Retreats and Destruction Please Explain

[Captain]

After a devastating turn which just saw an army and 2 corps totally destroyed, in a pbem game with myself as south, I have decided i have just been fooling myself to date that I was coming to terms with the nuances of this game.

ok briefly my army of 32000 was tromped on by an army of 73000.No worries good defensive position acceptable battle losses etc. Of course they retreated (don't they always ;-). Remember I had 10 cavalry elements the north 7.I also had a clear line of retreat (not surrounded). Anyway I got a long list of messages telling me that every unit in the army was destroyed during retreat, or destroyed by pursuit.

Can someone please explain how the pursuit works in retreat ? I am somewhat shaken at the destruction of Jonhnson's army not really knowing why. I mean retreating soldiers usually run faster than their pursers (unless cavalry) in real life.

BTW in 3 other battles that saw the destruction of another couple of corps, when my units retreated I had , 70hits, 32hits, 56hits.
Again losses in battle were quite reasonable, but retreats were devastating.
One has to wonder about commanders in prepared defensive positions that have not preplanned their retreat to suffer such large hits.

Now the game is over as the south has simply lost half its armed forces in a single turn. Obviously there is something about retreats that needs to be emphasised to players here.

So what am I doing wrong?

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Jarkko]

What orders did your defending army have?

What is the weather?

Did you have to cross a river/stream during retreat?

Any hostile controlled forts in the neighbouring areas?

[Captain]

Version 1.12
Yes there were streams (nth virginia the standard line)
Blue/orange and as previously stated contolled rear areas avaliable for retreat.

Don't get me wrong I'm not blaming the system (yet ;-) I am just trying to understand it.
I assume it is me, but for the life of me I can't see why.
Is there some mechanism one must pay attention to, to ensure an army retreats in good order and all not bayoneted in the back ?

No forts (2 areas above Chancellorville).
Weather ok.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Captain]

Gray,
See if this helps.

I am sure there is something I am unaware of re retreats. I can't ask my opponent until after the game (very soon I imagine) at which time I am sure he will enlighten me.

However for now I have seen precious little data/threads on retreats that would account for this type of result.

Probably something very obvious.

[TheDoctorKing]

I can't execute your turn without the USA.trn file but from looking at your side of the table your troops in the Virginia theater look disorganized and badly outnumbered. Your army that is northeast of Richmond, presumably the one that got wiped out (?) is very small when compared to the large Union force under Sherman opposed to it. However, I can't see why it would be totally destroyed. I would expect the survivors to retreat into Richmond. Did that Union force of cavalry get around behind you?

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Pocus]

A note: the damages level from retreat have not changed since many months, what is new is that you now get messages telling you what are the elements destroyed by these damages. So you are just uncovering an old rule, and not a new one

[Manstein]

I hope that it help to Captain´s question

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Manstein]

Perhaps were the previous turn??

Here is the backup from previous turn.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Daxil]

A note: the damages level from retreat have not changed since many months, what is new is that you now get messages telling you what are the elements destroyed by these damages. So you are just uncovering an old rule, and not a new one

Nice. I didn't see that in the patch notes.

[bigus]

This latest attachment had a lot more battles in it, but I'm still not reproducing the original post's climactic battle that Captain was so anxious about.

I don't think it's the actual battle itself that Captain is talking about but the retreat after the battle. You should see the Pursuit results at the start of the next turn in the info section.

[Captain]

I don't think it's the actual battle itself that Captain is talking about but the retreat after the battle. You should see the Pursuit results at the start of the next turn in the info section.

Bigus,
thanks quite correct.
The battle results are not at all in question, we are looking at the pursuit casualties which are large to say the least.

All I want to know is what happened and what I have to do to avoid it.
Because to me this looks more like a Napolenic type result where lancers ride down panic stricken footsoldiers than an ACW type warfare, although no doubt I am missing something fundamental in the retreat/pursuit mechanisms.

[Captain]

A note: the damages level from retreat have not changed since many months, what is new is that you now get messages telling you what are the elements destroyed by these damages. So you are just uncovering an old rule, and not a new one

Pocus, thanks ok that clears up the messages (which is an improvement I must say) but still I am interested in an explanation of the result.