Matrix Games Forums

Jacksonville has a factory, Lynchburg doesn't, thus higher pp value. Resource's, raillines, and population also come into the equation when getting the pp value.

[8D]
Jon

Goodaye,

Ted Healy. Stand up straight, son, and accept your medal. Well done.

And a similiar medal for GSHock for continuing with his excellent AAR.

Cheer,
Lancer

SEP61



A totally unexpected amphibious invasion takes place in LA. As you can see from the corner the red arrow is pointing, we are in reaction phase. In this phase, triggered when a friendly territory is occupied by less than 6 to 1 combat odds, i can move troops with enough MP in combat support. Obviously it's troops that are already attached to a leader since you can't stack units in this phase but only move. It requires ahead planning.



I am caught totally unprepared and with limited INF-MIL in the area. The red-dotted arrows show the possible intervention. However these leaders are just too far away to arrive in time, do not have enough MP or terrain prevents them to reach Ft. Jackson with the MP they have. There's nothing i can do. This fort will fall.




Who am i dealing with? What's going on in Ft. Jackson? It's basically a mostly unspotted federal detachment. At this stage, i don't think the Union has enough naval power to transport a huge detachment, still with my only HVY ARTY in defense of the fort, the situation can only have an outcome.



This is a glimpse of a rather short, combat interface. Odds are calculated, not in numbers but in combat factors, each affected by leaders and stack-leader organization. Die rolls are performed in background and when a hit is taken, the small fire icon appears by the affected unit. Note that even though my HVY ARTY is advantaged by shooting from the fort, the odds are just too much...especially since the federals are bombing my fort from the sea.



The result is dramatic not just for the losses (basically none for both, even though my HVY ARTY is more important than 3 Union HVY ARTY units due to the difference in economies) but because the capture of Ft. Jackson allows the Union to achieve a dominant territorial situation in proximity of New Orleans where Twiggs only has 1 Unit in command. This situation demands an immediate transfer of troops from other theaters of operation along with the commitment of major supply expenses to fortificate the path between Ft. Jackson and New Orleans. I will show you in the following SS.



As a matter of fact, the best thing to do, before even thinking of starting the turn, is to look at the event log. This log will tell me everything happening in this turn, recap of my events and of my opponent's events. You can see that the Turn is not anymore in reaction phase. This is the movement phase.
In order to keep troops supplied and to help with amphibious initiative, the federals have build depots in all those little islands they captured in August. What happened at the Mississipi mouth will happen again and where is not known. It's really impossible to defend the whole coast so we must begin to think about an aggressive withdraw strategy by exploiting all gaps in the supply lines of the enemy and hit them where they don't expect.



This is the list of my moves related to the defense of New Orleans (red = infantry, Yellow = Cavalry, Blue= Strategic move of units coming from other theaters). To begin with, Bragg leaves Pensacola for Mobile and delivers one of his infantry units to New Orleans, which in turn delivers one of theirs to the other side of the Mississipi mouth where our fort still stands. Leadbetter goes to build a fort while my other administrative leader thought about a romantic night with his wife on the transport over the Mississipi river. Sadly, i made a mistake in moving this leader who was supposed to arrive in New Orleans to build a fort and i hit the river area mistakenly...this move unfortunately, can't be undone...nevertheless we hope he's enjoying his holiday and that he (and I) remembers he's got a job to do in New Orleans. While my sole gunboat approaches Humbolt, down from the TN comes a strong group which takes place in the newly built fort. The swampy area and the Union lack of initiative should give me the time to organize the defenses...and let those new HVY ARTY emplacements arrive there to make the federals' life a bit harder. Finally, a newly converted MTD unit approaches to help with the scouting and negate Union combat advantages...who knows, we might even be able to throw them back to the sea...
However, i cannot divert any more forces from the other theaters with the only exception of the TN/KY border. Doing so would cost me a lot of strategic transport points and i don't know if it is a good idea right now. We will see.



We can skip the MO/KY theater. No news = good news...and jump to the VA theater. Despite building the fort, i sense Harper's Ferry to be very weak. This is the moment of the most important choice as we have initiative in this theater and the question is simple: To attack or not attack? First we must see what we've got, then what the enemy has got; only then will i choose.

I activated 3 leaders this turn (my maximum available) 2 ART and 1 CAV and one of the new ART leaders is in Manassas. All of the leaders and units you see in Manassas are able to attack Harper's Ferry right now. There are some major things to consider.
1) The rail link in the NE area bordering HF is still damaged.
2) Beuregard's Army mod value is unknown. This modifier applies to all leaders in combat and simulates the communication/synchronization difficulties during the war. (range -2 / 0) It's a major rating which not only varies from leader to leader but also improves/decreases according to the leader's results in combat.
3) Mc Dowell has initiative in Washington and looks strong enough to take Manassas if we leave it unprotected. There are at least 22 units in Washington at the moment. A major deterrent in my opinion.



This is the situation in Winchester instead. Walton is the second Arty leader i activated and is stacked and ready. We have initiative here too with an unknown Army Mod rating and EK Jackson who's the only one who can't move. (stacked with newly come units who would exceed movement if he moved so his MP are updated) Final note: All units in Winchester are spotted.




Garnett here is unable to intervene at all despite having the initiative. The terrain is too rough and his MP are not enough. The CAV unit i moved there, is also unable to perform, due to lack of leader and his bonus MP any scouting/raiding action. To the top of it, the only defense this area has is the very same terrain that would prevent me from attacking as all of these units have been spotted. We can only hope the Union doesn't get initiative thereby and that even if it does get it, the terrain will help me with MP and with combat bonuses. This is surely my weakest side.



Surprisingly, even Wise, laying behind Manassas, is able to attack Harper's Ferry eventually. This is due to good links connecting the 3 regions in the path. However, Wise looks like the typically defensive Leader and he's only got 1 INF unit. He would arrive in combat very late and i doubt he would be a key factor even if he's obviously unspotted. My assessment of the situation is starting to look from 80%-20% (yes-no) to 50%-50% (gamble attack).



Here's my best weapon, still unused: Stonewall. Strong training leader but unknown (yet) combat statistics. He can't be bad but still he's in Gordonsville due to my "mind games" moves from previous turn. I have a strong feeling he would win the battle as his stack is manned, ready and numerous so my assessement strongly increases to 70%-30%. Now it's all about who's in Harper's Ferry.
Time to mobilize Bonham and Jeb. (The third leader i activated, the CAV leader Steuart is facing Ft. Monroe)

...Misery, misery, misery. Bonham scouting twice and Jeb scouting thrice (!) are unable to determine the total forces lying in Harper's Ferry. This is a major upsetting result for me and i decide not to attack Harper's Ferry. I desperately need more cavalry units to increase the chances of spotting the enemy...luckily these 5 scouting attempts brought no casualties on either side but it's sure a sore loss considering i could have raided the region again and probably hit the Union supplies again. What a disappointment...yet what would have happened if i had attacked and lost? Maybe not all of what's bad turns out to be really bad in the end....

This turn comes to an abrupt end and i lost my chance to deliver a counter-blow to the union for the loss of Ft. Jackson. It's time to assess the political situation and move onward to next production.



We now know where Lyon is. In Ft. Monroe...that's pretty good news...and bad news for he's in a critical spot. The potential surprise might come from Butler and i guess, RJH has read history books...so if you've read them too, you know where Butler is. I think i do. [:)]
I set a new Raider in production and observe that Freemont won't probably trouble me...he's either in MO or approaching KY from IL. Speaking of MO, i totally forgot to scout Springfield...it's all because of this AAR! [:@]



This is the updated production queue for this turn. I applied the notes to the SS. [:)]



Good news, the produced units from the previous turns. The typical production of any player will range between 30% and 80% of mere supplies. Among the many uses of supplies there's probably the most important for CSA. The fact they allow me to create militia. Right, you don't buy Militia like in the supermarket but couple 5 supply points (each supply you buy is worth 10) with a Population point and you have a chance to see a new MIL unit spawn. Richmond and other centers where the population is high, have more chances to produce MIL but luckily we're still in our finest hour and we will see to use this MIL accordingly. MIL units are inept fighters. They rout, they can take less hits before being disbanded and, in general, they are weak. It's up to us to train them into soldiers and to use them possibly in defense and with overwhelming numbers (something nearly impossible for CSA).

That's all for now. Surely RJH is waking up now...and tonite I'll see another turn. [:D]

Very well done, I don't think my anticipation for this game could get any higher now 

Wait till you see the Union assault and I'll do a VID. Gotta test this offline with camcorder 2.0 vs AI and in Windowed mode. It will be a massive .avi file and you will see how combat is displayed. What you won't see is me jumping, giggling, screaming but that's another story [:)]

We received a new update a thorough new installer and not just a beta exe with few files and fixes. Some rules have changed but both RJH and I are proceeding. It's good news, it means we approach the final release candidates for 1.0 as Joel said. Meanwhile, i experimented more with Camstudio 2.0 to record Vids and though i dislike playing in windowed mode, it appears to be the only way i can record decently and in control of the record/pause commands. RJ has taken my warning in email do not tell me what happens in the turn as i want to see in the game so i am very nervous about what happened.

My discoveries brought the .avi 184MB sized file to a full divx just 587kb size ! using Star Divx converter...and i 've got the feeling it is the same converter Joel used for his recently related vid. Unfortunately, the converter is unregistered and only converts half of the vid so from the original 43 seconds, you will only see 21 seconds as the vid is cut when i call on the replay feature to observe the Union Events. [:)]

I uploaded this small vid on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS2KBGxCtOg

2 significant events are shown nonetheless. KY has been invaded by the Union who controls now Bowling Greene, Lexington, Paducah and Glasgow. The union will probably launch the assault from Paducah as a Fort as been been built. Paducah and Bowling Greene both have Cavalry units. The union definitely fears my raids and I'll have to carefully select leaders now since losses might occur.
A federal gunboat has been bombarded and missed on the Mississipi by the Artillery in the fort at Humbolt and i have the chance to engage it with my gunboat possibly exploiting the combat attrition. On the other side, in WA a Union transport has been engaged by my shore artillery and damaged. [:)]



The situation has also developed in VA as you see. The Union is encircling through WV and it's time to counter this move to extend their lines and prevent them from entering. Monroe is worth only 2 PP but its terrain is suitable for a good defensive position. Bee is detached from Staunton and moves to Lexington, a step away from Monroe. My plan tries to force the Union to keep extending their front and deliver a blow either in Grafton or in Harper's Ferry, which we failed to do in last turn, before winter comes. The number of generals spotted in Ft. Monroe is starting to worry me. Lyon has no initiative (and most certainly no horse troopers of any kind) but that military group has a spotted CP total of 28. Why would RJH send so many generals underneath an Army Commander if they had no troops? I can employ my gunboat in Norfolk to bombard the fort as i don't believe Lyon could answer with HVY ARTY from Fort Monroe. This turn is critical.




In LA, Leadbetter's holiday is over and he goes to build a fort in New Orleans which is mostly undefended. The Texan cavalry reaches St. James' Fort with a newly activated CAV leader. St. James is ready for the federals.



These are my preliminary moves but the real turn, as you know, for me starts with the event screen. Thereupon i will repost an update on this turn with the full list of my moves and my thoughts.

Here's the events list taking place during the Union turn...


Unshown by this pic, in the lower part of the log, the reports show the Union has invaded TN by capturing Gallatin, which holds a resource point and building a fort. The other regions captured have already been called in the previous post. The loss of this resource point is a very bad thing. My mistake in not protecting it and even if the fort is currently unmanned, i have no initiative in TN (but took action to help gaining it next turn) so i can't counterattack and capture the Union unmanned fort.
Another very important set of events shown by this log, indicates the Union has scouted Clarksville and Humbolt in TN. While Clarksville was screened and units remain undiscovered, Humbolt has only partially been screened and is therefore in danger. New Kent has been scouted twice and only partially screened. I expect to be attacked in either or both regions next turn and will show you my moves in preparation for these attacks.

I have begun thinking that fortune favors the bold and an insistent scouting is good for the Union who can't afford losing. In my case, i can't afford losing a battle too but i am in a more desperate situation and surprise attacks are paramount. I will not make the same mistake i did in the previous turn with 5 scouting missions in Harper's Ferry. If i sense a weakness i will strike trusting my superior leadership.





It took me some time to decide what to do, and i decided to begin with the MO theater. I have a distinct advantage over here thanks to my cavalry unit and a good leader: Forrest, who's grouped with Price in Fayetteville. Forrest has 7MP and a trained CAV unit. Since we have a complete vision of the enemy forces in Springfield, there's no need for further scouting. I can clearly see the outcome of this raid...[:D]

Forrest arrives in Springfield and raids it finding little valuables to steal and nothing to destroy, therefore, he moves to Jefferson City where, unchecked, he wreaks havoc on the enemy supplies stealing some, destroying others and leaving the region ravaged with the destruction of the enemy rail line. Forrest hasn't had enough, he moves on to St. Louis and a similar result is produced...however, he's now chased by enemy horsemen and instead of going to Rolla, unfortunately, he goes to poplar bluff. He destroys the rail line there and returns to report to Price. The total amount of supplies destroyed is around 25 and about 10 are now in our hands. What's more important is that the small Union detachment in Springfield is totally isolated and possibly unsupplied in next turn.
Price feels ready to attack but has no initiative. He detaches 4 MIL, retaining the sole INF he has and sends it to McCullogh who's a better trainer (both leaders' combat ratings are still unknown) and sends back 2 INF units to Price while receiving the newly spawned MIL coming from Little Rock.

I have the feeling the Union doesn't know what's coming in MO, however, I will not be able to stack all the INF units delivered to Price in this turn due to the limited CP recovery from their detachment. (Remember: There are other leaders and should i be attacked in Fayetteville, the fact troops are currently unstacked means some other leader might be taking them to combat. The limited CP recovery rule is terribly realistic in troop management!)
McCullogh himself is ready to strike...it's all a matter of initiative. With 6 CP and a seemingly good, yet unknown, training capability if either of these generals gain initiative Springfield will be ours.

Given the combat results of hits and loss of leader by Humbolt, my Gunboat pushes on and attacks.
Fortune favors the bold!!!




With the invasion of KY/TN, even though i have a temporary superiority in the Mississipi and guns at the fort supporting them, I must start to reinforce my positions. The first step is the delivery of Polk from Richmond to Humbolt. In an attempt to gain initiative and reorganize forces, Johnston is appointed TC of the western theater and Polk Army Commander of the forces in Humbolt. My line is so thin here that nothing stops the Union from advancing further. I "slide" all the forces eastwards and prepare for the onslaught. An arty unit is brought to the front line and several MIL units are brought ahead to Humbolt (from the lower Mississipi) and to Anderson who's in Clarksville. The training values of Johnston are still unknown and the fort in Clarskville is weak and surrounded on 2 sides. The union lines in KY/TN are marked in black and unspotted groups marked with the black X.

Since Paducah only shows 1 cavalry unit, while Van Dorn has 2, i decide to try a raid instead of a scouting mission in order to damage the Union lines and, hopefully, proceed to IL where Cairo has a factory. However, that single Union Cavalry screens my raid and nothing good or bad comes from this raid. Let Polk do his job...he's a poor trainer but got reinforced lately and this should prevent the Union from attacking immediately from Paducah.




Let's jump to VA now.
The situation here is very complex. I've decided to keep Ewell back to train and he's proven to be as worthy as Smith. Bee is going on my Western flank but it will take him another turn before he gets to the mountains of WV (red dotted arrow). Stonewall is in Winchester now and both he and Longstreet have received 2 more INF units. More reinforcements are coming from NC and SC to the front lines of VA. 2 Scouting missions took place...and lots of movement and mind games. You'll have to follow the SS closely to understand what's going on, I'll try to do my best to show you.

LEt's begin with the Intelligence (Yellow is cav, always)
Bonham conducted a successful raid damaging the rails in Harper's Ferry that the Union had hastily repaired. He carried on stealing and destroying more supplies in the 2 neighbouring regions and he raided Washington as well. About 30 Supplies were captured or destroyed and an enemy INF unit was damaged in the process. JEB tried to scout Harper's Ferry, this is the 6th consecutive scouting mission that fails in Harper's Ferry but i can't risk an attack, especially in a fort, without full knowledge of the enemy forces there. You must be thinking: Hey you had said fortune favors the bold!

Yes, but Harper's Ferry is neighbouring many Union territories and in the reaction phase they would convey at least the same number of troops i am to commit. Do not forget the vast majority of my leaders have unknown ratings. Why risking without need? Let them come, we're ready.

Ashby raids the Charleston supply in WV. The result is a devastating loss of 20 more supply units for the Union and Ft. Monroe scouts also report 3 more units and 1 more leader. There's a huge movement in Ft. Monroe and undoubtedly the Union is preparing to attack but for the moment, they don't have initiative there.




Calling on mind-games, reinforcing and strenghtening my positions in VA:
Since the amount of movements is so heavy, i do not forget the moves but i do forget names of leaders sometimes.
Legend:
Black Arrows -> Stacks moved behind the front line to become unspotted. (Next turn i will show you more in details this sort of movements)
Blue -> Transfer of leader to Wilmington to take in charge of the defenses there.
Red-Dotted -> Infantry MIL coming from other theaters to the training camps of Ewell and Smith. These forces consist of 5 total units mostly coming from SC and NC.
Green -> ARTY built in Richmond going to Manassas Winchester and New Kent where Arty Leaders are to employ them.
Red -> Infantry units moving from training centers to first line and being attached to leaders.



It is interesting, despite the inaccuracy due to the FOW rules, to note that the Union cavalry numbers are increasing. We've had a taste of their presence as you have seen in the scouting results. I'm to find an increased difficulty with raiding in the coming future. Also note that at this point, the Union trained INF is roughly composed of my same numbers. I desperately need to concentrate forces and deliver a blow before the rest of MIL are trained and ranged all against our borders. Most certainly, the bulk of MIL are being trained by Mc Dowell and other leaders massed in Washington.



Here's my updated situation regarding unit production. All damaged units have been repaired and the bulk of my first wave of HVY ARTY is being delivered at the end of this turn. The reduced number of supplies produced last turn have spawned only 6 MIL units this turn (that screenie is omitted but all the guns produced have already been delivered here....eheheheh).
I have started the production of an Ironclad in LA but will not produce a new cruiser in FL, i will produce it next turn from TX. As usual on this screen all notes are on the SS.




Here's the usual final screen of the turn AAR: The political situation.

Over and Out (for now!)

Personally I'm fine with just screenshots.  The vids are nice but SS's do the job just fine for me.

I really like how the cavalry is used to spot, screen, and raid.  Really a great cat and mouse game going on.

What does it take for KY to choose a side?  I see they are still neutral even though the boys in blue moved in.

The real problem with vids is that:

a) Fraps only records 30 seconds and is only visible by those who have fraps too.
b) Youtube scales down the quality *terribly* For example i can't read any text in the youtube vids i upload, yet the same file in my windows media player looks awesome.
c) Camstudio only works in windowed mode, records in great quality but obviously huge size. All div-x free converters i found are only offering the conversion of HALF the avi i record.

When the first real battle takes place, i will record it with the webcam, zip and deliver it to megaupload. It's the best way quality/time. You surely have noticed how long it takes to build this AAR...what scares me is the mistakes i make playing because i am always thinking: Should i mention this, should i mention that? Do they understand this? Is this marginal or important? etc.etc.

Don't fret, you're doing a fab job at explaining the nuances and tactics behind the game!

Great AAR....I'm fine w/ the screenshots.

Experimenting with camcorder and winavi (tipped by Joel and he's right it's a great prog!) i have 2 small vids to show you. The text quality is not excellent despite 100% quality setting. It's youtube, you wanted, i still prefer rapidshare/megaupload but there's good news: The file compression is great and this means the vids will be perfect for the battles ahead, so these are my last 2 attempts with vids. Next one will be a battle and it will NOT be on youtube. [:D]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLFZ2Vjn5aM

This is the Log i always start the turn with. You can see, among the several other information, that Grant has been promoted **. The Union has descended further in TN and has also invaded the woody and swampy areas of AR. In both cases i had to take counteractions i will show in the recap SS sorted per theater: LA-AR-TN-VA (omitting SC and NC because it's totally hvy arty moves on the coastal areas).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDTmVKt43dE

Having reinforced Humbolt with a newly converted MTD unit, a raid is conducted on the newly built Union depot. Winter is kicking in and MP are affected...the raid is successful but with minimal supply loss for the Union. In the whole nation, only 3 leaders have initiative. None in MO, 1 in TN and 2 in VA. Too little to hope for a strike...

Let's get to the SS now.



The huge number of H arty produced allows me to reinforce the fort in Humbolt. Post facto, the raid in Paducah was useless and i should have scouted but i feel rather safe knowing the Union must be having the same problems with initiative i have. Probably even worse. 2 HVY guns go to Humbolt then along with 2 MIL one of which is converted to MTD and then coupled with the CAV unit being there for the upcoming raid. The guns produced in SC are delivered to the other side of TN to reinfoce the fort, along with 2 MIL who go to Johnston himself who is now effectively the west TC (appointments take effect immediately but their benefits come in the following turn which is this one). The training stats of all western leaders in TN are poor or unknown and this is a real problem. There's also a severe shortage of troops but i've produced more supplies this turn and that will definitely help. Lawton is dispatched to the newly built fort which protects a vital rail connecting the city of Nashville and its fort to the rear and thus to my production centers. The scouting in Gallatin produces poor results, only 1 arty is spotted but not its leader and there are more units there. The fort on the cumberland is temporarily abandoned and all the front shifted 1 region eastwards. The situation is very difficult here.

I must admit i like the reproduction of historical values as, after long studying i firmly believe the CSA truly didn't have a single chance to win this war on the military side and it only appeared it could (to the CSA of course) because of the misleading indications coming from the first Bull Run. The game recreates this perfectly in my opinion and the situation you see in TN is an evident proof.

The invasion of KY has had its costs on the Union. KY is now partly aligned with the Union and some of the PP loss has been recovered but the loss of Gallatin without a fight due to a terrible mistake (i forget, i'm sorry!) has had its costs on my PP too. There's only a good side in this. I believe the Union is descending too fast in KY-TN and the partisans are already arming. Garrisoning all these territories has its costs and i must move to be ready to strike when the opportunity arises. One of these opportunities is to send the Gunboat East past Paducah. The choice here is to take the risk and pass (if the Union has HVY ARTY on the fort the Gunboat has high chances to be destroyed) and be able to bomb the Union in Gallatin or wait for the new Gunboat coming from New Orleans to merge with this one and make a stand by Humbolt (where my newly come guns would smash the Union Gunboats to pieces). When your resources are thin and the situation dramatic as it is for CSA in this game, every loss is a big pain.



In MO we have no initiative. An attempt to Raid Springfield ends with no effect as the Union enters Arkansas i have to extend my lines. We have an arty and Mil coming from TX and Little Rock is providing precious militia to MC Cullogh who delivers an INF to Price (W) and another one East...at this point this INF activates Hardee, a most welcome gift for he's a ** leader and, so far, obviously unspotted by the Union. One of the reasons why justly no demo was built for this game, and i am sure you will understand, is that the initiative is a key factor and the organization of forces needs to be as accurate as possible to increase its chances. This accuracy is achieved with several moves and the lenght in turns it takes, makes it impossible to be built in a limited demo version. A "flat" demo might be successful in delivering some values, but it would surely fail and ruin every effort so far done to build this game if the player loads the game and has no initiative. On the other side if he always had the initiative, the goal of the demo would still fail. This game requires lots of planning and a demo just can't allow it.

In LA the situation seems on hold for the Union. The poor leadership of my CAV unit in the fort does not allow a scouting mission...however all HVY arty guns are conveying to New Orleans and we must make our stand at the Mississipi river mouth if possible, to keep the Union away from New Orleans itself.




In VA the newly built guns reach their intended destinations. Bee is prevented by the weather and lack of initiative from reaching his destination and take an advantageous defensive position. Ewell and Smith are training units wonderfully and both Norfolk, New Kent, Manassas and Winchester have been reinforced. Unsure whether my leaders would be able to eventually move back in support, i decided to risk being spotted and perform no mind games. This also saves supplies, desperately needed to make new MIL spawn. I do not expect any attack in VA, yet, but i surely hope to be attacked right now. The defenses would probably hold.





The production screen marks the beginning of construction of 2 ironclads. These units take so long to build, we must begin immediatelyto delay the Union on the Mississipi ASAP. Pay special attention to the resources and production points as they are affected by the upcoming season...you will certainly notice I've commissioned the production of the double supply units i produced so far.





We conclude this turn with the usual update on the political situation. Next turn i will commission the navy dept, to build a new raider. The Union might (and i hope so) begin to take supply losses this turn thanks to my active raider. These losses will generate PP losses which will help closing the gap between the 2 sides. With Winter coming, the Union generals should have a hard time to gain initiative, however since they are in forts, mostly, they will suffer less this handicap. Scott has 53% of gaining initiative, and if he does, he will help all the E theater AC to gain it too. Longstreet and Jackson are ready to act on Harper's Ferry and perhaps the winter can reduce the rate of reinforcements the Union can convey there through the Potomac.

I have made a big mistake in Manassas by activating an Arty leader. I unstacked the guns from another leader to send them to him but the recovery of his CP will take place next turn. Now the new leader (a poor one) has guns stacked while the other leader (the good one) hasn't. The limited CP recovery rule is a difficult one to master.

RJH's e-mail this morning brought very bad news...and the mocking tone of one who knows what he's doing and who knows his opponent is already in distress. Damn Yankee!
The delay in processing this turn was caused by a new release that was subsequently immediately updated. Rest assured, we're doing our best to give you the best! [:)]

Dawn marks the beginning of the invasion of TX on behalf of the Union forces. Galveston, poorly defended by a single INF unit mobilizes its militia and gets ready to fight after surviving the fleet bombardment. You might be wondering why Galveston and not Corpus Christi that was better defended? Eh...lady luck kissed me again. The odds however are not too bad in the Union's favor and we might be able to beat them.[8D]

This AAR begins with 3 vids: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CLIP8CG8
(small files but very good quality. No more youtube, takes time and wastes quality. Open the VIDS in the order listed in the AAR in brackets and look at them when the time comes.)

(Start)
The turn begins with the reaction phase. Galveston is being invaded from the sea! The first thing to do is to see who can help...the factors computed do not show the militia hastily mobilized. Unfortunately, all the units you see on the map that are closeby, are just newly spawned and unattached. Hence, they can't move without a leader...and Herbert's force in Corpus Christi is unfortunately too far away. Before going to battle, let's have a look at the log. (Pause and read). The Union suffered severe attrition losses in KY. When time comes we will see if we can exploit this temporary weakness.

If you look closely to the log, you will see that one of my 2 Raiders has sunk a Union Merchant. 7 Supply units are lost and 4 are captured. Most notably, 1PP is lost by the Union and with more raiders coming, these losses are bound to increase.

(Battle)
The die rolls are hidden but you can see each unit firing on the enemy with ships and Arty firing first. We have no arty of course and remember that when a unit is not hit (fire icon) it still adds some attrition to the "queue". The numbers and losses are roughly equivalent but my men are mostly composed of MIL and it's not a coincidence the only clean hit scored is by the INF unit. The overwhelmed forces of Sibley's retreat northwards and Galveston is lost to the Union.

Sibley meets newly spawned MIL who are further joined from E and W by new MIL and one of these comes with a happy companion: a ARTY unit. However, i do not trust Sibley anymore to be able to make up for this loss, and I activate Crittenden. It is December 61 and CSA is now allowed to build Divisions/Corps for the army structure. Another minor arty leader is activated, and, as you see from the SS, Crittenden's stack is now attaching 2 leaders. These leaders actually represent STACKS of troops....the troops of those sub-leader's stacks.
Only ** generals can employ corps and only if they have a good number of CP. They sum up their stats with those of their subleaders helping them to perform better. The union will begin to form their corps in January.




(Mississipi)
The turn can now officially begin. My newly built gunboat joins forces in Humbolt area and advances to the confluent where an Union transport is destroyed. This risky manouver will cut off reinforcements to Paducah and allow me to turn around and support forces in TN. However i haven't taken this decision yet...those gunboats might even not survive...Clarksville is in danger but the gunboats might not arrive...hence Johnston dispatches 1 ART and 1 INF from the rear lines to the fort...let's hope it holds for the winter.




The number of borders to keep, compared to the shortage of men, is apparent in this SS. I have just 2 MIL to send to the front. One goes to Hardee and one goes to Humbolt (which also receives another H ART). The third MIL goes S to merge with Crittenden. As you can see, it's choices everywhere and there's no way to defend everywhere but only somewhere and hope to be able to exploit an opportunity, which depends on initiative and on the opponent's moves. Price and Mc Culloch have received no reinforcements and even those dashed green arrows might just be a dream. Springfield is still very weak but i decide to hold my cavalry in reserve. Terrain is very hard here, there's no railway and troops move very slowly. Sinking that transport is a good result but the Union has rails just behind the river where troops are waiting to be boarded and cross by more and more transports. Van Dorn has scouted and uncovered about 14 units in Paducah. They almost outnumber us by 2 to 1.

In LA Ft. St. James is further reinforced. 1 MIL goes to the other side of the Mississipi mouth from New Orleans, who also delivers 2 Hvy ART to the front. Ft. St. James is the possible counterattack spot...unfortunately, the very poor cavalry leader there, has not enough MP to give and even a scouting on the enemy position is impossible. He's bound to be dismissed next turn because with the corps kicking in, more activations are now allowed. I have spawned 2 very competent Arty leaders in VA.



Lyon's position is very strong and he has the initiative. Ewell sends 4 INF units to Magruder and Smith delivers to Beuregard and Johnston. Magruder is not a good commander but there's no other choice. More Arty join the front in VA coming from NC and the newly spawned Arty leaders take over. I now feel confident if the Union attacks our men will make their stand. New Kent is a critical territory. I am already diverting many forces there and neglecting offensive in Harper's Ferry but if New Kent falls, i'll have to divert even more to protect Richmond.

Mistake of this turn: a detached MTD to send to Steuart to scout the enemy fort, the leader in New Kent has 0/1 CP available. Bonham is complaining of course...but even if i sent back the MTD, Bonham would be unable to employ it.

Lawton builds a new fort on the VA western front and Bee again is unable to enter WV. Ashby is luckily very active and marauds the WV supplies again, destroying/capturing about 12 out of 20. Good. JEB insteads raids Harper's Ferry and tears down the rail in HF following up almost again to Washington and plundering 15 Union supplies.

Nothing more to add...the long wait is tiring me more than action and i can't wait to see the Union hit me where i am prepared, for a change!




Bad news from the seas...the capture of one side of the Mississipi mouth ends the whole trade on the river. Other ports are blockaded 100% and bound to shut down operations soon...a sparkle of light...one of my leaders in LA has been promoted to *. More units can be handled now and perhaps if he gets the initiative...

The production queue, as usual. I am building a factory in NC to increase output. Gonna take a while before it's ready. Since Buchannan has been activated, a new Ironclad is build in VA. Perhaps we can hit them by surprise in Norfolk and open a window for the runners to produce some more supplies.




The political situation is bad but let's look at the good side, i can explain how the political generals work. Every turn a high ranking "political" general (u're thinking of Mc Clellan but in CSA there were quite a few too!) is not appointed to command, PP are paid every turn. That's why I'm so down on PP !!! This AAR will be remembered as one of the most affected by the player's mistakes! Got to give command or pay...if you give command perhaps you'll lose battles, but you can also dismiss, and pay a "one time fee".
Choices, choices, choices...

Pyle said it right: Took him a year to learn the game and us newcomers can't really know how some things work if not by trial and error.
The manual? Yes i've read it many times...but eventually i must have forgotten this detail...RJ reminded me, but he did just after i had appointed AS Johnston...well...i fixed it myself, better late than never!




Let's hope things get better for CSA [:)]

Time to launch a large, but limited attack somewhere to keep the Union on their toes?  Seems like you need to try and throw a hard hitting counter punch sooner or later.

Right. The point of all the trouble is not only the fact the Union systematically outnumbers me, but the lack of initiative despite better leadership. With winter coming the production levels and initiative factors go down and operations are limited. The scouting factors are also very important. Without a good knowledge of the enemy attacking is very risky and we'd better stay in defense. However, converting MIL to MTD and increasing cavalry trooper numbers increases chances to spot the enemy, and is a key difference between a good or bad scout/raid factor in the comparative checks....obviously, the bad side of the medal is that the MIL -> MTD -> CAV takes one more step to creation of regular troops...and I am in dire shortage of INF for combat purposes. We need a defensive victory to change the tide of events and i don't know where. Yet.
 
 

GShock, you are a tower of strength my friend, thanks for taking your precious time and posting this AAR.[&o][&o][&o][&o][&o][&o]

I managed to reinstall most important things on the HP computer which "woke up" yesterday saying "Hey i can't find the OS on the Hard Drive". Typical of Windows. System recovery = reformat. Will continue the AAR tonight.

Meanwhile here's the Reaction phase:

The Union reacts to my fluvial move and tries to stop me from passing the confluent and support the troops in Clarksville. The gunboats bomb Paducah destroying an hvy arty unit, one ship is damaged and sent back to repair, at this point the Union sends in 2 gunboats and the lone gunboat can't stand the pressure and is forced to withdraw and damaged too. The naval leader is wounded in action and will be back in 12 months. I've got another one in Vicksburg who will get in charge as soon as the gunboats are repaired.



The Union scouts Humbolt and is stopped in the process by Van Dorn's cavalry stack (big stack of 4 units) however, the cavalry can't do the same in Clarksville and the Union, strong of initiative, full scouting knowledge and with vastly superior forces, attacks Clarksville's fort. Grant is in charge. 60.000 troops against 10.000 and it's only because of the fort, giving me better odds that our forces are not utterly overrun (odds are not calculated numerically but according to combat factors). The battle is lost as Johnston and the other leaders have no troops to send in support while a minor leader is killed in action.

At the same time, Bragg having moved to Mobile, the Union seizes Pensacola without any loss.

Having witnessed the Union numbers in TN, and knowing I'm constantly outnumbered, i still believe i have an edge in VA and have the chance to grab a major or strategic victory with Longstreet and Jackson. I must carefully consider this move and prepare in anticipation of the losses. However, i can't reinforce TN and VA at the same time. I will assess the situation again tonite and take a decision on whether to send troops to VA or to TN.



So you see ultimately how the CSA is outnumbered as historical situation calls for. The most relevant choices are where to send the troops, those few troops, our nation recruits...and if initiative doesn't come, those troops are uselessly diverted from where they would be better needed. Hard choices to take tonite and big risks.

I concur with Gem, thanks Gshock, this is some great stuff.....

It is indeed great stuff.

I calculated it takes about 40 minutes to make a turn, at least at present time and situational difficulty but it takes almost 2 hours to build the AAR. Obviously i am trying to document the most important things, but you can see, even if the AAR has to be limited to these, that behind every single move there has to be a huge calculation and planning. If i had to show every little detail of the game, it would take me 4 hours to build the AAR.
No software on the HP machine...all lost in the reformat, so no vids. [:'(]


This is the situation in LA.
The fast reaction force tasked to defend SC/FL rotates and assumes the defense of Jacksonville FL while the more numerous forces go to divert the Union from Mobile and, at the same time, protect the resources. Now you can see the Union has empty territories ahead N of Pensacola but do not underestimate the partisan power. The Union needs to heavily garrison these territories in my homeland if it wants to advance safely. If my forces are attacked, Bragg can support from the rear, but before the Union can advance N safely, more troops must be left behind. We do hope of course they will, as it means splitting their forces and giving us an opportunity to attack.

As of New Orleans, 3 Hvy Arty emplacements are sent to the river mouth regions. It's only a matter of time before our counterattack takes place and I've issued a strong supply production in an attempt to recruit more MIL troops. We have no initiative in TX but we're pressing on two sides against Galveston...either side might attack any time.




Paducah is heavily garrisoned in TN and the scouting Van Dorn manages to uncover a potential of at least 31 combat units. Compare those with my 12 and you see how hard it is for CSA...the lack of supplies coming from the Mississipi is devastating for my MIL recruitment...anyway, Van Dorn has a big Cavalry stack and this prevents the Union from knowing what's the size of my forces in Humbolt...Price gains the initiative and immediately attacks Springfield. The unknown Union forces in AR should be unable to assist due to difficult terrain. My Arty is left behind for the same reason...lack of MP on unsuitable terrain. Cavalry raids in MO arrive to Lexington but are unable to destroy the rail lines. There seem to be no supplies in the area for the Union, which is terribly good. Cutting off Springfield and seizing Rolla will have a devastating effect on the Union unspotted troops in AR. Our final goal is St. Louis and hopefully divert some enemy units from Paducah-Humbolt soon-to-be-showdown.






In VA, where i am absolutely sure to have an advantage in numbers, there's ZERO initiative. No attacks are possible. Bee is still unable to enter WV and i'm considering to send him around the border to prevent the Union from entering VA from Mason and cut the nation in half by seizing that rail line. All scouting were less than successful but the Black X are converted CAV units joining JEB and Bonham...next scouting will be easier and allow us to strike, eventually. All troops have been mobilized to the front. Smith and Ewell have no units to train presently. Blue arrows indicate newly joining artillery units. The raid in Harper's Ferry captures a few supplies and destroys the rail line, while Ashby raids Charleston again with 20 more supplies captured/lost by the Union.




My production queue is, for this turn, only of supplies. We need more troops.



This is the political situation. Another raider turns to blockade running, and i am forced to build a new one. The Union lost 1 PP this turn due to my raiding but this should increase. However, each raider costs 30 supplies and I will soon be unable to afford new raiders due to the desperate need of fielding more troops.



The last SS, for a change, regards my production for the upcoming month. Very few guns, no ships, one dmg INF returning to the field but a decent MIL recruitment. Ewell and Smith must get back to work and it's time to reinforce TN before it's too late.