AAR II

[Hard Sarge]

and the battle is over, the CSA wins big, another 6000 Union go down, the CSA lose around 2500

but, one of the single Bdes I been complaining about starts up a new battle in the same area

I pick flat and open, the Union is shot

the Union tries for the option that lets them pull in all the reinforcements they can, they fail

battle begins, and they have called for help

[Hard Sarge]

hmmm, sure don't look like 44000 men, but that is my battle line

got 3 Bdes of Cav as my back up, depends on how many the Union is able to bring

[Hard Sarge]

night of the first day has fallen, the Union has brought in 19 more Bdes to reinforce his forces

one of the Union top units rushes the end of my line, but my Cav teaches it the errors of it's ways

morning will tell the tale

[Hard Sarge]

odd battle, I was able to loop my Cav around the flank and drive the Union crazy, once they start to react to them, I sent the rest of my troops forward, and a short sharp fire came about

and again, the CSA comes out on top

Oh My, you got to be kidding, another round of combat begins, the AOP has come out to play

140920 Union vs my 43182 tired and worn out troops

57 Bdes vs 18, I gonna need some tricks this time, unless his morale is totally broken

ah man, it is past my bedtime and I got to go to work tonight too

on to the front

[Hard Sarge]

I got a good battle line set, rocks and hills on my flanks good open area to the front, and lots of swamps and rivers between me and the bad guys, it going to take them a long time to get to me, and they going to be tired and morale is going to be shot

in a pure stand up fire, I do not stand a chance, but I not going to let that happen, the terrain is too good for that

[Hard Sarge]

the march to combat does not take as long as I had hoped, two charges and my northern line is almost broken, but my troops were able to sidestep them

[Hard Sarge]

some heavy fighting has taken place, my line was driven back more then a few times, and I have had to reform it, my Cav has been used finally drive off the attack

only to see the 2nd wave comeing

this one could be nasty

[Hard Sarge]

I was able to use my Cav in the north to drive off the 2nd wave, after it had broke my line in 2 places

only to see that a 3rd wave is beginning to form, time to pull my cav back into cover and let them get closer

I was able to flank Yates Sharpshooters, and drive them away, that will help

in the south, the Union troops are starting to close on my hill line, but the hill and the entrechments make that a strong postion

[Hard Sarge]

it is 12 AM on the first day, I have route 7 Bdes and destroy 4, the Union still has 46 Bdes in good order

my 18 Bdes are still holding, but I have lost close to 1/3 of my Cav

they have really been the Heroes of the first day, but do not know how much more I can expect out of them

[Hard Sarge]

the next wave comes in and is driven back, and now I move forward, trying to draw in the rest of the Union forces

and then the rain comes

[Hard Sarge]

Unreal, the battle lasted about another 4 hours, before the Unions will to fight finally gave in, and they still had 30 Bdes in good order !

I was happy to surive the day

and was totally shocked to see there is still 130000 men in Frederickburg

but this time around, Lee and Early will be able to join the battle

my command Staffs got a number of bumps

and Battle flags were earned by all this day

only that will have to wait until morning, it is bed time for me

[Missouri_Rebel]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

only that will have to wait until morning, it is bed time for me

NO!!! Drink some coffee, pinch yourself, listen to some thrash metal but whatever you do STAY AWAKE AND POST MORE SCREENS!!!!!

Sorry, too much coffee here I suppose. Sleep well and thanks for the fine AAR

Mo Reb

[ancient doctor]

Excellent update BTW.
I do have a couple of questions:1)Below the guns name when you check a unit there are several numbers,whould you like to explain what these mean?
2)I see some forts that you have.What determines the number of forts per province and how do they contribute to the battle?Are they only for tactical combat or they represent city fortifications?How about naval landings and port defences?Do they came with intrinsic garrison or guns?
Keep it up.I hope it will ship to Greece.

[jcjordan]

Another thing on graphics I'd like to know is what the little stack of cannon balls next to each icon means & sorry HS no sleep for the weary so you must keep playing to the end or else you'll have to restart game over with next patch

[pixelpusher]

Hey Sarge, nice AAR! I like how the units really form up into nice big lines. You really tore up that battlefield, Sarge!

A couple of gfx notes:

One thing that doesn't show up in the screenshots is how animated the units are. They walk, shoot their guns, they charge, they even 'celebrate' when they rally. Heck, the cavalry and generals can even gallop (as opposed to trot) their horses when they're running a long way! They're really quite active.

You might also notice in Sarge's later screens that there are little units scattered about the field. Those are the dead units, which lay where they fall. You can see the bloody aftermath strewn about the battlefield. This includes the add-on units. (Looks like somebody whacked your some of your generals, Sarge! Damn Yankees...)

2)I see some forts that you have. What determines the number of forts per province and how do they contribute to the battle?

What you see in Hard Sarge's screenshots above are field entrenchments. However, there are actually multi-hex forts, with built-in cannon, that show up on detailed combat. Perhaps Hard Sarge or somebody will be nice enough to post an AAR about attacking a fort. Forts have BIG nasty cannnon.

[Hard Sarge]

short and sweet for now

the numbers under the guns are the ranges and effect for that weapon type (something the testers all wanted added)

the cannon balls mean a unit is out of supply, in the game, no unit is really totally out of supply, they can keep on fireing and fighting, but will do so at reduced effect

Thanks

Pencil, those are Yankee Generals

last battle two of them fell

on the Forts, those are terrain forts, a map choice you could get

on the Stat level, wwe also have Forts, and these need to be Seiged to be taken (bloody and costly)

and on to work I go

[spruce]

Nice AAR, I think this game is the highest on my list "got to get" ... Like also what Mr. Pixelpusher said about animations.

I have 2 questions/remarks =

1. Going with your AAR, you are a very skilled player - I have to congratulate you on your victories. But is there really a challenge ? The Union seems to be a paper tiger ... in computer games I like to loose once in a while if you know what I'm saying ... [;)]

2. What is the point in besieging / taking fortresses (I don't need those "bloody" [;)] things), I just go round them and spill my blood on taking Washington / Richmond instead.[:D]

[Hard Sarge]

Well, I for one am not thinking they are paper tigers, I mean I "fought" HARD for some of those wins

a mistake here or there or thinking something else is going to happen, and a few of those could of went the other way, and once the first loss is in, the rest can easliy follow

in my current battle set up, if the Union is smart, it will pull the AOP back, but I doubt it will, I think it will even try and reinforce it, so I should have the mother of all CW battles this morning, if the AI is able to mass the rest of the AOP and gets a good die roll on the attack set up, it could roll over me easy


for sieges, well, it depends if you want the area or not, say Lexington, if there is a Fort there, you have to take the fort before you can take the City, and to take the City you got to siege it

lots of Forts on the Rivers, if you want to own, control the river, you got to control the forts

(manned forts also stop you from bypassing them)

but you can buy some pretty big guns to put in them things, and you can upgrade the forts too, and then arm the troops in the forts, Forts can be a royal pain

[spruce]

Hardsarge, thank you for feedback.
 
So you mean that with your experienced battle record the battles could have swung in the Unions favour based on the more randomised die roll ... so here come's in the luck factor. I think I'll play the game on the higher difficulty settings - just to avoid victory after victory.[:'(]
 
About fortresses, you are giving us some usefull info. So a fortress can prevent an army from capturing a city - first take the fortress, then the city... seems logical. Question = how do the fortresses control rivers ? Do they cause money penalty on the enemy ? or what ?

[Hard Sarge]

Well, I don't think I would give anything away, but most AIs don't really think too well, most of the good ones, react, Gary G (one of the best war game designers in my mind) makes some of the best reacting AIs around, alot of times the reaction is so good, it looks like the AI is thinking and setting traps

this AI, can fool you, it is not dumb, just players for the most part are not dumb either, it will surprise you, it will come at you from areas you do not expect it to

now for die rolls and stuff, if I can form a line on defence, I can do well, if I can pick my terrain to form my line in, even better, the AI gets the rolls that stop me from doing this, then it can do it's magic and tear me apart before I can do anything about it

plus victory hexes can force you into unkind set ups

Forts

well, forts control a river, because you can not use the river with a enemy fort in it ?

rivers make movement easier, used for supply and what not

now say as the CSA, I want to move into Ohio, I got to have either Wheeling, Pittsburg or Cinci, of I not getting into Ohio, or if I get in, I not taking any land

I think you may of seen in my AARs, how I rush to Wheeling at the start of each game, the CSA needs to keep it, the AI wants to take it away