PBEM AAR - It Ain't a Lost Cause Yet!

[Gil R.]

And then the 2nd Army is sent into Meridian in order to cut rail supplies to Jackson.

Unfortunately, I realize that this is winter and there is a good chance that some or even most (or all?) of these units ordered to march from one province to another might not move at all, potentially wrecking my plans. But in the southern states one has a better chance of winter movement than in the northern states, so there's hope. And there's no choice but to try.

[Gil R.]

Here's how the 4th Corps is looking in terms of strength after that bout of disease. It is a very good thing that last turn I set supply levels so that most reinforcements would be steered into these brigades, since roughly all of the casualties lost to disease were replaced. So the 4th Corps is still a very robust 46000 men, though some brigades are dangerously low.

[Gil R.]

And here's how its Disposition levels look after disease hit. Only one brigade is at Low Disposition, which means that this force is perfectly capable of fighting.

Whether it is strong enough to defeat the Union forces in Jackson will be an open question until the results of the battle are known, though.

[Gil R.]

And finally, the 4th Corps moves into Jackson by rail, which is not affected by winter movement restrictions. If those other forces reach Meridian and Yazoo first they may be able to reinforce, but the 4th Corps is likely to have to do all of the fighting on its own. That same force recently defeated it, but it now has more scouts and artillery, while the Union force has not been able to improve because a fundamental rule of the game is that units cannot acquire new guns or attributes when the enemy is in the same province or they are in an enemy province.

The worst thing that could happen now would be if the big Union force in Oxford comes down to Jackson, since that would lead to an overwhelming defeat of the 4th Corps. But this being winter, the Union would have to move by foot, and might not be able to do so.

[Gil R.]

And finally, before ending the turn I buy another Mint, having earlier bought a new Camp. (Those 500 reinforcements per turn are like mother's milk...)

After ending the turn, I promote John Hood to command the 1st Corps up in Cumberland River.

And as Peter Griffin would say, "FIN."

[sirduke_slith]

that was a funny episode[:D]

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: savedbythrbell

that was a funny episode[:D]

My thoughts exactly.

[marecone]

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

[Tophat1815]

ORIGINAL: marecone

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

I saw this also and am wondering the same thing.

[chris0827]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

ORIGINAL: marecone

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

I saw this also and am wondering the same thing.

Why are Hood's ratings so high? Is another good question.

[Jonathan Palfrey]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

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...

So would I, if that happened to me. Does the game give no information at all, beyond the bare statement of who won and what the casualties were?

When the casualty figures suggest a resounding win but the claimed result is a defeat, it looks like a defect in the game. I would send in a bug report unless the game provided some convincing explanation of the result.

I realize that battles were sometimes won by the side with the greater casualties. But was there ever a battle in which the winning side suffered more than three times the casualties of the loser? It's conceivable if the losing side was entrenched but heavily outnumbered; but that doesn't seem to have been the case here.

[jimwinsor]

ORIGINAL: chris0827

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

ORIGINAL: marecone

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

I saw this also and am wondering the same thing.

Why are Hood's ratings so high? Is another good question.

Answer: Forum democracy in action (tm.asp?m=1275223). Although I must say Hood musta been a tricky one to rate; a perhaps better than average subordinate commander who was a disaster given a command of his own.

[chris0827]

Anyone wanting a good laugh should check out johnbellhood.org. It's a rabidly pro-Hood site. You'd think that Hood was the greatest commander in american history from reading that site. Everything Hood did was perfectly logical and if something went wrong it was someone else's fault. The battle of Franklin is referred to as a technical confederate victory.

[sirduke_slith]

i am do belive that battle was a union victory, but in defence of hood, the confederates did technically "drive" the union from the defences (mainly had to do with how vulnerable the union lines were).

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: Jonathan Palfrey

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

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...

So would I, if that happened to me. Does the game give no information at all, beyond the bare statement of who won and what the casualties were?

...

FWIW I agree with Jonathan. You should have a good idea of the size of the enemy force after a battle and probably a good idea of their weapons capabilities. Not getting feedback on why the battle went the way it did seems like an oversight since somebody of command rank should survive and be able to give a report on what happened.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: marecone

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

Because I was being stupid. I had decided to promote Hood because he was in the 1st Corps, and only after it was too late did I remember that Cleburne had just appeared this turn. Once he reaches the corps I guess I can demote Hood and promote Cleburne, but that will anger Hood's governor.

Of course, since Cleburne won't reach the corps for at least another turn it's not a bad thing for the corps to have a 3-star general commanding it, in case it needs to fight.

[Gil R.]

It's only in PBEM battles (and instant-resolve, I guess) that one doesn't find out why things happened the way they did. We'll see if we can provide more information.

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

It's only in PBEM battles (and instant-resolve, I guess) that one doesn't find out why things happened the way they did. We'll see if we can provide more information.

Good news. Thanks.

[Tophat1815]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

ORIGINAL: marecone

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

Because I was being stupid. I had decided to promote Hood because he was in the 1st Corps, and only after it was too late did I remember that Cleburne had just appeared this turn. Once he reaches the corps I guess I can demote Hood and promote Cleburne, but that will anger Hood's governor.

Of course, since Cleburne won't reach the corps for at least another turn it's not a bad thing for the corps to have a 3-star general commanding it, in case it needs to fight.

Good to know it was an oversight,I actually thought Hood was possibly a favorite of yours.

[Gil R.]

ORIGINAL: Tophat1812

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

ORIGINAL: marecone

Why you didn't promote Cleburne instead?
Thanks

Because I was being stupid. I had decided to promote Hood because he was in the 1st Corps, and only after it was too late did I remember that Cleburne had just appeared this turn. Once he reaches the corps I guess I can demote Hood and promote Cleburne, but that will anger Hood's governor.

Of course, since Cleburne won't reach the corps for at least another turn it's not a bad thing for the corps to have a 3-star general commanding it, in case it needs to fight.

Good to know it was an oversight,I actually thought Hood was possibly a favorite of yours.

Well, one possible reason for promoting Hood ahead of Cleburne would be if Cleburne doesn't have special abilities to teach, as Hood does. (Since I didn't check I don't know.) Having a general who can improve the fighting abilities of his brigades can be every bit as valuable as the general's ratings, which is why choosing which general to promote can often be tricky.