What Sort Of Commander Are You

[Big Muddy]

I would have to consider myself defensive & cautious, I need and want to be more aggressive, but I'm still overly cautious. What sort are you?

[humblelawstudent]

I am defensive to start with while I use cavarly and light divisions to probe the enemy, smash up all the RR Lines in the area and knock out whatever depots I can. Then, when the weather is fair, I launch full, all-out jackhammer attacks. Pounding and pounding away. It usually works.

[Crimguy]

As the Union I'm kinda like Stalin - I throw them into the mill in hopes of an 1862 victory. . .

[Coffee Sergeant]

I would say I'm pretty cautious - although recently I did a fairly bold move where I sent Milroys Corps in alone to take on T. Jackson in Leesburg - and beat him pretty bad. On the other hand I lost an entire Calvary regiment trying to tera up the rail lines in Manassas - though I'm not entirely sure I had them set in the right posture, and should have had them 'Evade Combat'

I haven't played late game though so its not easy to be that aggressive yet before you can organize your forces well.

[DirkX]

agressive.
in one game i had 3 generals KIA untill mid 62.
usually i try to set up something like a "forward-defense"

[tagwyn]

HLS: Back to work in school. No pay for playing wargames!! Play later, after you retire. Law is a stern STERN mistress my young friend. Been there, know that. T

[humblelawstudent]

Tag,

I beg to differ. At my summer firm, some of the associates had to play a few XBOX games because of some infringement allegations.

I'm just uhhh doing preemptive research with American Civil War. You know . . . in case something ever came up.

[Spruce]

hm, I have to confess I'm playing very aggresive and taking many risks - also some touch of chaotic to it - unpredictable,

[Brochgale]

It all depends on the Generals for me. Jackson and Forrest I play aggresive but JJohstone and Beuaregard I play defensively!

[Mangudai]

I'm as aggressive.

My raiders run hard and often die from being unsupplied. My Corps move slowly due to cohesion and supply.

I will launch risky attacks with my main forces. A failed attack is drawish. Victory is well worth it.

[Guru80]

I am all over the board but more conservative than agressive but the long I play the more agressive I am becoming.

I let the CSA pound on me for a bit in the beginning but as time goes on the superior Union manpower starts to show and I get much more agressive since I can afford to have Regulars always in the process of being trained. If I get whipped on to bad I just switch out depleted units and replace them with fresh ones and wait for the others to replenish.

I guess overall I would consider myself a strategist though. I trying to make everything appear differently than what is going on to make high concentrations of forces thin out but also keep it balanced by doing just enough of what it looks like I am doing that you can never be sure what my real target or motive is.

[Dalwin]

I find myself being agressive in the west but more conservative in the east.

Piecemeal attacks in the east are a good way to waste your forces and be forced onto the defensive. You want to pick your targets and hit them hard.

There is a lot more room in the west, so you can get away with being more agressive with whatever you have on hand.

[Kiwinomad]

I've gone with a rope a dope strategy against the AI as both USA and CSA.

Get your corps dug in around key points, harass the enemy with deep raiders and the ocassional raid in strength to minor towns until they launch their big assault, stop the attack, chase them back.

USA = Bowling Green, Alexandria, Harpers Ferry, St Louis (can be a smaller army, mostly there to prvent raids in force)

CSA = Manassas, Richmond, Nashville, Cario (seize it with Polk early give him a bit of artillery now and then and you can make using the rivers very expensive, plus the Union will throw men at you for the next couple years)

[Hobbes]

I would have to consider myself defensive & cautious, I need and want to be more aggressive, but I'm still overly cautious. What sort are you?

I'm exactly like you Czrasai, defensive & cautious but would like to be more aggressive - but I never will be (I hate to lose men, even if not real - God knows what I would be like if I had to push real men into battle). I think it depends on what game one plays though. I'm more aggressive in AACW than I am in the Campaign Series.

Aggressive generals that succeed tend to make the headlines and if they fail it tends to be spectacular. I think every army needs a Patton though (if only for the quotes).

"A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

“A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.”

"America loves a winner, and will not tolerate a loser, this is why America has never, and will never, lose a war.”

“A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.”

“By perseverance, study, and eternal desire, any man can become great.”

“Do everything you ask of those you command.”

“Do more than is required of you.”

“Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity.”

“Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.”

“I always believe in being prepared, even when I'm dressed in white tie and tails.”

“I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.”

“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.”

“If I do my full duty, the rest will take care of itself.”

“In case of doubt, attack.”

“It’s the unconquerable soul of man, not the nature of the weapon he uses, that insures victory.”

“Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way. ”

“Live for something rather than die for nothing.”

"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.”

“Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men.”

“Never let the enemy pick the battle site.”

“No good decision was ever made in a swivel chair.”

“Say what you mean and mean what you say.”

“Success is how you bounce on the bottom.”

“The leader must be an actor."

“The soldier is the army.”

“There is only one type of discipline, perfect discipline.”

“War is simple, direct, and ruthless.”

“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.”

“You’re never beaten until you admit it.”

“You shouldn't underestimate an enemy, but it is just as fatal to overestimate him.”

"Attack rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, without rest, however tired and hungry you may be, the enemy will be more tire, more hungry. Keep punching."

"In landing operations, retreat is impossible, to surrender is as ignoble as it is foolish… above all else remember that we as attackers have the initiative, we know exactly what we are going to do, while the enemy is ignorant of our intentions and can only parry our blows. We must retain this tremendous advantage by always attacking rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, and without rest."

"An Army is a team; lives, sleeps, eats, fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is a lot of crap."

"War is the supreme test of man in which he rises to heights never approached in any other activity."

"No sane man is unafraid in battle, but discipline produces in him a form of vicarious courage."

"A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it."

"In war the only sure defense is offense, and the efficiency of the offense depends on the warlike souls of those conducting it."

"Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity."

"Wars might be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who leads that gains the victory."

"… many, who should know better, think that wars can be decided by soulless machines, rather than by the blood and anguish of brave men."

"Tanks are new and special weapon-newer than, as special, and certainly as valuable as the airplane."

"An incessant change of means to attain unalterable ends is always going on; we must take care not to let these sundry means undue eminence in the perspective of our minds; for, since the beginning, there has been an unending cycle of them, and for each its advocates have claimed adoption as the sole solution of successful war."

"Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets."

"The obvious thing for the cavalryman to do is to accept the fighting machine as a partner, and prepare to meet more fully the demands of future warfare."

"Many soldiers are led to faulty ideas of war by knowing too much about too little."

Chris

[Hobbes]

Not sure how accurate these two quotes are. I thought I would take a look on the net for a couple of Patton's choicer quotes and I'm amazed to see how hard they are to find. It seems people are changing quotes to be PC. Try and look up balls and Patton.

I might be wrong about this as these words may not actually be what he said but if people are changing his words I find that very unsettling. Otherwise I would be interested to be enlightened.

"I don't want to get any messages saying, 'I am holding my position.' We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn!"

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I have no fear, because I am the meanest mother * in the entire damn valley."

Chris

[Aurelin]

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I have no fear, because I am the meanest mother * in the entire damn valley."

Or, as an SR-71 pilot put it " As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, as I'm at 80,000ft and climbing."

[Kiwinomad]

Infantry tactics class at OCS, a sgt of mine said "As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, as it would have shot at my point man already."

A tanker friend of mine's version is "As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death... wait a second, you want us to walk? Screw that!"