Gaming Hood’s Tennessee Campaign

The opening moves from Hood's Last Gamble.  Hood's army marches north from Florence and Tuscumbia, each corps stacked with its own supply wagons.  Forrest's cavalry scouts ahead.  Schofield is entrenched at Pulaski with a cavalry detachment attempting to protect his rear.  This screenshot is from a Cyberboard module of the game that I created for my personal use.

Long-time readers know that I augment my interest in military history by playing wargames.  My recent fixation on the battles of Franklin and Nashville (along with Stones River) inspired me to revisit a couple of older games I have on the subjects as well as to acquire a new one.

Back in the 1990’s I played the Civil War Brigade Series games more than anything else.  That series has been discontinued but not before it covered well over a dozen battles of the War Between the States both large and small. I own 10 of them. In 1992, Dean Essig, one of the great designers of my time, developed Embrace An Angry Wind, a game depicting both Spring Hill and Franklin.  The title for the game came from an excellent book I had just read by Wiley Sword which has since been re-titled, most likely for marketing purposes.

The situation near sunset at Spring Hill from Dean Essig's Embrace and Angry Wind game published in 1992.  If played with the historical orders, the game reflects one of the most inept and confusing command situations of the entire war.  Players are free to issue their own orders in the campaign game, which can make this situation much more competitive.  This screenshot is from the VASSAL module for the game.

The Franklin map from Essig's game allows players to recreate the bloody assault on the entrenchments just outside the town.  This was perhaps the most hellish fighting on this scale in the whole war, far more fearsome and deadly than the more famous Pickett's Charge.  The cool thing about this game is that the results of the Spring Hill encounter directly impact how the Franklin battle will play out.  A wonderful design and a great situation to game.  Each playing piece represents a brigade.

The game featured two maps, one for the Spring Hill “Affair” and the other for the “Carnival of Death” which was General John Bell Hood’s bloody charge against General John Schofield at Franklin.  You can play either situation independently or the two maps (greatly separated at the scale of this system) are connected through “linkage tunnels” so that the whole situation can be played in one much longer game.  The gamed result of Spring Hill affects the setup for Franklin.  It was fun and fairly quick by the standards of this Series.  I played it several times back then.  I have an itch to give Spring Hill another try, if I can find the time and remember the system.

The Franklin scenario is a simple charge which can easily be played in a couple of hours.  It does not require a lot of command considerations (other than rallying routed troops and such) which makes it a great introduction to the realistic combat system featured in the series.  The Spring Hill scenario, on the other hand, is focused more on the command aspects of the system.  How that scenario plays out is much less clear cut, more variable depending on the orders players give.  To some extent players can avoid the errors of their historical counterparts, which makes Spring Hill a bigger deal than it was historically.  For this reason, it is one of my favorite games in the Series.  Both scenarios make for a fun gaming experience.

The Brigade Series command rules make it easy to replicate the “cock-eyed” (as Dean called them) orders and pathetic Confederate command confusion at Spring Hill, which gives the player a broader insight into the fiasco than simply reading about it in a book.  The historical result, of course, was that the Army of Tennessee, within a stone’s throw of the pike where two Union Crops would march, allowed Schofield to escape from Columbia to Franklin.  This is what so enraged Hood and resulted in the irrational, banzai-like charge at Franklin the next day. (As an aside, the Series also published a great game on Murfreesboro entitled No Better Place to Die which, in turn, took its title from a fine book on the battle by Peter Cozzens.) 

A bit more complex is John Tiller’s Civil War Battles Series treatment of Hood’s raid.  I have been a big fan of Tiller’s computer wargames since the late 1980’s, owning more than two dozen of his designs.  His Campaign: Franklin game covers Spring Hill, Franklin, and Nashville in addition to other possible “what-if” actions.  Here the player is dealing with the battles at a regimental rather than brigade level. 

Here is the Confederate charge at Franklin as depicted at the regimental level in John Tiller's computer game design.  In this scenario Hood's forces total 28,952 troops.  Schofield defends with a force of 28,255.

A zoomed out view of the same situation at Franklin showing much more of the surrounding terrain.  One of the great things about Tiller's computer games is that you don't have to worry about table space.  It's all on a PC monitor.  Some of the maps are gigantic.

Whereas Franklin is highly concentrated, at Nashville you have to zoom out to see the two widely dispersed armies.  This represents the first day of the Battle of Nashville.  Thomas' Union army numbers 51,088 compared with Hood's 22,999.  The Southern army is greatly diminished from the bloodbath at Franklin a couple of weeks before, some 6,000 fewer troops.  Notice the point on the left where the Confederate line trails southward to protect the exposed flank.  That point closest to the Federal troops is the position of Redoubt No. 1 which I photographed in my recent Chasing Battlefields tour. 

After defeating Hood on the first day at Nashville, Thomas prepares to completely destroy him on the second day.  Notice how Hood's small army is wrapped back upon itself in a vane attempt to protect its flanks.  This will be a huge Northern victory with 45,918 Yankees attacking 21,093 Rebels in Tiller's design.

The additional detail is fascinating but also much more time consuming, even though combat is resolved quickly by the computer.  But, it offers a wonderful and rare way to experience the overwhelming Union victory at Nashville and compare the Southern defeat on day one with the complete rout of day two.  I don’t have time to play more than several turns of Tiller's larger games any more but it is fun to use them as “study aids” when reading and considering the situations.

In 2018, Hollandspiele published Hood’s Last Gamble which offers a simple, quick-playing but reasonably realistic design at the campaign level.  Here the player is dealing mostly with corps-sized units and turns that represent two-days of action, rather than around 20-30 minutes of action in the previously mentioned systems.  As such, the game is something that can easily be played in less than two hours.
 
I have now played Hood’s Last Gamble a dozen times or more and have thoroughly enjoyed getting acquainted with the experience.  The great thing about an operational level, fast-paced game with few units is that the player has plenty of time to explore all sorts of strategic possibilities.  You can certainly play out the historical path if you choose, but you can also pursue other strategies and gain some understanding of the campaign of a wider scale.

Schofield has to maneuver around Forrest as Hood approaches in Hood's Last Gamble.  Wilson's cavalry is protecting Columbia.  Hood is trying to catch Schofield before he can get north of Columbia and the Duck River.  This is a historically accurate situation.

Hood catches up with Schofield at Columbia by playing a "delay" card, which gives Schofield fewer movement points.  The unit with the yellow infantry symbol is the Union garrison at Spring Hill.  It strength number is in parenthesis to denote that it can only defend, it cannot attack. Can Hood now concentrate his army for an attack on the separated Union 4th and 23rd Corps?  Answering that question is what wargaming is all about.

This is a wider view of the situation above, showing more of the game map.  You can see Thomas to the north at Nashville.  There are also some Union garrison units around Bridgeport and Chattanooga.  A Union train has used rail movement to strengthen the garrison at Murfreesboro, a large Union supply depot.

In this particular playing, Schofield's two corps successfully retreated before combat, denying Hood a chance to do major damage to one of them.  Columbia falls but the Union forces are still intact.  The fortified town of Franklin lies near the center of this shot.  Thomas is organizing various reinforcements at Nashville.

The other two systems have dozens of pages of rules to learn before they can be properly played.  This is typical of many series wargames. These rules offer insightful details about the mechanics of warfare for the particular subjects and scales involved. On the other hand, Hood’s Last Gamble contains just seven pages of rules.  Easy to learn, but they are deceptively simple.  The nuances of the design are numerous which make designer John Theissen’s work well-thought out.

For example, each corps has an associated wagon train supply unit.  These wagons carry supply points that are used to attack or defend at full strength.  If you have no supply (or choose to spend no supplies, it is optional) then your forces attack and defend at only half strength.  Moreover, the wagons are a tad cumbersome in terms of movement.  The standard movement rate is 3 hexes per turn for infantry and wagons, 4 hexes for cavalry and leaders.  But there is a +1 movement penalty when wagons enter a hex with other wagons.

It costs +2 movement points for wagons to move together, effectively bringing your 3 movement point infantry to a crawl if you are to protect the wagons.  And protect them you must because either side’s cavalry can easily capture undefended wagons.  This is fine for preparing for an adjacent attack (or defense) but it is a huge penalty to pay if you are trying to escape a pursuing enemy.  The best course to maximize movement is to march your corps in separate hexes and only concentrate your forces at the time of combat – which is highly realistic.  So these simple rules go a long way toward enticing players to maneuver their forces as they would have during the period concerned.

I ended up with all sorts of different results while playing Hood’s Last Gamble.  The Confederates never successfully took Nashville which, due to its excellent fortifications is rightfully a hard nut to crack.  Federal forces under General George Thomas would have to leave the city virtually unprotected for that to happen.  The city’s defense becomes a bit trickier late in the game when Thomas must make a “mandatory attack.”  Hood will receive victory points unless Thomas successfully attacks Hood (as he did at the Nashville).  A successful attack is considered one which either disrupts or forces the retreat of at least 10 Confederate strength points (about the size of one corps).

This simple rule historically reflects the pressure Thomas was under from the Lincoln Administration to destroy Hood’s smaller army in mid-December 1864.  Hood receives victory points if Thomas does not make such an attack.  Thomas can also removed from command, replaced by General John Logan in one of the game’s many what-if possibilities.  But, back to my original point, when Thomas makes this attack he must be careful not to overplay his hand and leave Nashville weak enough to be taken by a counterattack from either Hood or, possibly, General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who is the most competent general featured in this game.  

Leaders have ratings which are used to (among other things) obtain shifts in combat results.  Hood, Logan, and Union cavalry commander General James H. Wilson all have standard ratings of “3”.  Thomas is rated at a “4” as long as he does not move and a “3” if he moves that turn.  This is another simple rule that leads to accurate historical feel.  Thomas was an effective but meticulous commander, accused of being slow by other Union generals.  If he moves, the Union player might choose to attack now or let him set for the rest of the turn and attack at his higher rating on a turn in which he does not move, but that also allows time for the would-be defender to escape.  

Forrest is rated a “5” and can out-command anyone in terms of combat column shifts.  But he can only command the Rebel cavalry and a detachment of infantry.  Hood is required to bring the full Southern force to bear.  Again, this is a simple rule but it leads to some complex implications, which makes the game extremely playable and enjoyable.

While Nashville has yet to fall in any of my game play, a wide-range of other results have occurred.  Murfreesboro is another likely Confederate target, though not as lucrative as Nashville.  Hood gets 1 VP for capturing it.  Plus it comes with the added bonus of 2 more captured supply points for Hood, which become very scare late in the game.  Another result was getting Forrest north of the Nashville and cutting the railroads leading into the city.  That eliminates Nashville’s unlimited resupply capability for Thomas’ forces.

This is how the Battle of Franklin would look in Hood's Last Gamble.  Historically, General Stephen D. Lee's corps was late arriving as he was encumbered with brining up the army's supply wagons (and artillery, which is not depicted at this level) from Spring Hill.  Forrest is advancing to raid Murfreesboro.

This is historically how the Battle of Nashville looks at this level.  Hood has driven as far north as he can - and entrenched, awaiting Thomas' mandatory attack.  In terms of the game this is poor play on Hood's part.  He has placed his fragile army as close as possible to Thomas, who will not be penalized in his command rating because he does not have to move to attack the Rebels.  Forrest is bothersome but not strong enough to capture Murfreesboro.

More commonly, however, Thomas attacks Hood and drives him back, leading to an interesting and precarious chase southward as happened historically.  On occasion, Hood will defeat Thomas due to the game’s highly variable combat system.  First of all, the most common result of combat is that the defender can retreat fairly easily.  On average, it happens 1 out of every 3 combat attempts.  That seems excessive to me though being burdened with supply wagons makes retreat more difficult.  

If the attack occurs from more than one hex then a coordination roll is required to see if the force attacks as one or in piecemeal fashion, also a common occurrence that feels realistic.  After leaders are compared and supplies are spent, the odds are determined and the result of the attack is rolled with one die referring to a chart for the results.  A separate casualty table is rolled upon to determine the exact number of losses for both sides.  This can lead to some wildly varied results from minor damage to a blood-letting – all at the whim of the die roll.  Battles can fluctuate greatly in this game, which is a fun variable but not always the most realistic in terms of outcome.

This is a hypothetical situation that occurred in one of my many playthroughs of the game.  Here Forrest has crossed a ford in the Cumberland River and managed to destroy the rail lines leading into Nashville.  This greatly disrupts Thomas' ability to supply his troops.  In the meantime, Hood has taken Murfreesboro, thereby capturing 2 supply points for his own army.  Under mandatory attack orders, Thomas moves out of Nashville to attempt to drive Hood away.  This reduces his command ability.  Notice how the Federals are now marching in dispersed fashion, each with its own supply wagons.  This is the best-case I have been able to achieve for the Rebels.  Even now there is a good chance that Thomas will defeat Hood in battle.  The Federals have a numerical advantage, especially given the fact that Hood lost several thousand troops in previous skirmishes and in defeating the garrison at Murfreesboro.  A interesting and fun situation that wargaming allows the player to ponder.  What if...

The endgame of Hood’s Last Gamble is more about supply than numbers of troops.  Hood’s army really only carries enough supply for two full-scale battles, either attacking or defending.  Meanwhile, the Federals have access to almost unlimited supply as long as they possess Nashville.  Hood’s force must mostly make do with what they bring north with them and possibly capturing some additional points along the way.  

What this usually means is that late in the game Hood can no longer fully supply his troops which leads to halving them in combat, effectively doubling the already superior number of Yankees.  So Hood must carefully maneuver himself out of harm’s way and hope that, through delay actions (there are some cards for that), he can buy the time he needs to avoid a major attack.

The game has an element of card play to it which I normally detest.  Within the wargame hobby there are games driven by the play of cards which often turn into more of a card game than a wargame.  I don’t play those type games.  But with Hood’s Last Gamble the play of a card is more of a “special event” than anything else.  Cards are limited so they aren’t necessarily played on every turn.  There are various cards for decreasing your opponent’s movement allowance for that turn, for increasing the likelihood of retreating before combat, for obtaining meager additional supplies, for penalizing your opponent in combat, among other things.  These are all specific to events that actually happened during the campaign so, for me, the cards add a lot of historical flavor without overly impacting game play.  I like the way this is handled here.

Hood’s Last Gamble is a fun, reasonably realistic treatment of this late-1864 campaign.  It gives the player a glimpse into the broad historical limitations and expectations on both sides.  I would recommend it as a fine introduction to the hobby of wargaming as well as for veterans like myself who are looking to game a distinctive situation which has received little attention within the hobby overall.