Attacking Forts as CSA

[ShockoPopper]

In a couple of games I've tried taking out Forts Monroe and Pickens to reduce threat on my flanks. No success so far, and I'm wondering what kind of force composition should I aim for, or is there something I'm missing to enable taking the forts before Union can move a ton of troops in (which inevitably occurs after a couple of months assaulting the fort). Anyone had success trying to take these out fairly early in the war? Advise, please.

[Captain_Orso]

Firstly, cavalry do not take part in assaults on forts.

Secondly, if you can isolate a fort so that it can take in no supply, there is a good chance that it will surrender, especially if you have more artillery besieging the fort than the fort defender has.

To isolate Fort Monroe or Pickens you will need enough naval combat elements in each of the Exit Points of their harbors to blockade them (that can be a lot of ships), plus of course a besieging force to sit on the fort itself (be in the region and in good order).

Once isolated you want to breach the walls of the fort. You need artillery to do this. Siege artillery or mortar boats work for this, plus enough other types of artillery so that you have more artillery than the defender. This will allow you to score breaches in the walls of the fort an cause hit's on its defenders. If the fort is besieged, has no supply source and is breached and taking hits from the besieging units there is a good chance the defenders will surrender.

If you cannot arrange for all of that, you can still score a breach as above and then assault the fort's garrison. You should probably have at least 3-1 odds before assaulting (setting a stack to Assault Posture while in the fort's region).

And if you're in a real hurry and don't want to wait for a breach you can always simply assault the fort. My rule of thumb is at least 1 full division; two may be safer. Remember when looking at the strength of the defenders that the coastal artillery, even though it cannot influence land units, will be included in the sum, so about 160 strength.

If the Union has already started reinforcing the forts, take the total defensive strength - 160 for coastal art., and multiply it by 3. That is the minimum I would suggest for assaulting a fort.

That's it.

Hope this helps.

[ShockoPopper]

Big help - thanks!