What to do with McClellan.

[beefcake]

Playing my first campaign as the Union, I made the mistake of removing McClellan from command of the AotP, instead of waiting for the random event. After losing an incredible number of victory points for my decision, I wanted to get some input from other players on how they deal with Little Mac.

Two suggestions I've seen so far:

1) Create an army for him, but don't assign any military units to it.

This seems very practical, even if it wastes an army command. Sending him WoW (Waaaaay out West ) is a safe way to make sure he's nowhere near the action.

2) Deliberatly putting him in harm's way, hoping that he gets killed or looses seniority points as a result.

Admittedly, Mac was useful to me for organizing the AotP. But I couldn't believe how worthless he made every commander underneath him. I was curious if anybody else found any practical use for him.

bsz

[arsan]

Be a man!
Try to use him as a "real" army commander or sack him and take the hit.
Either way, your campaign will be more "interesting".
You have lots of money, war supplies, conscripts... the CSA don't.
If you use a gamey trick to dispose of little Mac and friends the CSA will not have a fair chance. leure:

Just my 2 cents
Cheers!

[DirkX]

Be a man!
Try to use him as a "real" army commander or sack him and take the hit.
Either way, your campaign will be more "interesting".
You have lots of money, war supplies, conscripts... the CSA don't.
If you use a gamey trick to dispose of little Mac and friends the CSA will not have a fair chance. leure:

Just my 2 cents
Cheers!

/signed
if you want to make it close as possible to history and play vs Ai, use Mac

[kcole4001]

If you want a second Army in 1861 or early 1862, then you have to use him.
I've got him stationed in Cincinnati raising conscripts while letting the corps (including Grant's) do the actual fighting.
He's not useless, just not very helpful.
Keep Grant in the thick of battle so he can earn promotions & you'll eventually have a decent army commander.

[Le Ricain]

In my current game as the Union (1.08c & April 1861) I decided to try a more historical route, i.e. McClellan in the East and Halleck in the West. However, Halleck was less senior than Fremont and 'the Pathfinder' got the job.

Very interesting game, especially in the East.

In the West, as DirkX has pointed out, Grant does well regardless of who the Army commander happens to be.

It was in the East that there was a challenge. The key to winning AACW is maneuver. Although the AoP's corps spend most of their time inactive, they can still move. The other key to winning is 'the march to the sound of the guns' concept. Moving your corps across unguarded rivers and around the CSA's flanks while keeping your corps in supporting positions works very well. The combat disadvantages due to being inactive are more than offset by the strengths of the supporting corps. 'Little Mac' accepted the surrender of Richmond in December, 1862. It would have been sooner, but none of the besieging corps were active during the three month siege in order to eliminate the Richmond garrison. 'Little Mac' starved them out.

In late 62 or early 63 you need to form a second army as MacClellan's limited CP's can not control all of the available Union corps. McDowell got the job as he was the most senior general.

The disadvantage to this system is that it is very difficult for your AoP generals to get the commendations needed for promotion.