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Deciding to roll the dice, I next send the two remaining divisions in the 1st Corps from Cumberland River into Bowling Green. I realize I'd be fighting in an enemy province, but there's no fort there to give an extra defensive bonus, and I'm positive that my force is much larger and better. Remember, at least one of the brigades in that Union force is siege artillery, meaning that it has even fewer infantrymen than might be supposed.

My plan is to do some damage to this army and then return to Cumberland River to add some enginners before heading into Lower Tennessee River to besiege Fort Henry. If I can take that fort I'll control that province, and be in a much better position to cut the Union's supply lines in the future.

So here's how things look after all of my moves.

I wonder how all those forces look to the Union in Hatchie -- is fog of war inflating them, or showing them to be the nearly empty containers all but one of them are?

Before ending the turn, I spend some resources. Most importantly, I spend 120 Horses to get the "Scouts" attribute for two brigades in the 4th Corps in Biloxi. I may well have lost that recent battle because of failing a scouting check, so these attributes could make a difference. I also buy Minie Rifles for one of the brigades that lost its weapons, but four other brigades need non-improvised weapons and I can't afford them.

I also build another Railroad Station and Mint, since I have extra Labor and Iron

After hitting "End Turn" I get my upgrades. Unfortunately, I didn't get the most desperately needed logistics upgrade, "Invalid Corps" (which increases the productivity of Camps). However, I did get to choose "Extended Service," which will let me brigades become larger. Of course, too many of my brigades are currently depleted, but eventually I'll be able to expand some of them in size.

These training upgrades are all desirable, but I pick "Wheel Training" because it would be most frequently used.

Next, I can't resist having my Partisans attack the Union's supplies in Jackson. That danger of destruction is quite high, but so too is the amount of supplies that is vulnerable, and their chance of success is extremely good.

And last of all, I appoint A.P. Hill to replace Sibley as corps commander. He has great ratings (literally), plus can teach the special ability "Blasted" (+50% damage when charging artillery, which might negate the Union's artillery advantage a little).

Twenty-Eighth Turn

Man, I wish the Union would stop messing with me. These AAR's are becoming twice as long as they used to be, now that so much is going on with so many units in so many places. Anyway, like Sisyphus it's time to start posting about my most recent turn...

First, the excellent news is that Jackson held on for an additional turn, as I was hoping. It's now at 37% defenses, which means that it will almost certainly fall next turn. This means that I'll have to try attacking again, even though, as will be seen below, the 4th Corps isn't in the best possible shape...

And in Florida the siege continues, but with little effect.

Then some rather shocking news. My 1st Corps was defeated in Bowling Green, even though I'm almost certain that it outnumbered the enemy force and was clearly superior to it, and the USA suffered most of the casualties. I'd love to know what the heck happened...

Nothing too interesting in the Economic Report.

Last turn, there were no goods for the blockade-runners, and this turn there's only a stash of 55 Iron. Here's to hoping that the coming turns will provide much more, since it's painful not getting the resources I need.

And here's more very bad news -- instead of striking the Army of Northern Virginia or some other force I don't care about at the moment, disease hits the 4th Corps in Biloxi, just before I need it to make a last-ditch attempt to relieve Jackson. The only bright side is that since most of its units were at Inspired Disposition they were only lowered to Normal or Low Disposition, meaning that it's still a force capable of fighting.

And some more bad news is that the failed expedition into Bowling Green led to the death of another corps commander, Albert S. Johnston.

(The brighter ones among you will have noticed that the only generals who seem to be dying are 3-star generals, while those of lower rank live to fight another day. That was recently adjusted, so that in quick combat other generals will have a better chance of being killed, while 3-stars will have less of a chance. Unfortunately, the version of the game jchastain and I are playing doesn't have that change patched in, since the patch in question is incompatible with our save-game files and we'd be unable to continue this PBEM game.)

Rather annoyingly, that battle in Bowling Green cost me some Lorenzs. Those cost 60 Money, and I can't even replace them until my diplomatic level with the Other Europeans improves another level. This just sucks, since Lorenzs are excellent guns, especially for sharpshooters.

But at least the 15th Division now has "Great" staff logistics...

Going around the map, in Virginia things are unchanged. That small brigade failed to leave Abingdon for Grafton due to winter movement constraints, so I still haven't been able to convert that province and get more resources from it.

In Florida, the Union force is down to about 8500 (though fog of war is exaggerating its size somewhat).

And better still, the Union fleet encountered my fleet and was chased a province away, leaving the Union's corps out of sea supply.

If I can destroy that fleet the corps will dwindle away.

So, I send my fleet into Apalache Bay, keeping it on "Intercept" (which means, as I failed to point out earlier, that it can attack a fleet in an adjacent sea zone).

This will keep that Union corps from being supplied for yet another turn.

On to the western theater, starting with Tennessee.

The 1st Corps was forced to retreat to Cumberland River, and I think I'll keep it there until I figure out how best to use it. As can be seen, the Union sent a division into Hatchie (peeling it off from the giant force in Oxford), so their rail-lines are now secured. (I had previously claimed Hatchie with the tiny division that is now sitting in the Tennessee-Mississippi River province. Luckily, it successfully avoided battle when the larger division showed up.) So, I might move the 1st Corps into Hatchie and try to trounce that brigade, but since the 1st Corps was just defeated by the force in Bowling Green I'm not sure it would succeed. Furthermore, if I attack the division in Hatchie there's the danger of the larger force in Oxford reinforcing it, which would lead to a pretty nasty defeat. Another thing I could do would be to take the two divisions in the corps and send one into Paducah and the other into Lower Tennessee River, thus once again cutting off rail supply. Decisions, decisions.

So this turn the 1st Corps goes nowhere, until I have a better idea of where it's needed most.

And here's southern Mississippi, showing where the 4th Corps is located. Note that the siege report claims there are just under 58,000 Union troops in Jackson and 6600 defenders, which means that when combined with the 4th Corps there would be just 6000 more Union soldiers there -- not too great a disparity to overcome.

Preparing for battle, I purchase Brigade Artillery for the Tramp Brigade (which is a high-quality unit) and Richmond Muskets for one of the units that lost its weapons in the recent defeat. This is all I can afford, but it makes the corps stronger.

Here's the rest of Mississippi (not to mention Alabama). The scouting report claims that there are 202,568 Union forces in Jackson, but the siege report just said otherwise.

My goal this turn is to make that final attempt to save Jackson, while maneuvering other forces so that they're either cutting off supplies or positioned to reinforce that action. Plus, it's high time that the 2nd Army begin to get some meat on its bones.

So, first I send the one-brigade 14th Division from Tennessee-Mississippi River into Arkansas-Mississippi River, hoping to reclaim it for the CSA.

Next, the two-brigade 4th Division heads into Yazoo, so as to reclaim the province and cut off rail supplies.

And after this, Hill leads the 3rd Division into Tuscaloosa, where it joins the 2nd Army.