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FightingBuckeye
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Mon Jun 15, 2015 1:45 pm

[color="#008080"]1861 REVIEW:[/color] At the start of this AAR, I listed a couple of goals for myself.


FightingBuckeye wrote:EAST: Here I will look to take Harpers Ferry and eject SA from West Virginia if he tries to contest this. I probably won't get too frisky here early unless I see an opportunity. I will simply lack for good commanders and will face some stiff competetion in leadership in this front to be thinking too aggressive. I will build up my forces here so that I can take advantage if SA leaves me something tasty to go after. It also will help safeguard my capital from an early aggressive confederate push for a quick win.


I have to count this as a big check yes. I didn’t take Harper’s Ferry after I goofed on sending an inactive general to take command of the attack. I eventually pulled back when it became apparent Arrow was there in strength. I may not have taken Harpers Ferry until 1862, but I was able to use a series of maneuvers into forcing Arrow into attacking me mostly on ground of my choosing. It wasn’t without risk and it got a little hairy at Winchester, but I’ve inflicted a lot of casualties on Arrow’s eastern forces and managed to notch several positive NM swinging battles in this theater. Not a bad accomplishment with a 2-2-2 3* two 1*s at 3-3-1 & 4-4-2 and a bunch of 3-1-1s facing a bunch of 4-2-4 3*s and a whole slew of great generals in Jackson, Longstreet, Magruder, etc. Things should improve as I should be getting some better generals sometime in 1862.


FightingBuckeye wrote:WEST This is where I'll try to make some advances early. I'll be looking to marshall forces in Missouri with the intention of ejecting SA from Springfield posthaste. This will deprive him of the force pool in MO. Additionally, it'll be harder for him to conduct deep raids if I can deprive him of Springfield and the forts to the west. Getting Lyons promoted will definitely be a plus as well. I don't know how SA plans to play this area and he can definitely stall me out here if he really wants to. In addition to Missouri, I will look to take either or both of Ft Donelson and/or Island ten. A lot depends on what happens with Kentucky and also what SA does.

This one gets chalked up as another success. I’ve taken all three primary objectives that I listed. Depending on my opponent, I don't always manage to grab all three positions by 1862, so I'm always pleased when I do manage to get all three. Although Donelson almost didn't happen in time for the New Year due to a streak of bad weather. I didn't mention it at the start of the AAR as it can be a bit of a stretch if a CSA opponent defends Springfield and Fayetteville well, but I did have Fayetteville as a secondary objective. I made a valiant attempt at it and came up short. Still, it would've been a reach. The major goal of Springfield is in my hands, which will make holding StLo that much easier without having to worry about a fast moving force operating out of Springfield. Plus taking both Island 10 & Donelson have helped secure against any amphibious landings of raiding parties and has allowed me to start moving into Tennessee.

FightingBuckeye wrote:FAR WEST I will look to establishing my supply lines from California to my forward position facing El Paso. I'm not planning on committing too much in this area from the east. I should be able to eventually advance once all my starting units out here are concentrated. I will buy those rangers, militia, and mounted volunteer units to give me better mobility and cannon fodder. I'll either burn forts to deny their possible use as staging points for rebel raids or otherwise secure them. I definitely don't want rampaging raiders going after Colorado, Nevada, etc. We'll see if SA plans to reinforce this front with artillery and line infantry or if he'll leave this theater to it's own devices.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. "My forward position facing El Paso" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! "advance" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *breathe* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh boy, how funny that sounds now. Little did I know the commitment Straight Arrow was prepared to make out here. Because of the threat on Santa Fe early, I never was able to take Tucson with builds from NM like I sometimes do. Because of the major buildup for this theater, I lost a lot of irreplaceable line units, batteries, and a supply unit. I'm currently in full flight towards Colorado. Colorado was never really going to be in danger in 1861, but the stage is well set for Arrow to threaten it in '62!

FightingBuckeye wrote:COAST I do plan on having a division afloat and possibly hitting easy targets by the end of the year. As I can, I will add more forces and start taking bigger targets as my reach strengthens. Early on though, I will see if I can divert moderate/serious rebel resources to building up garrison forces early. In line with this thinking, I will start operating brigs as early as I can along the coast at various important southern ports. I'm thinking 2-3 brigs along both the Gulf areas and the Atlantic seaboard for a total of 4-6 brigs. I'll start doing this early too. I want to accomplish several things with this brig operation. First, let's see if I can cause SA to start developing these garrisons earlier than he intended. The rebels only have so much and their coast means they have to defend an additional theater that the North simply doesn't have to worry about. I'll have greater chances of making headway elsewhere if I can force SA to siphon significant troops and resources to building forces in these coastal cities.



This one is a partial fail, but there's an asterisk to that. I did have an earmarked division ready to set out on amphibious operations and would’ve likely followed that one up with a second one. But events in Virginia overtook my plans. I needed the strength those divisions gave me to successfully mount my offensive in Virginia. I have 14 divisions currently operating in the East, I could've simply held the line with 1-2 fewer divisions which would've landed somewhere. I did not foresee the East being a major theater in ’61, so I can’t begrudge the success I enjoyed there. As much as I'd have liked to have landed guys somewhere, Virginia's a major component of the CSA economy and any movement towards Richmond is laudable. Plus my brig scouting operation has given me valuable intel on Arrow's dispositions. It's harder to tell relative strength with divisions now formed up. I also couldn't tell you how much of the major buildups I did observe would've normally occurred and what (if any) occurred because of those scouts. But I did see direct reactions to my brigs on at least two occasions and that was part of my goal here.


Of my major goals I set early, I was able to meet most of them. It wasn’t all success though as Arrow managed to surprise me in New Mexico with a strong buildup I didn’t see coming. And although the opportunity I saw in Virginia did account for most of why I didn’t mount any naval invasions, that was not the sole reason. Arrow was seen putting a lot into his coastal regions before the divisional structure made strength estimation harder to track via my brigs. And over the past couple of turns, I’ve noticed that Arrow has started doing a better job of closing any weaknesses in his positions.

What this all means, is that 1862 will see some new challenges. Can I stop Arrow from translating his success in New Mexico into a grey Colorado? Can I continue the momentum in Virginia with additional battlefield wins and additional gains despite the leadership disparity I currently face? Will Grant be able to continue the success he’s had in Tennessee?

For 1862, I would like to end the year either in possession of Richmond, or more likely subjecting it to legitimate danger of attack. Much like Alexandria and DC were weights that always tied me down and limited my flexibility, I want Arrow to have to deal with worrying about defending an objective he simply can’t afford to lose. I probably won’t look to do any major amphibious invasions if I can keep the situation in Virginia fluid and keep gaining ground. Although I might land in Norfolk or Suffolk. In Tennessee, I would like to end the year in possession of Memphis, Corinth, and Nashville. I also would like to limit any CSA deep raids as much as possible. Arrow's posts in the forum lead me to believe I'll see more raiding in 1862. Arrow will enjoy having better cavalry leaders, but I'll hopefully be operating on my home turf and already have some cavalry forces building and will build more as the spring weather approaches. I'll take Fayetteville if I see a shot, but I'm not going to divert much if any from Tennessee or Virginia to do it. I don’t know if I can really retake Santa Fe short of committing major additional forces out there which I won't be doing. But I will settle with keeping Arrow out of the Colorado gold. Lastly, I want to end the year with higher NM than the South as well as keeping CSA casualties greater than Union losses.

B0rn_C0nfused
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Mon Jun 15, 2015 5:59 pm

So how are the all arty divisions performing. I know they was talk in aacw about only including x arty units in each division because only so many could fire per round. Then I read some threads about how some people like them so much what are your thoughts?

Also, I am a buckeye born and raised (24 years). Except I didn't defect like you, traitor! :wacko:

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FightingBuckeye
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Mon Jun 15, 2015 9:09 pm

B0rn_C0nfused wrote:So how are the all arty divisions performing. I know they was talk in aacw about only including x arty units in each division because only so many could fire per round. Then I read some threads about how some people like them so much what are your thoughts?

Also, I am a buckeye born and raised (24 years). Except I didn't defect like you, traitor! :wacko:



O-H! Moved out of Ohio after 6th grade since I couldn't very well stay when my parents moved to Texas. I love it here in Colorado, but I do miss those green forests and really soft grass.

The all artillery divisions bring several things to the table.

1. Since they don't have infantry/cavalry, they typically don't sustain (m)any hits. Artillery replacements can be expensive to replace vs infantry/cavalry.
2. Due to the lower casualties, artillery divisions can be a good way to groom future corps or army commanders since they'll deal out damage and not receive much if anything in return as long as you keep a meat shield in front of them. Quicker seniority climbing leads to promotions and experience boost probable already good/great stats.
3. With no artillery in your infantry divisions, those divisions tend to perform better at their task. They can take more damage and still remain combat effective and they're better during the assault phase where artillery wouldn't participate.

B0rn_C0nfused
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Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:55 am

fightingbuckeye wrote:o-h! Moved out of ohio after 6th grade since i couldn't very well stay when my parents moved to texas. I love it here in colorado, but i do miss those green forests and really soft grass.

The all artillery divisions bring several things to the table.

1. Since they don't have infantry/cavalry, they typically don't sustain (m)any hits. Artillery replacements can be expensive to replace vs infantry/cavalry.
2. Due to the lower casualties, artillery divisions can be a good way to groom future corps or army commanders since they'll deal out damage and not receive much if anything in return as long as you keep a meat shield in front of them. Quicker seniority climbing leads to promotions and experience boost probable already good/great stats.
3. With no artillery in your infantry divisions, those divisions tend to perform better at their task. They can take more damage and still remain combat effective and they're better during the assault phase where artillery wouldn't participate.


i-o

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FightingBuckeye
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Early February 1862: Turn 21

Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:50 am

[color="#008080"]Early February 1862: Turn 21[/color]

E.S. Posthumus 'Unstoppable'; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoaUYcwEpSw

[color="#008080"]OVERVIEW:[/color] Well things just got weird in Virginia as neither CSA army is near the frontlines and Manassas is almost completely abandoned. Forces continue to retreat out of NM as Shelby continues his relentless pursuit. Nashville is reinforced and boasts strong defenses opposing Gen Grant and enemy cavalry take Leavenworth, KS. Taxes are raise, Gen Summer is promoted to 2* rank, and Gen Sherman joins Grant. Demonstrators are countered in Nevada while the two in Colorado continue apace.

[color="#008080"]WEATHER:[/color] Mud, snow, and harsh weather continues to dominate large swathes of the USA and CSA. Clear weather can be found in Kansas, IT, Nebraska, NM, & Texas.

[color="#008080"]EAST:[/color] At this point I’m really confused about Arrow’s dispositions in Virginia. Longstreet fell back from Strasburg which is very wise of Arrow as Hooker’s force was threatening to cut that division off. After that though, things decidedly got weird. Jackson has two divisions at Falmouth and Manassas just has the sole militia regiment defending it. Meanwhile one army continues to remain SW of New Market while the other army has disappeared into the fog of war. I get nervous when large enemy formations suddenly vanish, but I am going to cautiously advance.

I smell a potential trap at Manassas though. I’m not sure if leaving Manassas that wide open is a devious plan of Arrow’s into sucking me into an offensive were 4+ divisions will rail in before I arrive or if it’s a simple misclick. Either way Manassas seems to obvious a choice to attack and I don’t have the leadership or strong enough numbers to risk it at this point. I do like to play aggressively at times, but I’d rather attack my enemy on his flanks and maneuver him out of position rather than attacking head on. So in keeping with that, Gen Meagher will reconstitute his infantry division to sport a couple 10lbers and head towards Strasburg on O/B and Gen Berry will lead two divisions from Leesburg to Clarke, VA; also on O/B. If I can hold Clarke, it’ll give me a shot at enveloping Manassas and forcing Arrow into either attacking me or risk another encirclement.

Gen Hooker’s inactive again and can’t reach anything with the mud, so he’ll stay put and repair the rail I destroyed when I first moved in. Gen McDowell will rail his army to DC and fall onto a medical team that’s holding some defensive lines for him. One thing that had occurred to me was Jackson could potentially reach DC. There’s some bad weather between Jackson’s position at Falmouth and DC, but he does have that fast mover trait. I honestly don’t know if that move would be possible even in good weather, but I’m not willing to risk anything where my capital’s concerned. And I wouldn’t put it past Arrow to bait me into attacking Manassas in order to facilitate his attempt at DC, course he may have been planning on good weather for the attempt. The rest of my movement will be transferring a couple divisions around to cover any holes my above moves may have made.

[ATTACH]33833[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]WEST:[/color] Grant moved up against Nashville, but I’m putting any offensive plans on hold for the time being. Polk moved south, over, and then back up to reinforce Nashville and there’s another division present (likely the New Madrid one) to bring his count up to 4 divisions. I still have an advantage in power, but it’s not as decisive as I wanted and bad weather will hamper any attack I might launch. I think I surprised Arrow with my move into Donelson as winter was at its height, but he has since done an admirable job of scraping up enough force to give me pause. A major downside of trying to campaign in the late winter is the weather can blunt any offensive thrust and slow down movement, which will usually favor the defender and his rail network.

I did make a change to the Army of the Cumberland’s command structure from what I showed last turn. I pulled General Milroy out and put another general in charge of his division. This gives me two independent divisions operating under 2* generals in preparation for the corps introduction within the next 3-4 turns if my memory serves. Those independent commands will form the nucleus for a couple of corps under Grant’s command. Meanwhile, I have elements of a 7th division gathering at Donelson while Gen Thomas will look to join Grant’s command and Sherman’s been given command of the Cumberland’s army artillery division.

While Grant continues to threaten Nashville, General Lyon and Milroy will set their divisions in motion against Ft Henry and Humbolt. With what looks like everything but the kitchen sink in Nashville, the rest of Tennessee appears pretty open. By taking those railroads, I open up the possibility of Grant suddenly swooping down on either Memphis or Corinth. As I continue to ramp up in the east, reinforcements in this theater will be dribs and drabs instead of in large numbers. I should still see an 8th and maybe 9th division in this theater by year’s end, but I’ll have to play smart if I want to meet my audacious plans for taking Memphis, Corinth, and Nashville by the start of ’63.

[ATTACH]33834[/ATTACH]

In potentially disturbing news, I did spot a cottonclad at Memphis and that’s spurred me to increase my river fleet. I currently have 4 ironclads, 4 timberclads, 2 brig units, and the starting gunboats. That’s not including all the extra transports I ordered. That fleet is strong enough IMO to take on the CSA river fleet; assuming all CSA ironclads are gathered in the Mississippi. But if Arrow’s strengthening his river fleet, I’ll need to lay down some more hulls to maintain superiority.

[color="#008080"]TRANS-MISSISSIPPI:[/color] A strong cavalry division under Gen Watie comprised of 8K troopers and 2 batteries struck and took Leavenworth. My one conscript unit didn’t stand a chance of holding and is lucky to escape destruction. I was expecting raiding activity to pick up as spring approached and the threat against Fayetteville abated. But this is earlier than I’d hoped and planned for. I just built a half dozen militia in Mizzou, Iowa, and Illinois with the goal of burning every level 1 town north of Cairo to the Wisconsin border and west of said line. Also slated for destruction was any depot I felt I couldn’t hold against strong raiders. So that burning will start up now and I may get another couple militia to speed that process up. Additionally, I have at least 10 cavalry/horse arty in the queue that will be ready in this theater over the next 3 turns. Could be more, but my build queue is full and I wasn’t counting them as I ordered them. For now Keyes’ cavalry division is not up to the task of taking Watie’s cavalry on. But I’ll move his half division to StLo where he’ll be joined by Gen Kearney and 4 additional cavalry regiments and another horse battery. If Watie moves into northern Mizzou, I’ll be better prepared to parry that thrust.

[ATTACH]33835[/ATTACH]

Meanwhile, disease seems to have struck the CSA forces at Fayetteville. With Watie’s absence, that’s actually a target I might have a decent chance of taking now. Summer will take his division into Fayetteville. Asboth’s division will move up from Springfield in case I need support next turn. And lastly, a partisan will attempt to destroy the depot at Ft Smith on the southern bank of the Arkansas River.

[color="#008080"]FAR WEST:[/color] Once again Carson’s inactive and a misclick sent him chasing some rangers I had move further north. The good news is that no further units were caught by Shelby and Taos has burned to the ground. I also have enough supply for everyone at Ft Garland for this turn at least. I still have stragglers set to arrive within the next two turns. Unfortunately, Shelby has continued his relentless pursuit. If I could catch a breather, I think I’d be fine now as most of my force has consolidated and are mostly in supply again. I’m going to try to make a stand at Ft Garland and hope the hills, harsh weather, & deep cold all contrive to help me fend off Shelby should he try to continue to move north. Unfortunately, this turn I can’t see the condition of his cohesion or supply. Fingers crossed that he breaks off pursuit. Remember, he is leading a division of grunts and cannon, so he can’t just sprint south back south to restock. Unfortunately, it does appear that he has a supply unit and cavalry trailing behind his main force, so who knows if he’ll continue pressing north or not. My half stack of cavalry relief force continues to move west with the clearing of Nebraskan weather.

[ATTACH]33836[/ATTACH]
No word on the exchange of report for prisoner count, so I'm removing those lines from the report and won't bring it up again unless Arrow brings it up.
Attachments
02Etable.png
02EBLeavenworth.png
02ETN.png
02EVA.png

B0rn_C0nfused
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Thu Jun 18, 2015 2:58 pm

FightingBuckeye wrote:[color="#008080"]Early February 1862: Turn 21[/color]

E.S. Posthumus 'Unstoppable'; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoaUYcwEpSw

[color="#008080"]OVERVIEW:[/color] Well things just got weird in Virginia as neither CSA army is near the frontlines and Manassas is almost completely abandoned. Forces continue to retreat out of NM as Shelby continues his relentless pursuit. Nashville is reinforced and boasts strong defenses opposing Gen Grant and enemy cavalry take Leavenworth, KS. Taxes are raise, Gen Summer is promoted to 2* rank, and Gen Sherman joins Grant. Demonstrators are countered in Nevada while the two in Colorado continue apace.

[color="#008080"]WEATHER:[/color] Mud, snow, and harsh weather continues to dominate large swathes of the USA and CSA. Clear weather can be found in Kansas, IT, Nebraska, NM, & Texas.

[color="#008080"]EAST:[/color] At this point I’m really confused about Arrow’s dispositions in Virginia. Longstreet fell back from Strasburg which is very wise of Arrow as Hooker’s force was threatening to cut that division off. After that though, things decidedly got weird. Jackson has two divisions at Falmouth and Manassas just has the sole militia regiment defending it. Meanwhile one army continues to remain SW of New Market while the other army has disappeared into the fog of war. I get nervous when large enemy formations suddenly vanish, but I am going to cautiously advance.

I smell a potential trap at Manassas though. I’m not sure if leaving Manassas that wide open is a devious plan of Arrow’s into sucking me into an offensive were 4+ divisions will rail in before I arrive or if it’s a simple misclick. Either way Manassas seems to obvious a choice to attack and I don’t have the leadership or strong enough numbers to risk it at this point. I do like to play aggressively at times, but I’d rather attack my enemy on his flanks and maneuver him out of position rather than attacking head on. So in keeping with that, Gen Meagher will reconstitute his infantry division to sport a couple 10lbers and head towards Strasburg on O/B and Gen Berry will lead two divisions from Leesburg to Clarke, VA; also on O/B. If I can hold Clarke, it’ll give me a shot at enveloping Manassas and forcing Arrow into either attacking me or risk another encirclement.

Gen Hooker’s inactive again and can’t reach anything with the mud, so he’ll stay put and repair the rail I destroyed when I first moved in. Gen McDowell will rail his army to DC and fall onto a medical team that’s holding some defensive lines for him. One thing that had occurred to me was Jackson could potentially reach DC. There’s some bad weather between Jackson’s position at Falmouth and DC, but he does have that fast mover trait. I honestly don’t know if that move would be possible even in good weather, but I’m not willing to risk anything where my capital’s concerned. And I wouldn’t put it past Arrow to bait me into attacking Manassas in order to facilitate his attempt at DC, course he may have been planning on good weather for the attempt. The rest of my movement will be transferring a couple divisions around to cover any holes my above moves may have made.

[ATTACH]33833[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]WEST:[/color] Grant moved up against Nashville, but I’m putting any offensive plans on hold for the time being. Polk moved south, over, and then back up to reinforce Nashville and there’s another division present (likely the New Madrid one) to bring his count up to 4 divisions. I still have an advantage in power, but it’s not as decisive as I wanted and bad weather will hamper any attack I might launch. I think I surprised Arrow with my move into Donelson as winter was at its height, but he has since done an admirable job of scraping up enough force to give me pause. A major downside of trying to campaign in the late winter is the weather can blunt any offensive thrust and slow down movement, which will usually favor the defender and his rail network.

I did make a change to the Army of the Cumberland’s command structure from what I showed last turn. I pulled General Milroy out and put another general in charge of his division. This gives me two independent divisions operating under 2* generals in preparation for the corps introduction within the next 3-4 turns if my memory serves. Those independent commands will form the nucleus for a couple of corps under Grant’s command. Meanwhile, I have elements of a 7th division gathering at Donelson while Gen Thomas will look to join Grant’s command and Sherman’s been given command of the Cumberland’s army artillery division.

While Grant continues to threaten Nashville, General Lyon and Milroy will set their divisions in motion against Ft Henry and Humbolt. With what looks like everything but the kitchen sink in Nashville, the rest of Tennessee appears pretty open. By taking those railroads, I open up the possibility of Grant suddenly swooping down on either Memphis or Corinth. As I continue to ramp up in the east, reinforcements in this theater will be dribs and drabs instead of in large numbers. I should still see an 8th and maybe 9th division in this theater by year’s end, but I’ll have to play smart if I want to meet my audacious plans for taking Memphis, Corinth, and Nashville by the start of ’63.

[ATTACH]33834[/ATTACH]

In potentially disturbing news, I did spot a cottonclad at Memphis and that’s spurred me to increase my river fleet. I currently have 4 ironclads, 4 timberclads, 2 brig units, and the starting gunboats. That’s not including all the extra transports I ordered. That fleet is strong enough IMO to take on the CSA river fleet; assuming all CSA ironclads are gathered in the Mississippi. But if Arrow’s strengthening his river fleet, I’ll need to lay down some more hulls to maintain superiority.

[color="#008080"]TRANS-MISSISSIPPI:[/color] A strong cavalry division under Gen Watie comprised of 8K troopers and 2 batteries struck and took Leavenworth. My one conscript unit didn’t stand a chance of holding and is lucky to escape destruction. I was expecting raiding activity to pick up as spring approached and the threat against Fayetteville abated. But this is earlier than I’d hoped and planned for. I just built a half dozen militia in Mizzou, Iowa, and Illinois with the goal of burning every level 1 town north of Cairo to the Wisconsin border and west of said line. Also slated for destruction was any depot I felt I couldn’t hold against strong raiders. So that burning will start up now and I may get another couple militia to speed that process up. Additionally, I have at least 10 cavalry/horse arty in the queue that will be ready in this theater over the next 3 turns. Could be more, but my build queue is full and I wasn’t counting them as I ordered them. For now Keyes’ cavalry division is not up to the task of taking Watie’s cavalry on. But I’ll move his half division to StLo where he’ll be joined by Gen Kearney and 4 additional cavalry regiments and another horse battery. If Watie moves into northern Mizzou, I’ll be better prepared to parry that thrust.

[ATTACH]33835[/ATTACH]

Meanwhile, disease seems to have struck the CSA forces at Fayetteville. With Watie’s absence, that’s actually a target I might have a decent chance of taking now. Summer will take his division into Fayetteville. Asboth’s division will move up from Springfield in case I need support next turn. And lastly, a partisan will attempt to destroy the depot at Ft Smith on the southern bank of the Arkansas River.

[color="#008080"]FAR WEST:[/color] Once again Carson’s inactive and a misclick sent him chasing some rangers I had move further north. The good news is that no further units were caught by Shelby and Taos has burned to the ground. I also have enough supply for everyone at Ft Garland for this turn at least. I still have stragglers set to arrive within the next two turns. Unfortunately, Shelby has continued his relentless pursuit. If I could catch a breather, I think I’d be fine now as most of my force has consolidated and are mostly in supply again. I’m going to try to make a stand at Ft Garland and hope the hills, harsh weather, & deep cold all contrive to help me fend off Shelby should he try to continue to move north. Unfortunately, this turn I can’t see the condition of his cohesion or supply. Fingers crossed that he breaks off pursuit. Remember, he is leading a division of grunts and cannon, so he can’t just sprint south back south to restock. Unfortunately, it does appear that he has a supply unit and cavalry trailing behind his main force, so who knows if he’ll continue pressing north or not. My half stack of cavalry relief force continues to move west with the clearing of Nebraskan weather.

[ATTACH]33836[/ATTACH]
No word on the exchange of report for prisoner count, so I'm removing those lines from the report and won't bring it up again unless Arrow brings it up.


Just to point it out, not that it matters to me, but your total cost of war is not accurate, it seems to be just the CSA number, that is of course unless it is accurate, but your individual usa and csa casualties are inaccurate.

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FightingBuckeye
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Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:34 pm

Nope, you're right. I must have messed that formula up when I changed the format of the report to remove the Union prisoner count and total counts. Should be 72K something. I'll fix it for the next AAR.

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FightingBuckeye
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Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:14 am

[color="#008080"]Late February 1862: Turn 22[/color]

Battle Cry of Freedom; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ccQ6cT-9kk

[color="#008080"]OVERVIEW:[/color] Fairly quiet turn, I’d guess mostly due to poor weather. Shelby continues his pursuit of Carson’s forces, my men advance into Eastern Tennessee with little opposition, and the same goes to my moves in Virginia. Watie’s division threatens Lexington, MO. The French intervene in Mexico and Confederate taxes are raised. The Denver demonstration is broken up at the last possible second and the one in the gold field continues to brew. Both sides use many draft cards to bring additional conscripts.

[color="#008080"]WEATHER:[/color] The weather is really raging this turn and whatever clear weather there was last turn is gone. Even Florida has some snow on the ground!

[color="#008080"]EAST:[/color] Whether it was an intentional trap or simple misclick, I’m patting myself on the back for not moving into Manassas. Jackson is in command once again of the Manassas defenses and he commands an impressive 4 divisions. I’d have likely run into a buzzsaw had I made an attempt on Manassas. Clarke and Strasburg are now in Union hands. I’m going to transfer Hooker’s and rail them to Wilmington, I’ll explain why later. Hooker’s inactive (again) so I have to abandon his division and rail him separately while an active general follows with one division. The division I had in Winchester will move to Alexandria as Clarke is secure for now. Two divisions from Alexandria and additional support units will also head to Wilmington. McDowell will rail into Alexandria with his main force while a division will continue on to Leesburg and reinforce the division I have there. I have located Beauregard’s army of two divisions at Culpepper, but now Johnston’s army is missing. I’d guess it is at Fredericksburg, but it could be anywhere but railing to Tennessee as I have most of that line under observation thanks to loyal souls.

[color="#008080"]WEST:[/color] My push south towards Corinth has revealed a division of unknown strength there. Lyon’s division will push into the region between Corinth and Memphis while Milroy’s division will take his place. I did decide to force march Lyon’s division through Humbolt and on south. He answered the call beautifully and was able to assault and take Humbolt and press on. Unfortunately, he only just arrived in the region and I don’t have enough MC to use that rail line just yet. Bad weather and having to march two regions precludes any move by Grant to try for Corinth this turn. The move also left Lyons’ men worn out. But I’m going to press on and hope I can sever the rail connection between Memphis and Nashville while simultaneously threatening those two cities and Corinth with Grant’s army. Let’s see if Gen Lyon will meet serious opposition when he arrives. Looks like lots of units are building in Memhpis. A partisan will attempt to cut some rail and burn Pulaski’s depot.

[ATTACH]33853[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]TRANS-MISSISSIPPI:[/color] The break in weather was brief and now Watie’s division is just west of Lexington with harsh weather closing in on him. The depot at Lexington is scheduled to burn and should be gone by the time he pushes my militia out. He should still get his hands on lots of supplies. In cases like this, I wish we had the option of either destroying all supplies/ammo or being able to have all sundries possible pulled out of a city. Supply suddenly became very crucial for Watie’s division because Fayetteville is now mine without a fight. I’m not sure what ROE Van Dorn’s division had, but they did not contest Summer’s division when I moved in. Both divisions are still present and now are staring each other down but with Union possession, the onus is now on Arrow to either attack me or vacate the region.

I’m ordering the stockade at Cass burned down as I only have 2 divisions in the area and too much ground to cover. Once the stockade is gone, my second division will move back to Springfield. I may do the same to the stockade north of Springfield as well, but I’ll hold off on pulling that trigger for now. Kearney’s division will gather at St Joseph where I’ll be in position to either chase down Watie or act as a beater as he moves back south. If supply was precarious, ammo has to be a major concern for Arrow. I’m not sure how much ammo was used and gained at Leavenworth, but all the possible destinations this turn would likely involved combat that would cost him more than he’d gain from taking the structure. And past this turn, there’s not much ammo to be picked up anywhere besides the line from Fayetteville to Jefferson City. I’m not sure how much of the Lexington supply will be destroyed when I torch the depot, but I’m hoping those supplies are neutered. Tulsa and Ozark are now the only CSA possessions north of the Arkansas River as most of the other structure have been torched by one side of the other. A partisan unit will try to burn the depot at Ft Smith again as the last attempt failed.

[ATTACH]33852[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]FAR WEST:[/color] Carson met Shelby in battle and came out of it worse than Shelby; losing roughly 1500 to Shelby’s 1000 or so. I lost several units either in battle or in the pursuit after the battle. I did have the forethought to prep the stockade for destruction and that should complete this turn. Carson will form the remnants up into a division and attempt to flee north once more. The good news is that Shelby is low on cohesion and running low on supplies. I keep hoping he’ll break off and he continues to hound me, but maybe this turn is where he stops to gather himself for a turn. Fresh troops and defensive works await me at the next fort if I can just reach it. I only have supplies for half my troops. I’m hoping enough filters down to meet my needs, but I’ll likely take some more supply hits again.

[ATTACH]33851[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH]33850[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]NEW ORLEANS:[/color] Ah the pride of the South. Two iron works and numerous money producing structures means this city accounts for a sizable percentage of the South’s economy. And the division guarding it is gone! Counting regions, it could be the division that is currently at Corinth. It’s hard to say though as outside of the leader portraits, I never got any distinguishing features off it. And the leader portraits don’t match up. There could be multiple reasons why the leader portraits are different, but the important thing is that New Orleans is relatively open! The only garrison is led by General Hardee with 3-4 units inside the city.

So General Hooker is abandoning his division in order to lead the invasion. I’m gathering 2 strong infantry and one artillery division to mount a quick invasion. It’ll take me 1 turn to gather my forces at port and another two turns to reach NO. Hopefully I can get to NO before Arrow either moves in reinforcing troops or builds a new division to take the place of the old one. I wasn’t willing to risk 3-1 odds invading NO before as I watched Arrow build that division and those works at NO. But now the division is gone and same with the defensive works. My Eastern offense has served me well, but aside from battle losses, I haven’t made any really meaningful gains. Plus Arrow’s defense seems to be improving. I think I could continue to make hay in the East and at least put Richmond under serious threat by the end of the year. But I can’t pass up any good opportunity to take New Orleans.


[ATTACH]33849[/ATTACH]
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FightingBuckeye
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Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:26 am

I messed up the report again. I could never figure out how to make a formula to calc the difference in power from one turn to the next correctly. So I usually do that by hand, I just forgot this turn as the relative CSA power increased pretty substantially.

B0rn_C0nfused
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Sat Jun 20, 2015 6:10 am

I was thinking FE was potentially going to be a problem for you, but that -10 should feel pretty good.

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FightingBuckeye
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Sun Jun 21, 2015 2:25 am

Definitely, I've been worried about how the FE would look like ever since my blockade backfired on me. I still have the Emancipation Proclamation coming up and hopefully I gain an edge in NM this year in order to curtail that FE even further. In other news, we've got Union prisoner counts again. Arrow recently sent me his orders and have run the turn. I should have a new report out sometime tomorrow, stay tuned.

[ATTACH]33864[/ATTACH]
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Early March 1862: Turn 23

Sun Jun 21, 2015 12:50 pm

[color="#008080"]Early March 1862: Turn 23[/color]

Foggy Dew; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Bq_2soGIA

[color="#008080"]OVERVIEW:[/color] Another fairly quiet turn. Fayetteville was attacked and held, the last demonstrations were put down, and corps structures are now possible. Kentucky is leaning towards the Union and several generals have arrived in the West; including Sigel who will be sent to York, PA. Northern papers pushing for an offensive and General War Order 2 neccesitates keeping troops guarding DC while simultaneously threatening Richmond.

[color="#008080"]WEATHER:[/color] Bad weather eases into better weather in Kansas, the majority of Missouri, and Tennessee. Bad weather still is prevalent elsewhere.

[color="#008080"]EAST:[/color] Having corps structure will make my disparate forces a little better protected from being overrun. But it’ll also make it easier for Arrow to tie in his defenses and prevent me from trying too many flanking moves. All of my defensive positions have or will have corps commanders leading them before the turn is out. I will send a division of infantry and half division of batteries under the corps command of Gen Dix to take Falmouth. Other than that, this theater was pretty quiet.

[color="#008080"]WEST:[/color] General Lyon ran into two divisions under Gen Forney. Luckily Lyon refused to attack due to his low cohesion. I’ve ordered him back out as the numbers I’m facing are unfavorable and the pending inclusion of Kentucky has changed my priorities. I’m amazed at how quickly Arrow’s been able to marshal his defenses in this theater. I’m seeing 3.5 divisions between Corinth and Memphis with another 4 at Nashville. Speaking of Nashville, I found the other Johnston both 3* Johnstons are at Nashville. My numbers advantage in this theater is now pretty much a wash. With Kentucky joining the Union soon, I have to take steps to secure it with Grant’s forces as I really don’t have much else in this theater. I really really want to send Grant against Corinth, but I can’t allow Arrow to establish a foothold in Kentucky. So my offensive plans are once again derailed; first by poor weather and now by Kentucky.

I’ve created three small corps of 1 division each under Generals Lyon, Milroy, and Foster. I’m sending one of these corps to Montgomery, TN north of the Cumberland. At the same time I’m going to send Grant’s army to sweep both regions on the northern bank. The two forces will be able to support each other and Grant’s army should be enough to clear those regions of any force Arrow decides to send across. Next turn I’ll rail the majority of Grant’s forces to its current position and send another corps to take his place north of the Cumberland. One thing’s for sure, my priorities are quickly switching from attacking to thinking defensive first. From what I can tell, Arrow now has about the same numbers as I do in this theater. My builds in this theater have tapered off as I switch to building up more in the East and it appears Arrow’s been prioritizing this area. Competing demands in Missouri don’t help much either.

[color="#008080"]TRANS-MISSISSIPPI:[/color] As expected, Arrow did choose to attack Lexington and my militia were hunted down like the last big screen TV on Black Friday. The silver lining is that my prediction on the ammo levels of Watie’s division was correct. Only 21% of his division had ammo by the 2nd battle. Lexington had some ammo, but not enough to replenish his stocks. Arrow has two major options, he could exit the area to the southwest and get back to friendly territory before striking north once more. Or he could make a play at the one spot that would have his ammo and is within range; Jefferson City. Trying for Jefferson City would also cut off my forces further south. I’m rushing what I can to both Jefferson City and the stockade between JC and Springfield in case he takes the more aggressive route. Luckily mud will slow him down if he tries for either target, so I should be able to rail in enough to turn him back. Especially as he’s low on ammo.

[ATTACH]33866[/ATTACH]

Arrow tried pushing Summer out of Fayetteville and he was rebuffed with minimal casualties on both sides. It’s striking how close our two forces are in terms of strength. Total troops, cavalry, and cannon are all pretty even across the board there. Gen Asboth is done demolishing the stockade at Cass and is moving up to take up his position at Springfield. Aside from cavalry action, I’m pretty much done with any offensive actions in this neck of the woods. My partisan was able to take out the depot at Ft Smith and netted me 1 NM.

[ATTACH]33865[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]FAR WEST:[/color] Carson was able to slip north without further battle, but his force did take 70+ hits due to lack of supply. I only have enough supply for about 45% of my force, so I’ll be looking at some more catastrophic hits unless I can pull supply from the nearby fort. Shelby’s division stopped and his trailing supply wagon joined up with him. I’m not sure if he’ll continue to pursue me in this bad weather or await better weather before resuming the chase.

[color="#008080"]NEW ORLEANS:[/color] I gathered most of my invasion force and will set out for New Orleans soon. Unfortunately, my orders to a marine and HQ unit went awry and I’ll have to depart without them as I can’t afford to dawdle. My brig is now reporting 11 units at New Orleans. It’s hard to tell if those are new arrivals or if they’re militia forces. If I think the risk is too great, I’ll probably find somewhere else to land. There are some appetizing options out there, but nothing as juicy as New Orleans.

[ATTACH]33867[/ATTACH]
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FightingBuckeye
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Late March 1862: Turn 24

Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:18 am

[color="#008080"]Late March 1862: Turn 24[/color]

I’ve had lots of Irish inspired songs, but I’ve been gravely neglecting the sturdy Germanic soldiers and their contribution to the Union war effort. “I Goes To Fight Mit Sigel”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUSJA-vtg_s

[color="#008080"]OVERVIEW:[/color] Battles erupt in almost all major theaters and thousands of family back home will soon be receiving grievous news concerning their young soldier in Blue or Gray. The Union prints money and inflation is now sitting at 8%. General Curtis is amongst the three newest Union generals.

[color="#008080"]WEATHER:[/color] Snow and winter storms are giving way to mud or clear areas in some parts of the country; including clear weather on the Eastern seaboard. But winter returns to Tennessee and continues to rage in the Great Plains and in Colorado.

[color="#008080"]EAST:[/color] General Dix’s short corps arrived in Falmouth in time to stand off a CSA division that was looking to move in. It goes in the books as a win and we have control of the city, but losses were in the favor of the rebels. The battle wasn’t particularly bloody though and my short corps is in pretty decent shape. With the capture of Falmouth, I now almost completely surround Manassas and I’m also threatening moving further South towards Richmond. There’s currently not much at Fredericksburg, only two militia units. I’m sure that’ll change soon and had I stronger force I would immediately gamble on a forced crossing. But one infantry division and a half artillery division is probably not going to do it.

[ATTACH]33885[/ATTACH]

Something worrying is I my inability to spot the division I fought at Fredericksburg. Last seen, it withdrew to Manassas. But I’m not sure if that wasn’t a display issue. I got the impression that division was simply moving south and I’m pretty sure Arrow is aware that I have a force at sea. If he were paying attention, it’d be hard to miss the withdrawal of 3 divisions, General Hooker, or the fact that a large fleet was at Wilmington and is now gone.

[color="#008080"]WEST:[/color] Arrow only sent a single cavalry unit to the north bank of the Cumberland which did not engage and was not engaged. I now have a one division corps and am dropping another division from Grant’s army in order for a corps commander to take over in a couple days. That’ll give me 2 strong and mutually supporting divisions on the northern bank that should suffice to protect Kentucky soil from being trod on by the boots (bare feet) of a Southern force.

Grant’s army stack is now down to 3 divisions and will rail back to the Humphrey, TN which is currently dubiously safeguarded by Lyon’s tired division. Grant will only take 2 days to resume his position, with a possible slight delay as he’s been ordered to assault Clarksville en route as 2* Foster is inactive and I want the protection of that city against the harsh weather. Even with a slight delay, Grant should get back into his defensive works with plenty of time to meet any possible attack by Johnston’s army.

As I feared Gen Lyon reverted to offensive posture and attacked a rested opponent with his division of tired men. I had left Milroy’s corps in supporting position just to his north and Milroy responded beautifully and marched to aid his fellow corps commander. Together they about doubled the enemy’s numbers and secured a close win. The battle wasn’t helped by the two inactive 1*s in Milroy’s corps that prevented me from reforming Milroy’s division. Given a choice between forming the corps and keeping the division formation, I ultimately chose corps formation due to Lyon’s dire straits.

After the battle, General Lyon railed over to temporarily hold Grant’s vacated defensive works. Which left him out of position to return the favor and support Milroy’s corps when it was attacked in turn by a division under General Bragg. Slightly outnumbered, already having fought once, and in loose brigade formation Milroy had his work cut out for him. But he had two advantages that General Bragg didn’t. First, he had twice the cannon barrels and second he had the good old 1st Illinois Militia (since trained up by Gen Halleck). Yup, I haven’t forgotten about these stellar citizen soldiers. Amongst the first raised as well as being amongst the first to fight; the 1st Illinois has been involved in the successful captures of Rolla, Springfield, and Ft Henry. They’ve also personally destroyed/captured at least one unit (militia), helped save General Lyon’s bacon, and partook in the earlier failed attempt to take Fayetteville. And now to that impressive set of battle honors, they can add a strong defensive victory that nets the North another NM. Milroy earned a big star in my book this turn.

The battle wasn’t without cost though and being in loose formation almost led to the destruction of a small infantry brigade, only 210 men out of an original 1200 remain after the two battles. I have enough MC to prevent Bragg from using the rail but not enough to force him to attack me. I’ll hold my position while poor Lyon’s tired corps will be asked to move once more to take up a supporting position at Humbolt. Lyon’s corps only has about 25% of his cohesion and I’m sending a hospital unit to join his position to help his men recover. One of the generals in Milroy’s corps is now active and has formed a division while the nearly destroyed brigade will rail to recover at Donelson while another brigade will rail south to take its place.

I am somewhat concerned about Island 10’s vulnerable position. There’s only a single infantry regiment and the captured coastal guns there. And I lost track of an enemy division. It could have gone anywhere, but there is what appears to be a decent river fleet at Memphis. So I’m sending my main river fleet from the Cumberland into a blocking position on the Mississippi in order to interdict any river move against both Island 10 and Cairo.

[ATTACH]33884[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]TRANS-MISSISSIPPI:[/color] Arrow chose the safer option with Watie’s division and moved southwest. A mixture of harsh weather and mud will slow his movement down. But Ft Scott now flies the stars and bars and it had enough supply that he probably won’t start taking supply hits anytime soon. Arrow attacked Fayetteville once more, but this time with greater force. Gen Summer won once more, but this time with greater results and netted another NM for our great nation. CSA supply levels are starting to drop, Arrow’s running out of time to retake the city. My destruction of Ft Smith’s depot is probably impacting enemy supply in this area. That partisan band will get a fitting tribute as heroes after the war as they’ve since been pursued and destroyed.

General Kearny will take his cavalry division one region south and will probably hold there for better weather. I still don’t have a full cavalry division as I’ve now dispatched a total of 8 cavalry regiments/batteries towards Colorado. I’ve also diverted a couple of cavalry units to Kentucky in anticipation of that theater opening up. Still, as long as Fayetteville holds, it’ll probably take Gen Watie sometime to replenish his spent ammunition.

[ATTACH]33886[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]FAR WEST:[/color] Straight Arrow has rebuilt the burned depot at Ft Garland. I’m not sure how much supply will push through just yet as there’s mud in northern NM and snow in Colorado. But it does not bode well for Colorado. Ft Lyon doesn’t have enough supply for everyone and I’m crossing my fingers that my supply wagon can suck enough supply from Denver. My strongest remaining units will remain at the fort while the rest will continue on to Denver in order to ease the supply situation.

In the good news category, the slow trek of my small cavalry division across the Great Plains is almost at an end. They should reach Ft Morgan in two more turns. I have four additional cavalry units trailing far behind as well a sharpshooter unit. I hope to continue to keep that cavalry division a secret and spring them upon Arrow at an opportune time. All is not rosy though, as Ft Wallace surrendered to the enemy and cost me 1 NM.

[color="#008080"]NEW ORLEANS:[/color] I’m regretfully canceling my planned invasion of New Orleans. There appears to be a division present at NO now (possibly the missing one from Tennessee?) and there are still 10 some units building in the city itself. I don’t know the strength of that division, but I’m really starting to doubt I have the strength to both defeat that division with an amphibious assault AND take the city with what is building within that city. At least some of those units are regular units of some type as militia would’ve already been completed. I might roll the dice on the division being a half division or with lots of volunteer units. And I probably would’ve continued even with 10+ units building. But I can’t risk both, not when my 3 divisions represents a strategic reserve of sorts. I don’t have a rescue force ready to bail them out if they get in over their heads.

But if New Orleans if off the table, there are still plenty of targets to choose from. Charleston’s defenses is an unknown strength, and I don’t know if I have the fleet strength to survive running those 3 forts. Norfolk doesn’t seem to have much more than their locked units and as of two turns ago Suffolk only had a militia unit guarding it. But that division I caught moving worries me. And taking Norfolk wouldn’t really hurt the CSA’s economy. I took a peak at Mobile with an enterprising brig unit and there’s a division of unknown strength there. Tempting, but again when I selected my fleet, I did so planning to land directly on NO and not so much in order to run forts. Bit shortsighted of me, but at the time I didn’t want to give Arrow too much warning that I’d be mounting a naval invasion and pulling too many ships would’ve been a big tipoff. Not that it seems to have done me much good. But Savannah and Wilmington currently only have what appear to be their locked garrisons. So Savannah’s about to be a hopefully unsuspecting host to thousands of Union boys.

I definitely need to curtail Arrow’s economy and the sooner the better. I pursued a Virginia campaign with no small success. But I didn’t really take anything that long-term will hurt Arrow’s ability to wage war. It did get me NM and deprive Arrow of the same. And I caused quite a few casualties, so it wasn’t all pointless. And then I really slowed down builds for Tennessee when it looked like I’d be able to at least take Nashville in order to focus on building up in the East. So it is spring of 1862 and I haven’t really taken out one single major component of the CSA’s economy or increased that blockade percentage with the take of a fort. Normally I would’ve already done something on the coast by this point in the game. After Savannah, at least taking Ft Sumter and Ft Philip will be a big priority for me.

[ATTACH]33883[/ATTACH]
CSA forces are again the first to break a new plateau with 50K casualties, the Union number probably won’t be too far behind in crossing that mark. It seems like we’ve been sitting at a 10K difference between numbers for most of the war. FE creeps back up.
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seathom
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:45 am

This is continuing to be an excellent read. I am so glad you are being careful with your navy. Hopefully I have finally learned my lesson because replacement chits resulting from serious coastal artillery barrage will prevent you from building up your army. I had the notion to use my navy more than historically and it was VERY expensive.

I really like how you take the time to think about Arrow's units and where they are. I tend to forget about my opponent's units when they are no longer visible. No wonder my battle deaths are always much higher. I am pretty sure I would have lost the primaries to you since dead men don't vote; even with my being from Illinois (although at this time, I believe my only ancestor living in the USA was a priest in the Minnesota area).

Keep up the exciting work!

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FightingBuckeye
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:32 am

Very very bloody turn this time around, total casualties for the game EASILY soar past 100K. Approximately THREE divisions bit it this turn and on an unrelated note (really) Hooker's 3 divisions land in Savannah. Total NM swing from the battles was 9 NM this turn, but was it all one sided? Stay tuned!

seathom wrote:This is continuing to be an excellent read. I am so glad you are being careful with your navy. Hopefully I have finally learned my lesson because replacement chits resulting from serious coastal artillery barrage will prevent you from building up your army. I had the notion to use my navy more than historically and it was VERY expensive.

I really like how you take the time to think about Arrow's units and where they are. I tend to forget about my opponent's units when they are no longer visible. No wonder my battle deaths are always much higher. I am pretty sure I would have lost the primaries to you since dead men don't vote; even with my being from Illinois (although at this time, I believe my only ancestor living in the USA was a priest in the Minnesota area).

Keep up the exciting work!


Thanks! Always great to know people are enjoying my reports. And I would trade a ship or two if it meant taking Charleston or some such. But sailing blindly in without knowing what was waiting for me just wasn't something I was willing to do. Plus I didn't have a large fleet, so I thought I could easily lose a transport or two. I've never lost an ocean or river transport while it was carrying men, but I'd assume anything it was carrying would go down as well.

As far as trying to keep track of what Arrow's units are doing, well I used to be an intel guy in the Army. Part of our creed was "To find, know, and never lose the enemy." Those words have stuck with me and I always try to apply them to less important aspects like gaming.

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BattleVonWar
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:38 am

3 divisions at one time ratio is HIGH. The Union may endure that but the CSA won't. That has to be about 15% of her forces
For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863 ~~~

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FightingBuckeye
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:45 am

36,000+ total casualties this turn.

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FightingBuckeye
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 6:48 am

BattleVonWar wrote:3 divisions at one time ratio is HIGH. The Union may endure that but the CSA won't. That has to be about 15% of her forces


They might be Arrow's divisions, they might be my divisions, or possibly a mix from the both of us. Nobody knows! Ok, I know but I won't spoil the next report by spilling the beans now. Besides, I know how much Cardinal Ape loves those cliffhangers!

Andswaru
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:17 pm

Just crammed the whole AAR upto now into my head thrilling read. Looking foward to reading the rest soon. :w00t:

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FightingBuckeye
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Early April 1862: Turn 25

Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:18 pm

[color="#008080"]Early April 1862: Turn 25[/color]

In honor of all my brave digital soldiers who fell this past turn. “Sergeant MacKenzie”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB2Ad04mukI

[color="#008080"]OVERVIEW:[/color] Rebel forces are on the march in Virginia and Tennessee! Multiple corps level attacks are launched under the direction of General Arrow in an attempt to reclaim his sacred soil. In Virginia two attacks are launched on the Union flanks, with mixed results. Additionally in Tennessee, the attack on Humphreys is easily repulsed. Union forces land in Savannah, GA and quickly take possession. Rebel demonstrators start trying to build support in four Northern cities and counter intelligence operatives are quickly dispatched to all four cities. Former 1* Phil Kearney is promoted, famed indian-fighter General McCook is available, and the elite Eagle Brigade forms up.

[color="#008080"]WEATHER:[/color] Winter storms finally wind down in all parts of the continent. Muddy terrain abounds in Virginia, the Great Lakes states, Kansas, and half of Missouri. Clear weather and terrain can be found in Tennessee & Colorado.

[color="#008080"]EAST:[/color] Wow, I was not expecting two major attacks in this theater. I thought, maybe, there might be something in Falmouth. But I thought McDowell’s army stack would quickly MTSG and it’d be a pretty even fight even if that attack happened. Well, I should have considered the implications of Jackson having a four division corps. I thought Arrow just wanted to ensure Manassas held. Instead he took the fight to me and came at me hard in Falmouth. McDowell did march in support of Dix’s short corps, but most of the damage had been done before I could get there. The CSA gained 5 NM from the destruction of one Union infantry division and inflicting massive losses on my half artillery division. Basically my short corps was almost wiped out to a man, all my batteries survived but are in really bad shape and Jackson captured a supply wagon on top of everything else.

Longstreet also launched an attack this turn against Strasburg and my one division corps there. Wallace’s corps MTSG’d but never actually participated in the battle. So it was just Meagher’s one division against two strong infantry divisions and a weak cavalry one. Unlike in Falmouth though, I had strong defensive works, good terrain, and the enemy had to cross a river to get to me. Plus Longstreet’s is not the strong offensive leader Jackson is. The Union got a bloody win here and inflicted approximately 700 more casualties then the enemy. No NM swing from this battle.

[ATTACH]33900[/ATTACH]

One all infantry division was completed last turn and railed down, so I will still have the same amount of infantry divisions available in this theater as last turn. I also have another infantry division set to be completed this coming turn. Losing my ability to threaten Fredericksburg hurts, but my position in the East is otherwise unchanged. The loss at Falmouth wasn’t decisive enough to really change the equation here. The one major movement will be sending Dix’s restructured corps to DC. My newest infantry division and another partial artillery division (originally intended to fill out the partial one in Falmouth) are now part of Dix’s corps. With Jackson at Falmouth again, I’m once again apprehensive about whether he can reach DC. McDowell’s inactive, so I won’t be able to bombard him on the way in if he used the water route. I really need to playtest it sometime and see if a corps under an active Jackson can reach DC by marching or not, even if by force march. Or if he’d be limited to sailing up the river. Till then, I will continue to jump at shadows.

[ATTACH]33901[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]WEST:[/color] I also did not expect a major attack on Humphreys, but it looks like this was the turn for unexpected attacks. The Clarksville garrison surrendered, so Grant arrived into Humphreys without any delay. From the replay, it looks like Arrow sent in one division under 1* Ewell as well as the one division corps south of Nashville with Johnston’s Army of Mississippi in support. Grant’s Army with Foster’s corps in surprising (for me) support stood off the attack; making it a four division on four division slugfest that went 6 rounds. Initially I thought I’d destroyed 2 divisions in this battle. But after going through the battle report, I realized only one division was destroyed and the other fell apart when General Polk bought it in what looks like the last round of battle. Grant earned two experience points to bump him up to an intimidating 6-7-5, several other Union generals earned one experience point, and I also earned 4 NM from this battle to help offset the loss in Falmouth. Howe’s division, part of Foster’s corps, was heavily engaged in the battle and lost a single cavalry regiment as well as having multiple infantry regiments that almost joined that lost regiment in death.

[ATTACH]33902[/ATTACH]

This resounding Union victory leaves Nashville in a precarious position as Grant’s army is mostly intact, Foster’s division attracted the majority of enemy fire. There’s a damaged enemy division in corps formation at Humphreys and there’s only one division plus the loose elements from Polk’s former division at Nashville. One CSA general, Breckinridge, is present so Arrow could get a 2nd division formed up pretty fast depending on whether he’s active or not. Regardless, Grant’s army will be attacking Nashville. I’m also bringing Gilbert’s corps to take up a supporting position at Humphries as well as moving a very short division from Donelson to join that corps. Foster’s men have done their job and will sit tight and recover their losses.

My instincts were partially correct about what Arrow would do on the Mississippi. The CSA river fleet did sail this past turn and the missing division I lost track of does appear to have been at Memphis. Thanks to Admiral Semmes’s leadership, the enemy river fleet was able to bypass my gathering fleet off Island 10 and sailed on to the Donelson Narrows. I had coastal guns at Island 10 and Metropolis, IL that bombarded the enemy fleet for 19 hits and took 9 hits in return. All enemy ships are damaged except 1 ironclad. The presence of Arrow’s river fleet stops me from bringing a couple of brigades I had gathered at Cairo on to Donelson. In response to the enemy river fleet, I’ll turn the majority of my fleet back to hunt the enemy down under Foote’s leadership. My transports with a couple ships as escorts will sail to Cairo.

Arrow probably won’t be able to send help any help to Nashville from western Tennessee as three divisions are facing Milroy’s corps in Madison. I’m not sure if they were intended to attack this past turn or not, but the Army of Tennessee with one division and a corps with an additional 2 divisions are present in the same region as Milroy. Lyon’s corps is still recovering cohesion, but even with his support I’ll be outnumbered 3-2. What’s worse is it’s a clear region so Arrow can get more units into the battle at a time then I can. The good news though, is I control enough MC to deny the rail to the 3 divisions, limiting any help he can send to Nashville. Even if he could use the rail, it’d take Arrow 11 days to reach Nashville. For now, I’ll just hold defensively and see if Arrow chooses to attack me or not.

[ATTACH]33903[/ATTACH]

Last turn I was thinking I’d pretty much lost the initiative in this theater. I didn’t have enough strength to hold everything I wanted to and still attack something worthwhile without exposing something. Now though, I have a pretty big advantage that I hope to build on with an attack on Nashville. Additionally, with the loose units I have at Cairo and Louisville plus my builds over the next two turns, I should have enough units to field two more infantry divisions in the near future. I’ve also started railing over 6 batteries in division formation that were just completed in New York City. With the losses Arrow’s taken and the reinforcements I should have coming online, I just might be able to start the war machine moving in this area again. At some point when it won't cost me NM to do so, I'd like to Put Gen Lyon in charge of the Army of the Cumberland and send General Grant to assume command in Virginia.

And on a side note, does anyone know how long Kentucky can take in joining in once the message pops up? In all of my previous games it happens within two turns max, usually Kentucky joins on the very next turn. Kentucky is still neutral thus far. Hoping it actually fires soon so I can add Bowling Green to my control.

To be continued!
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Turn 25 Continued

Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:20 pm

[color="#008080"]TRANS-MISSISSIPPI:[/color] No attack in Fayetteville and the supply for CSA forces in the region continues to drop. I’m not sure whether Arrow will continue to sit there, attack once more, or pull back. Summer’s division is well entrenched now and should hold as long as they don’t get hit with epidemics like Arrow’s garrison did. A new depot is present at Ft Smith though, so maybe the supply situation stabilizes for Arrow.

Watie’s division is now at Ft Scott and they were joined by a supply unit. This is a nice move by Arrow and an unfortunate one for me as he’ll probably set Watie’s division in motion once more. I’ve now got a small division at Jefferson City and next turn will have another half division holding the stockade between Springfield and Jefferson City. Once the road is completed, I’ll probably burn the stockade and use that holding force elsewhere. But for now, I want to protect the road as it builds.

Kearney will take his cavalry division to Lexington, MO as I don’t really have much strength in that area. Some additional gunboats have finished building and I am sending 8 gunboat units to patrol four sections of the Missouri River. Lastly, a really tiny division guarding Lawrence will head north as they won’t me more than road kill to Watie’s division.

[ATTACH]33904[/ATTACH]

[color="#008080"]FAR WEST:[/color] I think it’s time to abandon Ft Lyon and continue heading north. I’m worried that Arrow might be revamping Shelby’s division to be a cavalry one as I spotted what I’m assuming to be his 3 infantry brigades in loose formation. That and the clear weather have me worried that Arrow might bypass Ft Lyon and get ahead of me. I somewhat planned for this as I had 1 militia unit inside the fort with orders to burn the stockade, since it takes two turns I knew could cancel those orders and maybe have Carson’s force take up the same orders so I would always be 1 turn from burning the stockade. I’m also using the scorched earth RGD in order to improve my really low cohesion. Not enough supply got through last turn and I took some more hits, which leaves my force really weak in strength and cohesion.

Scorching the region will also drop the development by 10, which will hopefully slow Shelby’s march north some as well as giving my forces better cohesion in order to march faster. I’m gathering forces from in and around Denver to join my garrison at Colorado City. I lived in the Springs for 3 years, so I’m hoping my old home is as far as Arrow pushes me. My cavalry division will sit tight at Ft Morgan which should be in FOW, assuming one of Arrow’s units doesn’t head there.

[ATTACH]33905[/ATTACH]

With Shelby’s division in Colorado, there’s not much opposing me in NM. And the weather is finally decent enough to try moving out of Tucson. I’m forming a division with the strong cavalry brigade and 1 cav unit I have at Tucson and moving them east. It’ll take me two turns to get anywhere. But after that, I’ll probably strike north and threaten Shelby’s base of supply. The only major enemy force I can see threatening me is a division under Sibley (157 PWR) at Pinos Altos. Canby will hold for now with my infantry, volunteers, and artillery in a division (299 PWR) at Tucson. I might push some more units east or try heading south against Sibley at some point.

[color="#008080"]SAVANNAH:[/color] Hooker’s amphibious force stormed Savannah and was able to capture the coastal city after two battles. A tiny division (volunteer brigade, sharpshooter, and volunteer regiment) looks to have joined the garrison sometime during the turn. They stood no match for my 3 divisions but were able to retreat with 2/3rd strength remaining. A coastal battery and a 12lber were captured and Hooker has earned a promotion.

[ATTACH]33907[/ATTACH]

I’m going to sit tight and regain cohesion and see what kind of response I get. I am landing some sailors south of the city in order to replace the missing marine unit that literally missed the boat. I’m also gathering a small mixture of forces in New Jersey to reinforce Savannah next turn. And next turn I’ll likely send a division or so to take Ft Pulaski so I can freely use my new port city. I gathered a couple of additional naval ships to join my fleet last turn and they’ll split up. One transport with a small escort will head to NJ to pick up my gathering reinforcements and the rest of my fleet will either go to the shipping or blockade box.

[ATTACH]33906[/ATTACH]

This was easily the single bloodiest turn to date. This turn will also be the start of the second year of war, meaning we’re averaging 10K casualties per month (mostly thanks this turn). 5NM down from Falmouth and 4NM up from Humphreys plus another NM from the surrender at Clarksville means Union NM stays at 100. And I haven’t gotten a response from Arrow on my latest turn, but I figured I’d post up instead of waiting, so the Union prisoner count is likely a lot lower than it should be. I’ll update when I get the numbers in from Arrow.
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:28 pm

Andswaru wrote:Just crammed the whole AAR upto now into my head thrilling read. Looking foward to reading the rest soon. :w00t:


Welcome to the thread and glad to have you!

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FightingBuckeye
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Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:12 pm

I just started a new game against the AI and playtested some with Jackson at Falmouth to see if it was possible to get to DC in one turn. And as I half suspected, it is indeed possible as long as you don't have some really big guns with you. Jackson could even avoid any chance of being bombarded by using the Potomac Estuary, granted he'd have to succeed with a force march. But it's definitely a feasible option. I'm going to have to reassess my defenses of DC and possibly bring some ships over to block some river movement in the near future. Dix has already had one short corps destroyed by Jackson, but DC's a lot bigger pot then Falmouth could ever hope to be.

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Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:16 pm

I evaded combat with the teaser and arrived just in time for the main show. It's a morale victory..

It is too bad for Arrow that you figured out that you also need to protect D.C. from the south. Blocking the river is pretty crucial.

You should set it up to promote Lyon over Butler, because that is what all the cool kids do. Or just me. I can't ever pass up the opportunity to anger one of my most disliked generals while promoting one of my favorites, it's a win-win for me despite the NM hit.

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Thu Jun 25, 2015 2:32 am

Yup, I've never had an opponent that put Jackson in Falmouth before with that kind of strength. There was once when I think it was a division or two and I never even considered him striking north around Alexandria. But 4 divisions would probably do the trick if I don't take steps to deal with it. And I'm just envisioning a repeat of Falmouth where Jackson pushes Dix around . . . *shiver*

And I actually kind of like Butler, I use him to help pacify CSA cities as I take them. But I really try to avoid using him in any kind of combat if at all possible.

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Thu Jun 25, 2015 12:26 pm

This is what can happen to D.C.:

[ATTACH]33909[/ATTACH]

Washington's defenses are like a box of chocolates.
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Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:09 am

In that they have a gooey center?

I'm definitely considering my options here. From putting another infantry division in Dix's corps to leaving Dix in place and sending McDowell up. If I had time or the ships handy, a couple ships in the river would help. And maybe putting a small division at Port Tobacco would be a long term solution. One well put together division in good defensive works can inflict a bunch of damage against 3-4 divisions trying a forced river crossing, especially a major river. And even if they fall back, that battle should delay someone like Jackson or Lee from reaching DC. Lots to think about for sure.

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Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:26 am

The next report will be delayed, maybe until next weekend. Sorry for the delay and despite my earlier attempts at keeping you on the edge of your seat ploys, I did not intend to keep you all at bated breathe to see what would happen in Nashville or if Jackson would strike for DC. Will post up as soon as possible.

Andswaru
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Sun Jun 28, 2015 12:41 pm

Okay Bucky thanks for keeping us updated about the delay!

Actually have a question from rereading this AAR, I normally dont division my Arty up I just leave it free range under my army/corps commanders control I was under the impression that is was the best way to utilise arty... or am i wrong?

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Sun Jun 28, 2015 1:42 pm

You're not wrong per se, but it's probably not the most efficient way to use your artillery. I responded to a question earlier at the top of page 3 of this thread about artillery divisions, there's also the below thread about those divisions and there are probably plenty of other posts or threads about them. A lot of experienced players favor them and I do too now that I've tried them out myself.

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?39695-artillery-divs

Loose batteries won't get the benefit of a general's stats and you can quickly eat up a lot of command points if you have too many loose batteries.

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