AAR: Coming Fury, a self-learning / explanatory AAR

[GShock]

All right here we go,

First of all i wanted to apologize for the single VID produced. For an unknown reason, Fraps didn't wanna know about making more than one. I restarted it, but it didn't do the trick. Unfortunately, i can't also restart the game, else rjh will be notified i loaded his save-game twice and that's an anti-cheating safety in the PBEM game. [:)]
I'm also sorry to inform you, the max filesize for RapidShare is 100mb, so the Vids will be limited to <100MB filesize. You'll have to pause the vid and read the forum where I point out the exact min/sec the text refers to.

Follow the AAR looking at the vid/pix description to understand how WBTS works and how our game develops. Those of you who thought it a simplified version of a CW game, will be surprised at reading where the real difficulty is.

Vid: http://rapidshare.com/files/119826545/w ... 4.avi.html

Let's start by saying i did not make use of the replay feature to have a look of what happened in the first turn. Why? I just forgot...so you don't see it, but neither did I. We do know what happened anyway: The beginning of the vid shows the "event log" i called.
The log shows how many supplies were used by the troops along with all information regarding territory loss/capture. (00:09)
Notice that Norfolk was bombarded by the ships and one of my Hvy Arty has been damaged and sent to "repair" along with one of the Union ships.
The Union activated some leaders (I will come back later on this detail) and finally (00:13)Semmes has converted his raider into a blockade runner. The final part of the event log, shows the Union "trade & supply" achievements. I obviously can't block the Union ports so, in order to hurt the Union economy, i must build raiders. Do not underestimate the "Raider factor" as more important than supplies are the political points lost by Lincoln if he can't keep the sea trade safe. I have good chances to do better next month, but with the time passing the Union Naval power will become extreme and raider successes will decrease.

(00:19)
Let's have a look at Johnston's forces in Winchester now. His stars tell us he's a **** General...big rank and he's well deservedly an Army Commander (The Grey box in which the stars are). The left tooltip shows, the information on the region. Most notably, the fact that Winchester is worth 22PP. Those 2 Resource Points (RP) will be delivered via rail to the factories just like in AWD. 1 factory + 1 RP = 1 Production point (pp) to spend on the war effort (the building phase later on).

Let's see Johnston's forces. Contrary to other CW games, the AC can't be stacked with units. His Army is composed by the other leaders and the stacked troops. Have a look at Smith (** general). Smith is stacked with 2 MIL. He has been spotted (the binoculars), he has initiative (the red arrow) and his stack has 5 Movement points (MP) while he's using 2 of his 10 Command points (CP). You can see that looking at the 8/10 text on the top left corner of his stack. Smith's leader type is INFANTRY.

Look closely to his stats now: 3-?-4. Combat Ratings go from 0 to 4 with 4 being the best and smith is one of the best INF leaders i have with 4. He attacks with 3 but defends with "?". This means i have no clue of how he is at defending until he's committed in defense. Then and only then I might find out and know. (This is an optional setting...actually 2 settings. The stats are semi-random & hidden)
JEB goes to Raid Grafton...it's cut from the VID but his raid steals and destroys Union supplies up to Gettysburgh.

Let's jump to the SS now: http://rapidshare.com/files/119853334/AAR.zip.html

(1)
The grey regions have been raided by Jeb's cavalry unit whose path i highlighted with a red arrow. A close look to Frederick shows its rail line is now damaged. This means the Union must repair it or use it as it is at 50% capacity. Strategic moves are terribly important because troops do not use up supply on the move and arrive to the front immediately. You can imagine right now then, how important are my transports and what would happen (and what will happen) if a link is broken and/or the Mississipi is lost.
I must use Cavalry raids to damage the Union infrastructures to delay the amassing of their troops on the front.

Frederick holds Meigs' group. Meigs has built a fort, shown on map, which is good choice since you can see by the "^" icon he's an administrative leader (and a very good one) and commands no less than 5 INF units. Here's another cherry: This is what i see, and what the red number by the leader's icon on map shows, but there's a ghost icon. This means the region holds more troops than i know and that if these troops attack me they will be heavily advantaged thanks to the surprise factor. More: There's no way to know how many CP Meigs is using at the moment. (more on this later)

Should i decide to attack, and by miracle win, you can see Meigs and whoever else is with him would retreat to Washington. Why? There's a depot (whose icon is pointed by the green arrow)...therefore here's another strategy tip: build depots to control your retreat point in case of defeat.

(1b)
this SS shows the detailed combat report screen. That was a risky move by the Union but even if we kept the yards at Norfolk, the Union can replace that Cruiser pretty fast while every gun we lose or have damaged is a sore loss...

(1c)
CSA's resources are very tight and I am sure they will go even tighter than that. The losses we've sustained at the beginning of the war, will cost us 4 PP this turn and 3 PP next turn. When a damaged unit is sent to repair (and it is true for combat troops too), we also need to move it back where needed. And it might not be possible in the future for the region might be lost or the rail lines /transport lines might be unavailable.

(2)
Let's focus on our strategy. Smith looks pretty good with that 4 INF rating...i want to know more as he could be the man. This ss shows you all you need to know about this leader.
Attack:3
Defense: ?
Infantry: 4
Cavalry: 1
Artillery:3
Naval:1
Political:2
Administrative: ?
Infantry Training: 4 (yes, he's da man!)
Cavalry Training: ?

I instantly unstack all MIL from the other leaders to attach them to Smith. We will relinquish the initiative because attaching-unattaching has its costs, but I didn't want to attack anyway. Smith will therefore train all the possible MIL units being there and coming from other regions up to the maximum possible. Putting the best leader at the job is one of the most challenging aspects of this game.

(3)
It's time to build some forts in the hot areas. The best selection for a fort builder is an Engineer leader, and second best, an administrative leader. The leader page allows me to filter out all other leader types, all Union Leaders, all inactive leaders (off the map) and go right there where i need to look at.
Note that since i selected Samuel (mistakenly) he's highlighted in red on the bottom of the page. This would allow me to compare his stats (combat is on left tab and administrative on the right tab) with the ones of the leader i'm looking for. Handy, eh? [:)]
Needless to say Administrative leaders have either unknown or poor combat ratings...If you're wondering what the # means, it's the CP. Cooper, the old man, can attach up to 16 troops...since he's got so many CP and a high rank, his appointment to Theater Commander must not be a coincidence... (The light grey ribbon). It's likely that Cooper has many chances to train, regardless of his rating, so I won't move him from Richmond...this leaves me with 2 leaders to build my forts: Jordan and Lawton. Jordan goes to Manassas and builds a Fort. Now it's time to explain what is the "conversion" and what is the "activation".

(4)
The ragged band in Manassas is now helped by the presence of a fort. However, this will not stop the Union, not for long, unless i can devise some stratagem to keep them busy, and as i mentioned before, Cavalry is the tool I will employ. Every turn, the player has the ability to convert MIL or INF into mounted (MTD) units. Then it's up to the CTR rating of the CAV leader to train them into regular CAV units in the future. For the moment, i convert a MIL into MTD and since Bonham was stacked with INF and MIL, I unstack these troops and pick a MIL to make it a MTD unit. This MTD unit can both Scout/Raid enemy regions and act as defense against the same actions taken by the Union. The difficult task of CSA is to lead the Union into military defeat and horse troopers will screen my troops making it harder for the Union to know how many we are in Manassas (scouting mission) while at the same time prevent the Union from raiding the region and destroy/capture my supplies and rail (raiding). If the Union attacks, my unspotted units could give me a sounding victory.
Ok let's attach this MTD unit to Bonham now...d'oh, i Can't. Why is that so? Because unstacking units (the MIL Bonham had) from a leader uses his CP. The player has to plan in advance troop stacking/unstacking and can't stack/unstack freely and then attack in the same turn. This is an optional rule. Do not worry about the MTD training. Beuregard will see to that, though most certainly he's not as good as Bonham at the job.

(4b)
Whenever a unit enters enemy territory, the player is prompted with a choice represented by those buttons, in order being:
Overrun: if your combat factors (and not the numbers!)exceed the enemy by 6 to 1 you may attack the territory with no combat phase for an instant victory. Failing to achieve these odds forces you either to abort the attack or engage in prolonged combat, which triggers a reaction phase where the defender may call for reinforcements.
Scout: Try to assess the real combat units and leaders present in a region (CAV/MTD only)
Raid: Try to disrupt supply lines, can lead to supply capture and destruction along with infrastructure damage (rail/factory).
Bombard: Bomb the enemy artillery (Ships only) in preparation for a land attack.

(5)
What is activation instead? Every turn the player has the ability to call a new Leader on the map. Some leaders will automatically enter war, be promoted, get sick etc, others can be called. The procedure is simple. Click on CAV/MTD or CAV leader to call for a CAV leader. The same you can do with INF and ARTY. Engineers and Administrators, since there's no such troop type, can only be activated by selecting a same-type leader. There's a % assigned to each leader so you do not know who will be activated but you have some sort of control on where he will spawn because leaders can either spawn in the East or in the West (ignore the units you see on the map in this SS, they come from my saved game with the AI not the match with rjh but i took this SS to show you how the activation works).

(6)
Time to look at the West. The union will come hard from Cairo IL and we'd better occupy Humbolt and build a fort there. We will be forced to retreat sooner or later but the longer we delay them, the better. The other ADM leader, Lawton, goes to Humbolt to build the fort. At the same time, a MIL unit is converted to MTD and assigned to Wade. We must prevent the Union Scouts to see our troops and get ready to raid Paducah when they come and they will come there!


(7)
The situation in the deep West is safe for the moment, however, knowing TX is a weak spot and that it's only a matter of time before they come, i moved 1 MIL from Austin to Corpus Christi. Next turn i will call for a leader to man it (ignore the Tooltip infos, my mouse was hovering on the sea-zones).
The Union doesn't have enough transports (i hope!) to mount an amphibious assault and send enough troops to build a bridgehead without being immediately thrown back to the sea. Furthenmore, the leader page shows the probabilities of an initiative gain and they look sluggish and unprepared. It is important to bring a point down now: The Union can ill afford to lose battles. Its leaders need to improve and everytime they fight they take a serious risk for the victory lies in political points and a stupid defeat now could prove fatal to Lincoln for his re-election chances later on.
The goal of CSA is survival, not conquest and the SS i will show you later will talk better than any speech.

(8)
The main goal of the Union is VA, which holds several key spots, including our capital. All regions here are highly productive, high PP values, high mobility (rails) and, for the moment appearing to be safe. Ft Monroe is an impossible target for me, but you can see it's only 1 region away from Richmond. The more the pressure comes, the harder it will be to defend the rest of our territory. Let's introduce the concept of mobile defense which, especially at the beginning where the trench warfare is not used much, is critical for CSA.
Gatlin not only is a great training leader but is also able to intervene in support in all the regions i marked with an arrow. More of these leaders will be called and made ready to support as the game goes on and this is one of the things I'll need a good activation procedure for.

Let's combine this concept with the "spotted" concept we have seen earlier and you'll see why (highlighted by the green arrow) I moved Smith back from the front. Next turn his forces will be unspotted and if the union attacks the front line and Smith can commit them in time, they might be a key factor.

(9)
What chances does the CSA have in this game? None. There's no way to achieve a military victory. simple as that. Forget about taking Washington, our goal is clear: we must struggle to survive as a confederation of seceding states. Our only chance to do so is to cause a political loss of power for the federals so that the peace talks may come in. Nothing to add, Lee is right...it's impossible to defend everywhere and with so little but if we punch the Union on the field, Lincoln will be forced to the Peace treaty...if we can't do that, we will capitulate sooner or later.

Ok, i presume i need to reboot now to see why Fraps is not recording Vids anymore and i couldn't bc of the AAR... It must have been caused an alt-tab swapping. I hope this AAR helped you understand a little better the concepts behind WBTS.

Final notes:
Rjh you're not allowed to see this AAR! [:'(]
I like the new look of rapidshare.com website... [:)]

[grarap]

Finally, its up [;)]! Unfortunately, Rapidshare isn't working for me. Suggestion: could you please upload the videos to youtube for steaming rather than downloading?

EDIT: Strike that, it was my browser playing up. Sorry!

EDIT II: There's no way on God's earth that I can possibly do that stupid cat security question (try to download - you'll see what I mean!). Plus it says that my browser doesn't accept Java (which it does). Please could we have the vids on youtube? [&o]

[tedhealy]

Many thanks for the AAR.

lol at the cat thing[:@]  I got past it and the vid is downloading [:D]  

[&:]but now I have to wait 99 minutes [X(] to dl the screenshot.

Plus the vid won't play for me even though I have up to date codecs.

[GShock]

Youtube says codec unsupported. I didn't install any particular codecs, it's very strange. Tried with VLC? Everything plays with VLC it's a wizard video prog. [:)]

Had forgotten this about the cats and dogs in the question @ rapidshare...i happened to have problems too, at the beginning.
Since i uploaded to youtube but the vid won't show, i'll upload to another mirror, but there's not much more than that i can do since i have no video capture programs other than fraps itself. [:(]

Try here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KJ8S3G5B

[tedhealy]

Yeah I tried with VLC.  I examined the file with gspot and it said I had the codec to play the file but it still refuses to play with any of my programs...wmp, windows media classic, vlc, divx player.

Redownloading from megaupload and will try again.  Keeping fingers crossed.

edit - still won't play for me in any player. Oh well, it's a nice writeup [:)]

[tedhealy]

Ok got it to work.&nbsp; I had to actually install FRAPS to get it to work.&nbsp; Apparently I did not have the specific fraps (fps1) codec on my machine.&nbsp; Now it plays in any prog.

[GShock]

Is it possible that FRAPS has recorded it with a silly encryption so that only those who have Fraps installed may see it? Try installing fraps then www.fraps.com (it's free).

More on the AAR. Being the n00b i am, i was waiting for RJ to send me the turn, he couldn't because i hadn't finished mine. So here we jump to the production phase, and all that i do when i arrive here, in order. [:)]

Since we're to experiment new technologies, let's see if we can skip the pictures and i can embed more pictures in the same post (with comment) instead of building a zip and sending to a mirror....Gonna use imagehosting.com.

Before i forget, and before i even begin, i need to point out an important detail i forgot to say about picture (9). Those values displayed, are only accurate about CSA. There's a varying degree of inaccuracy due to the FOW rules so take that as an indication by no mean precise as the Union forces ranged against CSA.

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/i1772003_1.jpg

This is the recap screen of my build sequence. I have decided to invest in heavy artillery to help defending forts and i will also take 1 gunboat to patrol the river. The rest is devoted to supplies. This screen doesn't show the normal breakdown of the state-by state production. On top left you select which state you want and then use the arrows to scroll among the regions that have factories. The recap screen shows that i have some resources which are not linked to factories and thus generate no PPs. I should build more factories but i'll take advantage of winter to do that so that I don't take too many resources away from supply production in a moment when i could need them. In WBTS you don't produce infantry or cavalry, you recruit it and then train it or convert it then retrain it to make it become CAV. When there's enough population points and 2 supply points in the region, Militia may spawn. Needless to say, the 2 sides use a lot of resources spent in supplies and cutting the supply lines is a major commitment which when successful can really turn the sides and make a potential defeat into a crushing victory. I am advantaged on this side because the Union must advance into enemy territory while my supply lines are safe behind me as i fall back. The union recruitment may take advantage of drafts which have their cost but are effective in manning the army. Us poor rebels instead, fight for our country and do not need bounties or pay to enlist in the army, just the banjo and some food! [:)]

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t1772001_2.jpg

This screen shows the unit stats. I highlighted a box regarding the INF combat parameters. At present time, both infantry fight with the same unmodified values. As the war progresses though, the superior technology of the Union weaponry will make their armies more efficient and deadly and these stats will change. Coupling what i said in my previous post at the goals of CSA being survival, with this concept of evolving weaponry, i think about the movie "Gone with the Wind" when all the southern kids wanted to beat the yankees and were euphoric at the declaration of war while the wise and experienced Capt. Botler knew better about the Union superior industrial power and was not euphoric at all. I'd not be euphoric either if i had to dodge a vase from Vivien Leigh...

In any case, while the Union advances and captures my resources, their factories will increase so this is only the beginning of the struggle...

http://www.imagehosting.com/out.php/t1772002_3.jpg

This final screen, shows some of the most important parts of this game. Probably the one on which, conceptually, Gary Joel and Keith broke their skulls open.

Take a look at the lower side of the window and you will see the initiative Recap. with generals having initiative being marked with the red arrow: Irvin MC Dowell is in Washington. He will not dare to attack the Fort at Manassas because he would have to cross the Potomac, his forces are not so numerous to beat Beuregard anyway and I can see he has just 1 remaining CP. He's training a lot of troops then...
The real threat is Mc Clellan and i have no idea of his whereabouts: He could really be anywhere, surely in good company and i must do the possible to find out so I can prepare the defenses in time.

[tedhealy]

Your 2nd and 3rd images are ultra tiny.&nbsp; Also why not embed the images into the post instead of linking them?&nbsp; Much easier to read so you don't have to jump back and forth between the image and the text.

[lancer]

Goodaye,

I'm finding your detailed AAR very informative and enjoyable but I second the motion to embed them in the post. The images (the last two) are so small as to be unreadable, your video is all too hard to get working and downloading a bunch of zipped images isn't fun.

Keep up the good work as you're shedding lots of light on stuff that is currently unknown but a standard AAR with embedded screenshots is the way to go.

Cheers,
Lancer

[GShock]

Embedding PIX from imagehosting didnt work in these forums, if i had to do 10 pix for a single AAR it would take me 10 posts because i can only embed 1 per post, it seems. I'll do it this way and flood this thread with 1 post per pic till i learn how to do better. Sorry but am learning too! [8D]

As of the Video, I have installed camcorder 2.0 and am on my way to show you turn 2. [:)]

[GShock]

Experiment with camcorder proved successful with uploading of Vid on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba79vhUDGT4

However the quality of this vid is so poor i don't think it's a good idea to carry on this path. I increased the quality from 75% to 100% but i don't think this will do do the job, i'll have to go back to Fraps + megaupload.com (that has a much wider ratio than rapidshare). I don't understand why the quality is so poor on youtube...the AVI looks tremendously clear here...

The Union turn followed the typical "theory of the opening" of chess matches, with standard moves to which correspond standard reactions. The Union moves to capture the Islands out on the sea, close to my ports to increase its blockade factors and reduce the amounts of supplies i will receive.
There's nothing i can do to counter these moves. As the reaction phase is triggered, I have no ships and no troops available.
The Union will most likely build depots on these islands and keep conveying troops there until the amphibious assault takes place...where? Impossible to know but we must move quickly to establish hvy arty emplacements on the coastline regions and create quick reaction forces in the rear to be moved in support when the time comes.

The event log shows important news on attrition. Evans and Liddel resigned due to illness. My forces in July used up 61 supply points. This means with this number of forces I'll need to build 6 supply units but surely I'll have to build much more than just those.

Working on Turn 2. Fraps this time.



Note: Since i'm now switching back to full screen view, I'll have to reload the game which means a different set of attrition events could trigger. I'm sure rhj will understand. (Let's hope my key generals don't get affected!)[:)]

[GShock]

Vids@: http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=GKNHABXW

(INFldrACT)
Following the "weak spot" theory, the unit in Corpus Christi activates an infantry leader. Post facto, i surely need more leaders and priority should go to VA. It's especially important at the beginning to activate as many leaders as possible. Luckily, later on, these activation abilities increase so that the player may fully activate enough leaders to build the army-corps-divs structure properly. As i have explained, you have control on where a leader spawns, depending on where you call for this activation from a same leader type or a same unit type. This decides in which pool of the E and W theaters available leaders are drawn from but you can't know which of the possible leaders will come. You may see a % on each from the activation list but you do not know which one will be picked. Looks like from his stats (00:10) that Hebert is a poor leader but perhaps some of his hidden ratings will be better...

(MPCPShow)
The Union is not invading KY yet. I have time to prepare defenses in TN. This may seem a mistake but when a choice is taken in this game there's always a good and a bad side and only later it can be assessed as good/bad choice. Probably the Union decided to wait before invading KY so to pay a smaller PP cost for its invasion. This does leave me the chance to invade it first and seize those resources in Paducah for example...however, the strenght the union did not commit for KY is surely elsewhere so i will pass for the moment and focus on preparations for their assault.
This video shows my movements in TN at the KY border. Pay special attention to the small black numbers on top of the leader (CP) and the big white number (MP) and you will see exactly how attaching/unattaching units works.
Jackson moves from Cumberland to Livingston. He has 1/2 CP (1 unit attached and 1 spare command point) and 3 movement points. As he arrives in Livingston, his stack's MP dropped to 2 and he joins forces with an INF unit coming from elsewhere (00.03).
As i stack together the MIL and the INF with Jackson, the stack's new MP turns to 0 (The INF had already moved to enter Livingston and the CP drop to 0/2 (this leader can't attach more units at the moment and he needs to fight and improve to change his rank-stats-CP). If i wanted to unstack the MIL from Jackson, he would not recover 1 CP due to the limited CP recovery optional rule. This means when moving, organizing training, reinforcing, hiding from the enemy scouts, fighting and replacing losses, you always need to plan in advance (makes perfect sense if you imagine another force in Livingston and you wanted to unstack that MIL to send to train to another leader...you could do this but that leader couldn't send an INF to Jackson because he would be unable to attach it).

(jebraid)
Jeb raids from Winchester to Harper's Ferry. At this stage the Union MTD/CAV units are poor and few and it's unlikely the Union can stop my raids or screen my scouts. Raiding missions disrupt enemy supplies and allow both the leader and the unit to gain experience in the process. Scouting works similarly but is less risky. A mini-combat can erupt between cavalry units during these missions where every single stat is taken into account and losses can happen. The results of this raid were very good as i will show in SS. For the moment pay attention to that ghost unit in Harper's Ferry.

(bonhamscoutfails)
Bonham attaches that newly converted MTD from last turn and scouts Harper's Ferry after Jeb has raided it in an attempt to know more about enemy force composition. However, despite Bonham being a good leader, the MTD unit fails to spot any enemy units in Harper's Ferry. (00.10)

(unmannedscoutfails)
Following the same tactic, a newly converted MIL -> MTD unit, gallops from Richmond to scout for enemies in FT Monroe. The scouting check fails. There are 2 leaders in Ft Monroe, despite their poor CP values, there's a ghost unit that worries me there. Scouts and Raiders enter the nearest friendly region after their mission is complete, backtracing their path. This mtd unit will stay in my fort preventing eventual scouts in FT Monroe from scouting that region and screening the forces in Richmond (which is totally undefended at the moment).

SS coming in next post.

[GShock]

SS@:http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=ICVE68VZ

(1/2)
My turn begins with the event log screen. You can see the blockade factors of the unit have definitely increased everywhere. Most notably in Norfolk, being 100% blockaded and due to shut down completely the trading operations in next turn. This is an expected result coming both from ship pressure and from the conquest of those little islands by my ports.
Please note the promotions and activations list. The lowest rank in WBTS is Colonel but in time, all leaders will get promoted to a higher rank and their stats will change. Van Dorn is a good leader and the fact he's now 2** will alow me to create a corps for him later on.

(3)
The production recap shows my newly delivered artillery along with the repaired ones. In New Orleans a MIL unit has been formed and more are formed everywhere (not shown in scrolldown). Note that i also produced some supplies. I will need these to build forts and make up for the losses in supplies that cannot come anymore from my ports.

(4)
A Reaction force is assembled in SC. As you can see, the area of Savannah is currently not served but luckily the union doesn't know and i don't think they will risk an assault on the fort...still there's an ARTY unit and a MIL. The fort itself does contain a MIL unit which is not shown. The red number 2 is not counting the Transport i have in Savannah. I should risk to send it on the river with the Union ships in the sea zone ahead? I don't think so.

(5)
Movement in VA.
The Red arrows show the infantry moves. (The red arrows coming from the S part show units coming to VA from other states)
Smith has passed a newly trained INF to Winchester and received 3 MIL coming from Richmond which also reinforces Norfolk, Manassas and Appomattox. Don't forget these are now all unspotted units. [:)]
Richmond finally delivers back to Norfolk the damaged Arty, one more to Manassas, Appomattox and Winchester (Blue arrows). I will need to activate Arty leaders to manage these batteries at their best. I probably will activate 2 Arty leaders and 1 Cav leader in Appomattox for that unmanned MTD unit.
The Yellow Arrows point to the Cavalry moves. 1 Scouting in Ft.Monroe from Richmond, goes back to the fort. The raid in Harper's Ferry, carried on to James, and ended in Baltimore. Jeb captured 12 supplies and destroyed 73. A very successful raid because JEB was unchallenged. 73 supplies are worth 7 production points, it's a big blow for the units in the front line and i hope JEB can keep up to my expectations.

(6)
Political-Initiative recap screen.
At the beginning of the game, the initiative is fixed in place but from the second turn, everything depends on players' choices. Now you can see the Union has named Freemont TC (West) and he has 20% chances to gain initiative. If he does, all connected Army Commanders will be helped by him in their relative Initiative checks (same supply grid, max 6 regions distance). I don't think Freemont will get initiative but this doesn't mean his ACs won't. Scott has the upper hand in Washington, now where's Lyon? [8D]
I am inclined to appoint A.S. Johnston to Theater command and Polk as Army Commander....i didn't do that yet because i don't know much about Polk yet. Another option i have is to appoint Van Dorn as Army commander but Sterling Price also looks good...however, Price is stacked with 6 troops and if i appoint him as AC i will need to find another leader to lead the troops to battle and, as you know, i can't spare new INF leaders because i need Arty leaders in VA. Perhaps some new leader will join the fray not all newcomers arrive on manual activation. Some, like general Lee, arrive at the right moment in their historical location so i'm not in a hurry right now. The screen also tells you the current PP situation along with the Raider pipeline queue. The raider i produced last turn will be ready in 3 turns, but of course I'll build a new one this turn and i will keep building one until i see they get sunk by the Union Navy. The Union does keep pressure on me in VA and forcing them to use pp on ships is a way to keep them from spawning infantry and guns against me in VA.

(7)
The Union is getting the upper hand in WV and there's no way to stop them...however, my troops look good for a raid on those supplies. Raiders can arrive very far when they are properly led and unchecked. I Can't control where they will go as this depends on the terrain and situation, but if i could hit the Union there it would be great. I'll have to either find a good cav leader or divert JEB from the Manassas area. Let's hope Bonham can train that MTD unit. If he does, i'll give him another MTD to work with. Converting MIL/INF to MTD costs 5 supply points and the number of available conversions are limited. Choices, choices, choices!

(8/9)
Total mistery on the forces in Springfield MO. Forrest's MTD is to move closer to its theater of operations or to immediately scout Springfield. In MO and AR terrain doesn't allow fast moves and the forces in my central line have just received a MIL unit and can't move forward (no initiative= less MP) There are 3 options for next turn.

a) Seize Rolla's Railway to draw the Union away from AR
b) Move in the center to screen the infantry forces there and appear a stronger group than we are or...
c) Move West to assist Sterling Price and his strong stack of rebels.

The best option is probably to go and scout that Union force we know nothing about in Springfield and then see where the MTD unit withdraws to.

It could be Lyon, it probably is Lyon.

The force in the middle can't move but Sterling Price has the initiative and he could perform a blind attack...a daring proposition. Let's first hear from the scouts, Sterling is a fearsome General and i will grab this opportunity if it arises again. Risk everything only if you can commit everything.
I could merge forces between center and West, name Price Army Commander, activate the INF leaders and attack Springfield... Choices, choices, choices, again, countless as usual.


(10)
The Scouting takes place...


(11)
...and gives poor results subject to heavy interpretation. There's certainly a MIL unit there but we don't know who leads it and that MIL is surely not alone. Having entered from Fayetteville AR, the MTD scouts go back there and will prevent the Union forces (hopefully) from knowing Price's forces. My plan has to wait another turn to find out more about this force in MO which will most likely require the conversion of another MTD unit to give to Forrest. If AR produces another MIL, Price's position will be much stronger thanks to the support of the neighbouring stack.

(12)
Defenses are mobilized to protect FL from the Union assaults. These forces come via strategic movement from AL. Jacksonville is safe for the moment but next turn it will be safer. I will send some leader from TN down here to handle Savannah and hope i can delay the Union a little longer. This is a critical concept, if the Union attacks now and loses it will be pretty hard to recover but if the Union doesn't attack, my defenses will grow stronger. MIL are very weak units in combat but even with semi-random leader stats, the CSA has still an advantage in leadership and this includes the training % of successful conversion from MTD to CAV and from MIL to INF. Don't forget HVY ARTY fights better from Forts. I can picture myself in RJH right now...should i attack now or delay? Did you know that in Winter gaining initiative, movement and combat is harder for attackers? [:)]

(13)
Mind-Games in VA
I have interest in the Union seeing Manassas stronger than it is this turn, but from next turn i will begin rotation of the troops in the front. This will make my newly entering units unspotted. Even though i built a fort in Winchester, VA is far from being safe. These moves have their costs as combat is in a dynamic environment. Not only i will use MP that could be used for training but the troops moved back and having to engage the enemy in the neighbouring region, might not arrive in time.

JPG were created with Paint.net latest version and converted from BMP to JPG with 100% quality. I hope everything looks good this time.

[tedhealy]

Hopefully this will help. GShock, if you object for whatever reason, I'll take 'em down.

ORIGINAL: GShock

SS@:http://www.megaupload.com/it/?d=ICVE68VZ

My turn begins with the event log screen. You can see the blockade factors of the unit have definitely increased everywhere. Most notably in Norfolk, being 100% blockaded and due to shut down completely the trading operations in next turn. This is an expected result coming both from ship pressure and from the conquest of those little islands by my ports.
Please note the promotions and activations list. The lowest rank in WBTS is Colonel but in time, all leaders will get promoted to a higher rank and their stats will change. Van Dorn is a good leader and the fact he's now 2** will alow me to create a corps for him later on.
(1/2)




The production recap shows my newly delivered artillery along with the repaired ones. In New Orleans a MIL unit has been formed and more are formed everywhere (not shown in scrolldown). Note that i also produced some supplies. I will need these to build forts and make up for the losses in supplies that cannot come anymore from my ports.
(3)



A Reaction force is assembled in SC. As you can see, the area of Savannah is currently not served but luckily the union doesn't know and i don't think they will risk an assault on the fort...still there's an ARTY unit and a MIL. The fort itself does contain a MIL unit which is not shown. The red number 2 is not counting the Transport i have in Savannah. I should risk to send it on the river with the Union ships in the sea zone ahead? I don't think so.
(4)



Movement in VA.
The Red arrows show the infantry moves. (The red arrows coming from the S part show units coming to VA from other states)
Smith has passed a newly trained INF to Winchester and received 3 MIL coming from Richmond which also reinforces Norfolk, Manassas and Appomattox. Don't forget these are now all unspotted units. [:)]
Richmond finally delivers back to Norfolk the damaged Arty, one more to Manassas, Appomattox and Winchester (Blue arrows). I will need to activate Arty leaders to manage these batteries at their best. I probably will activate 2 Arty leaders and 1 Cav leader in Appomattox for that unmanned MTD unit.
The Yellow Arrows point to the Cavalry moves. 1 Scouting in Ft.Monroe from Richmond, goes back to the fort. The raid in Harper's Ferry, carried on to James, and ended in Baltimore. Jeb captured 12 supplies and destroyed 73. A very successful raid because JEB was unchallenged. 73 supplies are worth 7 production points, it's a big blow for the units in the front line and i hope JEB can keep up to my expectations.
(5)



Political-Initiative recap screen.
At the beginning of the game, the initiative is fixed in place but from the second turn, everything depends on players' choices. Now you can see the Union has named Freemont TC (West) and he has 20% chances to gain initiative. If he does, all connected Army Commanders will be helped by him in their relative Initiative checks (same supply grid, max 6 regions distance). I don't think Freemont will get initiative but this doesn't mean his ACs won't. Scott has the upper hand in Washington, now where's Lyon? [8D]
I am inclined to appoint A.S. Johnston to Theater command and Polk as Army Commander....i didn't do that yet because i don't know much about Polk yet. Another option i have is to appoint Van Dorn as Army commander but Sterling Price also looks good...however, Price is stacked with 6 troops and if i appoint him as AC i will need to find another leader to lead the troops to battle and, as you know, i can't spare new INF leaders because i need Arty leaders in VA. Perhaps some new leader will join the fray not all newcomers arrive on manual activation. Some, like general Lee, arrive at the right moment in their historical location so i'm not in a hurry right now. The screen also tells you the current PP situation along with the Raider pipeline queue. The raider i produced last turn will be ready in 3 turns, but of course I'll build a new one this turn and i will keep building one until i see they get sunk by the Union Navy. The Union does keep pressure on me in VA and forcing them to use pp on ships is a way to keep them from spawning infantry and guns against me in VA.
(6)



The Union is getting the upper hand in WV and there's no way to stop them...however, my troops look good for a raid on those supplies. Raiders can arrive very far when they are properly led and unchecked. I Can't control where they will go as this depends on the terrain and situation, but if i could hit the Union there it would be great. I'll have to either find a good cav leader or divert JEB from the Manassas area. Let's hope Bonham can train that MTD unit. If he does, i'll give him another MTD to work with. Converting MIL/INF to MTD costs 5 supply points and the number of available conversions are limited. Choices, choices, choices!
(7)



Total mistery on the forces in Springfield MO. Forrest's MTD is to move closer to its theater of operations or to immediately scout Springfield. In MO and AR terrain doesn't allow fast moves and the forces in my central line have just received a MIL unit and can't move forward (no initiative= less MP) There are 3 options for next turn.
(8/9)



a) Seize Rolla's Railway to draw the Union away from AR
b) Move in the center to screen the infantry forces there and appear a stronger group than we are or...
c) Move West to assist Sterling Price and his strong stack of rebels.

The best option is probably to go and scout that Union force we know nothing about in Springfield and then see where the MTD unit withdraws to.

It could be Lyon, it probably is Lyon.

The force in the middle can't move but Sterling Price has the initiative and he could perform a blind attack...a daring proposition. Let's first hear from the scouts, Sterling is a fearsome General and i will grab this opportunity if it arises again. Risk everything only if you can commit everything.
I could merge forces between center and West, name Price Army Commander, activate the INF leaders and attack Springfield... Choices, choices, choices, again, countless as usual.


The Scouting takes place...
(10)



...and gives poor results subject to heavy interpretation. There's certainly a MIL unit there but we don't know who leads it and that MIL is surely not alone. Having entered from Fayetteville AR, the MTD scouts go back there and will prevent the Union forces (hopefully) from knowing Price's forces. My plan has to wait another turn to find out more about this force in MO which will most likely require the conversion of another MTD unit to give to Forrest. If AR produces another MIL, Price's position will be much stronger thanks to the support of the neighbouring stack.
(11)



Defenses are mobilized to protect FL from the Union assaults. These forces come via strategic movement from AL. Jacksonville is safe for the moment but next turn it will be safer. I will send some leader from TN down here to handle Savannah and hope i can delay the Union a little longer. This is a critical concept, if the Union attacks now and loses it will be pretty hard to recover but if the Union doesn't attack, my defenses will grow stronger. MIL are very weak units in combat but even with semi-random leader stats, the CSA has still an advantage in leadership and this includes the training % of successful conversion from MTD to CAV and from MIL to INF. Don't forget HVY ARTY fights better from Forts. I can picture myself in RJH right now...should i attack now or delay? Did you know that in Winter gaining initiative, movement and combat is harder for attackers? [:)]
(12)



Mind-Games in VA
I have interest in the Union seeing Manassas stronger than it is this turn, but from next turn i will begin rotation of the troops in the front. This will make my newly entering units unspotted. Even though i built a fort in Winchester, VA is far from being safe. These moves have their costs as combat is in a dynamic environment. Not only i will use MP that could be used for training but the troops moved back and having to engage the enemy in the neighbouring region, might not arrive in time.
(13)


JPG were created with Paint.net latest version and converted from BMP to JPG with 100% quality. I hope everything looks good this time.

[GShock]

How the heck did you do that? [&o]

[tedhealy]

I uploaded the photos to my photobucket account and put the direct link code listed below the pic from photobucket inbetween tags.

Works fine with imagehosting too. Here are 2 of your previous pics from imagehosting. I just typed (but without the space before and after the link, I added the space so it would show up as text and not actually show the image there).

[Pford]

Good going, Ted. You're a cut above the rest of us.

Question re: the AAR. Why does Jacksonville contribute more PPs than Lynchburg?

[tedhealy]

I seen my duty and I done it&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

[GShock]

The previous post when i just put the links, had the pix on imagehosting and the same format you have described but the pictures didn't appear so i removed the format and just left the link...I'll try again tomorrow...soon we will see combat&nbsp;[:)]

Answer to Jacksonville/Lynchburg -> Dunno, maybe because Jacksonville is a State Capital? [8|]

Testing:

[GShock]

lol it works but what the heck it's so small...uhm...

uhm...

AAAAAA Ok i got it. [:D]