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Hi everybody:

Jon and I, among other people, have been testing the alpha version since january and now that we have a public forum we have decided to start an AAR so you can all get a feeling of how this game is going to be.
As Joel said the game hard learning curve but it also has many strategic possibilities I will try to explain everything the best I can but if you have any doubts or questions don't hesitate to ask.
The scenario we are starting is called Battle Cry of Freedom and begins in July 1861.

The North has two main battlefronts the West and the East. In this game a crucial factor is leaders gaining initiative, without it they are basicaly unable to move into enemy territory and commit into battle. There are three types of leaders in this scenario Theater Commanders (TC) Army Commanders (AC) and Unit Commanders (UC). In any scenario you can have 2 TC and 4 AC, this are very important because they help in gaining initiative to the rest of leaders, TC with initiative assists AC in gaining it, all UC in the same region with an AC who has initiative will all have initiative. So why initiative important, because Leaders with initiative provide certain combat and movement bonuses. A red arrow indicates that a leader has initiative.

In the first turn I have position my troops troops in order to invade Kentucky (Neutral State) as soon as I gain initiative. Taking Kentucky is the Key to win or lose the game, imo, as it will open the way to drive deep into the South along the Missisipi River. On the contrary if the South takes Kentucky they will create a bottleneck which if properly defended will be impregnable. I have sent my three Army Commanders to Cairo (Nathaniel Lyon), New Albany (George B McClellan) and Cinccinati (Irwin McDowell). In all those three regions I have created depots, each depot contain 20 supplies and are useful for obtaining initiative specially if your are in enemy conquered territory, not so much in your own territory.
So if all goes well next turn I will have initiative and violate Kentuckys neutrality. This is what happens when you attack Kentucky: "Special rules are attached to the violation of Kentucky’s neutrality. If a player is the first to invade Kentucky, this will result in a loss of political points for that player. The loss is based on the player and the turn that the invasion violation occurred as follows:
Union turn 1: 140 PP
Confederate turn 1: 120 PP
Union turn 2: 100 PP
Confederate turn 2: 80 PP
Union turn 3: 60 PP
Confederate turn 3: 40 PP
Union turn 4 and thereafter: 20 PP
This loss may only occur once per game."
Political Points is the way you determine who is winning or losing the game, to declare emancipation or the recruitment of color troops the Union must have 1000 PP or over, also Lincoln's reelection is won if the North has over 1000 PP. Each region has a PP value.

The first turn units in the East start with initiative so I overran Grafton, this requieres a six to one odds in combat result and also took Kent and Charles# MD as shown in the screenshot. To be able to make an amphibious invasion your leaders must have initiative and be in a coastal region, it is shown by a couple of waves but no amphibious initiative is given the first turn.

I haven't mention that this AAR is without fog of war so you can see the colorfull map and all units in detail, nonetheless this game is meant to be played with FOW always on, non spoted units have the following modifiers -1 Target unit not detected, +3 Firing unit not detected. So rotating them from the front to the rear lines and forward is important, later in the game you must take into account the disadvantage of losin entrenchement.

The screenshot shows that I have done a draft of troops, this has the following consequences: "The Union player may lower the population costs of building or repairing units by declaring a draft. The Union player must spend 50 political points to declare a draft. By declaring a draft the Union player may raise, build and repair units at one third of the normal volunteer cost. When a draft is declared the Union player may raise, build and repair units at the lower draft rate for two turns. This is followed by four post draft turns of paying higher population costs. The Union player must wait until the post draft phase is complete before declaring another draft." The normal population cost for Union militia is 18. If the Union player declares a draft then the population cost will be six for two turns and increase to 21 for four turns.

Here you can see how much militia was created this turn becasue of the draft.

And last you can clearly see the overwhelming indutrial output the North has over the South, but that doesn't mean the North is going to get into the South as in a military parade, the South has ways to stop them on their tracks if properly directed and Jon is an expert.
In the production phase you cannot build troops, only artillery, supplies and ships, nonetheles when infantry units get damaged (not militia) they do appear in the production queue.

The game has so many aspects that is hard to post them all at once, we will try to show them to you as the AAR advances.

Great introduction! Keep it coming. Now, how do I stop drooling all over my keyboard [:D].

Are the militia units really regiments or just generic units?

Each Militia unit represents 2000 generic men with a state ID based on where they were raised. When trained, or if they have success in battle, they become infantry. Once infantry, future success will lead the unit to gain experience. Each Artillery unit represents 20 guns.

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Each Militia unit represents 2000 generic men with a state ID based on where they were raised. When trained, or if they have success in battle, they become infantry. Once infantry, future success will lead the unit to gain experience. Each Artillery unit represents 20 guns.

That means more than 100,000 men raised in July'61 in the screenie above (50 militia units) . Isn't that a bit high ?

ORIGINAL: PDiFolco

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Each Militia unit represents 2000 generic men with a state ID based on where they were raised. When trained, or if they have success in battle, they become infantry. Once infantry, future success will lead the unit to gain experience. Each Artillery unit represents 20 guns.

That means more than 100,000 men raised in July'61 in the screenie above (50 militia units) . Isn't that a bit high ?

You have to bear in mind that a draft was called and that means that recruitment will boost x3,the population cost for build a union militia is 18 and five supplies, when adraft is called it drops to 6 for two turns and then raises to 21 for four turns. You will not see so many militias created in any of the following months, due to population filling cassualties and the 21 pop requisite. IMO this represents the youth joining the army at the beggining of the war.

Keep in mind guys were playing without fog of war (FOW), and the south is going to loose one it's great advantages...We did it for the viewers benifit, certainly not mine...lol...

[8D]
Jon

Keep in mind that a "draft" in game turns represents not only the federal draft, but also the actions taken to ask the state's to raise troops. IIRC Lincoln asked for 300,000 troops from the states in a call to arms in late 1861 or 1862.

I looked it up and the 300,000 3 year and 300,000 9 month recruits were called for in early July 1862 (they got 421,000 3 year and 88,000 9 month recruits signed up).

That would be a cost of 146 (50+6x2+21x4) political points total by drafting compared to 108 (18x6 not doing so). Is this a big hit politically? Are there any other liabilities for drafting?

Theres only a cost of 50 PP's per Union draft, which lasts the duration as Rafael stated above.

[8D]
Jon

After looking at some online sources it appears that there was just ...100,000 volunteers to answer Lincoln's call in the first months of the war !
It's perfectly ok then, I bow [&o] !
 

Time to keep on rolling. I got Jon's reply and this is what happened in Aug '61 Union turn:

My strategy placing all three Army Commanders in the West played very well since two of them got initiative meaning that all Unit Commanders within their regions also got initiative. Luck was definitely on my side because even when McDowell didn't get initiative two UC in his region got initiative by themselves, much harder to achieve.
The screenshot show which leaders got initiative, those little 2 arrows you in McClelland and Lyon mean that they are getting help from Freemont their TC.
Note also that my Political Points are 957.

Now that I've got initiative it's time to run for Kentucky before the South does even if it means losing 100 PP, it does not matter because I will regain the PP lost taking Kentucky's Counties.
So what does initiative do? you might be question yourselves. It adds the Leader ratings to the units attached to them or under their command, infantry have one movement point (MP) so if attached to a leader with Speed=3 it would have 4 MP, this way you can cross rivers or get into territory with mountains or forests where you need more MPs.

This ratings are Speed, Cary Cost (for Sea Transports, they have normal carry capacity and amphibious carry capacity), Combat Value, Land Attack, Range, Durability and Armor.

The game asks if I want to violate Kentucky's neutrality.

In this screenshot you can see I have driven deep into Kentucky, basically I have overran it, note also the Political Points value in Ripley, each region has it's own value.
If the South had taken Kentucky before the Union they would have created a bottleneck, first the Union would have had to attack crossing the Ohio River that means a penalty in combat and a must to gain initiative so they have enough mp to cross the river and into enemy territory. Besides the South would have placed his armies only in Paducah, Lousville and Lexington thus reducing his frontline, spreading the Confederates army is a goal everyUnion player must seek, the South just don't have enough troops to guard a broad frontline.

Here you can see how helpful was the calvary in taking Kentucky's fardest regions, Calvary have 3 MPs added the Calvary rating from their leaders Mitchell and Davies they got 6 and 7 MP each, which allowed for a deep attack.

In my experience the South can lost more regions due to overruning than from normal combat. We are not playing with FOW on, but if it is a good South player, and Jon is, will keep his troops well hidden and react to the North attacks. This I will explain in due time.

So what was Jon up to in his turn, well he made good use of his calvary, Calvary is mainly used for scouting missions and raids into enemy territory. Scouting is essential when FOW is on, otherwise you get combat modifiers that can batter your units real bad.

The ss shows the damaged inflicted in my railyards and the regions he raided.

Notice that my PP have increased after succesfully invading Kentucky, at the end of the turn they were a little bit lower due to having dismished Freemont and appointed Halleck as a TC, optimazing the use of Leaders in this game is a must. Big armies can be defeat by much smaller ones leaded by Commanders with better ratings.