The Mule Shoe Salient

May 10th, 1864. A solid month of fighting found Grant no closer to the destruction of Lee's army than when his offensive started. Indeed, his losses exceeded Lee's by nearly two thirds. After escaping disaster in the Wilderness (when arguably only the wounding of Confederate General James Longstreet salvaged a stalemate from sure defeat), Grant now found himself grinding his army against the deadly abrasive of Rebel entrenchments.

Desperate for a clean, quick solution, Grant listened attentively to the notions of a brash 24 year old Colonel named Emory Upton. Attack on a narrow front, Upton maintained, and do not pause to fire. The condensed mass, several lines deep, would simply ram its way across the parapets. The first line, after making initial penetration would then fan left and right, widening the breach. The succeeding lines would drive straight ahead, deepening the plunge. A reserve would then arrive, to stem the sure gray counterattack.

Mule Shoe Salient is a regimental-level simulation of the Federal assault on May 12, 1864 at The Bloody Angle, which was the culmination of the Battle of Spotsylvania.

Each unit represents several companies of 120 men/strength point, or artillery sections representing 2 guns. Players alternate moving units and firing. The Federal player wins if their units occupy three or more victory hexes, while the Confederate player wins if no victory hexes are occupied by Federal troops. Any other result is a draw.

11x17 map, 140 die-cut counters, 12 page rulebook.

(source: One Small Step website and user's description)