The Union is Preserved - Rebels defeated at Bull Run

I got together with some old friends and played the First Manassas scenario the other night.  We used the Civil War Commander rules.  CWC is a derivative of Battle Cry.

 The battle started with a brutal fight for Matthews Hill.  The photo above shows the center and north end of the battlefield.  Matthews is the hill at the top right of the photo.

On the right, Porter and Burnside attack the hill where Bee, Evans and Bartow are making their stand.

Meanwhile, some skirmishing began around the Stone Bridge.  Schenck's brigade is on the left, while confederate reinforcements under Cocke come up in the background.

This is General Jackson's viewpoint.  He has a long way to go to get into the fight.  The closest house is Henry house, which sits upon Henry hill.

A close up shot of Porter and his men.

General Bee held the hill to the very last man - there would be no rallying around the Virginians tonight!

The cost of taking the hill was tremendous. Porter and Burnside spent nearly all of their infantry taking the hill, but they still had three rifled guns to place on the crest of the hill.  Jackson and Early made a line of gray troops on top of Henry Hill. A Union assault on Henry Hill was out of the question. Instead a long range artillery duel ensued.

Here is the entire table as the artillery duel is underway.

Closer to the river, Sherman and Wilcox maneuvered their troops toward the woods surrounding the Robinson house. They ran into General Cocke's brigade and a long grinding fight followed.  In this shot, some confederates are charging a Union gun.

 

At this point neither side was string enough to risk a serious attack, but the union guns and the advance from Sherman's men slowly tightened the noose around the confederates. The final score was a 12-9 victory for the boys in blue.