'Again and Again They Were Repulsed With Great Slaughter'
The Battle of Prairie Grove
Arkansas, 7th December 1862

A Scenario For 'Fire and Fury'

Introduction

This scenario is based on one given in the Johnny Reb scenario booklet Kirby Smith's Confederacy by George Anderson and Ryan Toews. A brief account is available.

Order of Battle

Union Forces

Army of the Frontier

Blunt's Command

Blunt                           1 Ldr

First Division

*Weer                           9/8/5 Inf
*Cloud                          12/10/7 Inf
Artillery                       3 Artillery

*Armed with smoothbores

Cavalry

Wickersham                      11/8/6 Inf
Salomon                         6/5/3 Cav

Herron's Command

Herron                          1 Ldr (E)

Second Division

Huston                          1 Ldr
Clark                           4/3/2 Inf
Dye                             5/4/3 Inf
Artillery                       1 Artillery

Third Division

Bertram                         3/-/2 Inf
Orme                            8/6/4 Inf
Artillery                       2 Artillery

Cavalry

Harrison                        4/3/2 Cav

Confederate Forces

Army of the Trans-Mississippi

First Corps

Hindman                         1 Ldr

First and Second Division

Shoup                           1 Ldr
*Roane                          10/8/5 Inf
Fagan                           10/8/5 Inf
*McRae                          11/9/6 Inf
Artillery                       2 Artillery

*Armed with smoothbores

Third Division

Frost                           1 Ldr
Parsons                         14/12/8 Inf
*Shaver                         8/7/5 Inf
Artillery                       1 Artillery

*Arkansas conscripts

Fourth (Cavalry) Division

Marmaduke                       1 Ldr
Shelby                          E 7/5/4 Cav
MacDonald                       2/-/- Cav
Lane                            3/-/2 Cav
Artillery                       1 Horse Artillery

*Armed with shotguns

Special Rules

Weaponry

All Cavalry brigades fire with Confederate cavalry factors.

The following brigades are armed with smoothbores and fire with Confederate cavalry factors: Weer, Cloud, Roane, McRae.

Conscript Troops

Shaver's Brigade had a regiment of Arkansas conscripts which may have been difficult to control on the battlefield due to their reluctance to fight. Therefore, if this brigade is disordered it suffers a -1 on all maneuver die rolls until the disorder is removed.

Confederate Activation

No Confederate unit can leave the ridge until its division is activated. On each Confederate turn one division of the owning player's choice is automatically activated, allowing its units to move freely for the rest of the battle.

Union Command and Control

Note that in addition to his own division Herron may command units in Huston's division. However no Union unit may receive command benefits from both Huston and Herron on the same turn.

Twilight

The 1630 and 1700 turns for both sides are considered to be twilight. Artillery may only fire out to canister range (4") and infantry can only fire if in charge combat. All command radii are reduced to 2" maximum and all maneuver die rolls are made at -1.

Terrain Effects

Game Length

The scenario starts with the Union 1230 turn and ends with the Confederate 1700 turn. The Union move first on each turn. Each side therefore get 11 turns.

Victory Conditions

Both sides score points for damaging or destroying enemy units as described in the rules. In addition the Union score 5 points for each unspent infantry brigade they have on the ridge upon which the Confederates deployed at the end of the game. The Confederates score 1 point for each stand (infantry, cavalry, leader or artillery) lost by Herron's command on or before the first Confederate turn after the first of Blunt's force arrives.

Compare victory points at the end of the game. If the Union do not have at least 10 more points than the Confederates or the Confederates 5 more points than the Union then the game is a draw. Otherwise the side with the highest score wins.

Deployment

Union

Dye's Brigade is placed in line facing South on the hill between Points A and B. Huston's divisional artillery is attached to it.

Bertram and Orme should be placed in line facing South West centred on, South West of and within 4" of the ford over the Illinois River. One artillery battery (Herron) should be attached to each brigade.

Harrison's Brigade should be placed in march column facing South West centred on, North East of and within 8" of the ford over the Illinois River.

Confederate

Confederate brigades should be formed up in a line along the ridge with the right flank at the Eastern end of the ridge, facing North and no more than 16" from the Southern edge. Brigades should be in the following order right to left:

Shelby, Fagan, McRae, Parsons, Shaver, Roane, Lane.

MacDonald's Brigade is placed to the immediate right of Shelby's Brigade.

All brigades are in supported line except Shaver and Parsons who are in line. Cavalry may start mounted or dismounted.

Artillery starts unlimbered and attached to or within 4" of any brigade in its division. Artillery may be up to 16" from the Southern edge.

Leaders start within 2" of any unit under their command.

Reinforcement Schedule

Union
1230 Clark (B)
T BLUNT, Wickersham, Salomon (A)
T +1 3 Artillery (Blunt) (A)
T +2 Cloud, Weer (A)
The turn of entry of Blunt's force is determined by dice roll. At the start of each Union turn roll a dice (D10) and add it to the scores of all previous rolls. If the total is greater than 20 then that Union turn is considered to be 'T' and the first reinforcements appear.

All Union troops enter in any formation within 6" of the entry point. No brigade can initiate charge combat on the turn of entry unless the target is within 6" of the entry point.

Confederate

The Confederates receive no reinforcements.

Map

This scenario uses an 8' x 4' table laid out as follows:

<---12"--->          ---------> N
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
|**c****O S                      r**************|
|***c***O  S                     r**************|
|****c**O   S                    r**************|
|*****c*O    S                   r**************|
|******cO    S                   r**************|
+*******O    S                   r**************+
|*******Oc    S                  r**************|
|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO              r**************|
|********c*****S**O              r**************|
|********c*****S**O              rOOOOOOOOOOOOOO| A
|********c*****S**O              rO             |
+********c*****S**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOrO             +
|********c*****S**               r              |
|********c*****S**               r              |
|********c*****S**             rr               |
|********c*    S         rrrrrr                 |
|********c*    S                                |
+********c*    S                                +
|********c*****S                                |
|********c*****S                   **           |
|********c*****S                  ***           |
|********c*****S                  **            |
|OO******c*****S                  **            |
+**OO****c*****S                                +
|****OO**c*****S                  **            |
|******OOc*****S                  ***         SS|
|********OO****S                  ***       SS  |
|********c*OO**S                  ***       S   |
|********c***OOS                  ***       S   |
+********c*****OO                 ***       S   +
|********c*****S OO               ***       S   |
|********c*****S  OO              **        S   |
|********c     S    OO             ***      SS  |
|********c     S      OO            **        SS|
|********c     S         OO          ***********|
+********c     S            OO        **********+
|********c     S              O                 | B
|SS******c     S              *OO          *****|
|**S*****c     S              ***OO    RRR***RRR|
|***S****c    S               *****OORRR**RRR***|
|****SSSSSSSSS   ******************RRO**********|
+********        *****************R***OO********+
|********************************R******OO******|
|*******************************R********OO*****|
|**************************RRRRRR*********OO****|
|*******RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR****R***********OO**|
|RRRRRRR************************R*************O*|
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
 
* = Woods
S = Contour (Level 1)
O = Road
R = Illinois River
r = Stream
c = Crest Line
Go Back To Wargames Page

Go Back To Main Page

Send us an E-Mail