Chaos, Confusion, and Casualties: Resolving Hand-to-Hand

With Fall-In coming up in a few days I will not be able to complete this series yet. Therefore I decided to devote this entry to resolving Hand-to- Hand combat on battalion level of infantry to infantry. 

Scenario 1

1. The Confederates during the turn segment have announced a charge as indicated by the marker. The confederate player has rolled 2 D6s - one white (to indicate how much farther than 9 inches he can advance) and the other a black D6. (The even number indicates that the Rebs had delivered the Rebel Yell.

2. The Union troops have heard it, and there being no noise on the field to make it hard to discern, have decided to react to it  by rolling the special D12 and placing the blue marker behind the line. (The blue marker indicates the regiment has reacted and the officer has not tried to stop it.) The regiment, as indicated by the "W" will withdraw 3 inches as the Confederates advance.

3. The charge has fallen short and the Confederate officer has placed a red chit by the line to indicate that the line is disorganized and may only return fire if fired upon and then only half of the hits will count.

4. The movement phase has ended and the Union commander has ordered his regiment to fire. The disorganized Confederate regiment is returning fire. The range is "8" and the Federal officer has rolled one D10 for each of his men on line. "0" and any roll higher than "8" is a miss. Five of the dice indicate hits with one miss.

The Confederate officer rolls one D20 and one D6 to determine if the officer was hit during the fighting. The even number on the D6 means he has been hit but the "2" on the D20 indicates that it was too minor to count as a wound. His men have not returned fire.

Scenario 2

1. The Confederates are preparing to charge. The odd number on the black D6 means they are not giving the Rebel Yell. The red D6 means they will charge 11 inches and halt at the white D6.

The Federals know they are going to be charged because there is no intervening obstacle like smoke to block the Rebels from view. Therefore they roll the special D12 which results the regiment will fire in reaction.

2. The Union player has placed a blue marker behind the line indicating a reaction and has rolled a red D3 to show how much he will deduct from the range marker. The range is "6" less "3." The dice roll has only two numbers "3" or lower. The Confederates suffer two hits. (The deduction reflects snap shooting.)

The Confederate commander rolls a D6 and a D20. The even D6 notes he is hit. The "12" on the D20 means he has been hit twice and may only take one more hit before he is removed. The White poker chip indicates two hits.  

3. The Union commander rolls one blue D6 for each piece involved and arranges them in a line from highest to lowest. The Confederate rolls one white die for each piece and lines them up highest to lowest as shown above. 

W5/B3 = 1 Union hit. B3/W2 = 1 Confederate hit. W2/B2 = no hits. W2/3B1 = 3 Union hits.

4. This shows the actual contact. The Confederate Officer has gotten hit (RD6, even). D20 "10" means he has gotten hit once.
That is his third hit and he is removed.

5. The Union player, having suffered hits rolls three D6s. Two are even therefore he rolls 2 D20s - "16" and "17" which results in two officers getting hit three times and are removed. 

6. Both sides are disrupted by the assault. The Confederates for having reached their maximum distance and the Federals for losing more men and having to withdraw 3 inches. 

Thank you for reading this entry. It takes longer to explain how the action works than to actually play it on a game. As always, I encourage you to respond with questions, comments, and observations.

The next entry will include photographs from the Fall-In games.