Contact: Day 1 Morning Phase

THE WINTER WAR II campaign simulation has kicked off with contact across a wide section of the campaign theatre.

Contact at Tate:
A Federal cavalry company was advancing south from Paw Paw on the Hampshire and Morgan Turnpike and encountered a Confederate cavalry company advancing north on the Turnpike. The have halted and face each other at Tate's Store, at the junction of the Sidling Hill Road and Hampshire and Morgan Turnpike.

Contact at Spring Gap:
A Federal cavalry company was posted at Mooreland on the west side of Spring Gap, when a large body of Confederate infantry and artillery approached through the gap, followed by supply trains. The Union horsemen withdrew north up the Spring Gap Road towards Little Cacapon Depot. The Confederates continued moving west towards Lowell's Cross Roads on the Old Town Road.

Contact at Lowell's Cross Roads:
A Confederate cavalry company was occupying Lowell's Cross Roads when a brigade of infantry and a battery arrived on the Potomac Turnpike from Okonoko. The Federals deployed on the hill north/northwest of town and the battery unlimbered and opened fire. After suffering some losses, the Confederate cavalry men withdrew towards Higginsville.

Contact Near Clasor's Ford
First thing in the morning, a Federal company left Clasor's Ford heading for Points Cross Roads, while a Confederate cavalry company left Points heading to Clasor's Ford. They have met on the Cacapon and North Branch Turnpike in an unidentified location between the two localities.

Contact at  Rannel's Tavern and Parker Road Ford
A Federal cavalry company deployed at Rannel's Tavern when Ashby's Cavalry, led by Ashby himself, approached up the Jersey Mountain Road from Three Churches. The Federal unit withdrew quickly towards the Parker Road Ford, followed by Ashby. The Union company forded the South Branch and took up a position on the west bank, as Asbhy's much larger unit has arrived on the east bank.

Contact at Three Churches
A company of Union cavalry briefly appeared at the Greenwalt Farm (at Three Churches), having come from the direction of Mileson Ford. It encountered Confederate infantry deployed at the farm and saw a battery coming up from town. The cavalry withdrew, but returned with four regiments of infantry and nine 12lb Howitzers. From 11:00 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. the guns opened fire, as did a four-gun Confederate battery. The guns continue to fire.

Contact at Romney:
Confederates are Romney deployed a few regiments and a three-gun battery at the Leith Farm and a four-gun battery with some infantry in the woods north of the covered bridge on the east bank of the South Branch. Federals have started a two-pronged advance on Romney, with a brigade and US regular battery coming from Mechanicsburg and deploying at Evans' Farm, and a small force of infantry, sharpshooters and part of a battery coming from Hanging Rocks and deploying north of Leith.

The two sides opened fire at long range, with the Federal sharpshooters and US artillery getting the better of the Confederates, who still hold their ground at 11:40 a.m.

Getting Ready for Contact

There is a high likelihood of contact during Turn 1 and a potential for engagement in Turn 2. Players are advised to re-read Section 5 of the rules (pages 16-19) in preparation. The first contact reports could be out on Friday.

Rule Amendment - Supply Train Base Speed

Managing combat troops and supplies (with relatively small supply trains) is difficult. It is even more so, although not unrealistic given the terrain, when you supply trains move at a crawl when loaded. 

To make the simulation slightly more easy to manage, rule 4.3.1 is amended so that the base speed of supply trains will be 1.5 miles per hour, even when loaded. This means that they will be able to move at the same speed at infantry and artillery.

Good to Go!

The Valley District has its orders in! The simulation is good to go. February 1, Morning Phase should start on Friday. Players should watch for reports this weekend and there may be updates on the blog.

Loring Takes the Field!

In TWWI (THE WINTER WAR command simulation, part 1), Brigadier General William W. Loring was not present. His forces from the Army of the Northwest reported directly to Major General Thomas J. Jackson. As we start TWWII (February 1862), Loring is on the field and directly commanding all Army of the Northwest units, while reporting to Jackson. Some artillery has been detached from the Valley District and is also under Loring's direct command. Loring and his command are being played by Chase (Semper), a veteran command sim player.

Loring's orders initial orders for the campaign have been received. We still expect to start this coming weekend.

William W. Loring

What's Happening?

I have orders in from the Federal side, so they are ready to go. I have the Federal spreadsheets (for tracking movement, losses, supplies, etc.) ready for day one, but need to add a few more days worth of reporting to them. I assume the Confederates are working on their orders. I don't have their spreadsheets ready yet, but should be ready by the end of the month.

I have been a little slow on the simulation prep. As happens from time to time, I have gotten distracted by another future sim concept. It is kind of like DYOD meets AGEOD meets TWW.  I should really put it aside until the upcoming sim is well underway, but I find it hard to put down some new concepts or twists and turns on some old ones.

The night before the campaign

Cavalry from both sides were scouting on the evening before the campaign. Scouts from Ashby's cavalry coming from the direction of Romney sighted a large Federal presence at both Hanging Rocks and Mechanicsburg Gap. Although not confirmed by direct sighting, given the appearance of Ashby's men and its strategic importance, the Federals may assume some Confederate presence at Romney.

Federal cavalry approached Three Churches from Mileson Ford and were able to confirm the presence of some infantry and artillery there before returning for the night. The rest of the campaign theatre remains in the fog of war. As the start of the campaign approaches, the commanders can only surmise where the enemy might be and what intentions he might have.

Rule Change and Correction

1. Correction: There is a mistake in the rules. The number of rounds per gun reported in Section 4.7.2 should be corrected as follows:

• 6lb Guns: 195 rounds
• 10lb Guns / 3 in Guns: 120 rounds
• 12lb Guns: 150 rounds

2. Rule Change: As prior to sending evening reports, cavalry units will send scouts out to the localities immediately adjacent to their final position for the day. They will not engage, but will return and report whether an enemy force was encountered there.

Light Intelligence Reports Out

Cavalry commanders have reported back any intelligence that they have by the night of January 31, 1862. There will be no additional intelligence provided. Players may issue there orders.

What's in a name?

Players are advised to be familiar with both unit designations and their corresponding commanders' names. I have a habit of interchangeably using them in reports. (e.g. Hampden Light Artillery, Hampden Artillery or Marye's Battery all refer to the same unit). I especially do this with artillery and with cavalry companies.  There was a lot of confusion with Federal cavalry as often confused some of the companies. I hope to have a better system in place and do a better job this time.

Opening Positions Submitted

Both sides have submitted their opening positions, detached men to guard supply trains, established supply depots, and distributed supplies for the coming campaign. I am going through these now, but my initial impression is that they all look like they are in order. I am putting together the spreadsheets that I will use for tracking movement and losses, tracking supplies, submitting reports, and scoring. Right now I am also working on improving map symbols for the game. I may submit a map at the end of each turn showing the position of all units and those of any visible enemy units.

Harrison's Mill Uploaded

The map for Harrison's Map has been uploaded. It is a proxy map and not too exciting, but it is part of the campaign theatre.  Unfortunately, I have never been able to fix the waterwheel for mills.

Locality Map Page Available

I have made some changes to the page options for the blog. The rules have been added to the Order of Battle Page.  A localities map page has been added, where locality maps can be viewed, downloaded individually, or downloaded as a pack in a .rar compressed folder.