Early November, 1861
Tyler surrendered in our last game, so I'm trying CSA for virtually the first time. I hardly played them against the AI.
My strategy is basically defend and counter-punch with the goal of keeping Union NM down as much as possible. NM is the true equalizing factor versus the Union manpower advantage. Right now, I'm just a little unsure on how to do this. My thoughts are to wait until he overextends and then pounce. I've built 1 Iron Works. Increased rail and river as much as possible while building troops and replacements.
Kentucky is still neutral. Johnston has 2 divisions under him in Nashville. Polk has 2 divisions in Memphis. A 5th division is forming in Fort Donaldson. 2 more divisions forming in this area. I've been building out MO units in Springfield and moving them down to Ozark for river transport. This is a very slow process, but my thoughts are to get those units while I can since I hold only a few MO cities at the moment. The Union has done nothing in MO. Shelby has been raiding north of St. Louis. Another cavalry force under Maury (temporarily) will meet up with Shelby to give Shelby a full division to play with. Springfield and even Jefferson are still in Rebel hands.
My rangers and Wattie have been destroying forts in Kansas and Colorado. I learned from the last game that that fort chain is very important to maintain supply in New Mexico. In New Mexico, Baylor has been adopting the same policy. Burn forts between Albuquerque and El Paso. Try to make it as difficult as possible for the Union to get/maintain supply. That's probably my best/only defense for New Mexico/Western Texas. So I'm going to look at raids into Albuquerque and Sante Fe and use of scorched earth cards as well. Demonstrations have been non-stop in cities such as St. Louis, Cairo, Cincinnati and Indianapolis.
Here's the situation in Virginia. Detente so far. Hamilton just cross the Potomac with 2 divisions. I'm not worried about this as supply there will be a challenge for him. Beauregard and Johnston JR. are maxed out with full strength divisions. A full strength cav division under Thompson has been raiding in Western PA. My goals for these raids is to force Tyler to divert resources to either garrison to deal with the raiding force.
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I have a full strength division in Savannah and another one in New Orleans.
Tyler just landed, but I think he'll be in for a rude surprise. This is his first over-extension. Only 2 divisions under Milroy with a ton of support units. I made a mistake and put a confederate boob in charge, Evans. I didn't look close enough to realize that a drunkard and New Orleans is probably a bad combination. So Bee is charging down to the area to take over. At this point, it's tempting to charge Johnston Sr. down from Nashville, but I think I'm simply going to hold. I remember playing against the AI it doesn't take long to run out of supply and I don't believe he will be able to win down there.
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ALL ADVICE WELCOMED. I really have no idea what I'm doing. Rebels are much harder than Union.