Self Hibernation Campaign - Summer 1861 - Setting the Scene

2020 Play by eMail/Website ACW Campaign

July 1861 - Manassas, Virginia

Its nearly 3 months after Abraham Lincoln called out the militia to suppress the rebellion by the southern states, many such militia units are nearing the time that they should go home.

Eager to put the gathering Southern forces to flight, Unionist politicians press their military commanders to attack the rebel encampments near to the crossroads and rail hub or Manassas, some miles north of Richmond.

The Union Army lurches into life and marches southwards to crush the rebellion once and for all.

A map of the battlefield is shown below, study it well and understand the terrain features.

Map courtesy of http://mazikainen.blogspot.com/

Each player's Brigade will be assigned to position in the line, either Left, Centre, Right or Reserve, according to agreement within their army. Players will need to assign Attack or Defend Orders for each brigade and/or unit they command and indicate how aggressively they want to obey those orders.

Union Zones in Blue and Confederate Zones in Grey.

So for example if the Union Army determined they needed to hold the left the player assigned to the Left Wing would submit DEFEND Orders and then state that he would use an Aggressiveness of 3 (on a scale of 1 to 5) to obey those orders. The player would also need to indicate the formation deployed by units in his brigade, i.e. Two Infantry Regiments in line abreast with a third in reserve behind, supported by an Artillery Battery.

Butcher, Bill Jones

Depending on how Aggressively the Confederate player wished to attack on their Right wing, he would have ATTACK orders with say an Aggressiveness of 4.

Conflicts in each zone are resolved by the Campaign Moderator (MikeW) basis information supplied
by the players and the quality of the troops they are ordering about to achieve the desired results. in this case the Rebel player is willing to suffer more casualties to achieve his orders than the Union payer is to achieve his - but its down to how good the troops are o the ground and the risks willing to be taken to see who wins out on the day!

After each battle comes the butcher's bill, casualties will be lost, strategic goals may not have been achieved and players can then work to see how well they can resupply their units, grab what glory is going and further their careers before the inevitable next battle.

Declared Rebels: John, Dave & Paul
Declared Unionists: Mark, Mike N, Rupert and Phil
Undeclared: Nigel