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

[Gil R.]

Twelfth Turn

Maybe this will be the turn when we have our first big battle. It's only April 1862, but seems like we've been playing forever.

First, here's the Events Report. It looks like Ft. Henry will fall this turn. At least it will have taken thousands of Yankees with it.

I forgot to mention above that I finally tries some impressments. Impressment has a lot of upside, since every turn each city has resources available so that hundreds of Money, Labor, Iron and Horses are available, but the downside is bad -- if unrest occurs, a province stops producing income for several turns, and there is even a risk of a building being destroyed. And the loss of some buildings can be very bad, and some are even irreplaceable. So my rule of thumb is that unless absolutely desperate I only muster in provinces that don't produce much each turn (so that if there's unrest I won't lose much production) and where there are no critical buildings such as Iron Works or Camps (in case unrest becomes really bad). And I also only impress when there is a high chance of success (70% or more) and a low chance of unrest (20% or less). This time I succeeded, and got some good stuff -- but at the expense of governors' attitude. In two cases, the governor still likes me plenty, and in the other case he already hated me anyway...



This turn, I tried

[Gil R.]

And here's the rest of the report. I got another Mine in Augusta -- the last I'll be able to build there until that Plantation is done five months from now -- and another Engineering School.

Also, note that diplomatic investments are paying off now not only in increased blockade-runners' goods, but in a gift from the Europeans of some Guns resources. And my runners seem to have scored big, just when I need them most.

I REALLY need to build another runners fleet, but it costs 150 Money, and each turn these days I need to spend money to upgrade my forces so that they're combat-ready. But if I get two turns in a row in which there is no major thread I'm going to produce runners, since I'm letting a lot of runners' goods go untouched each turn.

[Gil R.]

Before getting to what I do this turn, here's the Augusta development screen. You can see how massive the amount of Iron I'm now producing there is. I think I started producing just 5 Iron or so.

Also, on the left you can see how my research levels have gone up. At the beginning of the game I was getting +15 training, but those other categories were around +3 or so. I'm still a few turns away from my next upgrade, but I still have some research institutions under construction, and by 1863 I'll be getting a new upgrade at a rate of one every 2-3 turns.

[Gil R.]

Next, here's the Governors Screen. I haven't built any of the requested Barracks yet, but maybe will be able to do so next turn. It's bad to ignore governors' requests because they usually get angry and their Attitude drops. Of course, if I'm lucky one or two of them will drop their demand, since each turn there is a small chance of that happening. No such luck so far.

[Gil R.]

Thanks to those impressments last turn and the fact that this turn I will be upgrading my forces rather than building up my infrastructure, I have more than enough Labor to spare this turn. So, I figure that I might as well honor the request of Gov. Letcher of Virginia. He's already an ally, but those musters in Virginia a few turns ago reduced his Attitude, so giving him that Shipyard he wants (see previous screenshot) will be a good thing. As you can see below, there are already two Shipyards in Norfolk, but each additional one improves the quality of ships I build there, so there's no harm in building another. Of course, it will be months before I can afford to build any ships other than those runners I need...

[Gil R.]

On to this turn's activities. My attempt to move that corps container and three divisions from Lynchburg into Abingdon last turn didn't work -- I guess I failed the initiative check. Luckily, I was right that Knoxville was the target, so my Abingdon brigade didn't get trounced. I'm still getting a read that the enemy army is about 40,000 men, so if I can get my forces there I have a very good chance of a major victory.

This is how the area looks when the turn begins.

[Gil R.]

First, I take a worthless division of two inferior brigades that is in Lynchburg and send it into Appalachia. My reason for this is that upon entering it will make that province CSA territory, since there is no fort or city that first must be captured. If this happens, then the Union army in Knoxville will not be two provinces away from USA territory, which will cause supply issues. And, if battle occurs in Knoxville, that division will get into the fight as reinforcements, giving me about 4000 more men. (I consider this a nicely crafty move on my part.)

Next, I need to get that corps from Lynchburg into Abingdon so I can have the Abingdon division join the corps and be in position to attack the Union in Knoxville. I have 19 RR movement points but the corps has 12 brigades in it, and since there is no direct train link between Lynchburg and Abingdon, I am five points shy of being able to go Lynchburg to Shenandoah to Abingdon. So, I march the corps into Abingdon, pick up the division there, and then use my 19 RR points to send those 18 brigades into Knoxville. I also set them on "Seek Battle." (Note that the two different kinds of movement arrows are visible.)

I hope this works, because when one mixes marches with train movements there is a chance that it won't all be completed during the movement phase.

[Gil R.]

Before sending the two independent divisions in Sparta into the fight, I buy the Sharpshooter attribute for one of my best brigades, the 59th Infantry, which has a relatively high quality of 4.10 and starts the game armed with one of the best kinds of weapons, Lorenzs. I was saving my money for those runners, but I need to win this battle, and there are few purchases I can make that would be as useful.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

[Gil R.]

And now I move in those two divisions. Since there is doubt about whether my corps coming from the east will make it into Knoxville I use the "Support" function. This is a way of giving a division/corps/army an order to enter a province ONLY if another force does so first. So, when the turn ends there will either be about 80,000 men in Knoxville province, or else just the city's garrison of about 3000 men.

[Gil R.]

And here's a screenshot showing what those forces will look like.

Finally, before ending the turn I take two brigades that I had mustered down south and put them in Ft. Wright, which is one of those three forts around Memphis. It had previously been empty, but now has a garrison. This will make that province that much harder for the Union to capture. Maybe in the coming turns I'll be able to upgrade that fort too.

And, I make one more expenditure. Thanks to my runners I have a nice stockpile of Iron, not to mention the extra Labor, so I build another Railroad Station. It will take six turns, but since I have another that will be done within the month I'll soon be up to 30 RR points.

[Gil R.]

Thirteenth Turn

Aww, crud. Look at this -- the Union sensed the trap and pulled out of Knoxville. I was hoping that fog of war would make my forces look smaller than they are, but perhaps it made them look larger. So no big battle yet (and we all know on whom the blame for that lies!).

I wonder whether the reason for this brief invasion was to lure some of my forces from eastern Virginia. I guess that if Fredericksburg is invaded I'll know. (And with that in mind, I finally buy Breastworks for Ft. Evans, to protect my largest garrison there.)

Anyway, I take that small division in Kentucky and send it to Knoxville and stick it inside the city as part of the garrison. That city will now take at least six turns to successfully besiege, so my rail-lines there are now secured.

[Gil R.]

On to the Event Report. It seems that nothing much happened at Ft. Henry -- a minor battle was avoided, and that's about it.

Also, for the second turn in a row I impressed in Florida, where the governor likes me even less (though 55 is still pretty positive). But I couldn't resist 40 Money, which I had an 80% chance to get.

[Gil R.]

And here's the bottom half.

Diplomacy has paid off again, as I got 15 Iron from the "Other European" power. I decide to increase my investment by putting 10 Money more into diplomacy with that power.

I start this turn with 133 Money and really want that new blockade-runner fleet, so I'm going to avoid spending any more of it (other than the 20 Money I spent on the Breastwork in Fredericksburg), since the sooner I get more runners the sooner I can significantly boost my resource stockpiles. Since right now there seems little chance I'll be in a battle next turn it seems that I should use this breather and not buy expensive weapons and upgrades.

I have 107 horses, which means that I can afford a new Raiders unit (100 Horses) or another Camp (20 Labor, 100 Horses), and I want both. But taking the long view, I realize that I'm starting to reach the capacity for buildings in several key cities and need more Plantations (which support four new buildings each), so I decide to build a Plantation in Milledgeville, George, where that University is giving a +1 bonus for each research institution there. This plantation will be done in late Fall, and over the winter I'll be able to use my resources to build four more institutions there. Come 1863, the upgrades will come much faster because of this.

I'll be able to afford that Camp or Raiders unit next turn.

[Gil R.]

One way of getting more Money each turn is to have cities that are set on Labor production give me Money instead. I check each city, and the best place to make this change is Norfolk, where I've been producing 9 Labor but instead can produce 9 Money. In winter one needs a lot of Labor for new buildings, but in the summer Money is more important.

I wish I had thought about doing this a few turns ago...

[Gil R.]

Out west I do a little. First, to avoid a surprise attack by that giant Union army, I move my two brigades in Hatchie by rail a bit south to Oxford. Due to fog of war it's possible that the enemy might not even know they're there, which is fine. They are now still in a perfect position to enter the Tennessee-Mississippi River province, but also they are one province closer to Cumberland River and eastern Tennessee, so if needed they can mobilize for battle elsewhere more quickly.

I also buy Minie rifles for two of my garrison units in Ft. Donelson, making it even stronger, and I buy them for one brigade in Ft. Wright in Fredericksburg as well.

I also use some of that extra Iron and Labor to build two more Mints, as a way of getting +4 Money/turn starting four turns from now.

[Gil R.]

At the end of my turn, I as usual get a chance to have my Partisans do something, but I don't like my odds of succeeding and/or avoiding destruction, so for the first time I choose "Cancel Raid." Perhaps next turn they'll have a better opportunity presented.

[AU Tiger_MatrixForum]

Dagnabit! I was about to go to bed, and here comes another series of posts!

[Gil R.]

Fourteenth Turn

As the top part of the Events Report shows, Ft. Henry finally fell. I just went back and add up the enemy's casualties, and found that 7000 men were lost trying to take a fort that had just two brigades and no special artillery or defensive attributes. Compare that to Fort Donelson, where I have the most powerful artillery available (until my research opens up a whole new world of artillery) and defensive attributes -- not to mention six brigades. I think those western forces that started around 140,000 will be below 100,000 before too long, unless the enemy wisely shies away until he has more siege artillery available.

[Gil R.]

Ack. Disease just struck one of the two places I would least want it -- the Tennessee-Mississippi River area, which as you'll soon see is on the verge of being invaded. Luckily my Hospital there prevented the damage from being twice as bad. I regret not having built a second one there when I had a chance. (Which is why in this turn I end up putting a second one in James River, and pray that it will be finished before disease hits the Army of Northern Virginia.)

Also, note that I have an Indian brigade.