Opening Campaign Moves

[dinsdale]

Starting in 1861 the lack of corps and army organization means that any large force is going to be hit by a severe command penalty.

Do you folks simply ignore it as the cost of early war maneuver, or try to quickly upgrade to some sort of army org and avoid unnecessary battles until then?

Or to put it more succinctly: What the hell do you all do with your forces the first year?

[Wilhammer]

When in doubt, attack.

[Stoneage]

My option in the April 1861 campaign was to upgrade the Confederate command structure early on by purchasing division HQ's to allow army corps to form. This is a costly exercise and I made the mistake of not going for war bonds or tax changes to cover the cost. Also I think it is wise to keep one eye on the AI which in my experience is likely to have a pop at you even when it has what most human players would consider to be a less than optimal command structure.

[Spharv2]

I'm generally fairly passive for the first year or so. I'll make small scale raids, and maybe a larger one if my cavalry scouts see an underdefended area. As the Union, one move I do like to make in the opening year is to send a force of a couple brigades down from West Virginia to Christianburg, VA to cut the direct rail line from Virginia to Tennessee. Anything that makes the CSA use more of their already limited rail capacity is a big bonus. I generally won't hold the city if he comes to take it back because losing a battle that far from any friendly cities is a good way to lose your whole force.

Playing the CSA, I immediately assault Norfolk and Harper's Ferry, take Bowling Green as fast as I can assemble any force, and do everything I can, including sending the Norfolk guns down, to take back Fts. Clark and Morgan in NC to improve my coastal defenses. Then I usually sit back and build up my forces and wait for the next campaign season to roll around.

[cbclimber]

What I have been doing is build up RR, Industry, and Rivermarine. I send Lyon to take Jefferson City, MO. ASAP. The problem in the East is the senior leaders are horrible. I put the main Army of the Potomic in the Alexandria Manasas area to slowly buid it up. Remember, attacking Richmond releases RE Lee and you don't want that early in the game. I take Hunter and make him a Corps Commander to protect the area between York, PA, and the Harpers Ferry. The big three I work on is Missouri, Kentucky, and New Orleans. The AOTP is just there to keep the rebs out of DC. Anyway, those have been my three main goals for the first year and a half. The biggest problem is leadership for the Union...not many decent ones to go around. I have yet to finish a game...I keep starting over after making stategic errors (and once because Sherman got aced). The Rebels are VERY aggressive in Kentucky and will come into Ohio so use your Navy and garrison that border well.

[DEL]

I prefer to take my time and build up some divisions to get organized. In the East, just try to keep the yanks from advancing very far into Virginia. Sometimes this results in major battles around Harpers Ferry and Manassas, sometimes it just results in taunting . In the West, I wait for Hardee to arrive and then launch full attack into Kentucky. Price in Missouri just tries to stay alive!

1862 is when I get started!!!

[mike1962]

Starting in 1861 the lack of corps and army organization means that any large force is going to be hit by a severe command penalty.

Do you folks simply ignore it as the cost of early war maneuver, or try to quickly upgrade to some sort of army org and avoid unnecessary battles until then?

Or to put it more succinctly: What the hell do you all do with your forces the first year?

I think Abe Lincoln summed it up for me when he said to Irvin McDowell shortly before First Manassas.

"You are green, it is true; but they are green also. You are all green alike."

Though, I really like what he said after the battle when he heard of the Federals routing. "It's bad. It's damned bad."

[daddytorgo]

As the South in the opening year of the war I've been pursuing a mixed strategy. While attempting to secure Norfolk and brush back the small-scale raids along the East Coast by small-size Union detatchments I have been pouring money and war supplies into raising volunteers in the West to seriously contest the western theater.

One problem i'm having as the south in the opening of the game (that i'd consider restarting to remedy if I figure out what I did wrong) is that it seems to take FOREVER for the Army of the Shenandoah to come up to strength. Is that because they begin not in a city or what? I had more than enough reinforcements for them at one point and it still didn't do anything to speed it up.

[Stonewall]

Armies do not reinforce quickly if not in a level 2 city. So, you really need to take and hold Winchester in order to contest control of the Valley.

[daddytorgo]

Armies do not reinforce quickly if not in a level 2 city. So, you really need to take and hold Winchester in order to contest control of the Valley.

thanks stoney. I assumed that was the case. i'll just have to restart I suppose. Musta missed that in the manuel

[sval06]

As the CSA, my first actions are:
- Take Norfolk and fort sumter on the first turn in order to free some additional "given" units
- Buy reinforcements (rather than new units)
- Buy HQDivisions in T3 and the following turns in order to be able to organize armies in the east. As the system "give" 2 free armies, you need these units to have 2 armies fully commanded in the east.

Doing so, you will have 2 strong armies north of Richmond by mid July and you should be able to launch attacks in the east.

Then, I begin to buy units in the west in order to secure the Mississipi --> I buy units in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. These units will operate as a complete army during fall 1861 in the west in order to recapture the areas lost during the beginning of the war (mainly KY and MO, where Pope and additional small brigades has to deal with numerous union force since the beginning).

I don't know if it is useful against an human opponent, but it works well against AI.

[veji1]

PLaying in April 1861 as the CSA, I know I build hips of Milicia and a bit of cavalry as well as 4 Divisions Hqs to begin with.

I find that I need the the Milicia to garrison basically all cities with a depot, and help protect Missouri, Arkansas and Kentucky from early takeover. Cavalry helps me spread havoc and prevent Union Cavalry from slipping behind my line and ruining my railroads and depots. The Divisions Hqs I send one to Chattanooga and then Nashville, trying to round up the few brigades around there to build up some forces there, one to Polk towards Columbus to establish position there and two to Northern Virginia.

but it is hard to know if I should build more infantry or if I'll get lots "free". Have only played up to november 1861 and enjoying it immensely. Had the Norfolk micmac deprive me of the CSS something etc, but I guess one could say it is casualty of War...

Even though I tryed to protect my coast I had a marine Landing in front of Mobile and had to build the equivalent of an Alabaman division (headed by Bragg who popped up in Florida) to retake it... Those buggar Marines managed to whole up in the Union Fort just there though...

The annoying thing is that I don't know how active to be in Kentucky or Missouri... Should I be aggressive at the risk of triggering some sort of Union Mobilisation ? Or sit back.. I think I have been way too slow in Kentcuky, not acting on Bowling Green asap for exemple..

[LAVA]

Well...

I'm on my 6th or 7th go now as the yankees in the full war scenario and it's been really a fun experience. I'm presently in a game which seems in which I am half way prepared and am happy with my progress so far.

Here is what I did in the first year as the Yanks:

In the East

* Ordered up looots of replacements to fill out my troops
* Bought lots of division cmd units which allowed me to...

** Create the AotP (McDowell) with two divisions
** Create 1st Corps (Hunter) with three divisions
** Create Independent command (Hooker) with two divisions
** Create Independent command (Schurze) with one cavalry division
** Create the 12th independent division (no commander yet) to support McDowell and the 13th independent division in the Alexandria area awaiting troops.

My strategy was... attack.

* AotP took Manassas
* Hooker took Wincester

Here's a photo just before the rebs took a severe licking and withdrew to Fredericksburg (Wincester under siege about to fall):



In the West

* Ordered up 5 division and 2 army containers (these take a long time to build, buy and move to the theater, so you must do so early in the game to be prepared to campaign in 1862)
* Moved Lyon to take Jefferson City. Once it fell...
* Moved Lyon to take Columbus
* Reinforced Louisville and began concentrating troops in Cincinnati
* Placed a fleet at Cairo (to stop river reinforcement of Kentucky)
* Placed a fleet at the Kentucky Confluence thus blockading Frankfort and Lexington
* Awaiting division containers to fill out Mansfield, Porter and Lyon (figure I will need 6 to 8 minimum, five on the move by november)

My strategy was: hold the river, conduct limited combat ops to threaten Kentucky so that the rebs could not neglect the theater and send reinforcements to the east.

Elsewhere, in the far west my strategy was also containment and buildup, while at sea I concentrated on building up blockading vessels.

Overall... WOW... what a game!

I think as the Yanks you have to be aggressive. You can't wait for great leaders, you have to go with what you got, or in some cases just build leaderless divisions in anticipation of more leaders becoming available later. I have concentrated on building my divisional structure in this first year, and I will fight with them in 1862. Hopefully, those fights will bring me some folks who will be suitable for corps command.

So far... am loving this game...

Ray (aka LAVA)

[dinsdale]

I think the replies here have been great, very helpful.

I had restarted as the Union which prompted me to post in the thread. I jumped in to a campaign game quickly after the tutorial just to poke around, and am trying to play this one through.

I figure that even though I squander the huge resources available to me, I should still be able to get some results - a bit like the real Union

Based on the comments here, I think I'm somewhat on the right track, so next question: what are you doing with the navy?

I sent naval units from the south into the Gulf blockade, and a couple of smaller fleets in the north to the Atlantic blockade. Both are at 10%. I have a couple of 2 ship fleets guarding the Virginia coast, and that's about it. I haven't found a use for any of the river gunboats, or the Boston + NY fleet yet.

[ERutins]

Ray,

I tried building some extra division HQs early too, but it tells me it will take a WHILE for them to be ready. Is there some way of speeding that up that you found or did you just make use of them "as is"?

[sval06]

Ray,

I tried building some extra division HQs early too, but it tells me it will take a WHILE for them to be ready. Is there some way of speeding that up that you found or did you just make use of them "as is"?

What's the length of "a while"?

As CSA, it takes less than one month to be combat ready (once bought), so it's very acceptable in my opinion. Sometimes, I have to spend another month to travel these units to the front --> The maximum is 2 months from buying to kill those f... yanks... oops... let's say to action - lol.
I just don't know if you consider that to be "a while"?

Maybe you don't have enough cash/supplies/men to fill your buying on one turn--> it begins to queue somewhere...

[ERutins]

Well, they showed up on the map (about six division HQs plus an army HQ sitting in Washington, DC) but last I checked it said it would take something like 150 days for them to be fully operational. They have the red-bordered names still despite being there for IIRC three turns now. Very slow cohesion gain. I wonder if there's some limit that I have too many there or if I'm doing something else wrong.

[jimwinsor]

150 days for a Div HQ is too long. Something is amiss I think, as mine always say 30 days, give or take a few days. So, with me, 2-3 turns on average to constitute.

One thing I always do, however, is make sure Div HQ replacements are bought and available (usually just one is enough)...I've been doing this intuitively, so I don't know what would happen if I didn't buy any...but I wonder if that may impede the process?

[LAVA]

Ray,

I tried building some extra division HQs early too, but it tells me it will take a WHILE for them to be ready.

Hi Eric,

Yep, it does take awhile. That's why you have to plan waaay ahead for the western theater. Not only do you have to build them you then have to move them a looooong way.

To begin I went with what I had. Check your starting position, you will notice two independent divisions west of Harper's Ferry. I moved them to Harper's Ferry and put them under the command of Hooker. That was my strike force to attack Wincester.

I put Schurze in Montgomery county to cover possible raiders and he got my first constructed division container. So it was about late August that the container's started appearing and as soon as I saw that (early august) was about to happen I began my offensive. McDowell and Hunter (with all the start up divisions) attacking Manassas and Hooker going after Wincester... followed not too long after by Schurze to cover the right (northern flank) a bit behind... missing the action.

If you look back at the photo I posted, after a battle at Manassas (which I won), the rebs then tried to go around to the east and attack Washington. At this time, I had two more container's ready, one I put in Montgomery awaiting infantry and another in Washington (which you can see in the photo), and which I promptly filled with troops. In the photo, these folks plus the Washington defense forces gave the rebs a whipping.

So overall, I think the first 3 containers I got were committed to the Eastern theater and I now have at least 3 or 4 around Pittsburgh with a couple more being constructed... and I believe it is late November/early December.

So, in total, I finished the 1861 campaigning season with 10 divisional HQs in the east.

Ray (aka LAVA)

[ERutins]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to restart my campaign with these lessons learned and see if I can do better.

[Flashman007]

I know it is hard to resist but everyone should consider carefully before reading all the strategy tips. Consider if you will that there are hundreds (hopefully thousands) of players out there and they are all testing and probing the AI defenses. Many of these tests are plastered in the forums. My point is that you are robbing yourself of a lot of fun if you let everone else teach you how to beat the game. As Lava said he is on his 6 or 7th go ... and added "loving this game". It seems to me that if you read all of his "discoveries" you will lose out on days worth of fun.

I am not talking about the threads on how to form Armies, corps etc or how do supplies work but what I don't want to read is when someone discovers that "if you take 20,000 yanks and transport them to Mobile on turn four and then march directly to Vicksburg, the AI will not be able to react and you will have a crushing victory by turn 10" Now that was all hypothetical BS but I think you get my point These Strategy Tips are really "SPOILERS".

Unfortunately, I am a weak person leure: and I have read just about everything so far but I am going to try to skip this thread in the future. Just something to think about .

[LAVA]

Good point mate...

I'll not post a whole lot more... strategy wise.

Overall, as an experienced gamer, even for me, there was a fairly big hurdle you have to jump over at the beginning of the game, and that is figuring out how to handle division/corps/army organization. My impression going in was that I was going to have to do this "somehow" but as it turns out, the game is fairly historical and won't let you design armies the way you might want.

Sorry if I "spoiled" anyone's fun though...

Won't do it anymore.

Ray (aka LAVA)

[Flashman007]

No! No! Ray I was not trying to imply that you did anything wrong, plenty of people love to read (and write) this stuff. I have enjoyed your comments as much as anyone . For me it is just a realization that by reading too much on the forums I might be missing out on a lot of things that it might be fun to learn myself. Again I am talking about developing strategy which is where the real fun is. I am definitly not talking about all of the very helpfull comments and explanations on the rules and game mechanics.

Feel free to post away, this is truely a reader beware type of comment.

[ERutins]

True, though it was mainly for the division issue that I wanted to restart (plus the Patterson issue). I'd actualy been beating the Rebs in Virginia silly, just wasn't feeling like I had figured out some of the production and organization issues as I should have. I just tried a new campaign and the divisions now say about 30 days to show up, so I'm not sure what I did the first time, but it's golden now.

[Frank E]

True, though it was mainly for the division issue that I wanted to restart (plus the Patterson issue). I'd actualy been beating the Rebs in Virginia silly, just wasn't feeling like I had figured out some of the production and organization issues as I should have. I just tried a new campaign and the divisions now say about 30 days to show up, so I'm not sure what I did the first time, but it's golden now.

Eric,

Is it possible that you changed them from Passive to an Offensive Stance? The replacement rate, even for new units, depends on their posture.

[ERutins]

Excellent question. I'll check and see.

[Pocus]

True, though it was mainly for the division issue that I wanted to restart (plus the Patterson issue). I'd actualy been beating the Rebs in Virginia silly, just wasn't feeling like I had figured out some of the production and organization issues as I should have. I just tried a new campaign and the divisions now say about 30 days to show up, so I'm not sure what I did the first time, but it's golden now.

you switched their passive posture to something else? Check the accrual of cohesion between each posture, there is a world of difference.

a note: we can't for now fix this Patterson problem, so be wary: he will go away, so you are better not merge him into a division.

[tremy]

I know it is hard to resist but everyone should consider carefully before reading all the strategy tips. Consider if you will that there are hundreds (hopefully thousands) of players out there and they are all testing and probing the AI defenses. Many of these tests are plastered in the forums. My point is that you are robbing yourself of a lot of fun if you let everone else teach you how to beat the game. As Lava said he is on his 6 or 7th go ... and added "loving this game". It seems to me that if you read all of his "discoveries" you will lose out on days worth of fun.

I am not talking about the threads on how to form Armies, corps etc or how do supplies work but what I don't want to read is when someone discovers that "if you take 20,000 yanks and transport them to Mobile on turn four and then march directly to Vicksburg, the AI will not be able to react and you will have a crushing victory by turn 10" Now that was all hypothetical BS but I think you get my point These Strategy Tips are really "SPOILERS".

Unfortunately, I am a weak person leure: and I have read just about everything so far but I am going to try to skip this thread in the future. Just something to think about .

I remember a developer, commenting in a forum some years ago,that one should play an historical sim to completion without restarting. to get the feel of the problems facing the real life combatants.
I know what he meant but have never managed such pure action.
I am now on game 8 of aacw. and enjoying every moment,while getting help from those brighter than me.Part of the fun for me ,is reading other gamers comments.
But one day I intend to play all on my own . Honest!

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Stonewall]

First thing I do is review the map for enemy movements that I did not observe during the movement portion of the turn. This lets me know where I need to focus.

Next, I check all the events using the message filter. Then I check all the battles using the message filter. Then I check the reinforcement filter and move all my new units to their various staging points.

Next, I issue my own orders.

By this time I have seen the whole map, reviewed all the enemy movements, issued my own orders. Now I'm ready to go to the ledger and issue war bonds, conscription orders, and purchase new units. I always wait to buy stuff until the end of a turn because by that point, I know where the new buys are needed most urgently. And its a good way to make sure that I don't end the turn before buying stuff. Since its the last thing I do, I know everything else has been covered first.