From: "Silva, Pedro" <pedros@G-MWATER.COM.AU>
Subject:      Glory AAR - 1st Bull Run, The Mini Series ;-)

WARNING!!!

Actual CONSIM content......

Greetings fellow enthusiasts... over easter Conquest 97 was held in
Melbourne. Amongst all the throngs of role players, Doug Adams and yours
truly found a quiet room in which to do a little bit of serious
wargaming.
What follows is the first AAR from our game of Glory, we played three
turns in about two hours, and are looking forward to finishing this off
in early May when I am next in Melbourne.

In a change of role for Doug he drew the South. This AAR is written as
seen from my Union bias. Doug has proofed it and thinks its reasonably
accurate so we thought we'd post it.

And now for the action....

>>>
Play started cautiously for both sides. 09:00 saw Burnside advancing
slowly through the woods near Sudley Church towards Matthew's Hill. Evans
had moved Special LA Bde to delay this and a short fight resulted. Evans
pulled back slowly towards Buck Hill in the centre.

At this point the Union sent Porter south along the road to capture
Groveton, and Palmer eastwards along the path north of Bull Run to cross
at Poplar Ford with the aim of falling in the rear of both of Evan's
units.

In hindsight this was not such a great move since Palmer would have done
better in avoiding the path and hurrying cross country instead.

On the east side of the map Tyler remained inactive. Evans was happy to
hold the bridge while Cocke moved cautiously north to avoid waking up
Tyler.

By 10:15 Cocke was in place around Buck Hill with the Special LA Brigade,
Hampton Legion moving north along the road to provide backup and Bee
moving north towards Lewis Ford on Tylers left.

At this point  the Union repeated it's earlier mistake by ordering
freshly arrived Franklin to follow Palmer along the meandering path. By
the time Franklin eventually crosses the run, the previously open area
north of Henry Hill is becoming rather crowded.

In the west Burnside has attempted another assault on the combined forces
of Cocke and Evans with some success though disruptions are beginning to
plague the Union brigade. The highlight of the hour is Palmers timely
arrival, he catches Lathams battery unawares on the road behind Buck Hill
and destroys it.

From the south however, Bartow and Jackson are moving quickly up into
position. Bartow has followed the Hampton Legion up the Manassas road
while Jackson has followed Bee towards Lewis Ford.

All this movement in Tylers left and front has finally awakened the Union
left wing and Sherman quickly swings into action pushing through Evans LA
brigade. Schenck moves to secure the north side of Lewis Ford against the
approaching CSA forces. And freshly arrived Keyes follows Sherman accross
the bridge.

The Southern cavalry has also been busy. Radford ignored the fighting
north of the turnpike and instead turned west to delay Porter, who has by
now taken Groveton and turned east along the turnpike and is hurrying
towards the southern flank.
What follows is a series of delaying actions by both of Radfords units
that works in bringing Porters leading brigade and artillery to a crawl.

By this time the now unengaged Special LA has moved to back up Radford
and holds a position on the southwest end of Matthews Hill. Porter moves
his second unit to face this threat to his flank.

Back in the centre the situation is looking grim. Palmer has pursued
Evans disordered LA Bde but has himself been disordered though Evans is
now routed and moving quickly await from the front. He is followed by one
of Cockes units that has also been routed.

With Porter delayed, Radford splits his forces and sends one cavalry unit
back along the turnpike to try to catch Palmer and plug the hole caused
by Sherman that Keyes is now approaching.
Sherman in the meantime is entangled in a firefight accross a creek in
the woods north of Henry Hill. His opposition is the Hampton Legion and
Washington battery.

So it is now 12:45.  Burnside is still entangled with Cocke in the
centre, though Franklin has finally arrived on the scene, and the weight
of numbers is beginning to heavily favour the Union on the right.
Everywhere else on the Union left though it is beginning to look like an
even match. Jackson is nearly in position to block Keyes while Bee and
Schenck continue to stare at each other accross Lewis Ford.

From where I sit on the blue side of the line I think the real battle is
about to start.....

>>>

My conclusion so far is that ftf sure beats solitaire, if you have the
right opponent. This being my first ftf game in years it proved to be a
lot of fun.

We hope you have enjoyed reading it. Please post comments or questions to
the list (got to try to swing away from that damned GBoH discussion ;-)

Pedro & Doug