I have to agree with what others have said about using navy. Even if you decide not to work hard at the embargo, there are other uses for navy. The navy is great for amphib landings, that is definitely something you need to look into right now.
Right now you are making things extremely easy for Barksdale. Essentially you are fighting a one front war in the east, making only a half-hearted attempt at winning the west. That means all he has to do is concentrate all his troops around Richmond and watch you make one failed assault after another on his army. But if you could create a diversion on another front, like you did briefly in Savanah, that will cause Barksdale to try to defend a much larger area and leave Richmond much more lightly defended.
Well here we are Late June 62 report and early July orders. Before I begin the rundown I would like to say a final few words on the subject of Navies. I've obviously given the impression that I will totally ignore the naval side of things. This is not strictly true. I've always seen the potential importance of the Navy to the game. Trouble is because I dislike the way its been implemented I consequently have failed to understand its applicability in any true sense. My use of the navy is therefore confined to using it as one would a 'sledgehammer'. There is no 'finesse'.
I am also acutely mindful that there is only one front active and that Barksdale is being given a relatively easy ride to date. I do feel though that with the reversals in May coupled with the likely forthcoming intervention of the British and French I am somewhat, for the time being at least, caught between a rock and a hard place.
Still back to the game. Well I know all things are relative.....but surfice it to say that on receiving this turn back I breathed a sigh of relief.
In Virginia Not much has altered. Barksdale did not make any attempt at an offensive move. This has allowed me valuable time to dig in. I lost the initative over a month ago in this area but fortunately my opponent does not seem to have taken full advantage of it. I do trust that my optimism will not come back to kick me in the posterior...although I suspect it will.
Interestingly Jackson and Lee have disappeared. I'm sure, from experience to date that Barksdale has some sort of reserve behind his front line but I would not be surprised to see Jackson pop up in West Virginia. That would cause me a real headache for I'm not in the least bit ready for him. Mind you I did want Rousseau and his merry men to force the confederates to take some notice of him. If that has happened I can hardly complain.
What it does give me the chance to do it to attempt to form a strong Corp, once again at Dover, to prepare for another amphibious assault. If I can manage it this time I intend to go .....and stay. It does mean me gambling that Barksdale will not press immediately in the east. My decision is to remove Schurz's Division from Franklins command, Shermans from Grants, the 17th Division commanded by D. Miles from Whipple and D Tylers very very small 29th Division from Hamilton and move them to Dover. I'd like to give Grant command of the amphibious force but I have no other 2 star in the area to assign to his Corp. Crittenden, who is spare at Bowling Green is on his way but its going to take him about 30 days to arrive. That might not be a bad thing as my frontline Corps need to gather strength. Other than that its a sit tight move for me now.
In West Virginia little changed. The confederates made no attempt to retake Christiansburg which I have managed to reinforce with Porters command so its now held with full Divisional strength. Rousseau with another full Division is at Covington. My cavalry went to Lynchburg....just for irritant factor. I was right there is only a militia unit garrisoning. I intend to pull back this time after ripping up the railroad.
I'm also sending a couple of cavalry units to cover the approach to Grafton (as indicated by the blue arrow) It would not surprise me if Jackson did not head this way and I have little to stop him.
The Tennessee\Kentucky theatre is very messy. Its here that I've been really disappointed with my performance. Since finding at the outset that Confederate Divisions in strength were stationed at both Island 10 and Forts Henry and Donelson I've been gripped by some sort of inertia that I cannot really explain. It is so unlike me. Sadly there MUD everywhere and movement is painfully slow. I'm pleased about my decision to give up Paducah but it will take some time before Lyons command has reached Bowling Green. Keyes will reach St Louis shortly which I am glad about for reasons that will become obvious in a few minutes. For all my sabre rattling I've achieved nowt and will continue to achieve nowt for some time to come. It is most frustrating, particularly when you know its your own fault.
That leads to the far West And here something did happen. Polk and Cheatham turned up. Not as I suspected at St Louis but at Lexington. I congratulate my opponent it really caught me off balance. Fortunately my weak division there retreated without a fight so I'm still in good order and intend to fall back on St Joseph and perhaps beyond. The rebels captured the depot which is a pain.
It does put pressure on Missouri and potentially Iowa which is of concern. On the plus side though Keyes with his division arrives at St Louis in a couple of days so what with Fremonts command already in place I do have two relatively full divisions in the vicinity. My concern as to what has happened is perhaps not be as great as it should be given that these two confederate divisions are well forward and so far to the west. It eases my fears regarding what lies in wait for me in Tennessee if and when I can get myself co-ordinated.
Thats about it other than to say that I'm only investing in replacements. Intervention ticked up 2 to 86. Sheridan, Sykes, Slocum, Couch, Reno and Sedgewick arrived. I'll try to give them commands at the earliest opportunity. The Confederacy went with 8% bonds, exceptional taxes and Call for Volunteers.
I am also acutely mindful that there is only one front active and that Barksdale is being given a relatively easy ride to date. I do feel though that with the reversals in May coupled with the likely forthcoming intervention of the British and French I am somewhat, for the time being at least, caught between a rock and a hard place.
Still back to the game. Well I know all things are relative.....but surfice it to say that on receiving this turn back I breathed a sigh of relief.
In Virginia Not much has altered. Barksdale did not make any attempt at an offensive move. This has allowed me valuable time to dig in. I lost the initative over a month ago in this area but fortunately my opponent does not seem to have taken full advantage of it. I do trust that my optimism will not come back to kick me in the posterior...although I suspect it will.
Interestingly Jackson and Lee have disappeared. I'm sure, from experience to date that Barksdale has some sort of reserve behind his front line but I would not be surprised to see Jackson pop up in West Virginia. That would cause me a real headache for I'm not in the least bit ready for him. Mind you I did want Rousseau and his merry men to force the confederates to take some notice of him. If that has happened I can hardly complain.
What it does give me the chance to do it to attempt to form a strong Corp, once again at Dover, to prepare for another amphibious assault. If I can manage it this time I intend to go .....and stay. It does mean me gambling that Barksdale will not press immediately in the east. My decision is to remove Schurz's Division from Franklins command, Shermans from Grants, the 17th Division commanded by D. Miles from Whipple and D Tylers very very small 29th Division from Hamilton and move them to Dover. I'd like to give Grant command of the amphibious force but I have no other 2 star in the area to assign to his Corp. Crittenden, who is spare at Bowling Green is on his way but its going to take him about 30 days to arrive. That might not be a bad thing as my frontline Corps need to gather strength. Other than that its a sit tight move for me now.
In West Virginia little changed. The confederates made no attempt to retake Christiansburg which I have managed to reinforce with Porters command so its now held with full Divisional strength. Rousseau with another full Division is at Covington. My cavalry went to Lynchburg....just for irritant factor. I was right there is only a militia unit garrisoning. I intend to pull back this time after ripping up the railroad.
I'm also sending a couple of cavalry units to cover the approach to Grafton (as indicated by the blue arrow) It would not surprise me if Jackson did not head this way and I have little to stop him.
The Tennessee\Kentucky theatre is very messy. Its here that I've been really disappointed with my performance. Since finding at the outset that Confederate Divisions in strength were stationed at both Island 10 and Forts Henry and Donelson I've been gripped by some sort of inertia that I cannot really explain. It is so unlike me. Sadly there MUD everywhere and movement is painfully slow. I'm pleased about my decision to give up Paducah but it will take some time before Lyons command has reached Bowling Green. Keyes will reach St Louis shortly which I am glad about for reasons that will become obvious in a few minutes. For all my sabre rattling I've achieved nowt and will continue to achieve nowt for some time to come. It is most frustrating, particularly when you know its your own fault.
That leads to the far West And here something did happen. Polk and Cheatham turned up. Not as I suspected at St Louis but at Lexington. I congratulate my opponent it really caught me off balance. Fortunately my weak division there retreated without a fight so I'm still in good order and intend to fall back on St Joseph and perhaps beyond. The rebels captured the depot which is a pain.
It does put pressure on Missouri and potentially Iowa which is of concern. On the plus side though Keyes with his division arrives at St Louis in a couple of days so what with Fremonts command already in place I do have two relatively full divisions in the vicinity. My concern as to what has happened is perhaps not be as great as it should be given that these two confederate divisions are well forward and so far to the west. It eases my fears regarding what lies in wait for me in Tennessee if and when I can get myself co-ordinated.
Thats about it other than to say that I'm only investing in replacements. Intervention ticked up 2 to 86. Sheridan, Sykes, Slocum, Couch, Reno and Sedgewick arrived. I'll try to give them commands at the earliest opportunity. The Confederacy went with 8% bonds, exceptional taxes and Call for Volunteers.
The Early July 62 result is to hand and the Late July orders are ready for submitting. Under normal circumstances the results would not have been too displeasing except for one totally avoidable error on my part. A moment of pure idiocy in not checking my orders closely enough before submitting them. I'll cover the issue first just to highlight the need to check, double check and sometimes even triple check before actioning orders....particularly if you are playing PBEM.
Last move you will recall that I was concerned lest Grafton came under threat again. Because I will not use the redeploy button that meant that my two Brigades garrisoning the depot were uncommanded (so a command penalty). Obviously I was trying to rush a commander too them as quickly as possible. In my wisdom I decided to split the two Brigades. I put both on Blue\Red stance....thats right hold at all costs. Or at least thats what I thought. Imagine my horror then to receive the news back detailed below. Yep Grafton fell to Earl Von Dorn. I could hardly believe it. Numbers were relatively comparable. Ok so I was uncommanded but I was in a defensive positon...slight entrenchment....hold at all costs stance....had the luck of the dice roll...but I lost. Then I looked again at the second report. Where had my other three elements disappeared to? In the first battle it looks like there was 6 but in the second engagement only 3. What on earth was going on? Fortunately I'm keeping all of my moves (it was Barksdale who suggested it) So I reloaded my set of orders and lo and behold to my absolute dismay I discover that one of my Brigades is on Blue\Red but the other was on Green\Green. So although in the first battle it looks as if I had 6 elements engaged I only had 3. The others had run away even before battle commenced. So I've lost Grafton, not because Barksdale outwitted, outmaneouvred or outthought me but merely because of my own stupidity. I've already e-mailed him to let him know I'll try not to make the same mistake again. From now on I'm not only going to check and double check but after doing the turn..... I'll leave it for a day....come back to it fresh and do a final recheck. It will slow us down somewhat to 1 move every other day but what with trying to keep the AAR going as well its probably a more realistic timescale for let no-one tell you that doing an AAR takes other than a fair few number of hours. At least it does the pace I go at
Anyway its been a hard lesson to learn and one I hope not to repeat.
As to the rest of the turn well in most respects it was pretty uneventful although the news is interesting. Oh and before I go any further after doing my last post I did make one slight alteration to my orders. Lyon was just going to take too long getting over to Bowling Green so I turned him around and sent him against Columbus but more of that later.
To the Virginia theatre Here strange things are going on or rather not going on. Van Dorns command was pulled away by Barksdale for the attack on Grafton so it does not look as if Winchester is under any immediate threat. Thats famous last words spoken by a true gentleman if you like Before me there is only E K Smiths Corp at Culpeper with Bragg and G Smith at Fredricksburg. I still reckon Jackson or another command with Lee must be in rear probably at Albermarle. Anyway thats my guess.
Opposing them I have my 5 Corps regaining strength and cohesion. They are pretty stretched along the Rappahannoch but are able to offer one another support. I'm not intending to make another forward move into Virginia this year so tieing up 5 Corps in this way does seem a bit of a waste. I'm also not sure whether Barksdale will attempt to mount an assault either. As each day passes it seems to me that the likelyhood dimishes. Thus I'm intending to do the following. The divisions I split away last turn are areadly beginning to arrive at Dover. I'm intending to speed up this process thus I'm reducing Grants Corp by two divisions. One I'm sending to Franklin in Stafford the other is to remain in situ where hopefully he will be joined by Whipples Corp which I am moving to plug the gap from Clarke. On the face of it that will only leave me Berrys weak Corp at Clarke opposing EK Smith but Berrys Corp still has some way to recover and with no movement this time he should be a great deal stronger by the end of July. Grant and what remains of his command is heading for Dover.
This should mean that I'll have the equivalent of 6 or 7 divisions under Grant assembled at Dover by early August.
Onto West Virginia then. Well I've already said that Grafton has fallen. I would not be surprised if the depot is razed to the ground. It is a pain but my own fault. Rousseau now has a reasonable strong Corp around him at Covington although I would like to add to it but this is not currently possible. My cavalry in the area I'm going to attempt to send forward to rip up the railway lines that Barksdale has been repairing. I still hold Christiansburg with a three element Brigade, unfortunately with no leader.
Further west Dix's Corp (it actually comprises only of the weak 34th Division) took Clarksville. I'm going to detach a garrison and return the command to Cincinnati from whence it came. Now to me the really interesting information to note in this region is the arrival of Edward Johnston with a Division to add to Bonhams two at Nashville. Thats becoming a powerful Corp and makes attempting to take Nashville in 62 probably out of the question. So I intend just to sit tight with Thomas and McClellan.
Further decent information became available when Lyons assaulted and took Columbus in the Tennessee\Kentucky region. Look what we uncovered at Island 10, Beauregard with the Army of Mississippi command and a small Corp led by Forney. I'm going to swing Lyons east into Graves Kentucky this time....just to see what news I can get as to what might be lurking at Forts Henry and Donelson. Other than that Rosecrans Corp will remain in Paducah and Sumner who I moved from Salem will attempt to dig in at Cairo. I'm not now going to destroy the Paducah depot. Lets see if I can start to worry my opponent in this theatre, particularly with Polk out of the way for another month I suspect.
That leads me nicely into the goings on in the far West. Well Lexington was burnt to the ground. Its annoying but totally expected. What is much more interesting however is that in addition to Polks Corp we have now discovered Joe Johnston and his Army of the West. I wonder where they will next head for? Fortunately for me at St Louis, Fremonts army now has a 2 division Corp with him, commanded by Pope. Sheridan appeared in Rolla and I'm rushing him to St Louis as quickly as possible. I still intend to sit tight in this area and await developments.
Little else to report other than I'm purchasing a couple of supply units this time around (I shall need them for my planned amphibious assault). Other than that its all spare resources into replacements. They have drained me heavily this year.
For some reason that I cannot fathom (I would dearly love to know why?) Intervention fell from 86 to 83 this time around. NM's on both sides remain the same and I'm still behind on victory points so I really cant explain the fall. I'm extremely grateful for it but I would like to know why?
Last move you will recall that I was concerned lest Grafton came under threat again. Because I will not use the redeploy button that meant that my two Brigades garrisoning the depot were uncommanded (so a command penalty). Obviously I was trying to rush a commander too them as quickly as possible. In my wisdom I decided to split the two Brigades. I put both on Blue\Red stance....thats right hold at all costs. Or at least thats what I thought. Imagine my horror then to receive the news back detailed below. Yep Grafton fell to Earl Von Dorn. I could hardly believe it. Numbers were relatively comparable. Ok so I was uncommanded but I was in a defensive positon...slight entrenchment....hold at all costs stance....had the luck of the dice roll...but I lost. Then I looked again at the second report. Where had my other three elements disappeared to? In the first battle it looks like there was 6 but in the second engagement only 3. What on earth was going on? Fortunately I'm keeping all of my moves (it was Barksdale who suggested it) So I reloaded my set of orders and lo and behold to my absolute dismay I discover that one of my Brigades is on Blue\Red but the other was on Green\Green. So although in the first battle it looks as if I had 6 elements engaged I only had 3. The others had run away even before battle commenced. So I've lost Grafton, not because Barksdale outwitted, outmaneouvred or outthought me but merely because of my own stupidity. I've already e-mailed him to let him know I'll try not to make the same mistake again. From now on I'm not only going to check and double check but after doing the turn..... I'll leave it for a day....come back to it fresh and do a final recheck. It will slow us down somewhat to 1 move every other day but what with trying to keep the AAR going as well its probably a more realistic timescale for let no-one tell you that doing an AAR takes other than a fair few number of hours. At least it does the pace I go at
Anyway its been a hard lesson to learn and one I hope not to repeat.
As to the rest of the turn well in most respects it was pretty uneventful although the news is interesting. Oh and before I go any further after doing my last post I did make one slight alteration to my orders. Lyon was just going to take too long getting over to Bowling Green so I turned him around and sent him against Columbus but more of that later.
To the Virginia theatre Here strange things are going on or rather not going on. Van Dorns command was pulled away by Barksdale for the attack on Grafton so it does not look as if Winchester is under any immediate threat. Thats famous last words spoken by a true gentleman if you like Before me there is only E K Smiths Corp at Culpeper with Bragg and G Smith at Fredricksburg. I still reckon Jackson or another command with Lee must be in rear probably at Albermarle. Anyway thats my guess.
Opposing them I have my 5 Corps regaining strength and cohesion. They are pretty stretched along the Rappahannoch but are able to offer one another support. I'm not intending to make another forward move into Virginia this year so tieing up 5 Corps in this way does seem a bit of a waste. I'm also not sure whether Barksdale will attempt to mount an assault either. As each day passes it seems to me that the likelyhood dimishes. Thus I'm intending to do the following. The divisions I split away last turn are areadly beginning to arrive at Dover. I'm intending to speed up this process thus I'm reducing Grants Corp by two divisions. One I'm sending to Franklin in Stafford the other is to remain in situ where hopefully he will be joined by Whipples Corp which I am moving to plug the gap from Clarke. On the face of it that will only leave me Berrys weak Corp at Clarke opposing EK Smith but Berrys Corp still has some way to recover and with no movement this time he should be a great deal stronger by the end of July. Grant and what remains of his command is heading for Dover.
This should mean that I'll have the equivalent of 6 or 7 divisions under Grant assembled at Dover by early August.
Onto West Virginia then. Well I've already said that Grafton has fallen. I would not be surprised if the depot is razed to the ground. It is a pain but my own fault. Rousseau now has a reasonable strong Corp around him at Covington although I would like to add to it but this is not currently possible. My cavalry in the area I'm going to attempt to send forward to rip up the railway lines that Barksdale has been repairing. I still hold Christiansburg with a three element Brigade, unfortunately with no leader.
Further west Dix's Corp (it actually comprises only of the weak 34th Division) took Clarksville. I'm going to detach a garrison and return the command to Cincinnati from whence it came. Now to me the really interesting information to note in this region is the arrival of Edward Johnston with a Division to add to Bonhams two at Nashville. Thats becoming a powerful Corp and makes attempting to take Nashville in 62 probably out of the question. So I intend just to sit tight with Thomas and McClellan.
Further decent information became available when Lyons assaulted and took Columbus in the Tennessee\Kentucky region. Look what we uncovered at Island 10, Beauregard with the Army of Mississippi command and a small Corp led by Forney. I'm going to swing Lyons east into Graves Kentucky this time....just to see what news I can get as to what might be lurking at Forts Henry and Donelson. Other than that Rosecrans Corp will remain in Paducah and Sumner who I moved from Salem will attempt to dig in at Cairo. I'm not now going to destroy the Paducah depot. Lets see if I can start to worry my opponent in this theatre, particularly with Polk out of the way for another month I suspect.
That leads me nicely into the goings on in the far West. Well Lexington was burnt to the ground. Its annoying but totally expected. What is much more interesting however is that in addition to Polks Corp we have now discovered Joe Johnston and his Army of the West. I wonder where they will next head for? Fortunately for me at St Louis, Fremonts army now has a 2 division Corp with him, commanded by Pope. Sheridan appeared in Rolla and I'm rushing him to St Louis as quickly as possible. I still intend to sit tight in this area and await developments.
Little else to report other than I'm purchasing a couple of supply units this time around (I shall need them for my planned amphibious assault). Other than that its all spare resources into replacements. They have drained me heavily this year.
For some reason that I cannot fathom (I would dearly love to know why?) Intervention fell from 86 to 83 this time around. NM's on both sides remain the same and I'm still behind on victory points so I really cant explain the fall. I'm extremely grateful for it but I would like to know why?
For what its worth here we have the report for Late July 62 and thoughts on my proposed orders for Early August. The weeks seems to be speeding by and soon it will be back to the winter months with still no real offensive moves on my part since the spring. Without doubt Barksdale is calling all of the shots. I must really try to do something to redress the balance.
This time around I'm a bit light on images. Its a sad reflection on my degree of inactivity. Anyway in Virginia the two Smith Corps of the Confederacy have pulled back. I am now in the silly position of some having some 14 Union divisions on a wide front defending against what?.....Just Braggs command is what. Thus I intend to move Berry and Whipples Corps once more into Culpeper. I dont plan to press on from there but sitting back on my current defensive line is not in my best interests either. I'm going to leave Hamiltons Corp at Winchester. I know it opens a gap in my lines but its a long swing around for the Rebels to take advantage off it. Some cavalry screens may well help to give me early reconnaissance.
At Dover well Grant arrives in 3 days and the Ships will all be assembled, riding easily at anchor off of the coast, so we should be able to board in Early August. Only down side is it will mean Late August to sail the fleet, Early September at best to land....then Late September before any action and all of that is at the earliest. Not good but the best I can do. At least There will be 7 divisions in the amphibious party.
One really good piece of news this time around was that Barksdale went with the 'Cotton Embargo'....how I was dreading that he would. Joy of Joys though....it upset the British and incurred -19 engagement points. Thats taken the threat of intervention down to 65 so I may get away with it....I should do for the remainder of this year at least. The nett effect is that it has released Butlers Army command and the fledgling divisions I was forming with him at Buffalo in anticipation of British involvement. The divisions I'm moving to Wheeling for reasons that will shortly become obvious. Butler is heading for Dover (now I can send an Army command with Grant which is a real bonus)
In West Virginia as expected Van Dorn destroyed the Grafton depot but he and his command still remain in place. I'm sure they will pull back this time although Barksdale might be tempted to advance them again. The other bad news was that Stonewall turned up at Covington and despite a valiant defence by Rousseau our brave Union forces, in the face of a considerable numerical advantage on the part of the enemy, were forced to retire from the field. A noble effort though and one for which the President has commended him.
As you can see from the map and the battle report Jacksons Corp was indeed at full strength with 5 attached divisions. To have retired with such light losses was pleasing even if I did lose the Covington Depot. Rousseaus command is still in good order and now with home territory advantage so to speak I intend to march his Corp back to Grafton with the hope of regaining the city and regrouping. It should take 14 days.
The two minor divisions that Butler was gathering about him, by moving to Wheeling should be ideally placed in late August to join or support Rousseau.
With the loss of Covington I'm abandoning Christiansburg. After having ordered all cavalry units in the region to destroy what rail they can they are all to fall back towards Grafton.
In Tennessee\Kentucky again Barksdale attacked through Nashville and into Gallatin with Johnston's Army. Not only did he attack but he was in considerable strength as well with Johnsons' and Holmes' commands in attendance . Evidently he had hoped to catch Thomas's small two division Corp. He might have done were it not for the fact that Thomas's supply had begun to run short so I had decided to retire him to Bowling Green until the supply deficiency was rectifed. To this end I had begun to construct a supply depot at that location. I would ideally like to defend Bowling Green but whilst my situation is much improved as Thomas has now been able to add to his force the 36th Division that had been with McClellan (and take over the army entrenchments) he is inactive and has a strategic level of 1. Ok so his defensive rating is 6 but that 1 strategy bugs me. McClellan is no better (also having a 1 strategic rating). A potentially much more serious problem though is that every region butting up to Bowling Green is 100% confederate controlled. If Johnston presses on and were I to lose the battle then I'd have nowhere to retreat to. So I'm going to attempt to destroy the depot with a single cavalry regiment. McClellan I'm sending to Louisville by river with Thomas's corp also boarding riverine transports and heading for Evansville. I need to extract myself from this position otherwise my centre is severely compromised.
With Barksdale doing all of the running its not looking good. I must start to exert some pressure and soon. So I reached the following conclusion. Given the size of the Confererate army at and knowing that Polk's Corp has retired from Lexington, I strongly suspect towards Springfield, I'm going to move J Davis's small command from west of Lexington to St Louis. Pope's two divisions at St Louis I plan to move to Paducah. I am operating on the assumption that there cannot be many Rebel forces in reserve in Tennessee at present. It does mean me virtually stripping the far west of troops for the time being but its a gamble I'm willing to take. That will hopefully see me with 4 divisions at Paducah in late August. Sumners division will continue to hold Cairo. Lyons (who's about one of my only active commanders) even though he has a 10% penalty I'm sending to assault Corinth. I have no idea what lies at Corinth. If there is a strong division in place obviously he will get heavily repulsed. If I could find it lightly held though?......anyway I think its worth the risk.
Little else to report. Intervention I've already told you about. NM is 96 for the Union and a whopping 116 for the Confederacy. And once more my total output is into replacements....this should bring my commands about up to full strength. (at last he sighs)
This time around I'm a bit light on images. Its a sad reflection on my degree of inactivity. Anyway in Virginia the two Smith Corps of the Confederacy have pulled back. I am now in the silly position of some having some 14 Union divisions on a wide front defending against what?.....Just Braggs command is what. Thus I intend to move Berry and Whipples Corps once more into Culpeper. I dont plan to press on from there but sitting back on my current defensive line is not in my best interests either. I'm going to leave Hamiltons Corp at Winchester. I know it opens a gap in my lines but its a long swing around for the Rebels to take advantage off it. Some cavalry screens may well help to give me early reconnaissance.
At Dover well Grant arrives in 3 days and the Ships will all be assembled, riding easily at anchor off of the coast, so we should be able to board in Early August. Only down side is it will mean Late August to sail the fleet, Early September at best to land....then Late September before any action and all of that is at the earliest. Not good but the best I can do. At least There will be 7 divisions in the amphibious party.
One really good piece of news this time around was that Barksdale went with the 'Cotton Embargo'....how I was dreading that he would. Joy of Joys though....it upset the British and incurred -19 engagement points. Thats taken the threat of intervention down to 65 so I may get away with it....I should do for the remainder of this year at least. The nett effect is that it has released Butlers Army command and the fledgling divisions I was forming with him at Buffalo in anticipation of British involvement. The divisions I'm moving to Wheeling for reasons that will shortly become obvious. Butler is heading for Dover (now I can send an Army command with Grant which is a real bonus)
In West Virginia as expected Van Dorn destroyed the Grafton depot but he and his command still remain in place. I'm sure they will pull back this time although Barksdale might be tempted to advance them again. The other bad news was that Stonewall turned up at Covington and despite a valiant defence by Rousseau our brave Union forces, in the face of a considerable numerical advantage on the part of the enemy, were forced to retire from the field. A noble effort though and one for which the President has commended him.
As you can see from the map and the battle report Jacksons Corp was indeed at full strength with 5 attached divisions. To have retired with such light losses was pleasing even if I did lose the Covington Depot. Rousseaus command is still in good order and now with home territory advantage so to speak I intend to march his Corp back to Grafton with the hope of regaining the city and regrouping. It should take 14 days.
The two minor divisions that Butler was gathering about him, by moving to Wheeling should be ideally placed in late August to join or support Rousseau.
With the loss of Covington I'm abandoning Christiansburg. After having ordered all cavalry units in the region to destroy what rail they can they are all to fall back towards Grafton.
In Tennessee\Kentucky again Barksdale attacked through Nashville and into Gallatin with Johnston's Army. Not only did he attack but he was in considerable strength as well with Johnsons' and Holmes' commands in attendance . Evidently he had hoped to catch Thomas's small two division Corp. He might have done were it not for the fact that Thomas's supply had begun to run short so I had decided to retire him to Bowling Green until the supply deficiency was rectifed. To this end I had begun to construct a supply depot at that location. I would ideally like to defend Bowling Green but whilst my situation is much improved as Thomas has now been able to add to his force the 36th Division that had been with McClellan (and take over the army entrenchments) he is inactive and has a strategic level of 1. Ok so his defensive rating is 6 but that 1 strategy bugs me. McClellan is no better (also having a 1 strategic rating). A potentially much more serious problem though is that every region butting up to Bowling Green is 100% confederate controlled. If Johnston presses on and were I to lose the battle then I'd have nowhere to retreat to. So I'm going to attempt to destroy the depot with a single cavalry regiment. McClellan I'm sending to Louisville by river with Thomas's corp also boarding riverine transports and heading for Evansville. I need to extract myself from this position otherwise my centre is severely compromised.
With Barksdale doing all of the running its not looking good. I must start to exert some pressure and soon. So I reached the following conclusion. Given the size of the Confererate army at and knowing that Polk's Corp has retired from Lexington, I strongly suspect towards Springfield, I'm going to move J Davis's small command from west of Lexington to St Louis. Pope's two divisions at St Louis I plan to move to Paducah. I am operating on the assumption that there cannot be many Rebel forces in reserve in Tennessee at present. It does mean me virtually stripping the far west of troops for the time being but its a gamble I'm willing to take. That will hopefully see me with 4 divisions at Paducah in late August. Sumners division will continue to hold Cairo. Lyons (who's about one of my only active commanders) even though he has a 10% penalty I'm sending to assault Corinth. I have no idea what lies at Corinth. If there is a strong division in place obviously he will get heavily repulsed. If I could find it lightly held though?......anyway I think its worth the risk.
Little else to report. Intervention I've already told you about. NM is 96 for the Union and a whopping 116 for the Confederacy. And once more my total output is into replacements....this should bring my commands about up to full strength. (at last he sighs)
Early August 62 report. Late August move.
Well good people for the next few moves I'm relatively certain that I shall be doing very little that is constructive. I have come to the conclusion that (other than in Virginia) I have too many 'bits and pieces' here and there. For example I have a division at Salem another at Cincinnati etc. All doing perfectly sound tasks but all defensive and no real strength anywhere. This has to change. I'm going to concentrate my forces and think offensively. It should'nt be 'how do I stop Barksdale?' It should be the other way around 'How does he stop me?'
So to the Virginia Theatre Well my late August move is relatively simple. I dont think Barksdale intends to do other than sit guarding Richmond for the rest of 62. He seems to be putting his effort into West Virginia and Kentucky. I'm sure he has another Corp sitting behind Lee at Albermarle. So I aim to stay put myself. I'm sending Hamiltons Corp to Manassas, just so that all major commands in the area are supportive of one another. Thats about it other than Grant and his troops will embark at Dover.
Further west into the West Virginia theatre Rousseau retook Grafton and was joined by Nelson's division. Its at Grafton where the start of my amalgamations/reorganisations will take place. Rousseau now has 3 divisions under his control but unfortunately he is out of command radius. I'm hoping to strengthen him in the next turn or two. I need an army commander in this area so I'm sending Fremont with his Western Command. Trouble is its a month by rail. Ah well never mind. As you can see the Rebels led by Van Dorn fell back from Grafton and it would be possible for Barksdale with this force to target Winchester once I pull Hamilton away but as there is no depot at the city I dont think Barksdale will....at least not for a turn or two. Stonewall Jackson remains at Covington with a depleted Corp of 3 divisions. One of the missing divisons, commanded by Magruder, retook Christianburg...as to where the other is I have no idea?
Tennessee/Kentucky
Well I did'nt need to blow the depot at Bowling Green after all, nor to retreat from it with Thomas. The confederates much to my surprise themselves retired back over the Cumberland. Evidently both Barksdale and I were equally afraid of one another. Holmes' Corp has turned up at Forts Henry and Donelson. I have a sneaking suspicion that Barksdale expected me to throw Lyon against those forts last turn. Where Johnson's Corp and the Army of Tennessee have retired to I can only speculate but the probability must be Nashville. Popes Corp is still on the river but should arrive in Paducah in 2 days where it will join Rosecrans units. That give me 4 available divisions in Paducah.
I've put in this last image just so that you can see how fortunate I was. I'd ordered Lyon to force march to Corinth. It should have taken him 13 days. Luckily for me he failed to obey (reckon he knew much better than I). Anyway the upshot was that he ended short of his target. Waiting for him was Bonham with almost 2 divisions strength. So Lyons is on a hightail out of it, through Humbolt and back to Paducah.
As to the rest. Intervention is now at 66. I've replaced most of the years earlier troop losses so am purchasing the following:
New York
3 x 12lb Batteries.
Iowa
4 x 2 element Infantry Brigades
1 x 2 element Infantry and 1 Cavalry Brigade
4 x 12lb Batteries
Missouri
1 x Sharpshooter
Well good people for the next few moves I'm relatively certain that I shall be doing very little that is constructive. I have come to the conclusion that (other than in Virginia) I have too many 'bits and pieces' here and there. For example I have a division at Salem another at Cincinnati etc. All doing perfectly sound tasks but all defensive and no real strength anywhere. This has to change. I'm going to concentrate my forces and think offensively. It should'nt be 'how do I stop Barksdale?' It should be the other way around 'How does he stop me?'
So to the Virginia Theatre Well my late August move is relatively simple. I dont think Barksdale intends to do other than sit guarding Richmond for the rest of 62. He seems to be putting his effort into West Virginia and Kentucky. I'm sure he has another Corp sitting behind Lee at Albermarle. So I aim to stay put myself. I'm sending Hamiltons Corp to Manassas, just so that all major commands in the area are supportive of one another. Thats about it other than Grant and his troops will embark at Dover.
Further west into the West Virginia theatre Rousseau retook Grafton and was joined by Nelson's division. Its at Grafton where the start of my amalgamations/reorganisations will take place. Rousseau now has 3 divisions under his control but unfortunately he is out of command radius. I'm hoping to strengthen him in the next turn or two. I need an army commander in this area so I'm sending Fremont with his Western Command. Trouble is its a month by rail. Ah well never mind. As you can see the Rebels led by Van Dorn fell back from Grafton and it would be possible for Barksdale with this force to target Winchester once I pull Hamilton away but as there is no depot at the city I dont think Barksdale will....at least not for a turn or two. Stonewall Jackson remains at Covington with a depleted Corp of 3 divisions. One of the missing divisons, commanded by Magruder, retook Christianburg...as to where the other is I have no idea?
Tennessee/Kentucky
Well I did'nt need to blow the depot at Bowling Green after all, nor to retreat from it with Thomas. The confederates much to my surprise themselves retired back over the Cumberland. Evidently both Barksdale and I were equally afraid of one another. Holmes' Corp has turned up at Forts Henry and Donelson. I have a sneaking suspicion that Barksdale expected me to throw Lyon against those forts last turn. Where Johnson's Corp and the Army of Tennessee have retired to I can only speculate but the probability must be Nashville. Popes Corp is still on the river but should arrive in Paducah in 2 days where it will join Rosecrans units. That give me 4 available divisions in Paducah.
I've put in this last image just so that you can see how fortunate I was. I'd ordered Lyon to force march to Corinth. It should have taken him 13 days. Luckily for me he failed to obey (reckon he knew much better than I). Anyway the upshot was that he ended short of his target. Waiting for him was Bonham with almost 2 divisions strength. So Lyons is on a hightail out of it, through Humbolt and back to Paducah.
As to the rest. Intervention is now at 66. I've replaced most of the years earlier troop losses so am purchasing the following:
New York
3 x 12lb Batteries.
Iowa
4 x 2 element Infantry Brigades
1 x 2 element Infantry and 1 Cavalry Brigade
4 x 12lb Batteries
Missouri
1 x Sharpshooter
Simply great AAR 
I enjoy in every pic and sentence.
One q; why don't you go for mobilization?
I enjoy in every pic and sentence.
One q; why don't you go for mobilization?
Forrest said something about killing a Yankee for each of his horses that they shot. In the last days of the war, Forrest had killed 30 of the enemy and had 30 horses shot from under him. In a brief but savage conflict, a Yankee soldier "saw glory for himself" with an opportunity to kill the famous Confederate General... Forrest killed the fellow. Making 31 Yankees personally killed, and 30 horses lost...
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
Late August 62 report and Early September plans. Brrrrrr my troops are already beginning to feel the chill winds of winter approaching Well before I get to the actual theatres I was delighted to see the 'Emancipation Proclamation'. My tiny mouse could not hover quick enough over the option and right click on it. With the likelyhood of Intervention disappearing at least for a year , I can breathe a sigh of relief.
In the Virginia Theatre and for the time being I include West Virginia things went much as anticipated. I made those minimum moves I'd talked about. Hamiltons Corp moved to Manassas. Rousseau gathered further troops around him at Grafton. Soon he will command 4 full divisions and Fremont with the Army of the West should arrive in the next month.
I had to rebuild the Grafton depot against. To lose the it the first time was forgivable. To lose it a second time though was at best 'careless' God forbid I lose it a third time.
It would appear that Barksdale has done little movement (at least that I can see) in the region this turn either. Jackson with 3 divisions remains at Covington. I see EK Smiths Corp has been moved up to join Robert E. Could Barksdale be worried that I might be getting ready for another push against Richmond? I wonder? He'd be wrong but it would suit me if he concentrated the bulk of his available forces in that area.
As to my own plans well Grant and his command have boarded ship (grief but they suffered a larger cohesion loss than I'd anticipated) so its just a matter of picking an amphibious target. Ideally I wanted to hit Savannah again or even further south but to my dismay I found that this would involved at least a months sailing followed by another two weeks disembarking. What with the cohesion loss I'm suffering per turn it is just going to be a trip too far so its going to be Wilmington. I'm uneasy as its a wee bit too obvious a target but I do not have a lot of choice. Even Wilmington is 14 days sailing away so Im praying that Grant manages to sail on time if he's going to make the coast in a turn.
Barksdale has hit my depots so hard that my compliment of Supply Wagons is seriously depleted. I don't have the resources at present to build more but I need another couple with Rousseaus Corp at Grafton before I dare advance him. I have two available in the far east but have no escort for them. As the run is behind my own lines I'm going to risk moving them west.
New commanders have arrived Meade, Reynolds, Doubleday and Pleasonton. Meade I'm promoting (I've never been able to understand why he does not automatically arrive as a two star) Once his promotion has been sanctioned he will take over command of Hamiltons Corp. At last I'll have a decent officer (other than Grant) to counter those Rebels with. Well thats about the sum total of my plans for this theatre.
Further west into Tennessee and Kentucky there were two small engagements. McCulloch attacked Salem and took it
leure: He's bound to destroy the depot and I shall be forced into a rebuild (sigh). It does seem with depots as if the confederates have the gift of second sight for every time I deplete a depot garrison from divisional strength they jump on it. The other skirmish was at Bowling Green where Hindman defeated Slocum. Slocum is recovering from his injuries now....poor man.
On the plus side Lyons, retiring to Paducah took Humbolt. Its only a temporary success and in the context of the war is meaningless but I'll take any crumbs of comfort for the time being. There are so few of them around
His command should arrive back in Paducah in the next few days.
I have 6 divisions with McClellan now stationed just south of Louisville. Problem is NO SUPPLY WAGONS - I am in a pretty pickle in that respect.
I'm building some transports so that I can construct depots but they are slow in coming on stream. Until they are available those 6 divisions are basically going to have to sit tight. I am toying with the idea of moving Thomas and 4 divisions to Evansville as an intermediate move - it would enable him to swing either west or east in the future .....but its only a thought.
As to the bits and pieces well I'm laying down 4 River Transports in Kentucky and 1 Ironclad in Indiana.
The Blanket, Iron and Railway Brigades have all arrived which is welcome news.
My NM now stands at 106 (hurrah over the magic mushroom figure of 105). Barksdales stands at 116 (Boo). Intervention is at 66 but as I'm choosing the 'Emancipation' option this time it should fall to somewhere in the order of 50 at most. I'm also choosing the 'Colored Mobilization' option in the Drafts section. I've never done it before. Its going to cost VP's but what the heck.....I can live with that.
Well with luck and a following wind perhaps next time around the news will be more interesting and I can perhaps begin to give my worthy opponent a thing or two to worry about. Who was it said live in hope, die in despair
Well before I get to the actual theatres I was delighted to see the 'Emancipation Proclamation'. My tiny mouse could not hover quick enough over the option and right click on it. With the likelyhood of Intervention disappearing at least for a year , I can breathe a sigh of relief.
In the Virginia Theatre and for the time being I include West Virginia things went much as anticipated. I made those minimum moves I'd talked about. Hamiltons Corp moved to Manassas. Rousseau gathered further troops around him at Grafton. Soon he will command 4 full divisions and Fremont with the Army of the West should arrive in the next month.
I had to rebuild the Grafton depot against. To lose the it the first time was forgivable. To lose it a second time though was at best 'careless' God forbid I lose it a third time.
It would appear that Barksdale has done little movement (at least that I can see) in the region this turn either. Jackson with 3 divisions remains at Covington. I see EK Smiths Corp has been moved up to join Robert E. Could Barksdale be worried that I might be getting ready for another push against Richmond? I wonder? He'd be wrong but it would suit me if he concentrated the bulk of his available forces in that area.
As to my own plans well Grant and his command have boarded ship (grief but they suffered a larger cohesion loss than I'd anticipated) so its just a matter of picking an amphibious target. Ideally I wanted to hit Savannah again or even further south but to my dismay I found that this would involved at least a months sailing followed by another two weeks disembarking. What with the cohesion loss I'm suffering per turn it is just going to be a trip too far so its going to be Wilmington. I'm uneasy as its a wee bit too obvious a target but I do not have a lot of choice. Even Wilmington is 14 days sailing away so Im praying that Grant manages to sail on time if he's going to make the coast in a turn.
Barksdale has hit my depots so hard that my compliment of Supply Wagons is seriously depleted. I don't have the resources at present to build more but I need another couple with Rousseaus Corp at Grafton before I dare advance him. I have two available in the far east but have no escort for them. As the run is behind my own lines I'm going to risk moving them west.
New commanders have arrived Meade, Reynolds, Doubleday and Pleasonton. Meade I'm promoting (I've never been able to understand why he does not automatically arrive as a two star) Once his promotion has been sanctioned he will take over command of Hamiltons Corp. At last I'll have a decent officer (other than Grant) to counter those Rebels with. Well thats about the sum total of my plans for this theatre.
Further west into Tennessee and Kentucky there were two small engagements. McCulloch attacked Salem and took it
leure: He's bound to destroy the depot and I shall be forced into a rebuild (sigh). It does seem with depots as if the confederates have the gift of second sight for every time I deplete a depot garrison from divisional strength they jump on it. The other skirmish was at Bowling Green where Hindman defeated Slocum. Slocum is recovering from his injuries now....poor man.
On the plus side Lyons, retiring to Paducah took Humbolt. Its only a temporary success and in the context of the war is meaningless but I'll take any crumbs of comfort for the time being. There are so few of them around
His command should arrive back in Paducah in the next few days.
I have 6 divisions with McClellan now stationed just south of Louisville. Problem is NO SUPPLY WAGONS - I am in a pretty pickle in that respect.
I'm building some transports so that I can construct depots but they are slow in coming on stream. Until they are available those 6 divisions are basically going to have to sit tight. I am toying with the idea of moving Thomas and 4 divisions to Evansville as an intermediate move - it would enable him to swing either west or east in the future .....but its only a thought.
As to the bits and pieces well I'm laying down 4 River Transports in Kentucky and 1 Ironclad in Indiana.
The Blanket, Iron and Railway Brigades have all arrived which is welcome news.
My NM now stands at 106 (hurrah over the magic mushroom figure of 105). Barksdales stands at 116 (Boo). Intervention is at 66 but as I'm choosing the 'Emancipation' option this time it should fall to somewhere in the order of 50 at most. I'm also choosing the 'Colored Mobilization' option in the Drafts section. I've never done it before. Its going to cost VP's but what the heck.....I can live with that.
Well with luck and a following wind perhaps next time around the news will be more interesting and I can perhaps begin to give my worthy opponent a thing or two to worry about. Who was it said live in hope, die in despair
Early September 62 report and Late September plans.
Lets commence as usual in the Virginia and West Virginia theatres My planned move of the two unescorted supply wagons towards Grafton went pear shaped (what a surprise and will I never learn). Barksdale is far too good an opponent for me to take chances with. The supply wagons have been captured by the enemy (hiss and boo) I shall have to try to recapture but I dont rate my chances. Drat and Blast Its a good job I'm playing the Union side otherwise I reckon this war would already be over
Of interest was Stonewall moving from Covington where he destroyed the depot and popping up at Charlottesville. I dont know why but it did surprise me somewhat. My but that general gets around quicker than a politician currying votes. Now the thing is .......is Barksdale just reacting to my build up in Culpeper or does he have some other devilish plan in store for me? Ah well lets see what he does with Jackson when he discovers what I'm up to in North Carolina. I suspect Jackson is going to be on the move again.
For me in Virginia well its just a case of gathering what additional strength I can. At Grafton the last of the reinforcements should arrive but with the loss of the two captured supply wagons I'm not in a position to advance Rousseaus Corp back to Covington...they would just starve. Blow Barksdale for being such a fine player......Grrrr
So on to my only real move of the month. My fleet at Dover sailed, fortunately to time, and now sits off of Wilmington. I find it very 'fiddly' when disembarking troops but eventually I managed it. So I have Grant assaulting Wilmington, Schurz heading for Smithsville. Its Schurz for no other reason than he's one of my few 'active' commanders in the group. Miles and Tylers divisions are to eventually join Schurz, once they saunter off the ships. Couch will join Grant. I'm attempting to send cavalry scouts forward as marked in green. Lets see how my worthy opponent handles this move. If possible I've come to stay though much will depend on what Barksdale throws at me in the next few turns. With luck winter will be marching to my assistance but I am worried about my poor cohesion levels.
Butler with the Army command does not arrive off the coast until the end of September. He just has a few artillery batteries with him. Other than that, until December at the earliest, Grant cannot expect reinforcements. How I need him to perform.
In the Tennessee\Kentucky theatre McCulloch blew the depot at Salem. and has retired back to Kentucky. Interestingly I've picked up Forrest's raiding party I assume headed into my territory. I suspect its the depot at Vincennes he is after. My only counter is to move Thomas's Corp of 4 divisions currently with McClellan, just south of Louisville by river to plug the gap. Trouble is he's 'not active' and its going to take him 16 days just to reach Evansville. So I'm having to detatch J Davidsons 36th Division from his command and speed him to Vincennes. If Forrest is heading for the depot then Davidson wont stop him from taking it but he will arrive in time to give battle and hopefully force Forrest to retreat. Anyway thats the plan.
Lyons has made it back to Paducah and has joined Rosecrans Corp. Its a sit tight move at Paducah again.
In the far west Pope now has almost 2 full divisions with him at St Louis. I feel more comfortable knowing I have the city properly protected. Particularly as I have no idea where Johnstons army and Polks Corp are. I'm going to send the cavalry regiment at Rolla to Springfield for a spot of scouting. Lets see what they turn up.
As for the remainder well Lincoln proclaiming Emancipation resulted in intervention going down by 15. I had hoped for more as 15 is the minimum but beggars cant be choosers. Its now a much more heathly 52 I'll discover (at least I think I will) what choosing the Colored Mobilization option will mean come December recruiting. What I have discovered though is once choosen it cannot be unchoosen.
Sadly all of my available manpower I am spending on replacements. With so many units in the field the number of deserters is rising alarmingly.
Cant wait to get the next turn back from my opponent. At least for me its getting exciting again.
Lets commence as usual in the Virginia and West Virginia theatres My planned move of the two unescorted supply wagons towards Grafton went pear shaped (what a surprise and will I never learn). Barksdale is far too good an opponent for me to take chances with. The supply wagons have been captured by the enemy (hiss and boo) I shall have to try to recapture but I dont rate my chances. Drat and Blast
Its a good job I'm playing the Union side otherwise I reckon this war would already be over
Of interest was Stonewall moving from Covington where he destroyed the depot and popping up at Charlottesville. I dont know why but it did surprise me somewhat. My but that general gets around quicker than a politician currying votes. Now the thing is .......is Barksdale just reacting to my build up in Culpeper or does he have some other devilish plan in store for me? Ah well lets see what he does with Jackson when he discovers what I'm up to in North Carolina. I suspect Jackson is going to be on the move again.
For me in Virginia well its just a case of gathering what additional strength I can. At Grafton the last of the reinforcements should arrive but with the loss of the two captured supply wagons I'm not in a position to advance Rousseaus Corp back to Covington...they would just starve. Blow Barksdale for being such a fine player......Grrrr
So on to my only real move of the month. My fleet at Dover sailed, fortunately to time, and now sits off of Wilmington. I find it very 'fiddly' when disembarking troops but eventually I managed it. So I have Grant assaulting Wilmington, Schurz heading for Smithsville. Its Schurz for no other reason than he's one of my few 'active' commanders in the group. Miles and Tylers divisions are to eventually join Schurz, once they saunter off the ships. Couch will join Grant. I'm attempting to send cavalry scouts forward as marked in green. Lets see how my worthy opponent handles this move. If possible I've come to stay though much will depend on what Barksdale throws at me in the next few turns. With luck winter will be marching to my assistance but I am worried about my poor cohesion levels.
Butler with the Army command does not arrive off the coast until the end of September. He just has a few artillery batteries with him. Other than that, until December at the earliest, Grant cannot expect reinforcements. How I need him to perform.
In the Tennessee\Kentucky theatre McCulloch blew the depot at Salem.
and has retired back to Kentucky. Interestingly I've picked up Forrest's raiding party I assume headed into my territory. I suspect its the depot at Vincennes he is after. My only counter is to move Thomas's Corp of 4 divisions currently with McClellan, just south of Louisville by river to plug the gap. Trouble is he's 'not active' and its going to take him 16 days just to reach Evansville. So I'm having to detatch J Davidsons 36th Division from his command and speed him to Vincennes. If Forrest is heading for the depot then Davidson wont stop him from taking it but he will arrive in time to give battle and hopefully force Forrest to retreat. Anyway thats the plan.
Lyons has made it back to Paducah and has joined Rosecrans Corp. Its a sit tight move at Paducah again.
In the far west Pope now has almost 2 full divisions with him at St Louis. I feel more comfortable knowing I have the city properly protected. Particularly as I have no idea where Johnstons army and Polks Corp are. I'm going to send the cavalry regiment at Rolla to Springfield for a spot of scouting. Lets see what they turn up.
As for the remainder well Lincoln proclaiming Emancipation resulted in intervention going down by 15. I had hoped for more as 15 is the minimum but beggars cant be choosers. Its now a much more heathly 52 I'll discover (at least I think I will) what choosing the Colored Mobilization option will mean come December recruiting. What I have discovered though is once choosen it cannot be unchoosen.
Sadly all of my available manpower I am spending on replacements. With so many units in the field the number of deserters is rising alarmingly.
Cant wait to get the next turn back from my opponent. At least for me its getting exciting again.
marecone wrote:Simply great AAR
One q; why don't you go for mobilization?
Perhaps you missed my post so...
Forrest said something about killing a Yankee for each of his horses that they shot. In the last days of the war, Forrest had killed 30 of the enemy and had 30 horses shot from under him. In a brief but savage conflict, a Yankee soldier "saw glory for himself" with an opportunity to kill the famous Confederate General... Forrest killed the fellow. Making 31 Yankees personally killed, and 30 horses lost...
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
He remarked, "I ended the war a horse ahead."
marecone wrote:Perhaps you missed my post so...
Sorry Marecone I thought I'd responded. I have gone for mobilisation at every opportunity. In fact I've now gone for Colored Mobilisation as well. Unfortunately its not until Late December that I'll be able to call them up. If my memory serves me right its now a whole year from one mobilisation call but to the next because I've used it heavily....I'll check it out later just to confirm.
Soundoff, first of all I want to say that this has been a great AAR to read. Usually I play as the South, but your AAR has caused me to regain interest playing as the union.
Secondly, before you commented on the lack of good corps commanders. However, by now in the game you should have several one star generals available (Hooker and Sherman come to mind) who will make good/great corp commanders if you could get them promoted. So if you have any spare resources available I would suggest sending these guys off on quick raids to increase their seniority and get them promotable. You do that and you will be able to replace many of your current corp commanders with much better generals.
Secondly, before you commented on the lack of good corps commanders. However, by now in the game you should have several one star generals available (Hooker and Sherman come to mind) who will make good/great corp commanders if you could get them promoted. So if you have any spare resources available I would suggest sending these guys off on quick raids to increase their seniority and get them promotable. You do that and you will be able to replace many of your current corp commanders with much better generals.
Sad to say good people but I've been forced to concede defeat....I hang my head in shame. I would not have minded had I have won just one victory in the almost two years (game time) we played but I evidently am just not good enough leure: leure:
In addition to smashing Grant, Barksdale then proceeded to wreck my position at Paducah and finally crush Rosecrans at Forts Henry and Donelson. Where-ever I turned my opponent was there in real numbers. If I turned left he was in waiting. If I turned right I was ambushed and if I did nothing he waltzed behind me. I respectfully bow to a superior opponent..... though not winning a single victory is rather crushing to the spirit.
leure: leure:
In addition to smashing Grant, Barksdale then proceeded to wreck my position at Paducah and finally crush Rosecrans at Forts Henry and Donelson. Where-ever I turned my opponent was there in real numbers. If I turned left he was in waiting. If I turned right I was ambushed and if I did nothing he waltzed behind me. I respectfully bow to a superior opponent..... though not winning a single victory is rather crushing to the spirit.
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