One Union group occupies the railway station, the rest of the force arrives either via the village or the camp. A group of Union cavalry can enter on any point of the Union table edge.
The cards favour my opponent's Confederates, however, and his cavalry is first on the table.
More Confederates advance towards the railroad.
And they keep coming.
My Union troops finally arrive from their assigned entry points.
The Confederate cavalry have dismounted and are sniping from behind the train. My plan for the Union cavalry is to dash forward, go around the dismounted Confederates, also dismount in the woods and destroy them from behind.
A disastrous plan as it turned out.
It started quite succesful. The Union cavalry crossed the railroad and the fence in their first move.
But the Confederate dragoons quickly turn around and start inflicting casualties on the Union cavalry.
Unfortunately opportunities to fire at my Union cavalry are plentiful since the Confederate leader's card keeps appearing while the Union cavalry is slow to reach the woods.
On the other side of the table, my small group of Union infantry is facing increasing numbers of Confederates.
They buckle under the massed Confederate fire and are forced to withdraw.
Their comrades rush forward to relieve the pressure.
Meanwhile the tattered remnants of the Union cavalry have reached the woods.
In an attempt to save them from being annihilated, the Union group holding the railway station charges towards the Confederate dragoons, but fail to reach them.
The next attempt is more succesful and they engage in fisticuffs.
And lose!
The wounded Union lieutenant orders his remaining troops to fire at the Confederates.
This has the desired effect and the Confederate dragoons retreat, but they are still able to add some shock to the Union cavalry, pushing them off the table.
This is the moment when I find out that a level 3 Union leader routing can drop your force morale 3 points! With only one morale point left and two out of three units about to break while the Confederates were still at a morale level of 9, I called it a Confederate victory.
For me this was a lesson in "how not to use cavalry". Next time I'll take better care of them and I'll keep level 3 leaders far from the table edge :-)
