AAR: Complete Union Campaign, April 1861 scenario

[Grotius]

I've just finished an entire campaign as the Union. Great fun!

I played against the AI. It was set to Normal Difficulty, "low bonus" AI Detect (giving the AI a slight advantage as to fog of war), extra time for the AI to think, and AI Aggressiveness set to Normal. I'm a newb, so I made more than my share of mistakes. I'm including some screenshots of mistakes in the hopes that other newbs will learn.

Here's the situation in the east at game start:



The situation in Kentucky at start:



In Missouri. I've used the "supply" filter for this shot; I came to rely on it more heavily as the game wore on. I've also circled some major objectives: St. Louis in the northeast, the fort on Island 10, guarding the Mississippi; and a couple cities inland.



And the southwest:

[Grotius]

Here's a look at the starting victory screen.



For the first month or so, your reinforcement "shelf" will be empty, but take heart, by May or so you have lots of choices. Here's a look:

[Grotius]

For the first two or three months, each side occupies itself mostly with raising, training and organizing its armies. The CSA does conduct several annoying cavalry raids in my rear, severing rail lines and taking ungarrisoned towns. In July we have our first proper battle -- really more of a skirmish.

[Grotius]

As of August, the situation in the East is fairly static. Here is my one and only fully-formed Army, under the command of General McDowell.

[Grotius]

The situation in the West is more fluid, as the two sides maneuver for position. The CSA actually manages to push me back into Indiana, where I have my hands full dealing with cavalry raids. Memo to file: garrison border towns early so that they aren't easy prey for rampaging cavalry.

[Grotius]

Of course, Little Mac is my ranking general out west. I love the combination of stats he's got in the game; they capture him well. Very low "strategic" stat, but good abilities relating to administration, training, and morale. He'd be a perfect rearguard officer! The trouble is, he's got that pesky seniority stat -- 4, where 1 is best -- which will make him tough to pass over for command of my first western Army, since doing so would cost me a significant chunk of victory points and National Morale.

[Grotius]

The autumn brings a flurry of activity in the East, as we each try to gain ground before the winter freeze sets in. Here Heintzelman moves to block Beauregard, who has his sights set on Harpers Ferry.

[Grotius]

Meanwhile the war in the West takes a turn for the worse. I somehow manage to lose Bowling Greene, circled at bottom-center, a strategic town in southern Kentucky. To make things worse, the CSA Cavalry is just decimating my railroads; as the chalkboard at top indicates, I'm running at only 1/3 rail capacity, which affects my ability to move supplies forward.

But at the same time I open a siege of Fort Henry (barely visible at the southwest edge of the screen), which guards the Cumberland river heading east to the Objective town of Nashville. It's really imperative to take Fort Henry if I want secure supply lines for action further south.

[Grotius]

It's September 1861, and Gen. Nathaniel Lyon is tasked with taking Fort Henry. He's a good general, except that he's a "hated occupant," which means he won't exactly win many hearts and minds of the civilians in a territory he occupies. In any case, the siege of Fort Henry is painful; the elements of Lyon's division are pretty beat up. Forts are tough nuts to crack.

[Grotius]

Heintzelman makes it to Harpers Ferry by October, and Beauregard sits in Winchester instead of attacking. For now.

[Grotius]

At the same time, I try my first "brown-water" blockade of a Virginia port. Eventually I'll bring more ships to bear; for now, this is all I have on hand. The spiffy bluish oval icon near Suffolk indicates that it's being blockaded, which hurts its economic output, I think. I've also set up blue-water blockades in the naval boxes offshore.

[Rafiki]

Interesting read so far, and I like the extensive use of screenshots to illustrate the situations

[Grotius]

Glad you're enjoying it!

Some fellow named Grant arrives in Louisville, Kentucky this same month. I think he's got a future. Interesting that he arrives this early.



Too bad he has less rank and seniority than McClellan. If I want Grant to command the Army of the Ohio, I'll have to pay a hefty cost in Victory Points and National Morale. It's a tough call. The Army Commander bestows his stats on his subordinate Corps and Division commanders, so long as their within his range -- and the higher your strategic stat, the longer your range. Grant would be an ideal Army commander. My fiendishly clever plan is to get him into battle quickly so that he can gain rank and seniority and then take command without a significant cost.

[Grotius]

As you probably know if you're reading this, leaders are crucial in this game. An unled force moves slowly and fights badly, as the game puts it. Even a great general like Grant, though, will get hit with penalties if he's not part of some command organization. Here he is before I gave him his own division:



A better fix would be to make him a Corps commander in an Army led by a three-star general, but I don't think I had an Army HQ available yet at this stage. (I don't remember now.) An even better fix would be to make Grant Commander of said Army -- but he needs three stars for that. Time for him to get busy kicking butt so that he can gain some seniority and rank.

[Grotius]

Incidentally, I'm writing a parallel AAR for my "guildmates," and I may post a similar one at the Matrix Games site too.

Lyon continues to bang away at Fort Henry. The green background shading behind him means he's managed to establish a supply line to his siege location, even though he still hasn't taken the fort. (You can run supply thru a zone if you have 25% control of it.) Here's a zoomed-out shot to give you a sense of its importance.

I need the fort so I can safely pass my gunboats past it down the Cumberland River to Nashville, which is a crucial victory objective. I also need it so I can run supply down the river. Likewise, the Fort would be a very useful springboard for operations to the southwest, toward the Mississippi River and Memphis. But I'll also need to take Island 10, circled to the west, which blocks supply and boats from heading south.

[Grotius]

Unbelievably, I still haven't retaken Bowling Greene as of November 1861. For that matter, I haven't even taken Lexington yet! I'm supposed to be fighting in Tennessee by now, not Kentucky! I blame it all on that nogoodnick McClellan.

But the truth is that I've been McClellan-like, waiting too long to move on Lexington because I wasn't sure how many enemy troops were there. I've also been hampered by annoying cavalry raids, which continue to cut rail lines and supply in my rear. I only just started to realize that I should buy Militia to garrison rear towns.

[Grotius]

One of my few complaints about this game is that it doesn't include a planning map -- a strategic-level map with a bit more detail than the tiny minimap in the lower-left-hand corner of the screen. I've cobbled together my own; pardon the graphics. This is a simple summary of the events of 1861. Dotted blue lines are significant Union naval movements; dotted red lines are cavalry raids; solid lines are land troops.

In general, my strategy was a holding game in the East coupled with a freewheeling, fast-moving offense in the West. The plan is to sweep down the Mississippi, cutting the CSA in two, while blockading her ports -- the Anaconda Plan, basically. Unfortunately, instead I've got a holding game in the East and a retreating game in the West. Time to get Ulysses S. Grant on the case.

[bloodybucket]

Well done AAR, and I concur on the Strategic level map...if an overall map could be produced every turn, they could be turned in to animated GIFs or used as screenies for AARs.

[Grotius]

Thanks for your comments. Glad you're enjoying the AAR.

It is January, 1862, and I get the opportunity to call for volunteers. I only can do this so often. Manpower is by far my most limited resource; I have plenty of money and supplies. Once the initial flush of volunteers slows down, I either have to make do with limited reinforcements, or I have to order partial mobilization, which means a draft -- and lower National Morale. For now, I can go with volunteers. The coolest thing about this is that I get to sign Abraham Lincoln's name. It's cool to be one of the greatest Presidents in American history.

[Grotius]

I use many of those volunteers as quartermasters! I need supply wagons because my supply lines are lengthening as I push forward, albeit slowly.

I like the supply model in this game. It's a mix of abstracted and detailed supply models. The abstract portion is the flow of most supply. It goes fastest along railroads and rivers, as one might expect. It's also influenced by your rolling stock (available trains) and available riverboats, both of which cost money to maintain (much less expand). On the other hand, one can also micromanage a bit by sending supply wagons with forward units, as these tend to suck supply toward themselves. Also, you can use the wagons to build depots, which also suck (and generate) supply. The game models both "general" supply (food etc) and ammo. The coolest feature is that you can see little stockpiles of each on the map; cannonballs for ammo, little red crates for food. Anyway, here's my purchase of wagons:

[Grotius]

Here's a look at my financials. As I mentioned, the Union mostly has to worry about manpower, although in 1862 I did face a money crunch for a bit, as this screen indicates.

[Grotius]

For anyone who doesn't yet have this game, I thought I'd include a couple of shots of the blue-water naval game. This part of the game is handled fairly abstractly, with a 'blockade box' and the 'shipping box' in the Atlantic and another 'blockade box' in the Gulf of Mexico. But ships have to travel to and from these boxes like any other unit, and they slowly run out of general supply and must eventually return to port to refit. Shipping generates income for me; blockading hurts the CSA economy. Also, the CSA can raid and sink my shipping. It's pretty good at that, in fact.



Here's a closer look.



And the Gulf blockade box; there's no shipping box here.

[Grotius]

I've already posted one shot of the brown-water naval game, but by February 1862 I'd gotten better at it. Still not good enough to blockade Richmond, but getting there.

[Grotius]

OK, since I'm in a naval mood, one last water-related screenshot.

My theater map for 1861 showed a conflict in the Florida panhandle. I own Fort Pickens there, near Pensacola, and the AI occasionally tries to take it from me, without success. Methinks the AI should either amass a bigger force and take it, or just not worry about it. Still, the AI did not make the common AI mistake of throwing endless waves of cannon fodder against an insurmountable target; it kept its losses low.

I own two other Florida forts, these in the Keys. They serve simply as a base for my Gulf fleet. I think they're supplied by my Shipping Box.

[Grotius]

OK, back to the war! Winter freezes much of the USA, which slows operations on both sides as troops must hunker down indoors. (As has been mentioned elsewhere in this forum, the winter in AACW is currently a bit too cold too long, especially in the South.) Anyway, this gives me time to ponder who shall command the soon-to-be-created Army of the Ohio, my second army. Naturally, my best generals are way down the seniority list.

[Grotius]

I get access to a new invention that look like it might be useful some day. I build one or two for grins, but they don't see much action.

[Grotius]

Just as my 1861 campaign began with a skirmish in Tucson, so too again in 1862. This time the Confederates win, and their flag now flies over Arizona. This brigade is the sole, sad refugee of my loss. To add insult to injury, he makes his way to Indian Territory, only to be besieged by a rampaging cavalry unit.

[Grotius]

Better news from Kentucky. General Lyon has finally captured Forts Henry and Donelson.

[Grotius]

This "event" means, in game terms, that I can now bypass McClellan without paying quite so steep a cost. But it's still a pretty steep cost -- a couple hundred VPs and a bunch of National Morale. I've been procrastinating on creating my western Army in the hopes that Grant or maybe Lyon would gain enough seniority to overtake Little Mac, but that hasn't happened. I'm afraid I'm going to have to make the decision soon, because my armies are less efficient so long as they're not fully organized.

[Grotius]

And it's not like I've got great intermediate choices. General Fremont thinks he deserves the next command after McClellan. Right now I have General Fremont duty on garrison duty on the frontier.