Battle of Chattanooga: Alter of Freedom ACW

Last Monday the club got together and put on a really fun ACW game, using the Alter of Freedom ruleset which happened to be written by the game host, Greg.  These are "Grand Tactical" which emphasize command control issues.  It was my first time playing them and I was very impressed.

The game depicted the Battle of Chattanooga in 1864 which has a besieged Union Army under Grant trying to Break out.  The Confederate force is commanded by Braxton Bragg, who had a checkered reputation...

The first picture show the the start of the campaign with the Union to the right and the Confederates to the left.  My command, Sherman's Corps, is in the lower right.

Alter of Freedom uses a very intuitive command point system where you bid a set number of command points to get a division to move.  Want to make sure the division moves - bid a larger number but that means some divisions will not activate.  The turn clock moves down and if you bid a low number you make not get to move.  It took us a few turns to get the hang of the concept but it really does reflect command friction in a great way that is not entirely dice driven.

After a couple of turns my troops finally made it across the river and began our assault.

Josh's Union center got off their attack before mine could get organized and you can see them moving up on the Rebels.  On our far right flank was a furious fight for lookout mountain which saw a determined counterattack by the rebels that caught us a bit off-guard.

Command is represented by the army commander (Grant in our case) and corps leaders -  In this game Grant had 7 points which he can allocate to any other corps.  My General, Sherman didn't have a fixed number as, historically, in this battle he was off his game).  I had to roll a D6 and that was how many command points I got.  lets just say that Grant gave me a lot of points during the game.  In order to ensure a division moves you need to allocate at least 5 or 6 points so you can see how constraining it is.  I elected to leave my smaller, two brigade, division behind and just attack with the other two.

Commanders also get personal traits which can be +'s or -'s.  In my case Sherman got 2: "inept" and "hesitant", which we're not all that positive.  Even with a "challenging" commander profile, I found that game really fun.  To be honest, I think it made the game even more fun.

My left most attacking division goes in, supported by the armies lone cavalry brigade.

A shot of the battlefield towards the end of the game

My attack pushed the rebels off the ridge but my 2 divisions where pretty beat up.  The game ended after the 9th turn and was declared a very narrow Union victory.

Greg has down a much better write up of the game over on the club's blog.

I highly recommend the Alter of Freedom rules - check them out and consider a purchase, I think you'll like them a lot.