I am starting as the CSA in the 1864 scenario playing against the vanilla AI. I am not an expert player, but I have read some good advice on this board. The AI is set to hard with extra bonuses and more time; historical attrition for me only.
My premise is that, out of desperation, the CSA gives unprecedented authority to the executive (player), while in the US, a concerned congress has begun interfering with high command decisions (AI). Will the (hopefully) superior command of the CSA be enough to force a stalemate?
Strategic Assessment
Military: The army is hard pressed and poorly equipped. Artillery is especially needed. Divisions are understrength and many are poorly placed, especially those stranded west of the Mississippi. We are heavily invested in cavalry. (I thought the south was short of mounts late in the war.) This gives us some counter-attacking potential, but is less useful for the essential task of defending cities from larger armies. The navy is virtually gone.
Economy: Many of our greatest cities have been captured. Inflation stands at 40%. Our blockade running operations have withered to almost nothing. By heaping misery on the populace, we can raise money and recruits, but without access to European markets, we are severely limited in war supplies.
Politics: Here is sole Confederate hope. The CSA merely needs to stave off defeat, while the US requires victory.
Meta: I will be interested to see how Athena does on the offensive with such superior forces. In particular I think it's "deep raids" make more sense and will be harder to counter because I have fewer resources to challenge them and because they have more places to seek refuge. If nothing else, it can afford the losses easier.
One of my first acts was to reorganize divisions and reassign corps. I wanted to make efficient use of my SS and assign good divisions to good commanders. I also left a a few skeleton divisions, so I don't have to repay the formation cost.
The Army of Northern Virginia is the largest, best equipped, and best lead army the Confederacy has to offer. Yet Longstreet's first corps has yet to arrive and secure the left. This will exhaust my rail capacity for the turn. On the right I have only a small force at Fredericksburg. Stuart will arrive in two days and AP Hill will arrive later to secure the position which has the only major entrenchments in the area. I have 3 div in Petersburg, but as far as I can tell, I only need one. I sent one to Richmond which is almost unguarded and one to join the ANV. Grant has 3 (low cohesion?) corps in Culpepper, another north of Fred. and a reserve cav. corps.
In Georgia, JJ is a fine leader, but I am running out of good defensive ground. Therefore, I am pushing Hardee forward and sending Wheeler's cavalry to establish a right wing. I am holding Chetham's 3 div back to ensure Sherman doesn't get behind me. There are lots more Yankees northeast of Sherman.
Polk's Army will link up with Forrest at Gainsville. I am not really sure what to do with them. I am thinking I will try to protect Mobile and possibly move into western MS. Next turn I may rail a division toward JJ. My trans-MS forces will try to cross the Miss. River and join Polk. I know in real life the Union patrols made this all but impossible. While I was at it I transferred Huger and his artillery bonus to the ANV.
I sent a brig and escort past Ft. Monroe. If the brig brings in any WS it's better than nothing. I have another brig that will wait at Charleston because of the fleet outside the harbor. I am thinking of bringing Semmes into Charleston just to help the brig get out. I can't imagine my commerce raiders do much in the end anyway.
I pressed the Confederate people for all they were worth. 8% bonds, Full Tax, Full Draft, Volunteers at $2k. My NM and VP will never be higher no matter what I do, so I will get what I can now.
Unfortunately most of the infantry comes with cavalry attached. I never understood why I can't raise just inf. I mostly avoided cav. this buy.
10 regiments inf. for VA, 10 in AL., 4 in MS, 4 marine, 2 SC mil.
5 SS, 3 art, 1 cav for the ANV. 3 art for GA.
Repl. = 10 and 1 or 2 for the other important stuff. (wanted to conserve WS)
This uses up my WS, so I am saving a lot of CC and especially $.
My main hope is that I can establish a line before the Union hammer falls.
The Army of Northern Virginia is the largest, best equipped, and best lead army the Confederacy has to offer. Yet Longstreet's first corps has yet to arrive and secure the left. This will exhaust my rail capacity for the turn. On the right I have only a small force at Fredericksburg. Stuart will arrive in two days and AP Hill will arrive later to secure the position which has the only major entrenchments in the area. I have 3 div in Petersburg, but as far as I can tell, I only need one. I sent one to Richmond which is almost unguarded and one to join the ANV. Grant has 3 (low cohesion?) corps in Culpepper, another north of Fred. and a reserve cav. corps.
In Georgia, JJ is a fine leader, but I am running out of good defensive ground. Therefore, I am pushing Hardee forward and sending Wheeler's cavalry to establish a right wing. I am holding Chetham's 3 div back to ensure Sherman doesn't get behind me. There are lots more Yankees northeast of Sherman.
Polk's Army will link up with Forrest at Gainsville. I am not really sure what to do with them. I am thinking I will try to protect Mobile and possibly move into western MS. Next turn I may rail a division toward JJ. My trans-MS forces will try to cross the Miss. River and join Polk. I know in real life the Union patrols made this all but impossible. While I was at it I transferred Huger and his artillery bonus to the ANV.
I sent a brig and escort past Ft. Monroe. If the brig brings in any WS it's better than nothing. I have another brig that will wait at Charleston because of the fleet outside the harbor. I am thinking of bringing Semmes into Charleston just to help the brig get out. I can't imagine my commerce raiders do much in the end anyway.
I pressed the Confederate people for all they were worth. 8% bonds, Full Tax, Full Draft, Volunteers at $2k. My NM and VP will never be higher no matter what I do, so I will get what I can now.
Unfortunately most of the infantry comes with cavalry attached. I never understood why I can't raise just inf. I mostly avoided cav. this buy.
10 regiments inf. for VA, 10 in AL., 4 in MS, 4 marine, 2 SC mil.
5 SS, 3 art, 1 cav for the ANV. 3 art for GA.
Repl. = 10 and 1 or 2 for the other important stuff. (wanted to conserve WS)
This uses up my WS, so I am saving a lot of CC and especially $.
My main hope is that I can establish a line before the Union hammer falls.
As Enf91 suggested, I badly underestimated the difficulty of this scenario. I assumed that Longstreet would have time to get into position because I think he did historically. This time Grant got there first, ready to fight.
Watching the battle seemed to indicate that Grant had the advantage the whole time. I thought that woodland frontage restrictions would prevent me from being overwhelmed. I counted on Longstreet's defense bonus a little too much, but it was Johnson's corps that got mauled. I really didn't think my odds were that bad in that battle. Grant only had 3:2 infantry and I thought I had enough artillery to max out my frontage or at least restrict theirs. It will now be almost impossible to stop them on the clear terrain approaching Richmond.
I am wondering if starting over on normal would be more interesting. Thoughts?
Watching the battle seemed to indicate that Grant had the advantage the whole time. I thought that woodland frontage restrictions would prevent me from being overwhelmed. I counted on Longstreet's defense bonus a little too much, but it was Johnson's corps that got mauled. I really didn't think my odds were that bad in that battle. Grant only had 3:2 infantry and I thought I had enough artillery to max out my frontage or at least restrict theirs. It will now be almost impossible to stop them on the clear terrain approaching Richmond.
I am wondering if starting over on normal would be more interesting. Thoughts?
Gray pointed out that this is supposed to be historically accurate. Hence, your units will be extremely short on supply the whole game. And you know what that does. Also, your NM is low, so your units have about 80% cohesion as opposed to the Union's 95%. Frontage can help, but if your units start routing, nothing will help. When the AI auto-assigns elements to fight, it has a bias towards units already in battle. Hence Johnson getting clobbered and everyone else relatively unscathed. Once Johnson's corps broke, Lee tried to (and did) retreat.
Thanks Enf91. That's mostly stuff I have heard, but did not really appreciate its importance.
Following the disastrous battle near Charlottesville, Grant pushed into the center of my line. My army is split and must fall back on Richmond. I have to use my rail capacity to evacuate Johnson's corp, which has almost no effective soldiers. Grant has not advanced with most of his forces, so I suspect my armies can retreat without much difficulty.
In Georgia I won control of Rome, but can't keep it supplied, especially with all my rail points going to move Johnston. Nor can I maintain significant force for a right flank position.
The CSA has little room to maneuver in this scenario. Although only one turn has passed, the situation is already beyond dire. In the East I probably don't even have time to entrench outside Richmond. In addition to losing 2 divisions, my NM has sunk to an irredeemable 52. (I think Lee should get some kind of ability to mitigate the combat penalty from NM.)
Grant whipped Lee in as even a fight as I can hope to achieve. It is clear that Lee's victories are behind him. As the wounded and demoralized soldiers come pouring into Richmond, Lee and Davis consult to discuss the future of the war.
The war is lost in Virginia, it impossible to do more than cling to Richmond and the rail going south, and even that would require the kind of respite only McClellan would allow. Grant's victory has also assured Lincoln's reelection, barring a Union catastrophe.
In light of these considerations, the Confederacy has no alternative, but to seek a merciful peace. Gone is hope for independence or the preservation of slavery. The war has been too costly already and it would be unjust to prolong it without prospect of victory. Davis will use his newly strengthened executive office to effect surrender.
At What Price? 18,630.
Following the disastrous battle near Charlottesville, Grant pushed into the center of my line. My army is split and must fall back on Richmond. I have to use my rail capacity to evacuate Johnson's corp, which has almost no effective soldiers. Grant has not advanced with most of his forces, so I suspect my armies can retreat without much difficulty.
In Georgia I won control of Rome, but can't keep it supplied, especially with all my rail points going to move Johnston. Nor can I maintain significant force for a right flank position.
The CSA has little room to maneuver in this scenario. Although only one turn has passed, the situation is already beyond dire. In the East I probably don't even have time to entrench outside Richmond. In addition to losing 2 divisions, my NM has sunk to an irredeemable 52. (I think Lee should get some kind of ability to mitigate the combat penalty from NM.)
Grant whipped Lee in as even a fight as I can hope to achieve. It is clear that Lee's victories are behind him. As the wounded and demoralized soldiers come pouring into Richmond, Lee and Davis consult to discuss the future of the war.
The war is lost in Virginia, it impossible to do more than cling to Richmond and the rail going south, and even that would require the kind of respite only McClellan would allow. Grant's victory has also assured Lincoln's reelection, barring a Union catastrophe.
In light of these considerations, the Confederacy has no alternative, but to seek a merciful peace. Gone is hope for independence or the preservation of slavery. The war has been too costly already and it would be unjust to prolong it without prospect of victory. Davis will use his newly strengthened executive office to effect surrender.
At What Price? 18,630.
-
Gray_Lensman
- Posts: 497
- Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 4:04 am
- Location: Who is John Galt?
Return to “American Civil War AARs”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests