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Hello!

Murtagks and I are gonna have a CW2 rematch that I'll write up as an AAR.
I've been writing my PhD thesis over the last year and consequently have not felt up to writing anything else, so this is the first one in a while.

Murtagks and I had a go at "To End All Wars", but it really doesn't have the neatness of CW2 despite being released later.

I am once again going to play without Grant to make the game more interesting and give space for a broader cast of Union generals.

Since we've played a few times now, I will try to vary my strategy from what I've done in the past.

Turns 1-4

Beauregard got to Sumter in good time and took the fort to kick off the war.



We are playing on easy foreign intervention, as this part of the game rarely has an effect on normal settings. This way the CSA may be able to force action from the Union under threat of intervention.

It didn't change my opening plays though, I blockaded, put up war taxes and issued war bonds.

Sam Houston fired in Texas, but Murtagks pushed the cavalry off Dallas after a couple of turns.







In terms of industry I went for the New England iron works as that single option gives the Union enough war supply for the rest of the game, including the regular +50 Money from cancelled contracts event, which is very useful as money becomes more limiting.



In past games I have opened with: Attacking Norfolk, attacking New Orleans, attacking Mobile and Attacking Texas. the last of these options seems to be surprisingly good as it is not easy for the CSA to reinforce, but allows the Union to secure a good number of VPs whilst boosting the blockade.

This game, however, I plan to launch my first significant naval invasion against Charleston SC.
Sumter will be avenged!

Turns 5-7 West,

I have usually had success in the West as either side in past games.
This time Murtagks has quite cleverly immediately blown the depots at both Springfield and Rolla, ripped up some rails and retreated.



It may be possible to take Springfield in '61. I saw Murtagks building some of the MO parrot guns there. It makes sense to do so as the CSA and then ship them back to more essential theatres whilst MO still holds as the possibility of recruiting them may otherwise be lost when the Union takes all the towns in MO.

I can also see above that Murtagks has taken all the industry options apart from New Orleans ironworks (knowing full well that it is a common target). My planned attack on Charleston could serve as a good staging point for attacks into Georgia to seize those being built in the state.

Lyon will make a push for Springfield, then move back to the Mississippi as in Grant's absence he will be the most competent general available to the Union in the theatre for a while.
I'll dedicate limited forces to probe towards Littlerock AR, as it is often possible to take it from the west whilst the CSA is distracted by pushes into TN and Eastern AR.

On the river Murtagks managed to catch my fleet napping and sunk a couple of ships.



I'll have to order up some ironclads to ensure supremacy.

Turns 5-7 East

As the main armies unlocked I gathered my forces for defense.



It is somewhere between a major gamble and futile to try to grab Mananas in 61, so I'll prepare to defend against the CSA for 61 around MD. I know from experience that if the Union holds Leesburg and Alexandria attacks into the north are very difficult.

In WV Murtagks has been very active with Floyd who has scored some success against the militia forces that spawn in the area.



Floyd himself is the worst general in the confederacy (3-0-0 + negative trait), but can cause trouble on the WV - PA rail line by his starting position.

I'll try to trap him on the wrong side of the Appalachians when winter comes as he spawns with some valuable 20pdr artillery and a unique cavalry card, but nonetheless Murtagks made some good plays with him.

On the coast Butler unlocked in Monroe.
My standard play would be to attach him to an invasion fleet and take New Orleans to trigger Butler's loyalty boost event, but since I won't be invading it until later I decided to send him some troops and move up to Hampton Roads.



This should serve to worry Murtagks by threatening Richmond from another side, and if it holds can serve as a jumping-off point in 1862 for a peninsula campaign to satisfy the "Onto Richmond" objective (get 40 elements within 2 tiles of Richmond or suffer -10 NM).

At the end of this session I had formed a line with McDowell, Hamilton and Banks to receive any early CSA aggression in MD whilst building up forces for my own strike.

Turns 8-10 West,

Murtagks really did high-tail it out of Missouri with impressive speed, and destroyed all the depots without a moment's hesitation.



It's not worth devoting significant forces or good commanders to the area, but I pushed hard with Sumner and mostly automatically spawned brigrades.

This resulted in a small skirmish outside of Fayetteville and left all of Missouri's victory points and this corner of Arkansas in Union hands.





The Union is now up on 44 victory points per turn, reducing the gap with CSA to just 7. Very good result for very little fighting, but I'm sure Murtagks will make good use of the redeployed troops.

Lyon is leading some troops to push a little on the western bank of the Mississippi.



Without Kentucky in the war the CSA is somewhat shielded by the difficulty in invading Tennessee.
Island No.10 is guarded by around half a division under Polk, who can certainly hold back badly timed naval assault, as I have found out to my cost in previous games.

When New Madrid MO is in Union hands I may ready Lyon for a naval invasion elsewhere along the river, but I will first produce as many ironclads as possible to ensure I don't feed the CSA navy easy kills of union transports.

Although I'm preparing for an assault on Charleston I sent a frigate to reconnoiter New Orleans to worry my opponent. Murtagks did get the ironworks decision in after all. I may need to ready an invasion when Charleston is dealt with.

Turns 8-10 East,

In the East Murtagks gave me a start by attacking with both a newly formed Army of the Shenandoah and Beauregard's Army.





Hamilton managed a tactical victory, but both my stacks were forced to retreat.



Although he had collapsed my western Front around DC Murtagks had left Manassas exposed.
An obvious course of action was to immediately attack to try to avoid the -10 NM event, but I decided not to.

After his move there were two potential courses of action for Murtagks: He could either return to Manassas to prevent me from achieving my 1861 event, or he could push for Washington.
Although the latter was risky the weather was good, so it was certainly possible.

In the first case Murtagks would almost certainly beat me to Manassas and inflict a damaging defeat in a defensive battle; whereas in the second case I should really focus on holding DC as it's a much higher priority than avoiding the onto Richmond event.

I therefore reinforced DC and stayed put. Murtagks returned to Manassas and so the front stabilised.
I also swapped Freemont in for Banks and reinforced him, resulting in a Union victory against JEJ, who I can doubtless send scurrying back into the Shenandoah.



The Union priority in the east remains defensive, whilst invasions elsewhere are prepared. Hooker and Burnside spawned, and they will soon be followed by many more competent brigadier generals. I therefore need to plan for the long march of my good low-rank commanders up to 3* promotion levels.

Turns 11-12,

As winter approaches the Union had to eat the -10 national morale from not taking Manassas, but things were otherwise uneventful, so it's a good time to take stock and plan the strategy going into '62.

I've assembled a division under Hooker and one under Milroy to retake Ft Sumter and Charleston.



Hooker will land at Sumter and one turn afterward that Milroy will assault Ft Johnson on the south bank of the Charles River.
This will provide a clear route into the city.

Freemont attempted to throw JEJ back into Virginia, but was repulsed with heavy casualties. The 1st PA brigade was almost completely destroyed and has to be rebuilt.



JEJ nonetheless retreated next turn as a freshly built New England division arrived to reinforce Freemont.



The plan now is to increase the tempo in the East. We may now form divisions, and so the union can properly order its forces.

Hamilton will attempt to cut off JE Johnston with two divisions including elite formations (the Irish Brigade under Meagher and Washington brigade under Burnside). It is likely that Murtagks sees the danger and will attempt to secure the route out.
Given the imminent invasion of Charleston, it would be highly favourable to tie up CSA troops in Virginia, to prevent the CSA from reinforcing South Carolina.

In Murtagks' position I would probably attempt to take back Harper's Ferry give the weak union formation there (1/2 a division) and so I need to find a way to reinforce Mansfield soon.

In the West Grant spawned and as promised has been put on garden leave in Detroit.



At this point in the game the Union player would typically try to find somewhere to get Grant seniority to promote to a 3-star general, but not only is this option for improving my commander options unavailable to me, but in the assault on New Madrid MO, Nathaniel Lyon died!



Murtagks and I like to joke about how I always seem to incur more casualties in generals than he does, perhaps it's because I tend to attack more, but I'm not sure.

This leaves me with very few good options for aggressive generals in the west.
I may need to wait for Sherman.

In the meantime I will creep along the West bank of the Mississippi with E. Keyes - a mediocre 3-1-1 who gets auto-promoted at some point.

I'll drop clearing cards to make a future invasion down this bank of the river faster when I've massed more forces.

Turns 13-14 West,

In the West the Union and the CSA mostly maneuvered around Cairo.



When playing as the CSA in past games I managed to create a lot of trouble for the Union by using Popular Bluff MO as a supply base for raiders against the supply line going from Cairo, down to the Union armies south, so here as the Union I was sure to secure it to cover my flank.

Murtagks has completely abandoned West MO so Edwin Sumner and his light division can winter safely in Fayetteville, but closer to the Mississippi the Army of the West under Albert Sydney Johnston stormed up from the south and sent E. Keyes running back north.



I will simply hold my position and reinforce Keyes as I don't feel confident in the available commanders and forces when it comes to any advance on this front.

The McClellan event has fired and, although I usually leave him in Kentucky, this game I will bring him East and replace McDowell to thin out the high-seniority leadership (replacing McDowell keeps 1 army with a bad commander, whereas giving McClellan a new one uses up 2).

Turns 13-14 East,

In the East it seems that Murtagks and I both chose to step up the tempo!

Hooker's attack on Ft Sumter went exactly as hoped and the Stars and Stripes flies over the fort once again, all before the end of 1861.



Milroy followed up as planned and will probably take Ft Johnson in a turn or so.



Hopefully Hooker can move on to take Ft Moultrie and get some more seniority.
Ideally Charleston will fall to these two divisions, as I don't have another immediately available.
Events in Virginia may serve to prevent Murtagks from diverting forces.

Murtagks charged JEJ into McDowells entrenched army, and the result was much in my favour.



I will immediately advance with Hamilton to take Manassas and advance closer to Richmond.



I will also push into the Shendandoah with Stone's division to increase the pressure.

Unfortunately I went too far with Butler who was thrown back by two divisions under Hardee.



This is not all bad news as it puts Hardee off the rail lines and prevents him from reinforcing Johnston's army or Charleston as easily.

I will push on the three fronts of Charleston, Shenandoah and Northern VA and something will give.

Turns 15-17 West,

The Trent Affair fired and fortunately the Union apologised (even though it costs -2 NM).
I think that the lower foreign entry threshold makes this event much more interesting as Britain could conceivably join with a little prompting if the escalation were to happen.



In the west Murtagks and I are still getting ready for a fight in New Mexico, but nothing has happened as of yet.

Sumner managed to be even more ambitious than I had hoped and got across the Arkansas river, to wait out the bad weather in Ft Smith.



I have to be a little careful here as I am relying on the supply being generated by the structures I capture as the depots are all gone. I therefore can't risk giving Sumner more than the small 2/3rds division that he has.

Nonetheless a good outcome. I can threaten Littlerock in early '62

Turns 15-17 Upper Mississippi,

Having chased Keyes back into Missouri, Albert Sydney Johnston attacked with his two divisions.



This was a good play Murtagks and me managed to get two bites out of Keyes by cutting off their escape for a turn with his fleet.



Fortunately though Union ironclads started come into action and Foote was able to chase away the CSS Manassas.



Keyes ended up back in Cairo.



This has definitely set me back in my advance, even if casualties were manageable.
I think the most efficient way to come back in this theater will be a naval invasion along the river, rather than attempting to assault ABSJ diretly.
I also need to find a cavalry general, as I built some new cavalry in Iowa and managed to get Sam Houston's two experienced Texas cavalry cards back up north.
The front feels rather stalled for now though.

Well played Murtagks.

Turns 15-17 Virginia,

In Northern Virginia JEJ got into a fight with a new Union division moving to reinforce McDowell.



I had cut off his retreat with Hamilton, and so JEJ has to take the other route south to Falmouth.
As planned George McClellan arrived to take command of the Army of the Potomac.



On the CSA retreat McDowell managed to to high JEJ one more time and ironically gained seniority making him the highest ranking Union general.



As a 2-2-3 (having gained experience) McDowell isn't actually that bad and needs to be given an army anyway to clear him out of the seniority order.

He doesn't have any occupier trait, so won't be good for raising loyalty, but he can nonetheless be useful on a minor front.

I think I may create an Army of the James for him.
Hardee chased Butler all the way back to fortress Monroe and bloodied his force in the process.





Butler has lost seniority, which isn't the worst thing ever.
I think I'll take Butler's shot up division with a fresh one being built in New York and assault Norfolk, McDowell can then be assigned a useful army command to put pressure on this flank of Virginia.
My peninsula campaign plan will have to be shelved.

Turns 15-17 Charleston,

In Charleston I only had partial success.
Hooker assaulted Ft Moultrie to completely clear the harbour entrance whilst Asquith moved to the city itself.

Moultrie fell, and Hooker gained his first (hopefully not last) promotion, so he can now take a corps command when that is enabled.





Managing Hooker's career will be crucial to ensure the Union has a good Army commander as early as possible (with Grant out and Lyon dead).

Asquith was unfortunately met by Beauregard when trying to take Charleston, and is beating a hasty retreat back to Ft Johnson.



I have sent Freemont down from Virginia to use his occupier trait on the city, but that won't do much good until I take it.
Murtagks has surprisingly committed two full divisions under Beauregard to hold the city, so I am not confident I can take it without reinforcement.

Whilst these are prepared Hooker can take Ft Pulaski Georgia and blockade Savannah. Taking these forts is a good way to increase the blockage percentage and hurt the CSA economically even before the cities fall.

Turns 18-19,

Murtagks and I had a chance to get big cash boosts to build new forces over the turn of the year and there was some fighting in Virginia.
I chose to mobilise to get more troops, but I noticed that the CSA used a cash premium instead.



Murtagks is also dropping the local "requisitions" decision across Georgia. If I have my way the Union will be making a few "requisitions" across Georgia too at the earliest opportunity.

In Virginia, whilst JEJ was retreating across the Rappahannock I pushed forward with McDowell to try to set up to get within two tiles of Richmond.
Murtagks knows me too well unfortunately and was ready to give McDowell a bloody nose.



Sine the Army of the Shenandoah has gone West I sent Hamilton's Corps east and crossed the Rappahannock downstream.



I have previously won one of our games by charging Richmond from this position before the CSA could react, so I'm sure Murtagks will either have a strong defense ready, or try to throw me back across the river.
Hopefully I can inflict decent casualties against a CSA counterattack.

Butler is being chased around Fortress Monroe, and somehow managed to retreat back to the peninsula.



I think I will send him back home by river as he is just going to allow Hardee to get a promotion if another combat happens.

In the West I am ready to counterattack against ABSJ. I will get round him by river and attempt to cut off his retreat.
Hopefully my investment in ironclads is about to pay dividends.

Turns 20-23 West,

Porter and Foote's naval forces went down the Mississippi and engaged the CSA fleet.



Keyes' force landed successfully and took New Madrid.



Unfortunately I misjudged ABSJ's route out and he was able to escape along the river into northern Tennessee.
On the other hand Foote managed to hit the rebel fleet and it cleared the west bank of rebel forces.



ABSJ quickly returned to guard island no. 10.
I certainly don't intend to hand the CSA an easy win by an assault on a heavily guarded island.
Instead I will do another naval invasion. Keyes has marine divisions, and these will land on Ft Donaldson, thus bypassing ABSJ.



In west Arkansas Sumner is building a depot and can then advance towards Littlerock. He may not be able to take it, but pressure from the west can help draw away CSA forces. The snow and mud needs to clear first, though.

Turns 20-23 Virginia,

Murtagks' foresight in destroying the depots in West Virginia with Floyd is paying off as I need to spend resources reinforcing my supply lines to ready a push into Virginia from the West.



Seeing fresh supply wagons travelling to J.Dix (generic ** general) Murtagks' sent Shelby to intercept, but he was too late and ended up charging into my entrenched light division.



Other than that Virginia was fairly static.
The "Onto Richmond" event fired as I knew it would.



This really won't be a problem as Murtagks hasn't attempted to remove Hamilton's Corps, and so if I hold position for a couple of turns I will have satisfied the northern newspapers and won't take another -10 morale hit.
I sent a freshly assembled cavalry division (Kearny commanding Shurz) across too to ensure I could get to 40 elements, and they might be able to rip up some railroads.



Butler was floated back north, but Hardee still besieges fortress Monroe.
He has 5 supply wagons with him, and so starving him with a blockade seems difficult.
It's possible that he takes the fortress successfully, which would be a problem, as it would lift the Blockade on Richmond and get the confederacy a victory point (also no doubt give Hardee a promotion).

I will use McDowell with his new seniority to launch an invasion against Norfolk at the earliest opportunity to put pressure on Murtagks in Virginia.
We seem close to parity in forces here, so I can only hope that my numerical advantage will tell elsewhere.

Turns 20-23 South Carolina and Georgia,

With Beauregard defending Charleston, Hooker redeployed to take Ft Pulaski outside Savannah.



The fort was easy to take, but I was very concerned that Murtagks may simply railroad Beauregard down to defend the city at the last moment cause large casualties to me.

I therefore played it safe and waited for a fresh New England marine division to arrive before assaulting the city.



Savannah, GA become the first significant southern city to fall.

As I did this Murtagks tried to push Milroy out of Fort Johnson.



The casualties were relatively even (with many union ones from the 4 cavalry cards I sent south).
Nonetheless this is positive for me. Indecisive attrition is generally positive for the Union and it also ties up Beauregard.



I will now attempt to march up and take the city with Hooker from the south.
It is possible that Beauregard disengages and fortifies before Hooker arrives, but this will still help me take control of the rail lines whilst Beauregard's 2 divisions are tied up with pointless maneuvers.

In the medium term I would like to invade Georgia from the south.
Rather than a march to the sea I will do a march from the sea

I am therefore building fresh cavalry in New York to ship down and provide some scouting and mobility.
Hooker might then be able to make a push towards either the South Carolina state capital or Atlanta if sufficient CSA forces aren't brought in to stop him.

Turns 20-23,

The first half of 1862 is a good time for new fronts to come into play.

Kentucky is leaning towards the Union, and this may help me reinforce Keyes' naval invasion mentioned above.
I have two divisions under Fitzjohn Porter and George Thomas in Louisville that are ready to charge south towards Nashville.



The other great new for the Union is that Sherman has now spawned with Grant.



In the past I have struggled to promote Sherman when wandering around Tennessee and tussling with the main CSA armies.

This time I have sent Sherman east immediately and given him a division under Greene to begin to ready a naval invasion of New Orleans.



I scouted both forts at the mouth of the Mississippi and Texas (to misdirect a little) before Sherman landed.



Greene's division contains the elite Excelsior brigade and some siege guns, making it perfect for cracking these forts.
It is also one of the safest ways to give Sherman Seniority.
When he becomes a 2-star general I will review the strategic situation before committing him. Perhaps a corps commander in Georgia to get some early scorched earth done in 1862 if I make an army there.

Although blockading New Orleans by taking the forts is great, I will eventually want to take it.
Unfortunately my commitments in South Carolina and Virginia make an early seizure of the city unlikely as I'm sure Murtagks has a division guarding it.
More forces will have to be built up before a further invasion can be attempted.

Turns 24-28 West,

The pace of combat general sped up going into the summer of 1862.

As I saw Kentucky was about to join Erasmus Keyes performed a naval invasion of Ft Donelson as described above to cause movement in this theatre.



I was pleased that Murtagks was surprised by this development.
He immediately responded by surrounding the forts with gunboats and moving Albert Sydney Johnston and Joseph E Johnston close to protect Nashville.
The turn Kentucky joined the Union Murtagks attacked Keyes and then moved east.
The result was much in the Union's favour.



Whilst CSA forces moved east to defend Tennessee it gave me the opportunity to finally take Island no. 10 with George Thomas.



Taking the fort is of course a great result, but also getting Thomas a promotion will help clear the lower ranks of generals blocking Sherman and others from being promoted by costing victory points when bypassed.



Prentice is creeping along the west bank with a division to cut Arkansas off from the rest of the Confederacy, but I will be cautious, as hasty action has cost me here in the past.

The summer also allowed me to move on Littlerock at last with Sumner's new supply base in Ft Smith, that had to be rebuilt.



Sumner's forces look about equal to those under A.P Stewart guarding Littlerock.
Reinforcement may be necessary to take the city, but in mid 1862 being at the gates of Littlerock is good going.

Turns 24-28, Deep South Naval Invasions,

Murtagks and I maneuvered around one another in South Carolina, but there was no decisive engagement.

Milroy and Hooker moved to secure the rail line between Savannah and Charleston to set up for reinforcements to move in for an assault.



After McDowell, Freemont is the next most senior general and so he was given an army command (after the creation of the Army of Virginia under McDowell.



Freemont can sit in Savannah and raise it's loyalty, whilst occasionally helping to form Corps as necessary.
As I was setting up Mutagks chose to hit Milroy whilst he was separated, but the Union force retreated back towards Hooker



As he retreated, Hooker crossed the river (with a new marine division arrived from New York) to threaten Charleston from the North.



As June begins we leave the front as above.
Although Charleston is open, I noticed that a new division under Ewell arrived to reinforce Beauregard.
This puts us at parity, which is no good for an assault.

Therefore I will start seizing (and potentially burning) parts of South Carolina and Georgia.
Hopefully Murtagks will move his forces to intercept me and set up a better opportunity for an engagement.
There is no sense in taking huge casualties outside Charleston for uncertain results.
The first step will be to secure a rail line back to Savannah, but then I may move to take Atlanta or Columbia to starve the CSA of resources.

I will be on the lookout for any movement by Beauregard that might allow a good opportunity to reverse course and attack Charleston.

In the Gulf of Mexico Sherman cleared the two forts in front of New Orleans.



Some scouting revealed that Price is guarding New Orleans.

As I've chosen to commit significant forces to South Carolina I don't feel confident in preparing an assault on the city.
Therefore Sherman's next move will be to take Texas.
This will provide a good opportunity to get him some seniority, whilst also taking control of several victory points.

Turns 24-28,

It's that worrying time of the game where Lee takes command of the Army of Northern Virginia.



Fortunately McClellan has had a long time to dig in the Army of the Potomac, so I can hope that Murtagks will be reluctant to try anything to crazy.

I don't fancy my odds against Lee so I opened yet another front by invading Norfolk.



This is a good place to give McDowell a command to get him out of the seniority ladder.
John Pope can join him as a Corps commander as a corps commander with 3-2-2 is not that bad at this stage of the war for the Union.



Unfortunately, as I took Norfolk, Hardee assaulted Fortress Monroe.



I have to commend Murtagks on this. He filled Hardee's stack with some of the most promising CSA 1* generals (Hardee, Magruder, Forrest) all of whom are great to promote, and will all at least have gained seniority from destroying the Union garrison. Hardee can certainly now be promoted and will give the CSA a good Corps commander.

I sent my cavalry division under Kearny round to scout Richmond and finally found Bragg.



Murtagks tends to use it as an assembly point.
I will rip up some rails and join McDowell near Norfold to recover cohesion.
Between this scouting party and Hamilton's corps I have easily fulfilled the "Onto Richmond" event and can sleep easy that the Union is gaining on the CSA in both VPs and National Morale.

This is great. I like how you summarize each theatre. I look forward to more posts.

Thank you
I update every couple of days or so depending on how often Murtagks and I manage to play

Turns 29-32 West of Mississippi,

Sherman has started his invasion of Texas (partly to gain seniority).



I also sent Butler down from New York.
His seniority of 7 means that it's best to give him an army command if practicable to make way for better commanders and his "occupier" trait can do some good raising loyalty in Texas.
As mentioned in the intro I think that a Texas invasion opening as the Union in 1861 is a good one due to the density of accessible victory points.

In eastern Arkansas Prentice moved down the Mississippi river with his division and found what looks suspiciously like an army under AS Johnston.



This was confirmed in a turn when Prentice was pushed back up river.



I feel like I often struggle to advance along the west bank of the Mississippi

In western Arkansas my regular pre-war cavalry and Sumner have reached Little Rock.



Seems that AP Stewart has a division under Stand Watie (suggesting that the indian spawned troops are there).
I'm not certain a direct assault will take it. I may divert Sumner to the take the arsenal at Arkadelphia.
Since I will struggle to hold anything this deep in CSA territory I may just burn a few towns down.

Turns 29-32 Virginia,

I think I am beginning the thin out the CSA forces as Murtagks had to move Shelby's stack from western Virginia.
I therefore started moving into the state from West Virginia.



This front can be a good distraction for the confederacy to worry about by raiding rail lines and drawing away troops.

The Shelby stack had in fact moved to try to drive McDowell out of Norfolk.



I think Murtagks saw McDowell with a small force, but didn't realise that the two divisions under John pope are an army Corps underneath him and they marched to the sound of the guns (MTSG) and ripped the CSA cavalry to pieces.

The only other thing that happened was that the USA received it's mid 1862 generals that I will spread around my armies.
These include Sheridan and Slocum, and can really start to build the competence of the USA command structure.

Turns 29-32 Tennessee,

Given the accelerated pace elsewhere I felt I should put pressure on the CSA in Tennessee,
I therefore advanced slightly with George Thomas (now 2* with his own Corps) in the west and Gilbert in the East, whilst trying to clear the CSA from the rivers.



Admiral porter managed to weaken the CSA brownwater navy



My attack against E. Johnson was less well conceived.



I may need to apply a greater advantage numerical advantage to take Nashville.
On the western bank of the Tennessee river on the other hand Thomas is finding very little opposition.
Since ABSJ has moved off the rail line to chase Prentice, I'll see if I can secure Corinth.
This move by the Union historically resulted in the battle of Shiloh, but hopefully I can avoid a large engagement if I move fast enough.

Turns 29-32 South Carolina,

The most decisive action this turn was in South Carolina.
Hooker first took Augusta to secure a route back to the supply base at Savannah and gained more seniority.



At this point I was beginning to try to formulate a plan to shift Beauregard's entrenched army from Charleston to take the city. I expected it to be expensive and difficult, but just then Murtagks made what I believe to be a big error and charged into Milroy's Corps (Corps under Freemon'ts army).



This was the golden opportunity I wanted as Beauregard was no longer entrenched and outnumbered.
I therefore immediately prepared a counterattack all across the front with Hooker railroading straight into battle.





Regrettably Freemont and Milroy didn't assist, but nonetheless this clash pushed Beauregard up to Columbia in defeat.
The path to Charleston is open!



I will immediately move in with 4 divisions in case CSA reinforcements are coming.
This achieves my original objective of a SC-heavy strategy to take the city and allows me to focus on expanding the Union hold on the deep south.

Turns 33-34 Tennessee,

The CSA and union mauled each other in Tennessee.
Gilbert attacked Johnson again, but was immediately afterwards hit by JEJ's Army.



I'm surprised that Gilbert's force didn't just break and run, but I decided to retreat back to Bowling Green where Halleck's stack had moved up to.



The commitment of JEJ against this stack opened an opportunity for Rosecrans to move in from the west and make a bid for Nashville. Amazingly, he made it all the way to the city without resistance.



In Murtagks position I would immediately try to prevent the city's fall by moving troops in by rail.
Rosecrans will therefore rip up the railroads and prepare to receive a counterattack.
Hopefully the USA can score some casualties against the CSA forces.

In western Tennessee I advanced towards Corinth with Thomas, but he ran into a corps under Smith including a division under A.P Hill.



The turn after this I noticed that ABSJ moved back from the west bank of the Mississippi.
I can no longer see him, but I strongly suspect that he is redeploying to reinforce Corinth or Nashville.
I will therefore move back with Thomas, there is no sense in risking his force in a rush forward and I would prefer to shorten his supply line until more forces can be brought up.

Turns 33-34 South Carolina,

I underestimated Murtagks' commitment to keeping Charleston and so Hooker faced Beauregard again in 2 consecutive fights for the city.





The casualties were worse for the Union, but only Hooker's two elite marine divisions had been engaged and both sides in the battle were worn down. Somehow Hooker managed to pull more seniority out of this which is great too so he can now be promoted!



I subsequently switched Freemont's 2 more regular divisions over to Hooker's Corps and committed to one last push.



The battle was small, but I suspect that Beauregard's cohesion had been worn down over the previous turns to such a degree that the stack just had to retreat.
This puts the Union army outside of Charleston and in control of the region. It will fall sooner or later.

At this point I started to feel that I will largely just want to hold the CSA off in South Carolina as there are few high-value targets left.

Therefore Hooker will withdraw to form an army elsewhere, along with the elite 17th division that has gained vast amounts of experience and includes the elite 101st New York Union Brigade



I think it's finally time to prepare an invasion of New Orleans and Hooker is the perfect general to lead it.

Turns 33-34 preparations for New Orleans,

Murtagks is heavily engaged everywhere, but will have had time to prepare a strong defence of New Orleans and so I will be sure to gather a strong force to take this vital city.

Butler has been given an army to help with securing Texas and to prevent him moaning if I give Hooker an Army, but Nathaniel Banks is too terrible (also seniority 7) and can have his career torpedoed by being passed over, even at the cost of some National Morale.



When Houston is secured Sherman can withdraw to be placed into the New Orleans invasion force. He would make a good commander for a stack to take Baton Rouge.

In Virginia the Union has received it's pool of good 1862 generals including Doubleday, Reynolds and Meade (all of whom were important at Gettysburg if I remember correctly).



Meade will take over command of Hookers 17th Division, Reynolds will receive Ord's 38th division (including the elite Eagle brigade) that helped scare Shelby away from Norfolk, but Doubleday can stay in Virginia to help beef up my defences against a potential attack by Lee.

Lastly Sheridan assaulted fortress Monroe to re-apply the Richmond blockade and gain some seniority.
When it falls however Sheridan will take direct command over Couch's division and the latter will receive some artillery for an artillery-only division to support difficult assaults.



The final roster for Hooker's invasion of New Orleans will be:
Union Bde division under Meade,
Eagle Bde division under Reynolds
and a stack under Sherman containing:
Excelsior Bde division under Greene,
Empire Bde division under Sheridan.