- Push for Northern Offensive
- Central Tennessee
- Paducah
- Memphis
No screen clips yet. Action is dying down across the map.
In the East Butler is likely to head an effort to forestall the 10NM loss by moving two divisions to one of the counties between the Union frontlines and either Spotsylvania or Richmond. I'm putting the units and the leaders together now. And I'm debating between Charles City, New Kent, both bordering on the James River and with good communications back to Willamsburg, but also fronting on Richmond. The two other choices are Hanover, a clear hex that shares the Pamunkey River with Richmond and a clear side with Spotsylvania, and 'Bowling Green', a county up on the Rappahannock that shares good communications with Tappahannock.
I'll need to make a decision in one turn. Time to gather intelligence.
Further West I'm about to take Huntsville, Tenn. This mountain hideaway is tucked between two impassible counties and very close to Knoxville and its railroad. A strong force here can threaten Knoxville and protect Kentucky from partisans.
General Price is still in Paducah. Indeed, I have done nothing about the issue since he boldly captured it and two regiments late last year.
His move spoiled what would have been a one turn take-over of the Blue Grass State by the Union.
Grant saw Johnston in Columbus and wisely decided to regroup on Island 10.
Now, however, with the Cumberland secured by fortifications, Grant, possibly in charge of the Army of the Tennessee, will be threatening Price.
Johnston, in Nashville, will be faced with a choice of whether to defend Nashville, Paducah or Memphis. I'm betting he decides to give up Paducah.
Lyons campaign to threaten Memphis has stalled. There is simply no troops capable of defending the West Bank of the Mississippi AND crossing the river to take Memphis.
Benjamin McCullough has taken a small force, about 360 points, and pushed out my militia in Arkansas Post. I have no idea where the unit has disappeared to. There was no battle. I guess it evaporated in the swamp.
That's nice, as I have brigs that slipped past Memphis and can now cut McCullough off from moving to save Little Rock.
The McCullough forces will also make it more interesting to attack LR. I had intended to bring about 300 points to bear on the city. But now they will need to march around McCullough to the Arkansas, with supplies, to reach LR.
In other words, there will be lots of warning of what I'm going to do.
I have a division sitting in Springfield, MO. Perhaps it can threaten Fayetteville and draw McCullough there first?
Any long distance moves like I'm considering will break the cohesion of my units. They can do it, but they'll need supplies and overwhelming force.
And they need to act fast.
The South will receive a major boost with the first partial mobilization in the game starting in about two turns.
I have been concerned with the implications of this for most of the year.
As a result, I've saved about $500K, so far, towards increasing the mid-year draft bonus to $3k/ company.
That would give me an additional 80 regiments of conscripts to use until I can meet the CSA mobilizations myself later this year. (House Rule)
So, what do I expect?
Most of the important moves will be made in the West. There are too many rules tying my hands at the moment in the East (Washington garrison and the attack on Richmond being the most important of these).
I cannot risk losing 10 NM, bringing me down to 70 NM.
In the West, I'm going to take Paducah probably within four turns.
With the river under my control again, I can match rail movements by the South.
I'll make a decision on whether to take Memphis, Little Rock or Nashville.
Ideally I'll take two of the three cities by July 1.
I've been planning the LR move for months. The issue has been units. They don't exist and are slow to get into position.
McCullough cannot cross the White River without support.
If he brings up ironclads I'll move up artillery to trap them-- I have a lot of artillery ready in this area.
If he withdraws I'll try to continue to move naval units into position to prevent him crossing the Arkansas River.
I'll also gather intelligence for an attack on Fayetteville. If it looks promising, I'll move. But without LR, Fayetteville is dangling fruit for the irregular units in the West.