Objective - punish the Union severely for crossing the Potomac into Alexandria, Leesburg or Harper's Ferry. I want to make it the biggest mistake for Athena to cross foot on to Soujthern soil.
Question - what is the most effective way to inflict massive casualties should Athena cross the river?
Currently I man each of those three places with a corps in each zone with the Army HQ in Manassas. I have experimented with building forts in each zone and had my corps camped inside the forts. I have gone without forts and just had my corps entrenched in the open.
Thank you!
Mutually supporting corps that can quickly march to the sound of the guns in adjacent territories.
So only ONE commanding general. You start with two three stars in the area (Johnston and Beauregard), add Lee in 62, and will probably have Jackson and Longstreet at three stars in short order. ONLY HAVE ONE ARMY! Also, if you capture a fort battery when taking Alexandria, you don't want it in the stack that would help march to Leesburg. Either put it in a fixed garrison stack inside the fort, or move it to Richmond/Norfolk/Memphis etc.
Don't use forts. If you have your army in a fort, they will stay in the fort when the enemy moves into the territory. That's bad. You don't want them in the territory- you want them crushed on the way in.
So only ONE commanding general. You start with two three stars in the area (Johnston and Beauregard), add Lee in 62, and will probably have Jackson and Longstreet at three stars in short order. ONLY HAVE ONE ARMY! Also, if you capture a fort battery when taking Alexandria, you don't want it in the stack that would help march to Leesburg. Either put it in a fixed garrison stack inside the fort, or move it to Richmond/Norfolk/Memphis etc.
Don't use forts. If you have your army in a fort, they will stay in the fort when the enemy moves into the territory. That's bad. You don't want them in the territory- you want them crushed on the way in.
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ArmChairGeneral
- AGEod Grognard
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:00 am
- Location: Austin, TX, USA
Definitely one army, definitely entrench in the field and not in a fort, and remember that the march from Harper's Ferry to Leesburg is a long one so poor chances to MTSG, especially if the weather is bad.
Troops in a fort will only fight if they are assaulted, so that is not the place you want them, usually.
Troops in a fort will only fight if they are assaulted, so that is not the place you want them, usually.
JohnnyReb, the use of actual fortifications, i.e. a stockade/fort/redoubt, requires a certain skill. Athena doesn't really have that skill, but you may want to try PbEM some day against someone who does possess it. Here is an example where Johnston with a 3-1 advantage and 2-1 in artillery assaults a stockade defended by the incredible military genius of Butler. To get this:
[ATTACH]40026[/ATTACH]
You need to know this:
1. The force that assaults gets 25% less troops than the defender.
Grant or Lee can attack with over 200 combat elements and a couple dozen artillery batteries against a force entrenched in open terrain. They can only use a small fraction of that force against a fort.
2. The defender can only have 25 elements per fort size before suffering a combat penalty for overcrowding.
So that would be a Division plus some artillery in a size 1. Artillery do well in a fort. As you can see from the example, that is all you need.
3. The force in the fort has a strong Zone of Control that stops any enemy force from proceeding past the fort for a turn or two until Military Control shifts to the attacking force.
Forts buy the defender time. Move a force on to a fort and assault immediately and you'll most likely get rebuffed. As the defender, use the time wisely.
4. The defender may just surrender, unless a stockpile of supplies in the form of a depot or supply unit are present, in which case surrender is only a 5% chance.
A lot of old timers try this. They think that the defenders will eventually just roll over. Don't let your Bastogne's become Alamo's without a good reason.
So why defend in one of these fort types? Let's say that the Union has 16 Divisions to attack and by a stroke of genius the CSA has 16 Divisions to defend. One thing to do would be to make 3 Corps and one Army in 4 stacks each with 4 Divisions. You entrench the Corps along your line and your Army is in reserve. The Union makes a similar force. However, the yanks can then attack one point on your line with all 16 Divisions at 4-1 odds initially. Most likely this would be on terrain of their choosing where their numbers would count. Your defenders can be defeated and routed before your other stacks can MTSG, or they may show up piecemeal and be fed into a meat grinder. MTSG stacks do not get the benefit of entrenchment. The Union may actually count on your MTSG plan working against you.
Alternatively, you have one Division plus in three forts, let's say 4 Divisions total and 12 Divisions in reserve. The yanks move onto a fort and can go no further. Aware that if their assault ends in disaster that their force would then be at the mercy of your reserve, they are stuck for the moment. You then have 12 Divisions that can assault D.C. Good luck!
[ATTACH]40026[/ATTACH]
You need to know this:
1. The force that assaults gets 25% less troops than the defender.
Grant or Lee can attack with over 200 combat elements and a couple dozen artillery batteries against a force entrenched in open terrain. They can only use a small fraction of that force against a fort.
2. The defender can only have 25 elements per fort size before suffering a combat penalty for overcrowding.
So that would be a Division plus some artillery in a size 1. Artillery do well in a fort. As you can see from the example, that is all you need.
3. The force in the fort has a strong Zone of Control that stops any enemy force from proceeding past the fort for a turn or two until Military Control shifts to the attacking force.
Forts buy the defender time. Move a force on to a fort and assault immediately and you'll most likely get rebuffed. As the defender, use the time wisely.
4. The defender may just surrender, unless a stockpile of supplies in the form of a depot or supply unit are present, in which case surrender is only a 5% chance.
A lot of old timers try this. They think that the defenders will eventually just roll over. Don't let your Bastogne's become Alamo's without a good reason.
So why defend in one of these fort types? Let's say that the Union has 16 Divisions to attack and by a stroke of genius the CSA has 16 Divisions to defend. One thing to do would be to make 3 Corps and one Army in 4 stacks each with 4 Divisions. You entrench the Corps along your line and your Army is in reserve. The Union makes a similar force. However, the yanks can then attack one point on your line with all 16 Divisions at 4-1 odds initially. Most likely this would be on terrain of their choosing where their numbers would count. Your defenders can be defeated and routed before your other stacks can MTSG, or they may show up piecemeal and be fed into a meat grinder. MTSG stacks do not get the benefit of entrenchment. The Union may actually count on your MTSG plan working against you.
Alternatively, you have one Division plus in three forts, let's say 4 Divisions total and 12 Divisions in reserve. The yanks move onto a fort and can go no further. Aware that if their assault ends in disaster that their force would then be at the mercy of your reserve, they are stuck for the moment. You then have 12 Divisions that can assault D.C. Good luck!
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