Naturamix(USA) vs Murtagks(CSA) No-Grant Union
Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2019 9:03 pm
Greetings All,
Murtagks and I took a bit of a break after our previous CW2 play-through, but just in case there is still demand I will be writing up this game as an AAR.
As you may have surmised from the title I am the Union and as soon as U.S. Grant spawns in Cairo, IL he will be shipped off to Wisconsin and will not hold any army commands.
I believe this will make the game more interesting for a number of reasons:
- The army command radius is very generous allowing Grant to spread his obscene bonus across several states; without it more army commands will be needed
- Grant is very easy to promote from his early spawn and good location making other good USA generals almost unnecessary, without Grant we will see more of Hooker, Meade and Sherman and other interesting characters
- Our previous play-throughs (and history) suggest that the Union is stronger anyway and so removing Grant is nice for balance
Onto the game!
Turns 1-4
Ft. Sumter was bombarded, as usual, kicking off the war, however Beauregard got delayed and hasn't actually taken it leading to the reinforcements arriving. This is a little unfortunate for Murtagks, but it will fall soon anyway.
We did the usual buildup, Murtagks went with all the money options, whereas I didn't print money, but did war bonds and taxes (all as usual).
As nothing much happened I will briefly describe my overall strategy:
The lack of Grant makes opening many fronts even more important than usual, as I do not have an early leader who can go toe-to-toe with the CSA's superior command. Therefore I should spread Murtagks thin and I'll win somewhere.
I have started building Navy early and will continue this investment.
One deviation from standard play will be to carry out an early invasion of Texas.
I plan to drop Hurlbut with a couple of early spawn troops into Matagorda, TX in early summer 1861. This is not an industrial hub, but, I think, the invasion will be a sound strategy for 2 reasons:
- TX contains a couple of decent strategic cities (such as Galveston and Houston) in close proximity to each other along rail lines allowing me to catch up on VPs
- An early invasion will worry Murtagks and cause troop diversions from the actual industrial centers; I have been able to distract him with small stacks in past games and he tends to do worse in more logistically difficult areas such as TX
I will land with Hurlbut in Matagorda as above, and will follow up with more substantial forces to take Ft. James, hopefully with the chance of crushing any forces he sends to stop me.
In the East I will quite simply hold on and wait for good generals. I may probe a little towards Richmond to worry him, but I won't try a peninsula campaign or Norfolk landing.
Murtagks has told me that he will be reviewing my previous AARs to try to get inside my head. I am interested to see what he changes to get an edge on me.
Murtagks and I took a bit of a break after our previous CW2 play-through, but just in case there is still demand I will be writing up this game as an AAR.
As you may have surmised from the title I am the Union and as soon as U.S. Grant spawns in Cairo, IL he will be shipped off to Wisconsin and will not hold any army commands.
I believe this will make the game more interesting for a number of reasons:
- The army command radius is very generous allowing Grant to spread his obscene bonus across several states; without it more army commands will be needed
- Grant is very easy to promote from his early spawn and good location making other good USA generals almost unnecessary, without Grant we will see more of Hooker, Meade and Sherman and other interesting characters
- Our previous play-throughs (and history) suggest that the Union is stronger anyway and so removing Grant is nice for balance
Onto the game!
Turns 1-4
Ft. Sumter was bombarded, as usual, kicking off the war, however Beauregard got delayed and hasn't actually taken it leading to the reinforcements arriving. This is a little unfortunate for Murtagks, but it will fall soon anyway.
We did the usual buildup, Murtagks went with all the money options, whereas I didn't print money, but did war bonds and taxes (all as usual).
As nothing much happened I will briefly describe my overall strategy:
The lack of Grant makes opening many fronts even more important than usual, as I do not have an early leader who can go toe-to-toe with the CSA's superior command. Therefore I should spread Murtagks thin and I'll win somewhere.
I have started building Navy early and will continue this investment.
One deviation from standard play will be to carry out an early invasion of Texas.
I plan to drop Hurlbut with a couple of early spawn troops into Matagorda, TX in early summer 1861. This is not an industrial hub, but, I think, the invasion will be a sound strategy for 2 reasons:
- TX contains a couple of decent strategic cities (such as Galveston and Houston) in close proximity to each other along rail lines allowing me to catch up on VPs
- An early invasion will worry Murtagks and cause troop diversions from the actual industrial centers; I have been able to distract him with small stacks in past games and he tends to do worse in more logistically difficult areas such as TX
I will land with Hurlbut in Matagorda as above, and will follow up with more substantial forces to take Ft. James, hopefully with the chance of crushing any forces he sends to stop me.
In the East I will quite simply hold on and wait for good generals. I may probe a little towards Richmond to worry him, but I won't try a peninsula campaign or Norfolk landing.
Murtagks has told me that he will be reviewing my previous AARs to try to get inside my head. I am interested to see what he changes to get an edge on me.