Report on a PbeM (not an AAR)

[GraniteStater]

Old Glory flies over Charleston an a sunny day in mid-June, 1864.

Ewell tried mightily to rail in and prevent the movement and assault - caught Schenk in Edisto - it was really, really close, by an eyelash - but I think Smoothbore Sally had the last words. The Union can, and should, imo, put a goodly amount of cannon with every single formation it can. I think it can be a telling difference after awhile.

[soundoff]

Old Glory flies over Charleston an a sunny day in mid-June, 1864.

Ewell tried mightily to rail in and prevent the movement and assault - caught Schenk in Edisto - it was really, really close, by an eyelash - but I think Smoothbore Sally had the last words. The Union can, and should, imo, put a goodly amount of cannon with every single formation it can. I think it can be a telling difference after awhile.

With the one proviso that you do not allow the CSA to dictate the battleground from a terrain perspective. Otherwise you will often end up with an awful lot of artillery just parked doing diddly squat.

[GraniteStater]

Oh, yah. Keep getting refresher courses in that.

The purpose of maneuvering is to foster favorable times and places for battle, or, particularly in 20th century conventional warfare, to render positions untenable and force withdrawals. Grant understood this. He completely outmaneuvered Lee in '64 - he ended up with the fox in his lair, penned up with no place to go. No more tricks left, Mr. Fox.

If that's not skill, what is?

[soundoff]

Almost as good as our 'Old Nosey' picking his defensive ground 12 months before the battle was fought........Now that's what I call planning.

[GraniteStater]

Spooky, even.

[GraniteStater]

NEAR THE END

Early July 1865

* First, the date kind of says something. The CSA has not been vanquished. In a strict RL comparison, this is of course, a victory for the CSA. In game terms, the game, for a few Turns now, has abandoned any semblance to 'reality' as I scramble for VPs. I am scrambling, really scrambling now, because I Blew It - Big Time. havi knows I'm cherry picking for Strat Cities and the possible Objective and he is 'playing chess', covering the targets.

* I Blew It because I got much, much too ambitious with the ball on the 35 yard line. Eye - Enn - Tees. I made two Major Missteps: (A) I landed at Mobile with a 'corps-stack' (had been a Corps, but embarking and/or out of the Army Cdr's Range had removed the Corps status, although in good strength) and was in good shape, but havi railed in three or four Divs in a stack and pushed Franklin out one Region, to the west of Mobile, still in good Pwr. I followed up with Heintzlemann (a fellow 'corps-stack', had been a Corps in the same Army) landing, half again as powerful as Franklin - in Mobile, right in the teeth of a stack I knew was there, could see it plainly, had just engaged it - although Franklin went to support (couldn't MTSG, of course), it was Just Plain Bad. Essentially, lost a Div. Why I landed right in the face of oppo just chomping at the bit to repel attackers, I have no freaking idea. It's called stupidity, I think; could've done some other things and had a good two stack EF in pretty darn good strength, a viable threat. But Nooooo! --- (B) Keeping in harmony with the theme of Can You Believe This, I also decided to take a two Div Corps outside of Savannah, which had been trading eyeballs with havi's two Divs in the city for quite a while, and strike at Augusta, upstream. Marginal reasons there, at best; Augusta is not a strat City, it had an Arsenal, that was its only real value, not even a Depot to feed from - a pipe dream of back-dooring Atlanta, now his capital, but What Was I Thinking (hint: I wasn't). Well, havi railed and followed and has pretty much destroyed Schenk, to put it in a nutshell. I couldn't MC fast enough to deny rail and couldn't stop to tear them up, either. Also, no Wagons - brilliant, just simply brilliant. The essentially minor fight at Augusta was just enough to weaken Cohesion to let havi's following force start to chew Schenk up, deny retreats, cut him off, and generally Kill Him But Good.

* On the plus side, I took Little Rock and have pretty much eliminated AS Johnston & Co as a major player in Arkansas.

* The Tale of Richmond is a bafflement to the Wise & Powerful. After 18 game months or so of having the ANV and JJ's AotP bottled up, I decided to attack. It didn't go badly, I kicked Lee and JJ out, only TJ was left inside the Redoubt and I had him outgunned & outmanned by a decent margin. Lee & JJ were in the wings. They can't stop me...Yes, they can. In a very puzzling result, which I may say havi agrees in the observations, although I didn't do an exhaustive analysis, somehow, through MTSG or outright maneuver, Lee came back into the Region and, although he'd been chewed up pretty good (in a level fight he would not have been a Heavy Hitter), somehow, he slipped back into breastworks, got trench bonuses and the Big Final Kibosh was repelled - somewhat brutally, I may add. To be clear, if what happened was what I have described above, havi agrees with me that outside forces shouldn't be able to just cozily slip back into breastworks while a 2:1+ opposing force is in the Region. Do I know this for a scientific fact? No, but it sure looks like what happened. Anyhow, I got a whopping 10+ NM hit out of that, that alone, never mind Disasters A & B above, which ended up totaling a gruesome -17 NM that Turn.

* I had had the VP gap down to less than 200. Just threw it all away - it's now a bit less than 400. With so few Turns left, it's probably Game Over on VPs and I have to watch out for a possible NM defeat, too. I'm working on a miracle or two, haven't given up or abandoned some slim hopes, but the water walking franchise is starting to close its doors, I'm afraid.

* Richmond wasn't a bad idea, came within a whisker of pulling off a major Victory and occupation of the city. Aaaarggghhh! BTW, something upon which I shall amplify in a post immediately follwing this - I could well have taken Richmond if two active Corps on basic Attack hadn't just decided to wander off into other Regions or be awfully shy at the dance.

[GraniteStater]

GENERAL GAME OBSERVATIONS & COMMENTS

* Entire game in 1.03.

* MTSG: look, the Union has to attack, tactically and otherwise, after prepping for 18 months or so. It gets really hard to pull off even basic tactical maneuvers and attacks, like striking at the ends of lines, when (at least for the Union), attacking MTSG Just Ain't Happenin'. OTOH, defending MTSG is doing just fine, thank you, and even has grandkids at this point. Does MTSG happen when attacking? Not much, and I even wonder if I've seen it at all in this game. To be clear - I do know how to play the game, although I confess openly I'm no wizard of details and could learn a few things about the fine points. I know how to prep my guys, give 'em what they need, put 'em in good positions, rest 'em up and proceed to attack. But offensive MTSG is the stuff of legend and fable, afaics. Even direct attacks with multiple Corps all pointing at the same target have had one or more Corps go a-wandering into undesignated Regions. Reluctance or outright refusal to attack I can understand, even though it's my job to prep 'em to eliminate this greatly, but marching off to parts uncalled for?

* Promotions are becoming, or are, a Big Issue. Over 1 million casualties between us, plenty of scraps, and not one single 2* promo'ed to 3*, not one. I've still got the same Army Cdrs with whom I started. havi reports very few 1* -> 2* promos for him. This hurts both sides in slightly different respects. Please, Gods of Ageod, this has to be addressed. It's a wonder I did as well as I did in VA with McDowell in command the entire time, although I don't abhor him, but Hooker got no shots, nor Meade, not even to 2*. If the Union has to fight the entire war with Grant, Rosecrans, McDowell and Buell, that's some tough sledding over the course of a game. I imagine havi was tearing his hair out, too.

* These two are the most salient and supportable points, I feel. RC4 now gives $800 a pop for each choice for the Union, and in my game with RY, we just upgraded and I've had one issue of Bonds - coupled with 'normal' per Turn growth, the difference is greatly appreciated. I imagine CSA players will appreciate the $600, too.

* Also, not to grouse, but the game started in 1.02, IRC. The small additional funds for the Union helped some with the 1.03, but not quite enough. I'm afraid this really did have an affect on what I was doing, or could do. It is really tough to add to the army in mid-game if you're trying to attack, which the Union must, and doing nothing but buying Replacements, even with victories being won, you still have casualties, and the offense usually has more in the course of events, as a general rule. RC4, again, will probably help here appreciably.

* Some minor, or not so minor Supply issues way out West - basically, from what I see, overcrowding in El Paso and the Rio Grande valley can lead to Uh-oh Time. I've had the Boxes secured and MC from Albuquerque, built a Depot in El Paso, but it seems the draw for any largish formations is just too much. Spread 'em out more, maybe? Dunno. Need to fiddle with this more - dunno if more Wagons from CA will help or not - maybe it's just plain Supply poor out there.

* Overall, the game with havi has been exciting and a real blast. Don't mess with havi, he's become a monster.

* Oh, Lincoln gets assassinated in late April 65, period. Poor Abe.

* But Mrs. Lincoln liked the play.

[havi]

Fast reply I'm at work and eating chocolate is too much fun right now. I have 3 ** promotions of game Forrest, schenk?!, and S.D.Lee and u killed Lee he was great and Schenk got his star under Forrest when i strangled you units in Tennessee so that's all, and we have fought hard in every place on the map..

[GraniteStater]

No CSA Schenk afaik - check name/spelling - Union has a Schenk, he's a 2*.

[havi]

Yes no schenk well he is that guy with odd moustache, he is now in mobile fishing some blue marlin I think u met him last time u were in town ?!

[tripax]

Is Shenk wearing blue? Here is the Union Schenk:

[ATTACH]27442[/ATTACH]

[havi]

No no he's not it. Can't remember the guys name and I'm at work now so I can't even check how he is.. CSA officer with funny mustache and trait of administrator just can't remember the name now.

[havi]

Have you heard the bells?! the war is over....... and VP was CSA 4879 usa 5009! minor victory for GS. i congratulated the winner it was close really close, maybe the GS will tell u more.

[GraniteStater]

JANUARY 1866

FINAL TURN

* GraniteStater finally gets to say he won a PbeM. Not by much - a Minor Victory, on VPs, 5009 - 4879.

* havi very much won a moral victory, and more. One tough ess-oh-bee, lemme tell ya. A deadly counter-attacker, whoever plays him next better keep your eyes peeled.

* The Union (me), finally ended up in possession of Charleston, Memphis, Little Rock, El Paso, Tucson, Norfolk, besides the one the Union ought to have, Louisville. Not all that much, really. havi never yielded Nashville, nor Richmond (I possessed Richmond for a microsecond mid-game and very briefly occupied Atlanta, too). I was able to get some Strat Cities, but the Objectives were a lot tougher.

* Playing with RC4, eventually 1.04, will make an important difference, chiefly funds, for both sides.

* I really don't know how, exactly, I was able to generate a 60ish VP gain per Turn versus a 35ish for my Esteemed Opponent by 1864 or so. The raw total wasn't surpassed until Late October 1865 - so I nipped him at the finish line, but it was a very, very even contest throughout & I would say that havi played better than I did.

Please feel free to use this thread for questions about PbeMs, how did it go, etc. There were a lot of Lessons Learned on both sides, I'm sure, and will be glad to try to share them, but my head's too crowded right now.

And, to make a final comment, I cannot improve on the closing words of Ken Burns's The Civil War, for they do, indeed, apply in this, our first PbeM, all the way, in CW2:

"Was it not like the old days? Did it not all seem real?"

[minipol]

I would say that havi played better than I did.

It takes a big man to say that...
I followed the Pbem with great interest. Thanks to both of you

[havi]

Thanks minipol.. I have making a little bit of analysis of our game and I lost this war 62-63 of couple of lousy strategic decisions what I made just because I was green, it will not happen again I promis. And again I raise my opponent GS is a real gentleman and great person he is allways giving a advice when u ask him and even for enemy he will help and he loves freedom.. P.S. Don't ask he's opinion for Putin. ( p.s. Putin is a asshole)

[minipol]

Hehe we all agree on that except Putin

[GraniteStater]

Some Final Stats:

* VPs - 5009 - 4879, Union.

* VPs per Turn at Jan66: 66 - 31, Union.

* Casualties: 679,013, Union; 605,151, CSA.

* NM at end: 73, Union (had dipped to 50 at one point three Turns ago); 118, CSA. High NM for Union: 131 - 130, Union at a point in midgame. High point for CSA was slightly in excess of 150, again, midgame. CSA NM may have been at 97 briefly, but that was about it for a CSA low.

* FI at end: 49, which was just about its high point - mostly around 40 most of the game, sometimes in the 35 range.

* CSA Combat Power Total, Jan66: 42%. Reached a high of about 60% in early war; by mid-war was around 50% and declined shallowly after that.

* * CSA moved its capital to Atlanta sometime in 1864; I assume havi felt there was a serious threat to Richmond.

The Union had an Almost Possession of Richmond for a Turn and came very close to actually having it in technical possession, but it never really fell. Came close, but that was it.

No effort at a Real Up Close Blockade, Boxes only, except for Savannah in co-operation with the Sea Islands/Charleston campaign by Buell. Blockade never exceeded 65%.

The Union never did eliminate Buchanan/Hollins on the rivers - they were a credible threat throughout and won more than a few fights.

Supply is problematical Way Out West, even with possession of El Paso & the Boxes. Probably need to build more Wagons for Depots in CA, or some other solution.

DC & MD were never seriously threatened, but havi fought for the Valley a long time and it was denied a long time, until finally secured.

Patience pays for the Union in MO/AR - one theatre where the CSA has lackluster Leaders and a simple consistent build-up with decent Leaders for the Union can be hard to deny.

Put in its most simple form, the Union has a nice exercise in prudence and daring to juggle - you must attack, you need to attack, but the CSA can respond rapidly with RR moves and in sufficient force to bog down invaders. One needs to move as quickly as one can, to prevent major fortifications and such, but a too rapid sticking out of one's neck can be awkward, to say the least. Losing Divisions or having them stripped down to arty is not good for NM and gives the CSA VPs.

The Union should look into consistent major Industrialization in a big way.

Play the Loyalty game in important producing cities.

Watch your VP pennies & nickels; 3 here, 5 there, starts to add up over fifty Turns.

Campaigning season is for real - until you get Way Down South, winter is a dicey proposition for movements and battle.