I was. Maybe I should do that. With all the recruits that CSL got last turn though, I’m very sensitive to having a reserve available.
If you are playing as the Union and are worried about the size of the Confederate forces you are doing something wrong. :-)
I’m of the opinion that attacks in Virginia are a poor idea until you have both generals and troops of quality that can match those CSL has. Otherwise, you’re just asking to be chewed up.
More pressure out west. Secured rail lines (defenders every here and there to prevent cavalry cutting the lines) and superior numbers along the flat land will allow you to grab some turf and get some more experienced generals. It’ll also force CSL to move troops away from Virginia, giving you a better chance of maybe making a successful push there.
Amphibious operations are a waste of time unless you’re going in with overwhelming force with the intent of opening up a second front.
One insano option would be dropping a shitton of men in S. Carolina and capturing Charleston, then moving north toward Richmond. He’d be forced to respond with an attack, and you’d be able to fight defensively, which would play to the strengths of your army.
So here’s the plan.
- Hold in Virginia. Recon shows CSL’s 2 or 3 new divisions forming up there. After much consideration, I’m not going to try amphib, I’m going to really hold, this time, until I get better generals. I’ll have 11 divisions in the Virginia area, 4 corps in the AoNVA. That should hold him pretty well. I may attempt to use the 5 divisions that are way behind the lines to take out Jackson at Harper’s Ferry, who appears to have 1 division that’s just been eaten by weather and bad supply the entire winter. I’ve got boats in the rivers, so I know where’s he’s got troops.
However, that’ll be a sideshow, next to me…kicking his ass and take Nashville, Island 10, Fort’s Henry and Donelson.
I don’t think he knows Lyon and McClellan are there!. Because he moved into Kentucky, it’s nominally mine, so I get low-level automatic recon on bordering hexes, and CSL has conveniently put his main armies there. He doesn’t have the same visibility into Louisville where I’ve got nearly 4 divisions put together.
Also, despite the fact I’ll have to run with McClellan (and maybe Fremont) as Army commanders, I’ll have Grant (5-6-4) and Thomas (3-3-6) as my corps commanders!
I’ve got enough gunboats to blockade the river, enough ironclads to cover the gunboats. The first turn move will make him move, I’m hoping to crush AS Johnston with all those troops, then grab Nashville or the forts, whatever’s more convenient.
Alright, plan’s coming together. CSL appears to be fixated on the east coast, and isn’t doing recon. I’ve got a cavalry unit running around breaking rail and doing recon, and while he’s about to check Charlottesville, the 3 or so new divisions that I see are all there. I see a general moved into Ft Henry and Donelson, so he knows I may go there.
I’m putting Hooker on a boat and sending him down to Ft Monroe, because CSL has decided to pull all major forces out of Richmond. At the least, it’ll make him guard that entrance too.
An army command went to Fremont (UGH), and I have to send the other army on the boat with Hooker over to Butler (UGH). It’s ok though. Corps commands should fire in 2 turns, so Grant and Thomas get the nods, and I just have to figure out how to arrange my Corps in Virginia to be mutually supporting.
I’ve been intrigued by this thread and just picked up the game. Stupid newbie question: how do you promote a general who is eligible for promotion? For example, there’s a scenario where Sherman is supposedly eligible for his second star, but the promote button seems to be eternally greyed out no matter what I do. Assume I have no idea what I’m doing (an accurate assumption!) and tell me in detail how to go about this.
Are you hitting Bowling Green from across a river? Won’t that go poorly if Johnson shows up?
This part is confusing me. In my current game as the Union I seemed to be able to create Corps from day one. Did I miss a patch, or is that just an option somewhere I didn’t see?
Sometimes you have to remove a commander from any actual commanding for a moment to activate the promotion option. So, you would dump all the troops under Sherman if he is commanding a division and move him alone to a new stack.
That said, I’ve sometimes seen a message saying a leaders is promotable and then when I look at them they aren’t. A leader who is ready to be promoted will have a flashing symbol in the upper right corner. If you look at a leader and it says “Promotable: Yes” doesn’t mean they are promotable right at that moment. It merely means they are a leader who can be promoted since not all leaders can be.
In the current fully patched version I know the Union can’t create corps under army commanders until 1862. You can create two division independent corps under a two star leader prior to that, but they can’t be attached to an army (3 star) commander with all the benefits that brings. So it depends on which scenario you are playing and I also think earlier versions of the game may have handled the date differently.
That’s the answer, thanks. “Promotable: Yes” not being equal to “ready for promotion” was giving me serious grief.
Weird. I think I grabbed the latest patch off of Gamergate (where I bought it), but I’m guessing it must not be the latest one then. I’m fairly sure I was attaching the Corps to the Army of the Potomac, but perhaps I wasn’t…
Thanks for the help.
I’m running 1.13a but apparently there is an 1.13b out there as well. But I think 1.13a is the latest official patch.
It depends on the scenario, also. The full scenario in the latest version definitely has the changes.
Are you hitting Bowling Green from across a river? Won’t that go poorly if Johnson shows up?
Maybe. I’ll look it up, and might go around to the south a little more.
So CSL has pulled back. He pulled Jackson out of Harper’s Ferry and AS Johnston out of Bowling Green.
Not sure what that’s about. I’m not going to bite on Harper’s Ferry. My plan to link up 6 divisions under Grant and Thomas in Kentucky will go forward, I don’t believe he’s got the forces to do anything about that, based on the number of new divisions he brought into Virginia.
The trenches in Alexandria and Manassas each have 6 divisions in them. I’ve got 3 divisions up in PA as reserve, he’s got 2 divisions at Fredricksburg and Jackson in the valley. I’m debating where to put those extra 3 divisions – Washington? Baltimore?
However, I am sending Hooker, Meagher, and my spare Army command down to Fort Monroe to form the Army of the James under Butler. Depending on what he’s got in Hanover, there may be a fight in a few turns.
So, March 1862. I finally get Corps.
Here’s my OOB. Where not noted, unremarkable commanders.
Northern Virginia Army - McDowell, DC area
1st Legion (3 divisions) - will join up next turn, too far north this turn
69th Legion (3 divisions)
101st Legion (3 divisions)
Army of Ohio - McClellan, heading to the Kentucky/Tennessee border
Hammer Corps - Grant (3 divisions next turn), will join army next turn
Anvil Corps - Thomas (3 divisions)
Tongs Corp (1 division for reserve)
Army of the James - Butler, at Fort Monroe
Apple Corps - 2 strong divisions, moving up the Pensinsula to be scary
Banana Corps - 1 division, stays at the fort
Western Command - Fremont
No Corps, because he sucks
Notable independent forces:
DC Bangaz - 1 division & supporting troops in DC
Unicorn Command - small cavalry division around DC
Muttonchops Command - Small division in Grafton
St Louis Garrison - um… the garrison of St Louis, with a whole division
Sumner’s Commandos - division in Lexington
Here’s the West:
Here’s the East:
Union, transform, and roll out. We’ve got a war to fight.
It seems like you could just leapfrog CSL’s men by traveling on boats down the Mississippi and then hit him somewhere that he needs too much to ignore – a depot or something? I dunno. Just seems like you should focus on getting him to attack you on unfavorable ground, a la Meade in Gettysburg, rather than attempt to smash him with large numbers of weaker troops.
edit: Does he even have significant numbers on the western bank of the Mississippi?
I have the same problem as the historical one. I can’t get down the Mississippi because Island 10 is in the way, I can’t get down the Cumberland or Tennessee because Forts Henry and Donelson are in the way. Part of this campaign is to knock those forts out so I can do exactly what you suggest.
And at this point, Grant’s and Thomas divisions are not weaker troops. Most all of the militia save a regiment or so in each division have converted to Line Infantry. I have my best 2 commanders with those Corps, I’ve got room to maneuver, and I believe I pretty badly outnumber CSL. In addition, I can concentrate my forces, as I can use gunboats to cover the river and get supply from there, he’s got to defend 2 Forts and Nashville.
So I will engage in the West.
Well, interesting. I think my moves into southern Kentucky and up the James caught CSL off guard. Here’s why I think that:
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He pulled Longstreet’s Corps out of Virginia and railed it all the way to Kentucky to reinforce. That must have killed his rail supply network for a couple turns. I was wondering where Longstreet went.
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He’s pulling back, ripping up rail there.
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In Virginia, he pulled out of the Shenendoah.
Here’s the lineup in the West:
The plan is to dig in on the river there. He doesn’t quite have enough to outnumber me, and he can’t uncover Nashville or The Forts. So I’m going to replace Grant’s Hammer Corps with the Tongs Corps under Pope, and send Grant back over to take out Columbus and Island 10.
If I can knock out any of those 3 strong points, I can start to roll up his positions.
Here’s the lineup in the East:
I am a little concerned at the James, as while I’m digging in, he’s got a lot of forces in Richmond. I think I need to bring another division down there. I’ve got plenty of forces around DC.
It appears Im calling the tune so far this year. I like that.
Did you guys ever finish this game?