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Longshanks
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How Do You Invade New Orleans?

Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:16 pm

It my current PBEM, I invaded New Orleans with 2 divisions (PWR ~850) and support units led by Hooker and a 3-1-1 in late Dec 61. They were on a fleet led by Farragut and ran the forts at the Mouth straight into the river section next to Nawlins. Invaded the next turn and wiped out Bragg's small defending force. At the same time, another smaller division led by a 3-1-1 went up the "back door" at Berwick and invaded a port just north of Baton Rouge. They were loaded all on brigs in order to navigate the shallow channel. And still another dvision (PWR~380) landed in Texas and took Matagorda and Galveston in a single invasion move.

Needless to say, this took 3 months to prepare. I was so nervous about it I actually started a separate solo game to see how to do it and what problems I might incur.

So .... How and When do YOU invade New Orleans? And how do you defend it once you've taken it? (One-armedMexican, my opponent, feel free to read all this!)

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Ol' Choctaw
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Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:02 pm

It sounds like you did it just fine. By the way, Baton Rouge has the tent for all LA conscripts. That should be your next stop.

To supply it you need a clear river rout and Naval Supply. You will have to take out the fort north of NOLA or Ft. Jackson & Ft. St Phillip at the mouth of the river.

It sounds like you have a lot of the south coast under your control. It will tie up a lot of his troops, though the ground is so swampy you won’t be making any long marches. You have done most of the damage you can do from there, though.

Now you have to come down the river to link up. I hope Grant is in Memphis or Mississippi.

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GraniteStater
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Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:10 pm

My Standard Method:

1) Park Farragut in Baltimore with lotsa TPs and preferably some Armored Frigates to complement the invasion fleet, which should be a very healthy size.

2) If no one else available, get Butler out of Ft. Monroe and bring him to Baltimore. Give him an Army HQ (yes, I know, some will shudder, but it works and you'll see why I do this shortly).

3) Make two small Corps, even if they're just one Div Corps with some interesting extra units, like Parrots or a Marine, or loose Cav. Naturally, two Divs per Corps are better (maybe one Corps with two and the other with one), but I challenge myself to get this done by the RL date, early spring, mid-spring of 62. Extra Supplies are good to have.

4) Sail to the Florida forts and park. Technically unnecessary, AFAIK, but I do it anyway.

5) Run the Forts and park next to NO.

6) Take your strongest single unit (Corps) and assault on AllOutCrazy. You should win this easily against the AI, even an the hardest settings, IMO.

7) Sail into NO and disembark the rest of your Army.

Now, the followup: take all the loose stuff and stick it with Butler in NO. Decide which Corps you want to use and go after Fort Pike - NO has Plenty of Stuff, but I want open lines to the sea & the North. You might have to siege, which is why you need respectable strength here, you could be a while doing this. Take the other Corps and seize Baton Rouge to take away his Recruitng Tent.

If all goes well, you are in the catbird seat and will very likely never suffer any serious contesting of your foothold in Louisiana for the rest of the game. The Army is nice here, even with Butler, not just loose Corps or Divs. Want to reinforce and take the lower Mississippi in a fullblown campaign? That's why you took Ft. Pike and avoded the Alligator Swamp Air Boat Tour of the mouth of Old Man River.
[color="#AFEEEE"]"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"[/color]
-Daniel Webster

[color="#FFA07A"]"C'mon, boys, we got the damn Yankees on the run!"[/color]
-General Joseph Wheeler, US Army, serving at Santiago in 1898

RULES
(A) When in doubt, agree with Ace.
(B) Pull my reins up sharply when needed, for I am a spirited thoroughbred and forget to turn at the post sometimes.


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Jim-NC
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Tue Jun 14, 2011 5:38 pm

To defend, you will need to be able to stop 1-2 divisions from your opponent (see GraniteStater's post). Generally 1 full sized division is enough (when deeply entrenched) to stop the union for a while, however when they land at say Ft Pike with a corps/army of 4 divisions, you are probably going to lose. If you have the resources, make it bigger than 1 division (in 1861/1862 I tend to have a lack of generals, limiting larger formations in N.O.).

Remember that a water assualt takes more casualties than moving from land, and can't always retreat.
Remember - The beatings will continue until morale improves.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

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Longshanks
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Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:47 am

Nice discussion.

Because I invaded in Dec 61, I didn't have corps yet. Took N.O. easily enough, but then had a bad run of inactive generals, along with lack of cohesion following the invasion, so didn't move elsewhere. In the meantime the end of Dec came, along with big reinforcements for both of us, but with the CSA's closer by. Now in late Feb, I'm besieged in N.O. by a force of around PWR=1480 if I can believe the scouts. Situation hardly desparate, however.

I might could have waited to move the force in AFTER he commits his Dec/Jan reinforcements elsewhere in Tennessee, but then some of them might have gone to N.O. instead making for a trickier invasion. So, 6 of one, half dozen of the other.

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GraniteStater
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Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:49 am

(A) The North cannot win the war in 1861, not against Athena on Dumb as a Rock, nor against the worst human. Case in point - my somewhat overly ambitious effort against P. Cleburne (in the AARs) - I left myself open to a 'back rank mate' and he took DC. Used properly by a human (PC wasn't even invading, really, he just played a good solid aggressive defense in Virginia that gave me fits), the South's early lead in generalship can be daunting. Play Athena on Colonel with a couple of other advantages and she can be vexing, if she doesn't start executing Harper's Ferry at All Costs or something disappointing.

(B) Secondly, this means that loose Bdes and loose Divs don't cut it. March 62 is the start of Reel Two. Now, at first, the Corps and Armies favor the Rebs, but as time goes on and material advantage tips more to the North, the USA can form (i) more Armies, and (ii) Armies with five or six Corps or more, particularly the AoP or its equivalent, and (iii) Johnny Reb is hard pressed by late 63 and 64 to deal with an oppo force in NoVa that's fielding seven Corps, three of which are four Divs strong and boasting about 1250+ PWR apiece.

(C) Thus, I evolved the Butler Army approach to N. O. It's good to have an Army doing that job down there, even a smallish one. Once Pike is opened, you can float loose Bdes and Divs down, form into additional Corps (don't forget the Leaders, don't leave Yankeeland without 'em) and take Mobile, or Vicksburg, and basically trash the backporch of the CSA to blazes and beyond. Make Cav formations and find those stills with the moonshine; in general, be a Royal Pain and make him wish he never learned how to spell 'secession'.

HQs, Wagons, Transports, Signal Companies, Medical Corps - love 'em to death. Use the Hi Tech Organized Yankee way to re-unite your nation! Do it today!
[color="#AFEEEE"]"Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"[/color]

-Daniel Webster



[color="#FFA07A"]"C'mon, boys, we got the damn Yankees on the run!"[/color]

-General Joseph Wheeler, US Army, serving at Santiago in 1898



RULES

(A) When in doubt, agree with Ace.

(B) Pull my reins up sharply when needed, for I am a spirited thoroughbred and forget to turn at the post sometimes.





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DrPostman
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Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:44 pm

GraniteStater wrote:My Standard Method:
That's why you took Ft. Pike and avoded the Alligator Swamp Air Boat Tour of the mouth of Old Man River.


That gave me a good chuckle. I almost always take all 3, but if the lower 2 are a waste of time I
will avoid that in the future.
"Ludus non nisi sanguineus"

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Boomer
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Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:03 pm

Basically the same approach as you, Longshanks. I usually get a division or two under Butler (who better to lead an invasion into what will become a backwater) and by December of '61 or January of '62 send him through the gauntlet into N.O. After that, one division can be used to hold the city proper, while the other can be used to start taking the surrounding forts. With that strategy, usually by the late spring the entire southern Louisiana coast is under Union control. I've also noticed that the AI tends to not make as many concerted efforts to retake New Orleans as they sometimes do other cities. From then on, it's just a matter of trying to reinforce your position there, or waiting it out until another Mississippi force can link up with the garrison.

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