Whistling Dixie : Gunnulf (Rebs) vs Q-Ball (Yankees)

[Gunnulf]

We'll stay in the east for now to conclude that story. As planned Jackson now arrived on the scene at Alexandria on day 13 catching the weary and demoralised Yankees in the flank as Lee followed up from the south. While the Union troops, with the benefit of their defenses inflicted slightly heavier losses on the newly combined Rebel army, eventually 14 regiments were routed and the Army of Northern Virginia was once again left in control of the field, except that so far the garrison of Alexandria itself still holds out. Still this is a major setback for Lincoln, while Washington is in no way close to being in danger yet, it does start to unravel the previously solid chain of defenses to the south of the Potomac. Quite possibly at the expense of temporarily losing Winchester again but that's a decent risk to take right now I think. One thing we maybe should start to worry about is we appear to be losing the artillery arms race: 240 cannon versus 400. One to think about.
However overall the maneuvers out here in Virginia pretty much went to plan, and certainly as well as I could reasonably expect for a potential risky plan. Fortune favours the brave etc...

[Gunnulf]

Late May62 out West

So now to focus on the comings and goings out in South West Tennessee. As per the plan Holmes's corps pounces on the exposed Union force which is burning and pillaging its way south without proper pickets out. 2 Brigades are destroyed before Grants army arrives just in the nick of time to prevent total disaster. However the Union army merely covers their battered comrades retreat and Holmes is left in control of the field where even in victory he manages to dispirit his corps with a speech about the dangers of VD. However the papers edit that bit out and NM jumps a corresponding 2 points.

[Gunnulf]

Elsewhere, in Corinth MS, the Fighting Bishops corps arrives by rail taking the garrison of 2 regiments totally by surprise and eliminating them.
However the real action next shifts back to Hardeman TN where Wallace's corps arrives to try to salvage some honour for the Northern faction. These are 4 tough CSA divisions though under Bragg, Cleburne, Pemberton & Thompson. Always outnumbered, never outgunned, Holmes inflicts another 2 point raising defeat on the Union. Then he spoils the moment by refusing to issue a celebratory whiskey ration claiming everybody had plenty last time.

[Gunnulf]

Finally 2 days later Holmes wins his 3rd battle against Pope who seems to be trying to sneak away to the north. This time the Rebs are severely hampered by low stocks of ammo and some regiments are understandably fatigued. Still, once again in control of the field our hero Holmes raises NM a further 1 point and will surely deserve a promotion next month.

All in all a good end to May, only slightly smudged by the defeat of our 2 bold ironclads trying to take on the might of the USN off Fort Jackson LA. That puts the union firmly in control of the mouth of the delta. Not sure whether there was any merit in trying to defend forward at the forts rather than back in New Orleans itself. At the end of the day though if the union wants to take somewhere and is prepared to commit the resources then it will fall I guess. Just need to limit that best I can and keep trying for success elsewhere.

And right now that elsewhere is Missouri. We have 3 divisions on the march here under J. Johnson. Hopefully happening just the right moment when he is feeling the pressure of defeats in Tennessee and Virginia and hopefully is having a tough time what his next move is. I guess he will pull back to St Louis in missouri without a fight. Then will he pull back and consolidate further north in west TN or try skirmish forward? I suspect the former. He can't afford any more loses in enemy territory with no doubt low cohesion. And then in the east mu guess is he won't be able to pass up a move on Winchester, but also needs to form a new line behind the potomac. This would suit our strategic objectives just fine for now. But there is a chance he will pull a 'crazy ivan' though, we'll see...

[Ace1_slith]

This feels like a real CW. Good stuff. Just keep writing.

[veji1]

Pretty solid turn for you. Glad to see Lee useful in Virginia. One often has the feeling that his stats are wasted on a very static front, but here clearly his and Jackson's abilities (fast movers) helped tremendously. In a way you have just achieved second Bull run here. What will happen next ? Maryland campaign (a mistake of historic proportions if you ask me) or consolidation of defense, or punishing of another advanced stack somewhere ???

Regarding Missouri, you will soon be faced with the classic dilemma : What to do with your troops there once he bottles up in St Louis... They could be of use somewhere else. A move to Charleston and the Mississippi/Ohio Confluent might cause troubles for his supply line in western tennessee..

[veji1]

Oh and of course we demand maps and plans for future turns...How big is the garrison inside Alexandria ? Sieges are the best and cheapest way of causing lots of casualties through surrender ! If the garrison is small, are you thinking about leaving Longstreet in Alexandria to defend the place for one turn and striking hard at Harpers/Leesburg area with Lee and Jackson to exploit the confusion in northern lines ?

In western Tennessee i tlooks like you have an opportunity to hit strung out federal forces still tired and retreating. wouldn't AS. Johnston be more useful there ? Try to hit him back all the way to Columbus/Paducah. Kentucky is really hard to defend anyway once he gets river superiority and can cut you from Nashville. I would leave a temporary screen in Kentucky and focus my assault on western Tennessee. If you could couple that with a menacing move on the Mississippi/ Ohio confluent from the Missouri side, that could really cause worry on his side...

[Gunnulf]

Yes its been a couple of pretty good turns just when it was looking dark in the west (or perhaps because of as I think Q-ball was starting to think Grant was invincible) and stable in the east. I was wanting to make use of the ANVs mobility and fighting power but thats not much good against entrenched masses. Hence in general terms Lee was at his best fighting fluid battles against Union attempts on Richmond which hadnt happened until now, and his downfall was picketts charge. The game tries to force the union to go on the offensive in the east with the Manasas 10nm deadline, but then nothing and a dull player could easily decide it to be rational to dig in and wait for overwelming superiority and better leaders. There needs to be a more regular carrot and stick to replicate Lincoln bullying his generals to launch offensives in the east. Luckily Q-Ball is not a dull player and its been an interesting and challenging first 30 turns.

There is another turn to write up tonight when have time, but as to our future plans we are drawing them up as we speak. At present the original plan still applies:
* Secure Richmond & Virginia - tick
* Protect the Mississippi axis of advance - he is definitely stalled for a little while with a bloody nose.
* Contest the neutral states of MO & KY - We fell short of Louisville but have a solid line at Bowling green until his brown water navy causes our inevitable retreat. Donelson is secure for now though. And in MO he has finally seen the threat and we have forced him to suck in 1400av to defend St Louis so while we will likely fall short there too that is fine as it diverts valuable divisons away from the Mississippi axis buying more time while he has nowhere near enough to consider a counteroffensive until next year at least.
* Establish QRFs along the coast to limit incursions - almost impossible to protect everywhere but nothing major has been lost yet so as with every theatre we are doing better than historically so far...

However there are a few strategic objectives to be added/changed - the plan is starting to take shape in my head. However any ideas always more than welcome. Attacking New York is a given obviously

[Gunnulf]

June62

The first reports of action are from Corinth where Polk catches Wallaces corps who are trying to fight a rearguard action and escape back north. Our losses are lightly heavier but not too bad and we take great pleasure in seeing off this incursion into the sovereign state of Mississipi. The fighting Bishop follows up on this victory and pursues the enemy into TN, but unfortunately its our turn to bite off more than we can chew by being cocky and we run into a much larger corps commanded by Lyon who teaches us a lesson. However our boys fight bravely inflicting decent casualties, albeit we lose a much larger percentage. Still not a disaster but we definately rode that Corps a little hard and they need a rest.

[Gunnulf]

Meanwhile Holmes fights another battle in Hardeman TN against Pope and gives them a good kicking. He was promoted to *** which dropped him from 4-2-3 to 3-2-2. However given his last great run of victories it would have been a-historical not to promote him and I am trying to do more of that where possible rather than gaming the system even if not totally rational. He will remain a corps commander under Beauregard for a while until I decide where a new army might be useful.

Out east we decided to storm the defences of Alex. There was a relatively light force defending with no commander and the garrison was pretty quick to yield. Off to Andersonville holiday camp for them leaving the unspiked fortress guns behind.

The main bad news comes once more from the sea in the Mississipi delta where our 2 ironclads there get caught by Faragut. 1 is sunk and the other limps away and we loses 2NM in the process. Contesting the control of the sea was always going to be tough.

[veji1]

Pretty cool. Your forces in Tennessee need a big rest though now, but at least you blocked the deadly menace. Funnily enough, it feels like you just emulated 2nd Bull Run in Virginia and a successful, if not decisive, Shiloh in Tennessee where the Union is stopped and forced to consolidate. The problem now in the west for you though is that the Union doesn't have to march to you, it can use the rivers as means of turning your position. What do you see as potential avenues of advance for his forces once his forces are rested and reinforced ? He could try to open east by going for Nashville/Kentucky from the south, crossing south of Fort Donelson, while just entrenching in solid lines in front of Beauregard's army. What could you do in that case ?

And regarding Missouri. Do you really think your 3 divs (iirc) up there are really useful ? If their existence allows you through control of various cities to get more conscripts, money, WS, etc, enough to justify their being stuck up there, cool, but maybe they could make a difference somewhere else. Would'nt threatening the Mississippi axis with them be more strategically useful to you ?

Regarding his coastal fort busting campaign. What do you feel you can do ? Are you planning use of some of the Tennessee/Missouri forces in the winter to retake some forts around New Orleans ? Do you know if he has garrissoned them heavily ?

Well played so far, it really feels like the Civil war as a reader.

[Gunnulf]

I would tend to agree with everything you say in the first paragraph. I think that having been blocked for now on the Mississippi river axis by Beauregards army, and Bowling Green by AS Johnston then the obvious new axis is over the Tennessee river into Hardin or Perry TN. I have only a light screen here at the moment but I am 90% sure its his next move. I need to shift 2 divisions here, or accept that he will make the move and turn it into a trap by using Beauregard to close the door behind them. Right now I think that crossing into east Tennessee could open up almost as many problems for him if he tries it this year as it does for me. His brown water navy is stronger than mine for sure, but next year the gap no doubt will be wider. I need to consider whether to contest this build program or accept that I don't have the cash or admirals to do it.

As to Missouri I think it was worth committing those 3 divisions on the off chance that he wouldn't recognise the threat until too late. I needed 2 there in the first place to take Jefferson, and the extra might have just been enough to overpower the 1 he had and take St Louis. That won't happen now, but the forces he has committed (about 3 divs too I think) have weakened him in Tennessee. If he wants me out of Missouri (probably not too bothered right now) then he will need to commit at least a couple more. As it is I think I can keep 2 screening St Louis and use one to raise havoc further west. We'll see..

On the coast then yes maybe winter will see a use for our new 3 star Holmes to get down there and retake some forts. He is currently doing it on the cheap with just one special assault division doing all the work. A new landing in florida confirms this. I expect he will keep this division bouncing around the gulf coast and we will see another formed to take out the forts of Savannah and/or Charleston quite soon. We are taking steps against both measures, details soon.

In virginia it is tempting to keep the policy of strategic defense/tactical offense. Switching to strategic offense will be costly, though it will focus his resources away from other theatres. And of course without it I am effectively handing the initiative to him and at best playing for a draw, or stalemate. Much more thought needed....

[veji1]

Thanks for your thought, this is turning to be a really entertaining game for us spectators. I hope it reflect how the game truely plays in PBEM, and not only the fact that both of you seem to play in a "non optimizator" way that keeps historic flavour, such as the McClellan must be in charge house rule.

[Ace1_slith]

So far he has not been able to close within 2 regions of Richmond, do you see him planning an amphibious operations within that distance to outflank your forces in North Virginia.

[veji1]

Good question Ace1. The one possible good outcome for QBall from losing that much turf in Virginia, is that you are far from Richmond. When the CSA is clustered south of the Rappahanock in supporting well entrenched position, well it means the union has pushed them back alot, but except with massive forces, it is going to be hard to get further because there are so many confederates bungled glose together.

But with the ANV up north along the Potomac, suddenly an ambitious operation in Norfolk or on the Peninsula could be interesting for him. Although I suppose in the next few turns the biggest danger for him would be if you attacked into Maryland though, he can't let that happen so he might keep all his forces there for a while.

[Gunnulf]

I have half-divisions at Norfolk (with fort) and opposite Fort Monroe to make the two most obvious routes to Richmond less tempting for him. Still possible but would take a decent commitment I think that I don't believe he can spare at the moment. Anywhere ese he might land and right now the ANV can spare a 2 division corps to whack him before he reached Richmond I think. Also my strategy in KY & MO has meant he can't afford to go bananas on concentrating on just one theatre at the expense of others without implications of losing St Louis or Louisville. Glad you are finding it interesting, there are a couple more turns waiting a right up on the plane home tonight but as an overview this is how it looked last turn in the east:

[Gunnulf]

And the west:

[veji1]

Very interesting. Couldn't a ride to Poplar Bluff and then Charleston yiedl good results by closing the Mississippi for resupplying purposes ? He would have to press you and you could retire to Arkansas hiding in good defensive terrain from which he would have a hard time attacking you. Even just using one of your Missouri Divisions for the adventure might be wortwhile if Charleston isn't defended enough.

[Ace1_slith]

If I were Union, I would definetly plan a landing at Tappahannock. It is diffult for CSA to defend it since there is no rail there, it has a harbor for resupply and it brings him within 2 regions of Richmond without a decent fight.

[veji1]

Actually to me your Missouri situation would be a perfect use for someone like Forrest, where he could probe Charleston in force but always be mobile and able to go back to the main forces in Missouri if need be. A way to force him to invest on the left bank of the Mississippi to secure his lines, while not investing more troops on your side (you would use one of your Missouri divisions). This is the type of things you want to do to blunt his spearhead.