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.
