patch 1.11 with Historical Accuracy mod
USA: Jarkko, newbie human
CSA: Athena, veteran AI
I have tried a few campaigns and scenarios so far. Usually they go down the drain in a few turns. Far West I however have succeeded to complete with some success, as CSA and vs Easy AI.
This was my first ever attempt in this scenario as USA, and I also chose a hard AI.
As CSA I have noticed the AI is not very good at reacting to cavarly raids deep behind the lines. Thus I decided to not do deep raids with cav, but use cav more as scouts who ride somewhat ahead of the infantry (and capture forts/depots/cities if chances arise).
For grand strategy I decided to attempt to get a firm hold on Missouri before winter, and making a serious push to take Ft.Smith and at minimum take Fayeteville depot, while pushing along the Mississippi southwards. After rivers would thaw I would then hopefully be able to close on Little Rock on river both from west and east in a pincer move.
EARLY JULY 61
The scenario starts with only Lyon and some attached troops active. I did form 1st division under Lyon's command with all available troops and named Sigel as second-in-command (thus having enough command points for the full stack), mount them on a train and sent them towards Rolla. Hopefully the Confederates from Jefferson would try to move to the area on foot at the same time, and thus I would get a good chance to deal good damage (with a slightly stronger division than what the CSA would be able to put together *and* my troops would be under full command unlike the rebs).
For economy and drafting I decided to try some minimal industrialisation (it has been good investment as CSA) in Missouri, altough I was suprised at how little money USA has.
I also called for volunteers, and called two MO militia regiments to arms. If luck would be with me, at least one would be available in St.Louis (and from there transfer to Rolla to garrison the depot if I'd get it with Lyon this turn), and the other would be available at or close to Lexington (to garrison that town and I would get to form a second diviosn from the Lexington force and Stigel to lead it).
LATE JULY 61
Everything didn't go as I had hoped. Rebs went to siege Lexington, so I got Rolla for "free".
Only one of the militias became available, in St.Joseph in the west. The industrialisation provided a small armory in St.Joseph but a mill in St.Louis.
The 2nd and 3rd US Cav regiments were released for action in Leavenworth, KS. With Rebs sieging Lexington, which I did presume they would *not* be able to take with just the initial forces at use still (altough the "Massacre in St.Louis" did happen, so they would have more troops available soon), I was very keen at going for Springfield depot which by all accounts would be very empty.
I left Rolla open and sent Lyon to Springfield with assault orders. The two released cav regiments were ordered to take a swing around Lexington and dash for Jefferson, with orders to evade and if engaged to retreat as soon as possible. The new militia in St.Joseph was ordered to board river transports and sail to Lexington to bolster the garrison.
The industrialisation was cancelled as I was very low on money, and recruited three new MO militia regiments. Hopefully at least now somebody would arrive to St.Louis, or I would have to dispatch troops from Lyon's division to garrison duties!
EARLY AUGUST 61
Everything went as planned. The two cavalry regiments evaded the rebs and took Jefferson. Lyon took the empty Springfield. Four new militia became available; in Bloomington, St.Joseph and two regiments in St.Louis.
Rebs moved their force to the middle of nowhere. I presume they were going towards Jefferson but ended up on a wild goose chace after my cavalry regiments.
The two regiments in St.Louis were merged to a militia brigade, and sent on river-transports to Jefferson. If rebs would go for Jefferson with assault orders the cavalry in the garrison would most likely croak and the militia would be too late. I hoped the militia brigade would make it in time.
Sigel was split from Lyon's force, and sent towards Lexington. There he would form a new division with the soon to be released Lexington detachment.
The militia on Bloomington was given rail and river access, and was hurried to garrison Rolla.
Meanwhile the militia from St.Joseph was sent to garrison the strategic town of Lawrence.
Lyon was given rest to get cohesion back up. Besides, I had nothing else to garrison Springfield with, and hopefully the rebs would make a push for it, meeting a Lyon taking advantage of the wooded terrain in Springfield.
Artillery is always nice in this game. Thus three new 6 lbs batteries were recruited. First replacements were also added to the pool, hopefull Lyon would recieve some additional troops now that he was resting in Springfield!
LATE AUGUST 61
The bare bones of the artilly batteries were recruited. I was happy were they would eventually be available. As I had hoped, Lyon's division did recieve a new regiment from the replacements.
Bad news of the turn was that Rebs went back to siege Lexington. So Siegel walked alone into the rebs and got wounded! &%¤#¤#! Luckily the wounds were light only, he would be back after two turns, and was recovering in Jefferson.
With the militia brigade garrisoning Jefferson, the two cavalry regiments were free to move, and they were ordered to Springfield. Lyon's 1st division on the other hand was sent to Fayeteville Depot with assault orders. By the looks of it there was at max a militia brigade there, so it should be easy to simply storm in.
The militia regiment garrisoning Rolla was sent far south to Charleston. The regiment was given primary rights to railroads and river transports. The regiment had orders to withdraw if enemy was seen, else they were to immediatly enter inside the structure upon arrival.
The detachment in St.Louis became active. With Lexington under siege and Stigel recovering in Jefferson, I decided to send the released troops under Fremont to Jefferson. Once Stigel was back in action he would form the 2nd division from the militia, artillery and supplywagon in Jefferson.
More replacements were added to the pool, especially artillery ones. I wanted the new artillery batteries to action as soon as possible.
EARLY SEPTEMBER 61
As predicted, Fayeteville depot was defended by a militia brigade (or two independent militia regiments). Lyon stormed the depot easily. So easily he became available for a promotion!
The divisions cohesion however was detoriating fast, so the division had to be given some some time to reorganise. Lyon would from now on be able to lead the division alone without a command penalty, and what more, once Fremont got the Army HQ going Lyon would eventually become a corps commander (as long as Fremont and Lyon would be close to each other, say for example at around Little Rock if things would go as I planned
).
Fremont was sent back from Jefferson to St.Louis, where he would soon be needed to form the Army of West. The lone regiment to Charleston arrived safely. No other movement orders (in addition to Fremont) were given, everybody was to get their cohesion back together.
New militia regiments were again recruited, as I would desperately need them for garrison duties. My original plan would have been to now start recruiting troops for a 3rd division, but funds had to be spent on militia. I would also need two River Transports to build a depot around Charleston area, but the money situation didn't look too promising.
LATE SEPTEMBER 61
Rebs had again abandoned Lexington and were racing towards Springfield (were again I had only the two cavalry regiments as garrison). Sigel became available, and he formed a division with the troops in Jefferson. This 2nd division started to march towards Springfield. Also the detachment from Lexington started the journey towards Springfield. I had an itch a biggish battle would happen there, altough I was pretty sure the rebs would be low in cohesion and prolly pretty hungry by now.
Shuffled the militia around so that all the depots would have a garrison. One of the new artilley batteries were sent with a militia regiment to Rolla, as I felt that depot was my weak point now. I wanted those two start digging in there, and dig in deep.
More interestingly, a reb transport ship was sailing up the river. Fremont formed the army HQ and joined the St.Louis garrison together with the other new artillery battery. If the reb transports would try to pass St.Louis, they would recieve a furios bombarding.
Lyon was sent towards Ft.Smith, again with assault orders. There was a small reb force on the way, but if my intelligence was correct it would be only an artillery battery with a leader.
EARLY OCTOBER 61
As expected, the reb force at Ft.Smith was just a lone artillery battery. The battery was captured and the reb leader van Dorn was either wounded or dead. However, at Springfield the reb forces vanished to the landscape, I had no idea where they were. Altough looking at the pillage markers, I presumed them to be west-southwest from Springfield.
St.Louis garrison under Fremonts command scored 46 hits on first salvo on the reb transport. After the smoke cleared not even splinters were seen afloat Mississippi.
Snow started to fall and it made things more difficult. I had achieved my goals on western side (Ft.Smith) but I was not even close to where I thought I would be along Mississippi.
Both 1st and 2nd divisions had cohesion very low, so both were ordered to take defensive positions. In addition Stigels division (ie 2nd division) was waiting for the Lexington detachment to arrive with the much needed artillery and regular infantry. The waiting would also give Stigel a chance to convert militia troops to regulars with his special skill.
The two cavalry regiments in Springfield were sent to Fayette to garrison the depot together with the captured artillery battery. It should be more than enough to hold the depot for the winter. Fremont grabbed all troops he could from St.Louis and took boats towards Charleston. I would really really need to start pressing southwards along Mississippi if I was ever going to have a chance to get Little Rock. At this point I did moan a bit, as I noticed 2nd Division had two supplywagons (the Lexington wagon and the wagon which originally was with Fremont) with it. As I had just three (two with 4 elements, one with 3 elements) it meant Fremont wouldn't have a supplywagon. What was worse, I didn't have the guts to send out the wagon alone towards the railroads, because I wasn't sure if there weren't rebs around and if more snow fell the wagons would be pretty much stuck.
I decided to fill up the replacement pool again. Both 1st and 2nd division would benefit from the additional regiments they would possibly get. I wonder where all that money went, when playing CSA I thought USA side was swimming in money...
LATE OCTOBER 61
To my suprise the weather got better. Well, better and better. There wasn't snow anymore, but there was lots of mud. And I mean *lots*. I decided to stay put, because the snow would come for sure soon.
The rebs appeared back on map. They began sieging Springfield Depot. I did like it, it seemed I had a bigger force than what the besiegers had, inside the walls I had a depot *and* two supplywagons (snif) so Stigels force would be able to sit there until judgement day. As soon as snow would fall, General Winter would take care of the rebs. Thus I didn't want to disturb their siege; the longer they stayed put instead of moving towards the indian villages, the more certain their death would be.
Just to toy around, I noticed there was one path of fair terrain from Fayetter to Panther. I decided to send the other cavalry regiment from Fayette there to a scouting run (and possibly take the town), while the other cavalry regiment with the captured artillery dug in behind the palisade.
Bought some more replacements. I have tossed away all hope for a supply-depot to Charleston, saving money for a regular brigade.
EARLY NOVEMBER 61
Snow began to fall all over the place. 1st Division recieved a regiment from the replacements (yay!) and Stigel's drill practises inside the Springfield depot began to take effect as a militia regiment converted to regular infantry (yay!).
3rd cav regiment wasn't able to take Panther as a CSA static militia regiment was inside (boo!). The cavalry was ordered to plough through the snow to Ft.Smith.
LATE NOVEMBER 61
General Curtiss joined Fremont, but he was not active this turn so couldn't form 3rd division yet.
3rd Cav regiment was stuck in snow and suffering from the weather. Stigels force sitting inside the depot was taking damage too from the cold weather, so the rebs outside the gates must have it really bad.
Checking strenghts I notice the reb force has dropped to strenght 10 from around 175, while Stigels force has grown in strengths (because of militia converting to regulars). I decide to kick the rebs out from Springfield.
The rebs must be kicked away also because 1st division is starting to starve soon. No supply is apparently pushed on from the besieged Springfield towards Fayette or Ft.Smith, and Lyons big division (who again recieved a new regiment from replacements) is eating through the stocks at an alarming speed.
EARLY DECEMBER 61 - LATE JANUARY 62
The reb division did melt away before I had a chance to destroy it. Stand Watie and the indians appeared and danced around Stigel for a while, but no combat happened. A new Reb force under McCullogh appeared to Springfield, but they were chased away. Suprisingly they dashed northwards, where they will die of cold and hunger.
I finally have had a chance to recruit some troops for 3rd (Curtiss) Division. A regular brigade, a marine regiment and some militia regiments (who will be merged to brigades) are in or on their way to Charleston.
The supply situation for Lyon's division is getting worse. Food is running extremely low.
EARLY FEBRUARY 62 - LATE MARCH 62
The build-up is ready, but I am running out of time. What is worse, Lyon's divsion was totally without food for two weeks, but finally some food has made it through the snow-covered wilderness. To ease the food situation the 3rd cav regiment was sent out towards the indian villages, and also hoping to make Stand Watie turn back (they have not attacked any of the garrisoned positions in north, but I suppose it is just a matter of time before they'll try).
Sent one of the supply wagons from Springfield to Jefferson, and from there to Charlston on river boats. The wagons are not in top shape, but Curtiss really needs a wagon to have a chance to push southwards. Curtiss is given orders to board ships and sail to Island 10 and attack the fort.
Van Dorn and Price have scraped together a new reb force to face Lyon, and for a moment it did look bad. With the food situation under control again the weak force under Van Dorn won't have a chance to Lyons superior force (which has recieved new regiments all through the winter).
Stigel's division is now fully trained, all regiments are regular quality, and they too have recieved replacement regiments.
END OF THE GAME
Stand Watie made a final move and assaulted the strategic town of Lawrence, destroying the deeply dug in militia regiment and artillery battery in the process
Meanwhile I had not given Curtiss assault orders (as I thought), so despite the fact that his division got through the murdering bombardment from Isle 10, he didn't actually assault the fort but lay just siege on it.
DISCUSSION
I was suprised at how tight money was for USA. It probably wasn't too smart to industrialise at the start, should have saved the money for a regular brigade.
Snow came early (at least compared to my earlier experiences as CSA in this scenario), so even though Lyon was faster than I thought, I couldn't capitalise on that.
I did commit too heavily on the western side I think. At the very least I should have left a supplywagon and a militia brigade to advance south along Mississippi.
Athena did act as a moron during the winter. Reb forces froze to death outside my palisades when relative shelter would have been nearby in the indian villages.
I think my decission to stay out of Indian Territories saw Stand Watie enter the game quite late. As CSA I have used Watie and the indians quite early, after Union troops have enteret the IT, to blow up railroads and cause havoc all the way in Iowa in this scenario.
If anybody has any comments or suggestions to improve my gaming, I would be very pleased to see them
EDIT: Edited the typos I noticed
apy:
I may have to cut back on my industrialisation (around 3 'factories' per Union state (except KS, KY and WV which have 1).
