We're playing 1.13b April 1861 with mostly default options, historic attrition, and Gray's Kentucky neutral add-on mod.
This was the first time I'd played any since last summer (which was only against Athena) and the first pbem I'd done in over a year. Well needless to say I've played pretty horribly as I've been shaking the rust off. (To be fair though the same is true of Harvey, as he had been away from the game for quite some time as well.)
We're both experienced pbem players who have both had our butts kicked by some of the top talent here in the distant past. We are similar in that we play pretty historically but both like keeping house rules to a minimum. For this one we simply agreed on not sending Polk to take Cairo, no death fleet destruction of forts per Jarko's discovery, and no early (prior to Aug, 61) deep cav raids. Other than that anything's fair game, although we both tell each other and discuss if we are doing something that might be considered gamey. Thats just the way we play; YMMV.
Anyway, enough of the boring background and on to the action:
My first horrifying discovery was that the East in 1861 is a completely different ballgame with the no Divisions/Corps rule. I really found myself stumbling around as I tried to adjust to this for the first time. (My first thought was "I really should practice this against Athena" but then I thought "nahh..."
)Harvey took advantage of this with some good moves and managed to avoid the -10 NM hit for not threatening Richmond. A bad start for me there. By the end of 61 he'd made good progress and occupied all of northern VA after inflicting much greater casualties on my forces.
The campaign season of 1862 consisted mostly of Lee and Longstreet defending Richmond along a Richmond-Hanover line while the action took place in central VA. A depot in Lynchburg changed hands several times as Jackson and Hooker with supporting forces punched and counter-punched. As winter approached I still held the line running from Norfolk through Richmond and over to the still intact depot at Lynchburg on my left flank. Given the way 62 started I was pretty happy. Then, disaster....
Lee, Longstreet and Smith fought off some "recons in force" (Harvey's words) in early November as the USA forces withdrew from central VA and the campaign to take Lynchburg. As those forces withdrew they began to concentrate outside Richmond. I suspected one last big assault was coming before winter hit, so I tried to rush Jackson and his 20,000 troops back to help with the defense... well he didn't make it, and Richmond fell in late Nov. 62. I did manage to get the Capital moved elsewhere.
But that wasn't even the worst news. I made a HUGE mistake here as I gave Lee and the ANV "hold at all cost" orders since I thought that might be what it took to hold off one last assault before winter. Big mistake as Stonewall was late arriving in support, and Lee, Longstreet and about 2/3 of the ANV were wiped out, resulting in huge NM hits. No more of that button for me!
As of Jan. 63 I still hold a line from Norfolk-Petersburg-Lynchburg, but there is no way Virginia is going to be defensible when the spring campaign starts. Petersburg may not even last that long.
Out west: I lost both Nashville and Donelson mid-summer 62, but as of Jan. 63 still hold Island 10 (currently besieged) and Memphis. Memphis won't last long once Grant starts moving against it. The US is also in control of Corinth although I did manage a successful counterattack there which gave me just enough time to blow the depot. They've also advanced as far as Decatur, AL and Winchester TN.
In the trans-miss its pretty much been a standoff between Price in Fayetteville and Lyon in Springfield.
The current coastal operations consist of an Army under Fremont (~20,000 effectives) which occupies Pensacola and the surrounding regions.
I'm going to go ahead and post this now and come back with some screenies later.
Hope you enjoy, comments welcome!
