AAR of Incompetence!

[Grotius]

But in August 1862, the CSA lands a serious invasion force in New York. Unlike the harrassing Brits, these guys seem to mean business. They immediately eject my two-brigade defense force, leaving New York open to siege. I will have to bring troops from Buffalo, not to mention Pennsylvania and Maryland, to fight for New York City.

[Grotius]

And that's where I am now. Note the score: CSA 4, USA -8. The CSA wins if it gets to 24, or if it leads me by 32 points. Things aren't looking good! But I shall play on. If nothing else, I'm curious to see how the November 1862 elections will work.

I imagine we gamers may eventually find ways to bamboozle the AI, but my AAR is testimony that the AI can certainly play a good game if the player doesn't know what he's doing. In the meantime, I'm now going to do what I should've done in December 1861 -- read the manual cover to cover!

[Grotius]

ORIGINAL: PlacidDragon

This was a refreshing view on AAR's, i must say [:'(]

I will closely be watching your road to ultimate victory [:D]

Hehe, glad you're enjoying it! But um, if you're hoping for ultimate victory, you may be disappointed. [:'(]

[jonreb31]

Fun AAR to read, good job.

[satchel]

All this Arkansas action is making me giddy.

[MT Melon]

Grotius

Gotta thank you for having the cannonballs to come on here and post this type of AAR. Far from looking stupid, it demonstrates your thought processes in a way that I am sure a lot of us can identify with ( well , at least me anyway ). Like a nerd going to a new school and finding a "nerds" table in the Cafeteria - its nice to know that I am not alone [:D]
Keep it going

[jchastain]

Very nice read.  Thanks.  One of the things I like about this game is that there really are a lot of strategic options and the process of learning what does and does not work is its own little adventure.  I too have regrets from my war with Gil, and learning and trying new things is all part of the fun.

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I have absolutely no artillery (recall my earlier cunning decision not to build any), so the only way I can defeat the garrison on the victory hex is to surround it and pulverize it with infantry fire. This I manage to do, but it takes a whole day. In the process, two of my brigades become disordered.

(Questions for the experts: what's the best way to get them undisordered? If I see 0% by the column and line formation options, that means it's fruitless to click those buttons, right? So does one just skip a turn repeatedly? Also, is spacebar the same as skipping a turn?)

Also, I have only one supply caisson. Now that I've read the manual, I think this is partly a consequence of (1) being cut off on the main map and (2) not ordering a rise in the Strategic Supply level of this army group on the main map.

Anyway, after I take that one victory hex, a sole CSA brigade mounts a furious counterattack from the east. It sweeps aside two of my brigades and heads right into the center of town -- and then makes a beeline for my disordered units, routing them instantly. It caps all this off by destroying my sole supply caisson, or at least I think that's what happened. The supply unit seems to be lying on its side, broken. Here's a look at the marauding CSA unit, this time in "chit view" (NATO symbols):

spacebar skips the turn for that unit, not the whole turn

if they are at 0, yea, don't try to bring them back, move them to where they are out of sight, let them rest, and the Generals will try and bring them back into order, or the numbers will begin to get better, and if out of the way, out of sight, 30-40% is not a bad number

[Grotius]

Thanks for the morale-boosting words, guys! Fortunately, I am slowly learning; I read the manual cover-to-cover yesterday, and it's helping.

That said, August of 1862 didn't start well. France and England, in a rare display of unanimity, are now both at war with me. [:'(]

[Grotius]

So French troops are forming up in Texas, British troops are in upstate New York, and Confederate troops have landed in Brooklyn. Ohhh kaaay! I'm determined to fight on, and for once I've formed a coherent plan. I have a three-star general, Shepley, in charge of a new corps I formed in Chicago. The plan is for him to hook up with a small Pennsylvania division and drive the invaders out of Long Island.

[Hard Sarge]

oh boy

I have never seen that !, in fact, I never have seen France go to war

hmmm, didn't you say, Texis dropped out of the war ? that could be interesting, as that is where the French will come from

only thing I would really offer on your game, you started your advance too soon, your troops were really not ready yet, roger on taking what you can, but don't go into action if you can avoid it

good AAR

[Grotius]

Hehe, yep, France joined the war after Texas had stood down -- but France is still deploying in Texas. So far I see two or three French brigades there. And yep, I started my offensive too soon. Hehe, I was eager to fight! [:D]

So have I set some sort of record -- first player to get France *and* Britain to declare war at once? Look at the bright side: I save 60 money or more a turn on diplomacy.

Anyway, my eagerness to fight continues, so I besiege Fort Henry mostly because I'm curious to see how gunboats work. Whee, fun! The boats pack a big artillery punch. And so far the CSA has not sent in any force to stop me. For those new to FoF, this shot depicts my besieging infantry, the defending fort, my "siegeworks" (formed when you start a siege), and my gunboats.

[Grotius]

Anyway, I get down to business in the famous Civil War Battle of Brooklyn! LMAO! I'm loving this game. [:D] For once I'm on defense, I guess because I'm defending my city there? Also, I got to choose the type of battlefield involved, and I had some element of surprise, all of which was fun. I chose an urban landscape because I recently acquired the Urban Fighting tech.

The CSA rushes at me and does grab one of three victory hexes it needs. But I rally my troops and make a stand at the second hex, Woodville. And this time I actually do have one unit of arty. To bring their full 600 damage to bear, I guess they have to be right next to the enemy, which puts them at risk, as they are in this screenshot. But wow, when they hit their target, they hit hard -- in one case, causing 600 casualties to the Magnolia Brigade.

[Grotius]

And finally, in the late summer of 1862, I win my first major land battle of the Civil War, holding 2 of the 3 victory hexes and routing the enemy. In fact, the enemy has disappeared from the main map, just as my Army of Arkansas did. Is this by design?

[Grotius]

I win but I take more casualties than the enemy. Of course, that has been known to happen in real warfare.

[Grotius]

Another neat thing about FoF is its fluid Victory Point system. Your VPs go up and down depending on whether you've won major battles recently, modeling the political ebb and flow of national will to fight. I had been down 12 points before the Battle of Brooklyn. Not so now!

[Grotius]

At last I have a little breathing room, so I turn my attention to governors' requests for improvements, which have been piling up while I've been pumping out military units to fend off the invaders. I have a backlog of about a dozen requests. Here are a few of the items I start to build.

[Grotius]

The most mysterious governor's request is Iowa's request for a Naval Shipyard. Hmm, do they need ironclads to patrol the cornfields out there? [:'(] But maybe the shipyard is for making gunboats to patrol the river. I decide to hold off on it.

[Grotius]

So it's now late September 1862, and the next big event on the horizon is the election in November. I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out.

[Hard Sarge]

LOL

you got a interesting war going on, man never seen both sides in the minus either

I may of missed but how did the troops get to brooklen ? by sea ??

if they sea landed, they not really got a chance to retreat, so yea, right now that is how it is designed