PBEM AAR - Long Live the Union!

[jchastain]

Next, let's work on getting some cavalry to deal with the raiders and to provide some support to the infantry. The horse supply rose nicely with the production shift and impressment, so we can buy a cavalry unit. In the advanced game, production is reduced as population is reduced, so we'd like to build it near where we want it, but we definitely want to build it someplace where it won't adversely affect key resource production. For example, now that I am concentrating iron production in harrisburg, that's likely not where I want to be building new units. His raiders are in southern illinois, so let's take a look at Springfield and we'll see that it has some population available and its production isn't very high so that's likely as good a place as any to build my cavalry unit.

[jchastain]

I select to build the cav. My resources are listed across the top and what it costs is listed in-line. You can see that I can afford it, though it will consume the majority of my horses just to produce this one unit.

[jchastain]

I know I am going into a lot of detail here, but the intent is to show the game and not just my actions, so you can now see the cavalry unit in the queue at Springfield. See the little cav symbol at the bottom just above where it shows my money? The little yellow lines to the left of it show how many more turns before it will be ready, so I can check back on its progress at any time.

[jchastain]

You can see the resource hit in the screenshot above but just to keep it in the same format as above to make it easy, here is the city list again. Note that "men" dropped from 2/2 to 1/2, and that caused production of both money and horses to fall from 3 to 1. I thought about conscripting a bunch of troops, but I'm not sure it is worth the economic hit to pull in a bunch of low quality troops. For now, I'll focus on buying higher quality units and keep the economy humming.

[jchastain]

OK, let's look at the overview of troops and see where we stand now. I don't see anything worrisome at first glance.

[jchastain]

The army in Rolla didn't make it to Westport as I had hoped, but it's just as well since he slipped out anyway.

[jchastain]

Only 1 brigade down there, but I'll try to move south and see if I can chase him out of Mo.

Note the movement line is yellow, so it isn't a given that I'll make it down there. Obviously the terrain is a bit rough and though you can see the yellow dot meaning a general is attached, you don't see a name above the army so he isn't of high enough rank to command it. Anytime a container is on the strategic map, you'll see the name of the commander. Look at Keyes' army at the bottom right. Since we gave him 4 stars, he's in command of that army and therefore his name is displayed to show that it is his army. Anyway, that is a long winded way of saying the Rolla army doesn't have a general of sufficient rank to command an army and therefore cannot benefit from any intiative bonuses. Whether or not we will make it to Black River is uncertain, but we'll give it a shot.

[jchastain]

Looking at West Virginia now, the Kentucky army made it to Wheeling, but the divisions did not. We'll try again but once again it is rough terrain and we're uncertain if we'll make it. At least we have an army there and can begin the siege.

Also, notice Lee is now commanding the ANV. No surprise there, but it is worth keeping an eye on his movements.

[jchastain]

OK, now it is time to start improving the army. Keyes and his Army of Illinois is the most likely to see heavy combat in the near future, so let's take a look at them and see what they've got. 7th and 8th divisions each have 2 special units, with the latter having much better quality (experience) troops averaging 2.65 versus 1.99. The best brigade in the army is the Scotch and they are stuck with improvised weapons - we'll need to fix that though the options are pretty limited at this point.

[jchastain]

We went ahead and bought Minie Rifles for the Scotch. That's not great, but it is a lot better than what they had. They are head and shoulders above any other unit, so we'll likely upgrade tham again when we get access to something better. In fact, they are so much better than the others that it is likely worth giving them some more firepower, so we'll buy them some attributes also. We'll spend a little of our iron to give them a brigade artillary upgrade. That will give them some more firepower since they'll have some staying power on the battlefield. And then I'll also get a medical upgrade which will reduce their casualties in battle or if hit with disease. I've invested enough in them that I want to keep them around.

The highest quality unit in the 7th is not a unit destined to be legendary but the rather the plain ole 93rd. I'll go ahead and get them soem minie rifles as well. There is still a lot of junk weaponry out there, but that's the best I can do about it right now.

[jchastain]

It is clear I need better weaponry technology, so I guess I'll go ahead and spring for another armory. A universary increases the effectiveness of armories, so hartford looks like a reasonable candidate location. While I am thinking about research, at the left I can see that I am making some progress already. I'm generating +14 in weaponry research each turn. Engineering is only +6, so I might want to increase that a bit also as I suspect I'll be sieging plenty of forts. But first things first - I need to get the army in position to beat Lee and his boys so that I'll have the opportunity to perform some sieges.

[jchastain]

So, I go ahead and start construction on an armory.

[jchastain]

Here's where my troops ended up by the way. Not much movement really.

[jchastain]

And a quick look at the details in the east. I did end up moving some troops out of Washington and into Annapolis to reduce the risk of massive losses due to disease. Let's hope Lee just stays put as the Army of the Potomac really isn't doing anything to get ready. In fact, I still have their supply priority all the way down. Maybe I should have assigned McClellan to command it after all since I seem to be using his exact strategy. [:D]

[jchastain]

And I end my turn. Despite my caution, it is Gregg who commands the AoP and therefore he earns his promotion as my second 4 star at the end of this turn.

That's it for turn 2. With any luck the Rebs are also sitting back and prepping. I have the economic advantage but time is on his side so by Spring I'll need to be ready to get to work. I think my initial offensive will be out west, but we'll wait and see what he does before finalizing any plans.

[jchastain]

Time to discuss the dark side of this game. It is 2AM. I am about to go to bed. I have to be at work in 6 hours. I receive an email from Gil with his latest turn. Do I...

• A Go on to bed and get some rest so I don't look like garbage at work
• B Stay up playing a game and get very little sleep despite the fact that the game will still be here tomorrow

Since you are reading this, it is obvious I didn't make the smart call. Tomorrow is my wife's birthday. Now that we have established that I'm not very bright is anyone taking odds on whether I will spend the entire evening with her or try to sneak away and look for yet another email?

OK... back to my turn. This will be a short one since we are now in the winter but again, we'll start with the events report.

TURN 3

Things are basically quiet, just as I had hoped. The siege of Wheeling has begun. I'm taking some nasty casualties - roughly twice those of the defenders - but we're making some progress and at least now I have the other two divisions in place since they both made it.

Gregg received his promotion. So far, so good.

[jchastain]

And on page 2, we find some good news. While his raiders did some damage, a band of the criminals were caught and hung. That will help stem the damage. I was thinking about building another cavalry unit to help solve the raider problem but with one out of commission (he can replace them, but they're expensive) I think I might purchase some artillary instead.

Two more generals are available. Again, nothing special but one does have some cavalry skills so he can attach with them once I get that unit built. Reinforcements continue to come in but we're in decent shape still - we better be since we haven't done anything yet.

England continue to grow in power, but at least this time they responded to our investment. When diplomacy works, you can either get them to like you more or get them to like your opponent less. This time, they decided to like me more. It is a small step, but it is a step.

Governor requests are public for all to see. When the governor of a state announces he wants something, it tends to make the papers and we have sympathiz.... er loyal citizens everywhere. So, we now know the governor of Virginia is asking the rebs to keep a few troops in Virginia. Something tells me he was planning on doing that anyway.

All-in-all, another rather uneventful turn. Good.

[jchastain]

I'll go ahead and get the artillary in process. You can build artillary units in cities with Foundries. Cleveland has one and is centrally located and can afford to lose a unit of population without too much effect, so that's where it will be built.

[jchastain]

The NY Gov is still wanting a hospital and I'm in a decent position to take care of that, so I'll go ahead and give him what he wants.

[jchastain]

I don't want to go wild with barely adequate weapons, but I'll go ahead and get a few more minies for Keyes' army.