Honour's Longstreet - First Play

My good friend Michael and I took Sam Mustafa's excellent Civil War rules out for a test drive. Would Longstreet be as fun as Maurice? We gathered up Michael's beautiful miniatures (painted by the excellent Martin Robson) and his new terrain (lovely rolling hills, realistic structures and fine trees and fences) and drafted our battle plans!

Early on in the battle I managed a few lucky rolls with my artillery and did some damage to the Union troops. I was also able to push up on the left and tie up a few Union regiments with a single Rebel regiment of my own. They hunkered down on the banks of a shallow creek and wouldn't let the Union troops pass.

With one unit holding up three others, I had numerical advantages at other areas of the battlefield... which I completely and utterly failed to exploit. One of the things that is so important in Longstreet (that I didn't do) is to pay attention to your unit's veteran status as well as their enthusiasm rating. Veterans do well at shooting and enthusiastic troops do better at melee. When I used my green troops to fire volleys and my reluctant troops to charge into battle it all ended in shambles. What a poor commander I am!

Michael emerged victorious and the Union troops won the day... but next time it won't be so easy! I can't say enough about how nice the battlefield was to play on. Michael's terrain was fantastic! Perhaps I'll write a feature on the various elements in a future post?

Longstreet is a fantastic game and it gave us a good feeling for the period. Even though I played like a green lieutenant I had a fun time with the rules.