Early December, 1862
In the West, Beauregard tried a flank move towards Nashville.
Crittenden engaged Polks force.
[ATTACH]39488[/ATTACH]
Grant railed into Nashville.
[ATTACH]39489[/ATTACH]
In the east, I'm going to be opportunistic based on weather. Since John hasn't attacked here since Jackson engaged Milroy's corp, I may have to be the aggressor. I have 5 full corp here. This should be plenty to hold supply lines down from Manassas into Lynchburg and start a right hook towards Richmond. 2 Corps will do the hook. 3 corps will defend Chartlottesville to Spotsylvania. I'm expecting John to try an attack in Albemarle or Charlottesville once the hook starts moving.
[ATTACH]39490[/ATTACH]
Late January, 1862
My NM is up to 132. This opens tons of opportunities for the Union as a Draft or Full Mobilization is easily doable. Full emancipation is enough by itself to meet Union manpower needs. After Bonds and Taxes and after building 3 divisions in the East and another 2 in the West, I still have 1000 conscripts in reserve. Draft costs 4 NM and Full Mobilization costs 7. I could do both and wouldn't have to worry about conscripts at all through 1863. Neither of these include the paying of premiums for conscripts, which I have no need to do. Tons of war supplies and adequate money will be enough to overwhelm the CSA. My inflation is -2%, I'm going to print paper money which will give me money/conscripts/war supplies to continue replacing and building new divisions.
This game is about over anyway. Too many battles to show, but Beauregard's army was routed out of Tennessee. Another small rebel army attempted to push Sherman away from Corinth, which failed and Corinth is in Union hands and Sherman will become a 2 star. Pope and his 2 divisions will push on Memphis. Sherman will push South. Thomas and his 3 divisions will secure the east/west rail line from Memphis into Virginia. Grant and Rosencrans will take Chattanooga. Once Sherman is promoted to 3 star, he becomes commander of the Army of the Cumberland and Grant shifts east. Grants coming to the east will single the end for the Confederacy.
Only Super Johnston holds firm having taken back Jefferson City. Opposing him is Buell and his Army of the West with 4 divisions. I've got to do something with these boobs and he's the best of the boob bunch. Johnston isn't try to push out from Jefferson City and I don't think he'll be able to hold the city once the weather clears.
In the East, I wondered how long John could wait on attacking. He couldn't wait long. He ran into Howards Corp of 4 divisions. Howard is next to Milroy's Corp (4 divisions), McDowell Army (4 divisions + French artillery division) and Reynold's Corp (3 divisions). Lee walked into a hornet's next and paid a stiff price.
[ATTACH]39510[/ATTACH]
Leaving the map as such. Howard will continue to press the attack as McDowell pushes south to cut Lee off. Milroy will push east from his position. Reynolds and Kearny will remain in reserve. I was going to do a right hook around Lees positions, but since Lee left his position, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up.
[ATTACH]39511[/ATTACH]
My NM is up to 132. This opens tons of opportunities for the Union as a Draft or Full Mobilization is easily doable. Full emancipation is enough by itself to meet Union manpower needs. After Bonds and Taxes and after building 3 divisions in the East and another 2 in the West, I still have 1000 conscripts in reserve. Draft costs 4 NM and Full Mobilization costs 7. I could do both and wouldn't have to worry about conscripts at all through 1863. Neither of these include the paying of premiums for conscripts, which I have no need to do. Tons of war supplies and adequate money will be enough to overwhelm the CSA. My inflation is -2%, I'm going to print paper money which will give me money/conscripts/war supplies to continue replacing and building new divisions.
This game is about over anyway. Too many battles to show, but Beauregard's army was routed out of Tennessee. Another small rebel army attempted to push Sherman away from Corinth, which failed and Corinth is in Union hands and Sherman will become a 2 star. Pope and his 2 divisions will push on Memphis. Sherman will push South. Thomas and his 3 divisions will secure the east/west rail line from Memphis into Virginia. Grant and Rosencrans will take Chattanooga. Once Sherman is promoted to 3 star, he becomes commander of the Army of the Cumberland and Grant shifts east. Grants coming to the east will single the end for the Confederacy.
Only Super Johnston holds firm having taken back Jefferson City. Opposing him is Buell and his Army of the West with 4 divisions. I've got to do something with these boobs and he's the best of the boob bunch. Johnston isn't try to push out from Jefferson City and I don't think he'll be able to hold the city once the weather clears.
In the East, I wondered how long John could wait on attacking. He couldn't wait long. He ran into Howards Corp of 4 divisions. Howard is next to Milroy's Corp (4 divisions), McDowell Army (4 divisions + French artillery division) and Reynold's Corp (3 divisions). Lee walked into a hornet's next and paid a stiff price.
[ATTACH]39510[/ATTACH]
Leaving the map as such. Howard will continue to press the attack as McDowell pushes south to cut Lee off. Milroy will push east from his position. Reynolds and Kearny will remain in reserve. I was going to do a right hook around Lees positions, but since Lee left his position, this is too good of an opportunity to pass up.
[ATTACH]39511[/ATTACH]
- Attachments
-
-
Early February, 1862
In the west, there's barely 2 rebel divisions to stand against 13 divisions with 2 more forming up.
[ATTACH]39512[/ATTACH]
In the east, there's barely 5 divisions against 20 divisions.
[ATTACH]39513[/ATTACH]
I was going to post more battle reports. Lee retreated from Howards Corp and ran into McDowell. He lost heavily. I'm going to offer John a surrender. We'll see if he takes it. He's got very little on the east and west to stop the onslaught. I have another 3 divisions forming in NY being trained up by McClellan, 2 divisions in Cinci being trained by Halleck. In the west, there's little reason to stack up the armies anymore and I have many 2 star corp leaders, so I'll go down to 1 or 2 divisions per corp and have them spread out like ants. If I meet resistance, then the corps will converge, isolate and destroy, like just happened to Beauregard. In the West, I'll remain stacked up but at this point it's a straight drive towards Richmond. He won't be able to stop it.
In the west, there's barely 2 rebel divisions to stand against 13 divisions with 2 more forming up.
[ATTACH]39512[/ATTACH]
In the east, there's barely 5 divisions against 20 divisions.
[ATTACH]39513[/ATTACH]
I was going to post more battle reports. Lee retreated from Howards Corp and ran into McDowell. He lost heavily. I'm going to offer John a surrender. We'll see if he takes it. He's got very little on the east and west to stop the onslaught. I have another 3 divisions forming in NY being trained up by McClellan, 2 divisions in Cinci being trained by Halleck. In the west, there's little reason to stack up the armies anymore and I have many 2 star corp leaders, so I'll go down to 1 or 2 divisions per corp and have them spread out like ants. If I meet resistance, then the corps will converge, isolate and destroy, like just happened to Beauregard. In the West, I'll remain stacked up but at this point it's a straight drive towards Richmond. He won't be able to stop it.
- Attachments
-
-
Observations
Playing the CSA is tough. If the Union simply does everything it can to amass troops as fast as possible, it can be a challenge for the CSA. The CSA can do nuisance raiding in attempts to draw off troops, but the union can counter that with Cav Divisions and or small corps to deal with it. Where I've seen the Union fail is NM. This is the key. What John did very well is attack in the beginning which drove down my NM. I also attacked which in turn drove down my NM. Where John went wrong, I believe, is that he should have switched to the defensive, especially when he had Johnston and Jackson camped on Alexandria and Harpers Ferry respectively.
The Union leadership is so bad, the only equalizing factor is trenches. As a Union player, I WANT to see the CSA attacking me. I may lose, but it's the only way to equalize the leadership. I don't want to attack because I have crappy leaders who can't attack hardly at all. This is where the mandatory offensives come into play. Yes as CSA it's good to attack and try to take Alexandria down to Harper's Ferry, but the Union has to attack in 1861 and twice in 1862 or lose -30 NM. That's huge and it forces the Union player's hand. So John attacking me when I had to attack him was in my favor. This game models excellently an aspect of the Civil War. Attacking is more difficult than defending. So force the other guy to attack.
If I were playing CSA and I might consider it, this is where my thoughts lie. The first line of defense and it's worth attacking to get it is the Alexandria-> Harpers Ferry Line. With the Potomac to help, the CSA can defend with lesser numbers of troops and enables pushing troops elsewhere. Put Lee in Leesburg (approriate name) and that's a double tough line to break. The Union can counter with an invasion of Norfolk. There's two choices to defend Norfolk. Put a division into it, having started entrenchments there early or take Ft. Monroe. With Ft. Monroe, Norfolk could be blockaded, but my guess is that the Union could break that blockade, so best bet is to heavily entrench in Norfolk.
[ATTACH]39514[/ATTACH]
If the Alexandria line is broken, the next spot to defend is Culpepper and Frederickburg. They are mutually defensible. So I'd get militia entrenching there from the beginning Level 5+ entrenchments would be difficult to break. The counter is the Union attempts to flank again through WV. The best defense of WV is New Market. The Union can't bypass and one full strength corp could defend there against a LOT. Again a militia entrenching there from the start would help.
[ATTACH]39515[/ATTACH]
It's really the West that's the major pain in the butt for the CSA because there's so much terrain, but thinking about it, there's 3 choke points. IF these choke points can be held, then it will be much more difficult for the Union to break or use it's manpower advantage. 2 of them are in Kentucky, so I'd be seriously tempted to move into Kentucky as early as possible. I think that allowing Kentucky to remain neutral for a year or more actually helps the Union more than the Confederates.
If this line is broken, then I'd go to spot defenses. Nashville, Memphis, Chatanooga, Corinth with militia entrenching from the start. Nashville is a bit exposed as the Union can invade south of it and possibly cut off supply, but with Chatanooga in CSA control, there's a solid supply line into it. So it could be held.
[ATTACH]39516[/ATTACH]
In MO, I think John did quite well here and battling for Jefferson City is a good idea. Ranging out from Jefferson with raiders is a good distraction. Springfiled if Jefferson can't be held and then down to Ozark if Springfield can't be held. In the Far Far West, I think ti's doomed for the CSA unless the Union player doesn't build a chain of depots from Los Angeles down to New Mexico. Then supply is your friend.
Playing the CSA is tough. If the Union simply does everything it can to amass troops as fast as possible, it can be a challenge for the CSA. The CSA can do nuisance raiding in attempts to draw off troops, but the union can counter that with Cav Divisions and or small corps to deal with it. Where I've seen the Union fail is NM. This is the key. What John did very well is attack in the beginning which drove down my NM. I also attacked which in turn drove down my NM. Where John went wrong, I believe, is that he should have switched to the defensive, especially when he had Johnston and Jackson camped on Alexandria and Harpers Ferry respectively.
The Union leadership is so bad, the only equalizing factor is trenches. As a Union player, I WANT to see the CSA attacking me. I may lose, but it's the only way to equalize the leadership. I don't want to attack because I have crappy leaders who can't attack hardly at all. This is where the mandatory offensives come into play. Yes as CSA it's good to attack and try to take Alexandria down to Harper's Ferry, but the Union has to attack in 1861 and twice in 1862 or lose -30 NM. That's huge and it forces the Union player's hand. So John attacking me when I had to attack him was in my favor. This game models excellently an aspect of the Civil War. Attacking is more difficult than defending. So force the other guy to attack.
If I were playing CSA and I might consider it, this is where my thoughts lie. The first line of defense and it's worth attacking to get it is the Alexandria-> Harpers Ferry Line. With the Potomac to help, the CSA can defend with lesser numbers of troops and enables pushing troops elsewhere. Put Lee in Leesburg (approriate name) and that's a double tough line to break. The Union can counter with an invasion of Norfolk. There's two choices to defend Norfolk. Put a division into it, having started entrenchments there early or take Ft. Monroe. With Ft. Monroe, Norfolk could be blockaded, but my guess is that the Union could break that blockade, so best bet is to heavily entrench in Norfolk.
[ATTACH]39514[/ATTACH]
If the Alexandria line is broken, the next spot to defend is Culpepper and Frederickburg. They are mutually defensible. So I'd get militia entrenching there from the beginning Level 5+ entrenchments would be difficult to break. The counter is the Union attempts to flank again through WV. The best defense of WV is New Market. The Union can't bypass and one full strength corp could defend there against a LOT. Again a militia entrenching there from the start would help.
[ATTACH]39515[/ATTACH]
It's really the West that's the major pain in the butt for the CSA because there's so much terrain, but thinking about it, there's 3 choke points. IF these choke points can be held, then it will be much more difficult for the Union to break or use it's manpower advantage. 2 of them are in Kentucky, so I'd be seriously tempted to move into Kentucky as early as possible. I think that allowing Kentucky to remain neutral for a year or more actually helps the Union more than the Confederates.
If this line is broken, then I'd go to spot defenses. Nashville, Memphis, Chatanooga, Corinth with militia entrenching from the start. Nashville is a bit exposed as the Union can invade south of it and possibly cut off supply, but with Chatanooga in CSA control, there's a solid supply line into it. So it could be held.
[ATTACH]39516[/ATTACH]
In MO, I think John did quite well here and battling for Jefferson City is a good idea. Ranging out from Jefferson with raiders is a good distraction. Springfiled if Jefferson can't be held and then down to Ozark if Springfield can't be held. In the Far Far West, I think ti's doomed for the CSA unless the Union player doesn't build a chain of depots from Los Angeles down to New Mexico. Then supply is your friend.
- Attachments
-
-
-
Early March, 1963
John has accepted surrender. McDowell, Milroy converged in Late February onto Richmond, won a battle against Lee. Richmond held out but the remaining corps of Kearny, Howard and Reynolds were converging on Richmond. I didn't see turn results, but really didn't have to. The manpower advantage was simply too much for the Rebels to overcome.
In the West, Grant took Chattanooga. Milroy was chasing down a small group of Rebels that penetrated the lines. Thomas was moving West to secure military control over the rail line from Memphis to Chatanooga. Pope started moving south after securing Memphis. A division of Popes corps was moving up the east side of the Mississippi to capture the forts and cities towards Humboldt. Sherman started moving south down from Corinth.
In the far far West, I had an inf division and cav division, plus a 3rd leader with a small force of inf/arty. LEaving the small force to defend NM against raiders or partisans, the Cav division headed towards southern Texas and the INF division began the trip from Colorado across the fort chain towards KS.
I had 2 divisions in the West and 3 in the East forming up this turn plus 2 more cavalry divisions (1 for east and 1 for west). I had about 1500 money, 1500 conscripts and 2500 war supplies sitting around. That would have been another 4-5 divisions.
I'm simply not convinced the CSA can stand against a build approach that maximizes taxes/bonds/partial mobilizations/full emancipation/print money. All this being said, my NM was down to 78 and one more big loss could have been the difference in the game. However, the game is won or lost in 1861 through mid-1862. If the CSA hasn't torpedoed Union NM, I'm not convinced that even the chokepoints that I listed in my previous post would be enough to stop the Union.
John has accepted surrender. McDowell, Milroy converged in Late February onto Richmond, won a battle against Lee. Richmond held out but the remaining corps of Kearny, Howard and Reynolds were converging on Richmond. I didn't see turn results, but really didn't have to. The manpower advantage was simply too much for the Rebels to overcome.
In the West, Grant took Chattanooga. Milroy was chasing down a small group of Rebels that penetrated the lines. Thomas was moving West to secure military control over the rail line from Memphis to Chatanooga. Pope started moving south after securing Memphis. A division of Popes corps was moving up the east side of the Mississippi to capture the forts and cities towards Humboldt. Sherman started moving south down from Corinth.
In the far far West, I had an inf division and cav division, plus a 3rd leader with a small force of inf/arty. LEaving the small force to defend NM against raiders or partisans, the Cav division headed towards southern Texas and the INF division began the trip from Colorado across the fort chain towards KS.
I had 2 divisions in the West and 3 in the East forming up this turn plus 2 more cavalry divisions (1 for east and 1 for west). I had about 1500 money, 1500 conscripts and 2500 war supplies sitting around. That would have been another 4-5 divisions.
I'm simply not convinced the CSA can stand against a build approach that maximizes taxes/bonds/partial mobilizations/full emancipation/print money. All this being said, my NM was down to 78 and one more big loss could have been the difference in the game. However, the game is won or lost in 1861 through mid-1862. If the CSA hasn't torpedoed Union NM, I'm not convinced that even the chokepoints that I listed in my previous post would be enough to stop the Union.
-
Orphan_kentuckian
- Sergeant
- Posts: 67
- Joined: Tue Sep 23, 2014 9:39 pm
- Location: Kentucky
As a CSA fanboy I hate having to agree with this. In my current PBEM as the USA, which is still in late 61', I have already shipped out a force of three seaborn divisions to take Charleston...but let's be honest, that quickly 20k men and 100 cannon can pretty much take any coastal city they want with maybe the exception being NO if they devoted themselves to defending it.
Not to mention I have about 6 elite divisions and one all 20lber div training and forming up in Pittsburg for a crushing 62' campaign season. This of course doesn't include my western forces and the 5 divisions holding Alexandria and Harper's.
The north can accomplish some very ridiculous stacks in little time if you devote your resources to it and not to "the long" game.
But hey this is all just theory until we see how it fares in the PBEM
Not to mention I have about 6 elite divisions and one all 20lber div training and forming up in Pittsburg for a crushing 62' campaign season. This of course doesn't include my western forces and the 5 divisions holding Alexandria and Harper's.
The north can accomplish some very ridiculous stacks in little time if you devote your resources to it and not to "the long" game.
But hey this is all just theory until we see how it fares in the PBEM
Playing a long game is being nice. Maximize the game as it stands and it becomes a crushing 1862 with it ending in 1863. The only thing the CSA can do to stop this is either 1) attack the Union early and drive down NM and/or 2) place themselves in positions the Union HAS to attack and hope they win.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests