GASLIGHT at Heroicon 2018

GEARSON'S RAID
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR BY GASLIGHT

I ran the same scenario that I used at Winter War when I ran GASLIGHT at Heroicon 2018 in Decatur, Illinois. Once again, part of Gearson's raiding column struck at a railroad junction and supply depot. Unfortunately, the depot was warned and put together a scratch force of troops could be found and sent for Cavalry. The Rebs were waiting, but were outnumbered.

The Rebs at the start with a very mixed force. Invalids and Railroad men, two rifled cannon, a Class C Mechanical Man, and Professor Edward L. Ectric with his Lightning Projector. The invalids were really invalids. Waiting for a train to take them to the rear.All were sick or lightly wounded, but all wereveterans.

The Union started with an interesting setup. The conventional cavalry on the right and center, and the mechanical cavalry on the left. This is what the players choose to do, so I let them.

First fire from the Rebels. A cannon manned by invalid artillery men, then a volley of fire from the railroad workers. Both hit.

The solid shot penetrated the Steam charger, killing the driver. The Railroad men got one lousy hit (which was good given their low shoot scores). It was enough to cause that squad of cavalry to flee in terror 12 inches. The commander of the Steam Charger had to split his time between driving and shooting

Still that didn't stop the rest. Notice Lt. Perkins being the first to cross the stream at the bottom of the picture.

Perkins then started a long running battle with Dr. Edward L. Ectric that lasted several cards (they each get two actions per turn).

Several of the Mechanical Cavalry broke-down (those facing to the rear). While the Mechanical Man tried to come the grips with them. After several cards he gave up and wandered away to the other flank. It is hard to catch someone moving 12 inches a turn when you only move 6.

All the regular cavalry moved toward the flank with the cannon.

Shots from the Invalid squad took out three of the Mechanical cavalry. The Invalids were good shots, but couldn't charge, and had a low scuffle. These were soldiers resting at the junction as they tried to recover from assorted minor wounds, and various illnesses (dysentery mainly).

Another cannon fired a shell at an oncoming cavalry unit, killing three (with one them taking 3 hits by himself).

 Here you see Dr. Ectric on the run from Lt. Perkins. Perkins would catch Ectric, hit him, Ectric would save (surprisingly, with Ectric only having a Save of only 6), on his card Ectric would run away, Perkins would get a free attack, Ectric would get missed or make a save, and flee 6 inches. Then it would start all over again. Dr. E. L. Ectric was one slippery fellow.

 One of the Mechanical Cavalry killed Captain Cornpone in hand-to-hand. 

Perkins pause to set a fire to the water tower, which allowed Dr, Ectric  to go hide among the artillery men. At the top you see Captain Johnson (soon to be nicknamed Killer Johnson) cut down the first of four (or was it 5?) of the Union troopers in that squad.

The first unit of Confederate horsemen arrived on the flank with the water tower.

And charge on in. Between the charge and the troopers slaughtered by Killer Johnson the Union unit broke and fled the field.

As if being attacked by Lt. Perkins, Lt. Johnson joined in.

That was enough of that for Dr. Ectric, and he fled through the retreated artillerymen.

Finally, the Union troopers were among the supplies and burning what they could reach. Killer Johnson charged in and met his end at the hands of a Veteran Union Cavalryman.

Union cavalry charged the Invalid infantrymen, several of whom were cut down. They all had Saves but bad Scuffle numbers.

Endgame
Sorry, I don't have any more pictures. We were running out of time and it was the last time through the cards. That seems to happen each time I ran this scenario.
So you missed Dr. Ectric's knocking armor off the Steam Charger on one card, then rolling a 20 on his next hit. A home rule I use is that if you roll 20 or better (possible with bonuses) you get a glancing hit as well as a penetrating hit. The Penetrating hit was jamming the only hatch to the vehicle (one of the many not particularly dangerous results on the table). The Glancing hit was a moral check, which was failed. The sole surviving crewman was suppose to flee 12 inches, but the hatch was jammed. We decided he spent his time beating on the hatch in a desperate attempt to flee.
You also missed a clever use of the Armored Train. Rather than just shooting at the last oncoming cavalry unit, it moved in their way. The train was just big enough to keep them (and their firebombs) away from the supplies. Instead, the cavalry was forced to hurl all their firebombs at the train, damaging armor and killing a couple of crew. But it was worth to keep that unit away from the supplies, because they were the only ones who still had all their firebombs.

The final score, the Union set 7 of the 10 fires they needed for a victory. This gave the Rebels a minor Victory.