornfield

".. every stalk of corn in the northern and greater part of the field was cut as closely as could have been done with a knife, and the rebel slain lay in rows precisely as they had stood in their ranks a few moments before" - Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker

Major General Joseph Hooker's 1st Corps, Federal Army of the Potomac, advances south against Major General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Left Wing, Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

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I begin with the cornfield. General Ricketts sends his 2nd Division against Miller's Cornfield, and a terrible volley of shot and shell from rebel artillery, concentrated around the Dunker Church, begins to work over the Federal line. Union 12-pounders at the North Woods don't have the range to reach the Confederates, so, after counterbattery fire from the few 3-inch Ordnance rifles I have up there, I begin the process of moving the Napoleons forward only after the rebel guns have fired all their shots and are suppressed. A bit gamey, yes, but in this mod, artillery is deadly against other artillery, and an exploding caisson can cause immense damage.

The Pennsylvania Reserves can't take the Confederate artillery fire. Truman Seymour tries to rally his regiments but they mill around in confusion along the Smoketown Road. 1st Pennsylvania also took a volley of musketry from Mississippi infantry hidden in the cornfield.

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The next phase of battle is the advance of Doubleday's 1st Division to the West Woods, his line straddling the Hagerstown Pike. Colonel Phelps's 1st Brigade of New Yorkers takes heavy fire from Virginia and Alabama infantry hidden in the treeline, and begin to break, but the brigade stays intact and, rather than moving forward into that murderous musketry, form a line and begin returning volleys. Their fire causes some of Stonewall's veteran regiments to break.

Gibbon's 4th Brigade has a harder time of it, the Wisconsin boys halting to trade volleys with the Virginians of Jones's Brigade. Marsena Patrick's 3rd Brigade begins working the rebel left flank, and I detach a brigade from George Meade's 3rd Division to support Ricketts in the cornfield. Thus ends turn 1.

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Now I have a problem, with Ewell's division moving up Mumma Lane to hit Ricketts's left flank.

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Still under heavy rebel artillery fire, I have the Pennsylvania Reserves hunker down at the edge of the East Woods, both to avoid drawing fire and to help blunt Ewell's attack. I also dispatch another brigade from Meade's division, along with a battery each of Rhode Island and US regular artillery, to assist.

Meanwhile, John Bell Hood's old brigade of Texans (he now commands the division, and WT Wofford now leads the Texas Brigade) and Whiting's mixed brigade of Alabamians, Mississippians, and North Carolinians (in the real battle, the commanders of all four regiments of Whiting's Brigade were shot) have revealed themselves in the cornfield and begin trading volleys with the Pennsylvanians. Miller's Cornfield now begins to get bloody.

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Doubleday's fight is not going very well. Early's Brigade approaches from the west against Doubleday's right flank, but three of my batteries on the Hagerstown Pike check Early. I also send the remaining brigade of Meade's Division in that direction. Thus ends turn 2.

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Doubleday has stabilized his line, and with Early's advance checked by Meade's reserve brigade, I can redirect my artillery against the West Woods. A brisk exchange of musketry is still going on, though Jackson's left flank, held by the division of JR Jones, is holding firm. There may be too many rebels in those woods to push through.

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The 2nd US Sharpshooters, the riflemen in green uniforms, are doing damage to the rebs with their Sharps rifles.

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The fight in the cornfield continues to be a mess, but I've been able to push forward and take two objective flags. True to history, the 12th Massachusetts Volunteers suffered terribly at the hands of Hays's Louisiana Tigers (in real life, the regiment suffered 67% casualties in less than an hour). Ricketts's flank is too exposed to Ewell, who is still moving up Mumma Lane, so I have the Pennsylvania Reserve brigade move out of the East Woods to help. This is the brigade that was mauled by the reb artillery at the Dunker Church, but since some of those guns have been suppressed and much of the battlefield is obscured by smoke, I have them dash out of the treeline to join the fray in the cornfield. I'm certain that Meade's reserve brigade is moving fast enough to meet Ewell, and the two batteries are almost in position on Mumma Lane. Two batteries of Napoleons have moved up to support Ricketts, and with their vision obscured by the smoke of the fight, the 3-inch Ordnance rifles are limbered up and prepared to move forward. End of turn 3.