Anyone beat the AI as GBR against the US?

[hannibal128]

I am relatively new to ageod games and started playing the french against the Brits. I never got very near to a victory but it looked doeable and I improved my play. Then I tried GBR against Us and that is really hard. I tried the rush for new york and phili but New England became a plage. Then I tried a new game with a systematical New England occupation but garrisoning every town sucks Manpower (If you dont do that the rebels show up all over). Thinking I was a bad player I just tried playing the US (1 st time I take the historical winner in an Agoed game) and it was a walk in the park, you play hit and run for two years but then loads of troops and the french and spanish great. If I had gotten Detroit, it would have been a decisive victory. I have come to the conclusion that GBR has no chance (probably historically accurate). Please tell me otherwise.

[beatoangelico]

my game was non-standard (had the bad idea of switching between 1.06 and 1.07, and it was also my first game, with a fair amount of reloading to understand what was going on) but I virtually beaten the USA without a lot of sweat. Took NY without fighting in spring 1776 while staying on the defensive on the norfolk area (reinforced by a decent amount of units from boston) and in the deep south; then splitted my NY "army" in 3: I quickly established a great defensive position in connecticut, locking the main US forces in new england, then advanced towards philadephia with a strong force; I split what remained in reinforcements for the virginia thatre and the south and go on the offensive there. In 1777 I took Albany and with an event that announced a diplomatic counteroffensive back in Europe (french/spanish intervention is definitely not going to happen soon enough for the US) it was only a matter of time, so I stopped there (I may pick it up sooner or later )
I spent a lot of time micromanaging stuff, I'd say way too much time, but it's clearly doable and not that hard. Fighting the biggest battles as the defender helps a lot I think.

[hannibal128]

Up to 77 everything is ok but 79/80 are the hard years

[Bertram]

Another option - though quite ahistorical - was used by an opponent on me.

Forget the north. Embark all units and land in the south. Kick the Americans out the south and march north till just under New York. You wont have trouble with american raiders nearly as much (the wildernis to the west is here almost not passible), there is a nice bottleneck to keep the Americans in the north, and you get enough points.

You will save enough forces to counter the Spanish and the French in the south when they arrive. They arrive piecemeal. When they land in the south you can defeat them en detail, when they collect north they need to sail south so you can intercept them, or need to go over land along the same bottleneck near Philadelhia.
(Keep your fleets intact - don't forget to get them in harbor in winter).

[squarian]

(Keep your fleets intact - don't forget to get them in harbor in winter).

That's an important part of the plan!

[Carnium]

Another option - though quite ahistorical - was used by an opponent on me.
Forget the north. Embark all units and land in the south. Kick the Americans out the south and march north till just under New York. You wont have trouble with american raiders nearly as much (the wildernis to the west is here almost not passible), there is a nice bottleneck to keep the Americans in the north, and you get enough points.

This is exactly the same tactics I was using as the British.
It also helps if you concentrate on the big cities first as you get a lot of loyalist units which you can train with ease (use training officers with them) and use as a garrison troops.
My favourite tactics was to use huge stacks to conquer the larger cities and then split them up to counter the remaining US forces.
Keep a large stack in far South and you will be able to get the Spanish possessions quite easy when they intervene.
French can be defeated with British regulars quite easy too, but do not use your royalists against the regulars!

Good luck and .... rule Britannia

[Lord Irvine]

Tried playing as GBR against the AI USA. Previously I'd won relatively easily playing as the USA in the the War of Independence, and GBR in the French Indian War. This was only my 3rd campaign game and a month had elapsed since my last game so I may have become a little careless.

Anyway it's winter 1779-1780 and I have been taken to the woodshed by the AI. I seriously underestimated the supply problems the British side has in New England at the start of the game (I'm playing with hardened attrition and activations). My forces there have never really recovered and I have actually had to evacuate my Army to Halifax. Washington with 10,000 men nabbed the remnant in Dorchester who wouldn't fit on the ships. Also when I tried to take Ft Ticonderoga with Burgoyne I hung around too long and my 3,000 men were lost to General Frost. I really should have retreated back to Canada, but was sure one more assault would work. I was quite successfull in the south, but the French have just landed in Wilmington!! My national morale is 70.

I'm quite pleased about getting this beating as it will make the next game so much more enjoyable when I burn Philadelphia to the ground.

[greenalien]

I was definitely on a winning path as Britons against the US, before I got bored and ended the game. Garrisoning every city in the north does suck manpower, so what I did was that I garrisoned every other or so.

When militia showed up, I bunched up several of them, defeated the militia, and then sent the units back to their garrison. It helped that US suffered some crushing military defeats in the north, making it possible for me to spare the necessary units. After defeating the major military forces in the north, I've pretty much owned most of New England, with some minor US armies operating south of Montreal (along that one river who's name I can't remember) and in the far north around Maine.

Then I've bulked up majority of my forces, and sent them south. I've conquered Philadelphia, and kept marching to the south... a lot of players here seem to have had positive experiences with conquering America from the south, but in my game it has been the very opposite, the tories were utterly crushed in the south, and the army marching from up north pretty much had to reclaim everything from the scratch. Landing of Cornwallis has been a particular disaster.