AAR: Complete Union Campaign, April 1861 scenario

[Grotius]

What happened next tickled me no end.

First, some context. For all my smart-alecky comments about the AI, I'm the one who's a year behind schedule in the West. I *still* haven't taken Nashville. But obviously I'm ahead in the East, where I've taken Richmond and Fredericksburg. Beauregard came close to taking Alexandria and in fact cut off its supply, but couldn't close the deal. So, interestingly, I'm in his capital, and he's at the gate of my capital. So who comes along to reinforce Beauregard? Why, this guy:

[Grotius]

Yes, that's the great Robert E. Lee. I love the portrait they did of him -- he looks dignified, intelligent, gentlemanly. His stats rock, too -- the equal of Grant's. But Lee isn't "unlocked" for some period of time at the beginning of the game, possibly until Richmond is under attack, which may explain why I haven't seen much of him up to now.

Anyway, George Meade, fresh from taking Winchester, is now my strongest leader in the area. The garrisons in Alexandria and Washington are both weak, and supply is a big problem in Alex in particular. So it falls to Meade to charge toward Lee. Here I give the order. (It appears I gave Meade only defensive orders, which is incredibly chicken on my part; I thought I remembered giving him attack orders. Anyhoo.)

Remember, the month is July, 1863. Does that date sound familiar?

[Grotius]

That's right, history fans, July 1-3, 1863 was the Battle of Gettysburg, in which George Meade defeated Robert E. Lee in the decisive battle of the Civil War.

And in my game, sure enough, Lee faced Meade in July 1863 as well. I didn't plan it that way -- it just happened! Pretty cool, I thought. OK, it was the Second Battle of Alexandria (Virginia), not the Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania), but still. It was not as bloody as the (fictitious) First Battle of Alexandria, or as the (real) Battle of Gettysburg, but the outcome was similar.

Meade doesn't get top billing on this combat screen because his Army Commander, McDowell, was in the same region -- but make no mistake, it was Meade's army that did the fighting. Also, notice once again that the CSA force is not fully led; I've circled the drum icon.

[Grotius]

So, as in the real war, I've had a big victory in both the East (Alexandria) and West (Memphis) in July 1863. Historically, it was Gettysburg (July 1-3) and Vicksburg (south of Memphis, on July 4).

As the dust settles, I take time out to confer with my Attorney General on our policy toward civil liberties in the USA and in conquered Southern states. Early in the war, I established martial law in Texas in the hopes of bolstering Union support there, but it didn't work. Now I go for full civil liberties everywhere. (The advantage of this choice: more productivity and political support in areas that like me. The disadvantage: more volatility in my support, including the possibility of active resistance.)

[Grotius]

Anyway, for all these victories, I still don't have Nashville. In September I try to re-seal the encirclement by retaking Gallatin.

[Grotius]

To the east, Gen. Hooker takes Knoxville (east of Nashville) and tries to establish a supply line along the railroad to points east. He doesn't seem to have enough troops to establish a secure supply line, though.

[Grotius]

Bah, I realize I've left out the biggest political event and moral victory of my administration: I signed the Emancipation Proclamation in the fall of 1862. The moral force of the Proclamation instantly brings credibility to my cause, decreasing the chance of European intervention. (That chance had creeped up quite a bit in the first half of 1862, to the point that I was starting to worry about it.) But the Proclamation also costs me support in border states and in some places in the North.

[Grotius]

Anyway, back to the fall of 1863. Things settle down in the East as Lee retreats south and I rebuild my supply lines. In Memphis, Grant starts to hatch a plan to float south on the Mississippi and seize Vicksburg, but he needs time to reorganize his force, collect supply, and assemble my rather piddly brown-water navy. At Nashville, McClellan continues to move sloooowly.

So with everything quiet, here's a quick look at the situation on the Missouri frontier. I'm making a half-hearted effort to move on Springfield, but winter will arrive too soon for me to assemble a real force to attack.

[Grotius]

Right around now I encounter the only significant bug I've seen in this game, and it's not that significant a bug. It's kind of funny, in fact. I think what happened is that I put Grant on board a steamboat some time in the fall of 1863, to prepare the way for his amphibious assault on Vicksburg to the south. When you do this, for some reason the game makes the land commander the commander of the naval force; that in itself may be a bug.

But, more importantly, I think around then I finally made Grant the Commander of my third Army -- the Army of the Southwest. This ticked off...Admiral Farragut?

[Grotius]

Anyway, I've reported that bug to the devs, and at their request I sent them my savegame.

I was much more worried about this Grant-on-the-river plan than the bug. I loaded my biggest, baddest general, and his big, mean stack of troops, on board boats. Once loaded, their power went from over 1000 to 200 or so, meaning that they were now just another middling naval force. As I said earlier, I'd be very worried in a PBEM that my lack of river ironclads would come back to haunt me -- that the CSA would block my path with some gunboats of its own, sink my ships, and destroy my strongest army.

But the alternatives weren't great either. One was just to wait for McClellan and company to take Nashville and catch up so that I could move the whole army together on the ground. But the ground trek is either a slow slog down the banks of the Mississippi on foot, with few railroads and lots of marshes, or a faster slog thru central Mississippi, where there are railroads but more Confederate troops to fight, and supply trouble to boot. Besides, I wanted to roleplay a little Ulysses S. Grant, the guy who took Vicksburg without worrying so much about pesky things like supply lines. So, on the boat we went. I was so nervous about it that I forgot to take screenshots.

I did, however, record McClellan's turtle-like progress at Nashville. He arrived there in June. It's now December, and he still hasn't taken the city, and winter is setting in. (Perhaps a bit too soon for Nashville in December?) It's encircled now, but again I don't have the patience to wait for the enemy supply to dwindle; I suspect Nashville may be an OK supply source in its own right. So, finally, McClellan goes "all in," as they say in poker saloons.

[Grotius]

Well, I did find a shot of Grant getting ready to board. I guess by then I had built one more ironclad, which is cool. I was still nervous as heck about it.

[Grotius]

Here's a recap of 1863. I'm spending way too much time on these maps!

[Grotius]

1864, an election year, begins with a bang.

[Grotius]

I knew McClellan had run for President as the Democratic nominee historically, of course -- though he didn't actually resign his commission until Election Day. But I wasn't sure what this would mean for me. Well, now I know! As mediocre a combat leader as he is, his Army command is a heckuva lot better than nothing.

More to the point, when we last saw McClellan, he was charging into Nashville , leading tens of thousands of troops into a major battle! So what now?

[Grotius]

Well, here's one immediate consequence: the National Morale level I need for an auto-victory has just gone up. It used to be 200; now it's a more distant 225.

[Grotius]

A more immediate consequence is that the Army of the Ohio is effectively no more. A unit here still carries the title, but the functionality is gone. I lose all the many Corps -- a half-dozen or so -- that used to be attached to the Army of the Ohio. I don't mean that I've lost any units -- I've just lost their organizational structure. Disarray in the ranks! Whatever McClellan's faults, at least he could command a lot of troops without combat penalties.

Now suddenly my stack descending on Nashville has the maximal 35% penalty, lowering its power by at least that much. The Corps formerly attached to the Army of the Ohio likewise now are just ordinary divisions, independent forces that do not benefit from any chain of command.

[Grotius]

The good news about this is that it could be a blessing in disguise. All along I've wanted Grant in charge of the western theater, and now he can take over. The only trouble is, he's now very far from Nashville, floating down the Mississippi on Huck Finn's raft to get to Vicksburg, in the middle of Mississippi. Actually, it didn't even occur to me to see whether Grant's command radius might extend all the way to Nashville; I should've tried, because Grant's very high Strategic rating means he can attach Corps who are quite far away.

Speaking of Grant, he indeed travels down the river on my little riverine fleet in December-January. I dunno what possessed me to try this stunt: one half-decent CSA gunboat control might've wiped out the entire Army of the Southwest. And then there's the supply situation. Grant has basically traveled hundreds of miles from the nearest supply center (the darker green regions). I'd never try this in a PBEM, but I was very curious to see what would happen. On the AGEOD forums, I posted frantically: can I float supply down the Mississippi if I capture Vicksburg?

[Grotius]

This question about supply is not academic. Grant did make it to Vicksburg, which was lightly defended, and he managed to take the town (after a turn spent disembarking). But there was bad weather on the trip down the river, and his troops are tired and hungry. Grant left Memphis with a Power rating over 1000; now he's down to 249. What have I done to my best stack? Arrrgh!

The two icons on the bottom-right indicate his supply status: 3/4 ammo supply, but only 1/2 of the more urgently-needed food/general supply. Fortunately, it doees appear that Vicksburg (which has a depot) produces some of its own supply, but I don't know if it's enough to feed two-and-a-half divisions.

[Grotius]

Up in Nashville, I hurry to re-organize my leaderless forces. After a couple of inconclusive battles against the massive force defending the city, the defenders finally surrender. I'm not sure I ever completely cut off the city -- they kept breaking out -- but maybe I'd done enough to restrict their retreat routes. Not sure.

[Grotius]

Back East, I still hold Richmond. Incidentally, Richmond isn't necessarily the capitol of the CSA in every game you play, and I'm not sure whether it was the Confederate capitol when I captured it. (Also, the devs say they have significantly increased the AI's "valuation" of capitol cities in the upcoming AI patch. This is good, because if Richmond was the capitol when I took it, I think it was too easy to take.) Mobile, Alabama is the current capitol of the Confederacy. As we'll see later, *that* capitol the CSA defends very well.

Anyway, this shot shows that the CSA is still harrassing me near Washington, cutting rail and supply lines all around the city with cavalry, and then moving forces in to try to to take Alexandria or Washington. I'm still playing more defense than offense here.

[Grotius]

Have I mentioned that I love the leader abilities in this game? Here's a quick digression to explain how I used some lesser leaders.

Gen. Thomas is quite good; his combat stats are 3/3/6 (Strategic/Offensive/Defensive), and he's a "Defensive Engineer" and "Master Logician," which means he's good at fortifications and uses less supply. I used him in a defensive role because of all this; he guarded Louisville when it was in doubt, then moved to Lexington, Bowling Greene, and Memphis.

Gen. McPherson is also pretty good. He starts just average: 3/1/1, but he has the Siege Engineer ability. If you promote him to two-star, his stats rise to 4/3/3; at three-star, 5/3/3. Some generals, though, get worse when promoted. You can also randomize this to some extent, I think. The trouble for me is, McPherson lost some early battles and lost seniority, so I never could promote him. He ended up riding along in other stacks to help with siege efforts, for example at Island 10.

Some generals are plainly rearguard material. E.g., Halleck, stationed in St. Louis throughout the war, is a "Training Officer" -- he trains up new recruits from Conscript to Regular. I used St. Louis is a new-recruit center throughout, along with Chicago (staffed by another good training general) and Baltimore. McClellan had some abilities like this too. Others are good for the frontier: they might have the "Indian Fighter" or "Cavalryman" trait, or "Fast Mover". Some bad generals are "Quickly Angered" or "Dispirited Leaders"; I never give these guys a command until I have to, but unfortunately even with dozens of leaders, sooner or later you have to use them all. This RPG-like aspect of the game is part of its genius, IMHO.

Then there's this guy. 5/2/1; Cavalryman; Reckless. Cavalryman means he's good at leading those guys who ride horses. Reckless means he has trouble retreating during the first two hours of a battle going badly. Note that he does *not* get the "Indian Fighter" trait. He didn't arrive til just now, spring of 1864, in the Richmond area. I still sent him West to guard the frontier against Indian attacks; the Cavalryman trait is too useful to ignore.

[Grotius]

I finally decided to try an amphibious assault from the sea. I know historically the Union did this along the east coast, but I never seemed to have the spare units, and I'm still not sure how much benefit I would've accrued from it. I need to read the blockade and economic rules more carefully.

The Union also historically took New Orleans quite early, but again I just didn't get around to it. Finally I form up a force in New York, put Wilson in command, and send them around Florida.

[Grotius]

Meanwhile Sherman races south to reinforce Grant, and to open up a land-based supply corridor to Vicksburg.

[Grotius]

A closer look reveals that Grant has recovered some strength and supply, but he's still nowhere near the killer stack he once was. Sherman charges in to the rescue!

[Grotius]

Sherman wastes no time taking Jackson, Mississippi.

[Grotius]

By April 1864, my seaborne invasion force is approaching New Orleans. I order Sherman and others to try to take Baton Rouge at the same time. After three years of pokey advances, suddenly I'm making a blitzkrieg down the Mississippi. The surrender of that huge force at Nashville really seems to have depleted the South's defenses in the west. The only sizable forces I've seen in the west since Nashville are Stonewall Jackson's huge army at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and an even larger army at the Confederate capitol -- Mobile, Alabama.

[Grotius]

D-Day, New Orleans. A CSA naval squadron did intercept me at around this point, and I took some damage but nothing serious. The forts guarding the Mississippi delta were a more dangerous obstacle; they shelled me pretty hard. Still, I manage to get ashore. Meanwhile gunboats are escorting my riverine assault force to Baton Rouge. I don't recall being intercepted by any CSA riverine ships up there, but I don't remember for sure.

By the way, just why do I have a cavalry leader in charge of an amphibious invasion involving no horses? Inquiring minds want to know. The reason: a distinct leader shortage.

[Grotius]

The lower Mississippi, April 1864. Again, my amphibious approach means I have an urgent need to establish a supply source. I think New Orleans will do the trick -- if I take it fast.

[Grotius]

Meanwhile, back East, I continue to hold onto the major objectives in Virginia, but it's a continual struggle to keep my supply lines open and to fend off CSA counterattacks. I had ideas of pushing south into North Carolina, but it ain't happening.

[Grotius]

Pardon me boy,
Is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo?
Yes, yes, track twenty-nine
Boy, you can give me a shine.

-- Glen Miller, Barry Manilow, & Mel Brooks.

This screenshot shows the Chattanooga choo-choo -- the train across Appalachia into Chattanooga, Tennessee. (Chattanooga is the town in the lower-left-center, partly obscured; it's occupied by a huge force led by Stonewall Jackson.) I gather that railway is the subject of some disagreement. Some say it didn't exist, or wasn't significant enough to merit inclusion in the game. I suppose people object not to the railway into Chatanooga, but the one to the east? I dunno; I'm reading McPherson, and he mentions in passing that railroads crossed Appalachia by 1860.

Anyway, I'm using the stock map, and I still find it plenty hard to make a supplied rail connection between Chattanooga and Charlottesville. To do so, I have to walk up those mountains with a division or more of troops, and that's a lot of guys to tire out for a secondary objective. But I do want to take Chattanooga, a Strategic Town worth victory points -- and I want to contain Jackson and his dangerous army.