Fidel_Helms
Matrix Veteran

Posts: 405
Joined: 3/9/2003 From: North Carolina Status: offline
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This is my first SPWAW scenario. It is essentially complete. I'd greatly appreciate any feedback on it. I have programmed an AI for both sides, although the Sheriff's Deputies would probably be more challenging for a human player. Still, it should be enjoyable from either side. "I COME CREEPIN'" *United Mine Workers of America(Canada) **____________Assault **____________versus **____________Defend **Logan Co. Deputy Sheriffs*(US Army) *Location: Craddock Fork,Blair Mountain, West Virginia* *______0800 hours, August 31, 1921* *______Turns: 20* *______Scenario Size: Medium* *______Design: Grant Whitley* **BACKGROUND: **On May 19th 1920, a gun battle erupted in the small, unknown Mingo County, West Virginia town of Matewan between chief of police Sid Hatfield and agents of the Baldwin Felts Agency. The Baldwin-Felts men were employed by the hated coal companies to evict miners from their company homes, often for nothing more than having joined the union. Several of the Baldwin-Felts agents were killed in the gun battle at Matewan, which led to a series of trials the following year involving Hatfield and his confederates. **The following summer, just after being acquitted, Sid Hatfield was murdered on the steps of the McDowell County courthouse by Baldwin-Felts men seeking revenge on behalf of their comrades. The murder of this small town policeman was to become the spark that ignited the largest rebellion in the United States since the Civil War.* *Throughout the summer of 1921, guerilla warfare raged in largely non-union Mingo County. Pro-union snipers directed deadly fire at the mines and at strike breaking workers("scabs") from the Kentucky side of the Tug River, where they were safe from pursuit by West Virginia authorities. The situation deteriorated to the point that the Governor of West Virginia declared martial law in Mingo County. Quickly, union leaders called for a rally at the state capitol on August 7. Among the speakers was the famous Mother Jones, who cursed the governor and the coal companies in the foulest language imaginable. She exhorted the miners to march into Mingo County and establish the union by force of arms.* *In their way stood the anti-union bastion of Logan County and its powerful sheriff, Don Chafin. He maintained a force of 300 "special deputies"; nearly triple the size of the entire state police.* *Their job was to control the roads and railroads in Logan County, prevent pro-union rallies, and generally harass and intimidate the union and its supporters. On August 20, armed miners began gathering on Lens Creek in Kanawha County, southeast of the capital, Charleston. Many were veterans of World War I and came wearing their old Army uniforms and helmets. Other simply wore their work clothes and placed a red bandanna around their necks. This was the uniform most closely associated with the miners, who were called "rednecks" by the anti-union forces in front of them. **As the miners moved out on the 24th, Logan County’s namesake seat was thrown into a panic. As church bells sounded the alarm to the populace, Sheriff Chafin called for volunteers and sent his deputies to man hastily constructed fortifications o Blair Mountain. As the battle lines began to form, the miners established a password system to identify each other with. A union sentry would challenge anyone attempting to pass by asking, "Where are you going?". The miners would answer, "To Mingo!" The sentry would then ask, "How are you coming?". The reply was "I come creepin'". **By August 26th, President Harding had issued an order to disband to the miners, who met in a baseball field and voted to go home. It seemed that this chapter of the "mine wars" had ended.* *But an ill-timed move by Sheriff Chafin was to have a decisive impact. On the 28th, some of Chafin's deputies, along with a detachment of West Virginia State Police, crossed Blair Mountain and tried to serve arrest warrants in the town of Miflin. They stumbled onto a group of union miners who had not yet left the area. A gun battle ensued which claimed several lives, and rumors spread like wildfire in the union camp that Chafin's deputies had killed women and children.* *The angry miners could be contained no longer. Blair Mountain erupted into battle the following morning. One of the places where fighting was heaviest was along Craddock Fork, where a trail crossed over to Crooked Creek and then went on to Logan town. The miners hurled themselves forward at this point, supported by a Gatling Gun and an artillery piece. The anti-union forces, a motley collection of deputies, mine guards, and even high school ROTC cadets, had two machine guns at their disposal, one of them manned by "Tough" Tony Gaujot, who had won the Medal of Honor in World War I. Chafin had even hired private pilots to drop homemade bombs over the union lines. The miners were only able to break Chafin's line when Gaujot's gun jammed after three hours of fighting. Chafin's men were able to reform their line about a half mile back and finally stopped the union advance there. *Eventually, federal troops intervened and put and end to the rebellion. The union was devastated by the failure of the armed march, although the right to organize was finally guaranteed by New Deal legislation passed in the early 1930s.* *TIPS&TACTICS: **When playing as the miners, it is vital to make the best use of your rifle ammunition-you don't have a lot! UMWA squads have plenty of ammo for their Colt .45s and shotguns and also have powerful dynamite charges, but you'll need to get in close to use these. If you spend all of your rifle ammo crossing Craddock Ford, you may be open to counterattack by the Sheriff's Deputies. **Playing as the Sheriff's Deputies is also touch and go. Your troops are worth more to the union player than the actual objective hexes. Your two machine guns and the Baldwin-Felts units are worth the most. This is to simulate the fact that the anti-union commander in this area was able to reform his line a few miles back after the UMWA broke through along Craddock Fork. The Baldwin-Felts troops are worth a high number of points because they were so hated by the miners. Eliminating these anti-union troops would have given the miners a significant morale boost. It should be the objective of the union to not only cross Craddock Fork, but destroy the anti-union forces in the area as well. With this done, it may be possible to advance on Logan town.
< Message edited by Fidel_Helms -- 9/5/2004 6:06:21 PM >
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