The Harlan Sits

 The people have spoken!

The Harlan Blitz, having forced their way through Big Stone Gap, taken two towns deep in Kingsport Territory, and generally run amuck find themselves confronted by a terrible new challenge: literal water falling from the sky!

For Commander Hayes, it is already October 5th.  Far to the west, the Battle of Powell River has already been decided - though we do not yet know the outcome.  Four days earlier Hayes and his men managed to force Big Stone Gap and after spending a day securing the town, they moved down to Duffield.  As a small village, it offers no resistance, but it does require a day to secure hostages and ensure the local populace doesn't get too out of hand.

On October 5th, the Blitz awaken to find a light rain falling, with the promise of heavier rain in the offing. Facing the prospect of a two-day march to Gate City, Hayes utilized one of his few messenger pigeons to request advice from the War Council back in Knoxville.  After a fierce debate, the more conservative faction won...

...and Commander Hayes (Intelligence 15, Initiative 17) breathes a sigh of relief.  He can shelter in place here in comfortable Duffield, and does not risk getting bogged down on the way to Gate City.  That is probably a smart call as - SPOILER ALERT! - the rain is scheduled to last until at least October 7th, and possibly longer.  We won't know until the rest of the campaign catches up to the Blitz.  Remember, it takes as many days for the roads to dry as it takes to soak them, so the Blitz is effectively bogged down in Duffield until the 9th.  On the flip side, everyone else will be bogged down as well.  Whether this was a smart move or not remains to be seen.

But let's turn the clock back a few days, shall we?  We were pretty cavalier about leaving Big Stong Gap unguarded.  Given how fast the armies are marching hither and yon, we should update our rules to define how large a garrison must be left behind to secure any towns of D-Class or bigger.  (E-Class villages are so small as to not need such.  We can assume their leaders are held hostage by the conquering force to ensure compliance.)  

Remember that militias range in size from 100-300 men.  Big Stone Gap, as a C-Class city (and a foundry capable of replenishing cannons) had a militia of 200 men, and to keep things easy, we'll assume that the garrison has to be as large as our standard 1 guard for every 5 prisoners.  That would force Commander Hayes to leave 40 able-bodied men behind to hold the Gap.  Since we've got some serious numbers of wounded, let's leave them behind too - they would only slow the march of the Blitz.

Ultimately, we are retconning the numbers to show that Big Stone Gap is now under the 'protection' of 40 cavalry men, and the temporary home of 67 wounded infantry.  Those 67 infantry will recover on October 13th, at which time either they or the cavalry can race to rejoin the main force of the Harlan Blitz as some much neededreinforcements.

I have updated the Armies Page to reflect this change.  And you can expect a similar process to occur whenever a D-Class or larger city falls to the enemy and here I'm looking at Tazewell and Morristown.

Scouting Powell River

 Here's what the terrain looks like for the Battle of Powell River.  Both the Knoxville and Kingsport armies have orders to march down Alanthus Hill road and engage the enemy.  Luckily for them, the Army of the Pines has a spoiling force of three companies arriving the day before.  Even better, they should arrive with plenty of time to get over the bridge that spans the deep valley of the river, over 100 feet in some places, and into terrain more suited for battle.

If I was running this fight, I'd put the table right about where the black rectangle shows it.  Most of the table's edges would consist of uncrossable terrain. To the south, Wallen Ridge rises up to over a thousand feet. The Powell River blocks movement across the northern table edge, but also the northern have of the western edge and all but a small gap in the southwest corner of the table.  That leaves a substantial part of the table relatively flat, through broken by woods and the odd stream or two.  The good news is that both sides can leave s small force in their deployment zone to prevent pursuit in the event of a loss.  The bad news is that any unit retreating off the table via any direction save the road is in serious trouble.  They have no where to go.

If I were to run this battle, I might give either force the option of sending a unit cross-country, behind Wallen Ridge, with the potential to enter the table on the opponent's side in a late turn.  I would also have Knoxville set up first, and Kingsport set up second then take the first turn.

But that's just me.

The Army of the Pines (Knoxville)

• General Stiner: Int 86, Init 63, Cou 68, Cha 11, Str 11, Hea 2, CCR: 2
• Pineville Line
• Middlesboro Line
• The Orphans (three companies of men from Sneedville and Bean Station)
• Barbourville Dragoons (Light horse)
• Evarts 2nd Lancers (Med horse)
• Cumberland Battery
• Harrogate Battery 

Jones' Army (Kingsport)

• Surgoinsville Rifles (Light Infantry)
• 1st Virginia Line Infantry
• 2nd Virginia Line Infantry
• 1st Duffield Lancers
• 2nd Duffield Lancers 
• Pennington Dragoons (Veterans)
• 1st Big Stone Gap Battery
• 2nd 1st Big Stone Gap Battery
• Commander Matthew Patton: Int 91, Init 27, Cge 79, Cha 74, Str 54, Hea 27
• CCR: 4  (Note: smart and capable, but aging and slow to move)
• This army treats any body of water as one class lower.  In other words, they can ignore small streams, and are merely delayed by deep streams.  This rule does not apply to the Powell River, which is characterized not just by the water hazard, but by tall and very steep slopes in this region.

Supply Line Considerations

 Somebody asked about the vulnerability of supply lines.  As things stand on October 2, both forces have armies positioned deep within enemy territory.  Take a look:

The road networks in eastern Tennessee are pretty good.  Lots of options are available for the supply masters.  That said, Rogers' Army could be in big trouble if the Army of the East cuts north and re-takes Chuckville.  Luckily for them, General Brock has orders to pursue them north and force a confrontation before Commander Hurst invests his forces in a siege of Tazewell.

On the other side of the ledger, the Harlan Blitz can trace an unbroken line of supply up through Big Stone Gap, down through the Cumberland Gap, and hence to Knoxville.  That will change if Tazewell falls - an event which would put both the Blitz and Army of the Pines out of supply.  The Blitz is small enough we may allow them to live off the land, but such rapacious practices won't last long.  If they are forced into that, they run the risk of rebellion in Duffield and Big Stone Gap.  That would force them to either head back east or fully commit to attacking the high walls of Kingsport.

October Week One: Move Results

The results are in.  It's Operation Hey Diddle Diddle sending Knoxville's forces north as Operation Second Wind sees the Kingsport forces making another push into K-ville territory.

October 3rd will prove to be a pivotal day as dawns and two fresh armies meet somewhere along the Powell River and Morristown comes under siege.

With the adoption of Operation Hey Diddle Diddle, General Stiner sends his Army of the Pines out from their safe-haven, intent on rendezvousing with the little orphan companies holding out in Tazewell.  Those three companies arrive after a day's march and have some time to wait.  It turns out ths little crossroads along the Powell River is equidistant (20-miles) from both Horrogate and Chuckville.  The Knoxvillians have a slight edge on travel time, and they may opt to storm across the river before General Patton arrives with Jones' Army from the east.

Here's a shot of the Powell River from that bridge in the center.  Even with their one-week stream crossing advantage, that's a touch obstacle for General Patton to cross.

Further south, things get complicated around Cherokee Lake.  Rogers' Army left dummy fires burning overnight, and slipped across to the north shore, under orders to occupy Tazewell.  (Perhaps with an eye toward marching south on Knoxville?)  The next morning General Brock realizes that he has been had, and that the Greene Army to the West isn't going anywhere, immediately sets out in pursuit with the Army of the East.  Unfortunately for him, this paves the way for Greene's Army to move into the void and lay siege to Morristown starting on October 2nd.

Hampered by the need to re-stablish control over Bean Station, General Brock loses another day, leaving him now a full two days behind Rogers' Army, which will arrive on the outskirts of Tazewell on October 3rd and open the Siege of Tazewell on October 4th.

Knoxville's High Command, eager to preserve control of Morristown, urges the Army of the West to make haste, but due to the poor roads west of Jefferson City, won't arrive until late in the day on October 5th.  To dampen their spirits even further, October 5th brings with it a light rain, and thunder in the distance warns of approaching storms in the coming days.

And away up in the north, the Harlan Blitz continues its march toward Kingsport, stopping up short at noon on October 4th to lay siege to that small town.  As an E-Class town, the Duffield militia will put up only a token resistance.  As a result, the Blitz will spend the 5th pacifying the place, restocking their stores, and then head out on the 6th...except that torrential rains move in on that day with no end in sight.  Does Commander Haynes shelter here until the rains ebb, or continue his mission?  We're going to the hive mind on this one.

The Army strengths shown on their respective pages are accurate as of October 2nd, the date of the Battle of Powell River.

OUR Campaign

This is why the Chuckville (formerly Sneedville) War is more properly thought of as "our campaign" than my campaign.  You guys make it what it is.

Tomorrow we'll look at which of the three strategies was chosen by the two belligerents.

Start the Presses!

 I made some propaganda posters.

Someday somebody will come along and find this blog while searching for information on Kingsport and/or Knoxville and be very, very confused.

Naming Them: Knoxville's Generals

 Once again we look to history for inspiration.  We need to put some names to the commanders of the scattered forces of Knoxville.  We'll return to this webpage (link) documenting the final resting places of our fallen American brethren who fought in that terrible conflict sometimes called Lincoln's War.  Since we used the Confederate soldiers for Kingsport, we'll scan the list of Union soldiers for suitable names for the Knoxville High Mucky-Mucks.  We do this in remembrance of their sacrifices and as a way to acknowledge the debt we owe them.

David Rogers Beeler in our own world was the fifer for the 8th TN Infantry. In our little tabletop world we're going to bump him up to command the largest field force there is: the Army of the West.

Andrew Jackson Brock, who served with 7th TN mounted infantry, steps up to command the Army of the East.  He looks the type.

William Henry Stiner, of the 2nd TN Infantry, takes command of the Army of the Pines. 

Isaac C. Haynes, who served with the 8th TN Cavalry, must be the man behind the Harlan Blitz.  We need a cavalry man, and a ruthless looking one, for the role.

Naming Them: Kingsport Generals

We need to get some names up in here.  Instead of our usual habit of trusting the internet to provide meme-worthy names of dubious provenance and little reverence, I thought perhaps something a little more respectful was called for.  A friend and mysterious benefactor pointed me to this webpage (link) documenting the final resting places of the the Civil War veterans who await the resurrection within the soil of Union County.  In this manner, we can call upon the ghosts of our ancestors and pay them a small tribute in the form of remembering who they were, why they fought, and how much we owe each and every one of them.

To that end we'll use the list of Confederate soldiers to populate the names of the Kingsport generals.  Scanning the list for highest ranking men, or those with photos posted should give us the three or four names we require.

Major - now General Allen Hurst becomes the commander of Rogers' Army.  With a headstone like that, we have to stick him right into the mix, don't we?

Second Sergeant Matthew Patton earns a promotion to commander of Jones' Army.

And finally, Private Greenberry Leander Donehew has a name made for taking command of Greene's Army.  Simply amazing how often that sort of synchronicity happens in endeavors of this nature.  He was a cavalryman in our fight, and that dashing elan you can still see in the set of his jaw should serve his imagi-nations counterpart just as well.

God bless them all.

Showing the Colors

 By popular demand, the national flags for Knoxville and Kingsport.

Sometimes you can't beat the real world.  The design comes straight from the Knoxville website, which has a very detailed description.  The red field matches the army markers and flags we're using in the campaign, and the colors have been tweaked to show up a little better against that red background.

Again, I let real world bureaucrats do the heavy lifting for me.  In this case, we've got the sun rising behind Bays Mountain.  Once more, we add a blue field to parallel the colors of our armies.  It's just that simple.

Early October: Possible Plans

With the first round of battles over and done, we need to look to the next round of the war.  How do Knoxville and Kingsport react to their successes and defeats?  We'll pick one strategy for each force, and then the generals of each army will follow those orders for the next week, or until the situation sees a dramatic change (i.e. a major battle or siege), whichever comes first.

I've got some ideas.  Maybe you've got some, too.  If so, throw a description in the comments.

I'll post a video outlining these strategies on Friday and open the two polls over the weekend.  Watch this space for a notice and links.

Knoxville

With their forces scattered about the map, the Knoxvillian High Command can look at a map with a lot of strengths and vulnerabilities.  Thanks to some quick thinking and an early morning march, the Army of the East managed to hold off a larger force.  But nearly caught between two armies as strong as themselves, they are in a very risky position.  Here are three potential strategies moving forward.

Operation Full Sneed Ahead - Commenter Shawn Hutson offers up a plan whereby Knoxville keeps her eyes on the prize.  Throw everything you can at Sneedville now.  The Army of the West sends half its might north to Tazewell, there to unite with the Army of the Pines for a big push on Tazewell. The Army of the East holds and does what damage it can in Morristown, hoping to stand long enough for reinforcements in the form of the remainder of the Army of thee West to reach them.  I would suggest to the War Council that the Army of the East retreat back to Jefferson City rather than spend its strength in a hopeless fight it can't win against two armies, but am leaving this plan up as per General Hutson's suggestion.

Operation Hey Diddle Diddle - Everybody moves forward, but along a more even front.  The Army of the East chases after their defeated foe, trusting the advance of the larger Army of the West to protect them from Greene's Army.  Meanwhile, the Blitz continues their race for Kingsport.

Operation Softly Softly Catchee Monkey - This one is a slow developing plan that eschews a direct assault on Sneedville for a run at Kingsport.  Let Jones' Army sit there in Sneedville as the fight is decided elsewhere.  Using the strong arm of the Army of the West as a steamroller, the goal is to divide the two southern Kingsport armies and allow them to be crushed one at a time.  The Army of the East pulls south at frist, then drives up I-81.  Maybe it pulls Greene's Army with it.  Maybe it forces a confrontation that weakens the Greene County Boys. As a nod to defense, the Army of the Pines bypasses the Tazewell Detachment on its path to take up position defending Knoxville.  If things go well in the south, and the Jones Army has to leave Sneedville, that Tazewell Detachment can saunter in and reclaim Knoxville's rightful claim.

Kingsport

Kingsport faces its own difficult choices.  Do they maintain their faltering offense, hold onto their gains, or go into full defensive turtle mode?

Operation Delay is De Wey - Here, Kingsport attempts to run out the clock.  Hold on tight to Sneedville while pushing down toward Knoxville with Roger's and Greene's Army.  Depending on which way that East Army moves, they can either double-team it and swamp it through weight of numbers or use one army to pin it and the other to keep the Army of the West distracted and unable to pressure Sneedville.  The one wrinkle to this plan is the Jones' Army committing a force to chase down the Harlan Blitz before they can get close to Kingsport.  That leaves them a little exposed to the Army of the Pines, but you can't have everything!

Operation HODL - Once again, the Kingsportian War Council expects the Jones Army to deal with the Harlan Blitz before any more towns are lost in the north.  Kingsport is supposed to be on the offensive here, after all.  Down south, they expect the Army of the East to be eliminated as a going concern via the expedient of catching it between Rogers' and Greene's Armies. (Suggested by YooToob commenter Shawn Hutson.)  From there, the armies can either combine if they got torn up, or split back up to protect the northern and southern approaches to Kingsport.

Operation Second Wind - Continuing to take the fight to Knoxville, the War council refuses to take their foot off the gas.  Everybody drives deeper into Knoxville territory, trusting to their strength of arms to push the front line ever backwards.  If the line stays far enough away from Sneedville, even a loss or two can be acceptable so long as it keeps Knoxville out of Sneedville.  Meanwhile, the Harlan Blitz has shown itself to be beneath notice - let the local militias grind them down.

A Late Contender: General Lacky

 Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

We had a fourth contender for the Battle of Morristown (link), and I completely spaced it.  Presented by General Lacky, a longtime friend of the channel and look how good this looks:

Go over to Lazy Wars to read the full-blown report for yourself.  He's using 2x2 Napoleonics, a favorite of mine and one that works seamlessly with the style of campaign we are running here in the greater Sneedville environs.

That would have made a difference in the voting, I think.  It would have made the surprising Knoxville win a little less likely at least, and we'll be sure not to make this same mistake again.

If you have a battle report that you want included as a potential canon result, drop a link in the comments.  I'll watch them a lot more closely moving forward.  A battrep like Lacky's represents too much effort not to gain the appreciation it earned.

September 29th: The Aftermath

 We had some fun with this day of double frays.  September 29th will go down in infamy as the day the Sneedville War began in earnest.  The full, ugly details can be found in this video, or skip down to read all about it.

 

For those of you who prefer the written word, it was a day of mixed results for both Team Red and Team Blue.

Up north, the Harlan Blitz met with stiff resistance, with three waves of assaults on Big Stone Gap thrown back by the plucky local militia.  I told you these Tennessee mountain boys were not to be trifled with.  After a day of licking their wounds, the Harlan Blitz would launch a surprise night attack and catch the locals off-guard.  The fact that the militia caused Knoxville a two-day delay ain't nothing, but the real damage was the 113 casualties they inflicted on the attacking force.  With a small complement of 600, they now head into the next stage of the fight - stirring up trouble in the Kingsport backfield - with the capacity to lose only another 112 men before they are ruined as a fighting force.  They cannot sustain such casualties for long, and what a black eye for Knoxville's reputation if their professional soldiers get wiped out by the local militias.

Meanwhile, down around Morristown the day went the way of the Knoxvillians.  The Army of the East effectively stole a march on Roger's Army, managing to get into Morristown first.  Roger's Army was surprised to find a larger than expected force already digging in, and after losing a fair fight in the east, lost their nerve.  The lines collapsed and the whole army routed back toward Lake Cherokee.  Had this been a one-off, it would have been a debacle as the whole army crowded the lone bridge across the narrowest width of the lake.  Thanks to sound strategic thinking, the presence of the nearby Greene's Army - just a day west of the action in Bulls Gap - prevented the victorious Knoxvillians from pressing home their advantage.  Maintaining their discipline, they held thier positions.  That lets Roger's Army off the hook, but saves the Army of the East from getting double-teamed from the north and east....for now.

So here is our current status.  Take a look at the situation and forumalte a strategy for each side, always remembering that neither side knows what the other has planned.  Tomorrow I'll post three plans for each force - one attack strategy, one defensive, and one that mixes elements from both.  Give me your best strategies, and we'll ask the War Councils which plan they want to adopt.

One last note:  The Kingsportians have lucked out this week - in one way or another they can negate the effects of stream-crossing.  Maybe they have better scouts.  Maybe they have pontoons.  Maybe they are just better swimmers.  For whatever reason, they find watercourses less troubling this week than their Red Army counterparts.

Caleb Hines Presents: The Miracle of Big Stone Gap

 We've only had the one entry for the siege of Big Stone Gap, and what a doozy it is!

Caleb Hines runs us through a volley and Bayonet scenario which presents a clinic on how to use terrain to negate an opponent's overwhelming weight of numbers.

Check it out here.

David Lee Presents: The Battle of Morristown

 A third contender enters the lists!  David Lee brings us this Twitter Thread detailing his edition of the Battle of Morristown.  

No spoilers here.  Check out the thread for the full rundown, and give him a follow if you're on the site we all love to hate.

The Raptor Presents: The Battle of Morristown

The Rogersville Dragoons on the attack!

 Yesterday we saw one man's take on The Battle of Morristown.  Let's look at another way to run the same fight.  this time we turn our attention to The Raptor's Bunker. Here's a little preview, but I wanted to draw your attention to something that is important in campaign games: unit tracking.

With the Knoxvillians being led by a very high grade commander, they had the opportunity to start in the Early Morning Day Segment (6AM to 8AM), and they took it! 

When the Rogersville Dragoons arrived at the crossroads and sent word back of how close the enemy was, the Kingsportian commander scrambled a new plan...

Lord knows I've taken short cuts on this issue myself.  When it comes to your standard miniature wargame fight, one regiment of foot is pretty much the same as any other regiment of foot.  But what happens when you have units that have to live to fight tomorrow?  Now the number of casualties taken takes on an even greater role in the proceedings.  Maybe not so much for the first battle, but in subsequent battles, knowing which unit is fresh and which has been badly battered can have a significant impact on deployment and use.  

Even if your tabletop rules don't distinguish between fresh and battered, the number of men still standing in a unit can act as a proxy-hit point system.  This leads to some very interesting questions.  For the sake of example, let us assume that the player has two regiments of line infantry, one enters the battle with 88% of its men effective, the other with 57%.  One unit will be assigned to the center, where they are guaranteed to see some action.  The other will be held in reserve and unlikely to fight.

Given that the battle rules are binary when it comes to effectiveness, it wouldn't matter in a one-off fight.  But now that we care about tomorrow, sending the 57th into action first risks them suffering enough casualties to fall below the 50% level at which they retire from the campaign as spent.  Do you sacrifice that regiment for the campaign, all for the sake of this one fight?  Or do you order the 88th into that role, knowing that in the next fight you are likely to have TWO fragile units to consider?  These are the variables that real generals have to juggle every day, and that tabletop generals frequently shy away from.

This stuff matters, and God Bless the Raptor for taking the time to track such details.  It makes for a fuller and richer experience.

Caleb Hines Presents: The Battle of Morristown

Here's a clinic on how to move from the campaign game to the tabletop game.  Caleb Hines walks the reader through the entire process, and shows how easy it can be to translate the messiness of real-world terrain onto your table.  He even includes his thoughts on how and why the commanders of the two armies would select their deployment zones - which should influence the precise location of the battle - and how the terrain would affect their strategic and tactical choices.

Knoxville's hand is forced. They must drive Kingsport from the field today. This gives Kingsport a bit of latitude as to where they set up for battle. These assumptions make sense, but are mostly to justify avoiding odd scenarios that I don’t want to play out on my table (shoot ‘em off a a bridge, heavy urban warfare, or a drawn out siege respectively). Let's say the battle starts around 10:00 am or so (the morning being occupied with crossing the bridge, or marching up from the south). Then we can say the day should be limited to 10 hours (or 20 turns). That should be more than enough to reach an outcome.

So where does Kingsport set up? What are their goals, strengths, and constraints?

  Go read his blog post by clicking here.

In this case, neither commander is exactly happy with the terrain, nor his troop's ability get into position both where and when he would like.  However, both commanders can take solace in the fact that they did as well as can be expected in such challenging conditions.