Casualties

[gchristie]

Casualty rates seem a bit high in this game, compared to the real Civil War or some other CW games on the market (like AACW). Playing version 1.040 against the AI, second battle of Manassas, Union casualties were about 34,000 and CSA took about 17,000. Is this unusual, or a regular occurance in GGWBTS? I'm new to the game and haven't played beyond 1982 yet.

Only the casualty rates from the battles at Gettysburg compare with these numbers.

Gettysburg CSA = 28,063 Union = 23,049
Chickamauga CSA = 18,454 Union = 16,179
Spotsylvania Court House CSA = 12,000 Union = 18,000
Battle of the Wilderness CSA = 11,400 Union = 18,400

Enjoying the game very much and hoping my second Manassas is an anomaly.

[herwin]

You might do an analysis of percentage casualties and who won the battles to see if they match historical data. Go to the Rand website and download Helmbold's paper--Decision in battle: breakpoint hypotheses and engagement termination data.

[gchristie]

Thanks herwin,

I may look into this, but your point is well taken. The Union had just under 60,000 troops in the battle, the CSA a little over 60,000. So the Union's casualty rate was nearly 59% which puts this in a more useful perspective.

Still very high IMO.

My question to the old hands around here, is this casualty rate an outlier or something you see a lot in this game?

Regards.

[Joel Billings]

One thing to keep in mind is that the battles represent one month of campaigning, not just one battle. So for example there were several actions that led up to the battle of Antietam, not just the battle itself. Thus, you can assume that some of the losses are in the skirmishes and marching that lead up to the battle as well as a major battle. That said, I don't remember how often you'll see large losses, but I do recall that it does happen.