1863 Observations

[JKM]

After a couple Of 1861 GC's against AI, ,I thought I'd try something a bit different ( I was hardly winning by xmas 1861 , but I was winning )
so, onto 1863 , CSA.
If I'd realized what a challenge it was I'd have started an AAR , but it's a bit late now...at least i heeded the warnings of those who posted about the difficulties of the 1864 scenario.
I guessed it would be too much for me , and, based on how '63's going, I was right.
Supply, how much and how you carry it, is the crucial factor.
You start with a reasonable force in TN and VA and not nearly enough anywhere else.
After four turns the red icons were cropping up on most forces in the front line..and a turn later they started to evaporate.
in fact, so many went 'phut' that i called it 'game over' on turn 6.
So, in truth, this is the second go..( bet the generals at the time would've loved to start again) . So, this time..hardly any unit build..all WS ( which is the area you are most deficient in) goes to RR, industrial build..and replacements.
then its a balancing act as you try to move your scarce units around to confront threats, while still keeping your transport pool at, at least , 1/3.
I've dragged my TN army back to chattanooga , its so hard to supply where it starts the scenario..and also easy for the USA to outflank.
The ANV is going nowhere, just trying , incrementally, to grow strength as various detachments , slowly, make their way To Virginia.
Most action is protecting Vicksburg. even dragging units here and there from georgia and florida, you're way outnumbered..if i can somehow build JJ's force up to around 20K I may have a shot..but it's going to be a very bitsy combo, and , of course, making div's for it eats into those scarce WS resources.
all very interesting and testing..wondered if anyone else has tried '63 recently and how they went?

[OneArmedMexican]

63 is definitvely winnable ... 64 is just infuriating.

Your investment plan sounds smart: railroads and eplacements (at least in the beginning).

Texas and Arkansas are beyond saving (AR is also impossible to supply). Evacuate AR via river-transport. retreat from Texas. This will enable you to defend LA, MS.
Leave your cavalry/indians/raiders behind. Form them into mobile stacks that are able to overwhlem small Union garrisions. If you run them around TX and AR they are able to feed themselves while keeping superior Union forces busy instead of decending on MS and LS.

Employ gamey tactics: the ACW AI has three fatal flaws:

1) It loves deep raids in force (and is too stubborn to retreat in time).

2) It sucks at supply management (it rarely builds depots, let alone working supply chains).

3) It underestimates entrenchment.

If you exploit these flaws you will score vital victories: In the East the huge Union armies won't hesitate to charge head on into your entrenched corps.
The divisions or corps send to penetrate your hinterland become easy pickings once starvation starts.

Enjoy! This is definitively the one campaign where the AI is able to punish every wrong move you make.

[JKM]

Thanks OAM.

I'll have a look at AR and texas..there isn't much there at present and i was wondering how i was ever going to scrape together a significant force capable of achieving anything..the smart answer seems to be ..' don't try'.
in fact i would guess ( I'm speaking from my workplace at present, away from the game) there's only a medium divisions' worth of infantry and art. in the entire theatre.
I was toying with trying to flank the union in VG and take manassas..but, if they're going to obligingly attack my lev. 5 trenches..well, hey, who am I to deny them their fun.

[Longshanks]

You've no doubt finished the scenario by now, but I wanted to add a note about thwarting the deep raids. Athena tends to target cities with depots. Your choice is to blow the depot (might be one you don't need by 63) or stack some defenders in them. The AI will often turn back if a lightly garrisoned high-value target city suddenly has even three brigades in it.

[JKM]

actually , only got back to the game yesterday ( not normally this slow, but real life intrudes at times ! ) I'll keep that advice in mind..
following on from OAM's thoughts things are interesting..
out west I've abandoned AR and TX, and about half the forces have made it across the Mississip. to join PGT beauregard in vicksburg.
Hoping to push down to NO in next turn or so ( it's currently late june) ..
in TN I'm back in Chattanooga..and the USA forces appear to have headed..er..somewhere else, so I'm sending Hardee to N Caro, where I'm picking I'll be under big pressure soon.
In NV , as OAM said, the union hordes obligingly attacked..not once, but twice...Hooker lost about 34,000..me about 16,000.
But I can, as i pointed out above, see the squeeze going on to the South...
if the Union gets behind my main lines and disrupts supply to any great extent I'm in deep schtuck.
Most of my main MV army is tired and undersupplied..I have one Corps handy to throw against these looming threats ( until hardee arrives...in fact, I may send polk to N Caro as well..it'll be good for his health)

thnx again for the advice.

[Stauffenberg]

I wonder if anyone familiar with the CSA in the 1863 scenario can answer the following re the initial CSA setup:

1) Where is Nathan Bedford Forrest? I imagine he must show up later in the scenario but in March '63 he was very active in the Nashville area, later on chasing Union cavalry into Georgia. He is not on the map at start.

2) General Bernard E. Bee is shown as active in Texas? Most histories list him as dead, first high ranking officer to be killed in the war either side, at 1st Manassas.

3) Does the amount of CSA artillery not seem rather low in the western theatre? Bragg's entire Army of the Tennessee has a total of one independent artillery battery assigned to the Army, none assigned to either Polk's or Hardee's Corps, and none to any of the 5 CSA infantry divisions themselves.

If I've missed something obvious elsewhere in the rules or forum my apologies in advance.

Thanks,
Stauf

[JKM]

Hi , re your comments I got to july 64 before conceeding defeat..and I never saw hide nor hair of Forrest.
the artillery is an interesting observation..I'm away from the game at the moment but i'll go and check my last saved file and see....must say I tried to avoid any fighting at all around Tenn. and sent a corps up to NC and South VG to help there...so I don't recall seeing any major batles which would have highlighted that.
other than that its an interesting scenario, all go from turn one..and a bridge too far for me at the moment!

[JKM]

Further to artillery in AOT , there guns in the two corps of hardee and polk, but they're all integral to the brigades not independent. I assume thats what you're meaning.
That affects what the artillery fires on in combat as i recall?

[Stauffenberg]

Further to artillery in AOT , there guns in the two corps of hardee and polk, but they're all integral to the brigades not independent. I assume thats what you're meaning.
That affects what the artillery fires on in combat as i recall?

Yes I didn't count those as I thought most of those were light cannon. I had expected some significant heavier cannons and parrotts in independent batteries and there is only one in the entire army. It seemed odd.
And no Forrest... hmmmm.

Thanks for info.