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I'm putting together a USA opening move. It goes as follows:

1. Convert a militia to mounted infantry at Parkersburg, bring Davies (Pittsburg) down to command it, and overrun Charleston.
2. McClellan takes his army to Grafton and overruns. McClellan then redeploys to Washington.
3. Strategically move a militia unit to Wheeling to control dissent.
4. Sturgis overruns Joplin
5. Send Carr to Sigel, transfer a militia, convert it to mounted infantry, and overrun Springfield.
6. Charles county in Maryland is overrun by Hunter's division
7. Kent county in Maryland is overrun by a brigade with one militia unit.
8. Dix goes to Frederick to build a fort. Reinforce him with an infantry commander and militia.
9. Meegs goes to Harpers Ferry to build a fort.
10. Send a division commander to Fortress Monroe. Will need two depots and a fort level 2.
11. Send a heavy artillery to Fortress Monroe, attach to Banks.
12. Build Washington DC to fort level 2. Activate a cavalry commander and attach the cavalry unit. Scout Manassas.
13. Activate Henry Halleck in Cairo and make him AC.
14. Activate Grant (or Buell) in Cairo.
15. Cruiser to AO2
16. One cruiser off each port except New Orleans, which should get 2.
17. Prepare five leaders in Washington for naval landings (attaching one militia each) next turn.
18. Strat move everything in the north to positions along the border, particularly Kentucky and Cairo.
19. Put division commanders in Baltimore and Washington for use in turn 3 invasions. Assign 5 infantry and 1 artillery to each during turn 2.
20. Call a draft
21. Disband depots away from the front line. Use the engineering leaders to fortify and then build up depots.
22. Build up units in the Eastern Theater during turn 1.
23. The CSA invasion of KY is likely to be no earlier than turn 2, so position commanders and troops along the Ohio to respond on turn 3.

Production
1. Build 2 ironclads and 17 cruisers in East Coast ports.
2. Build a factory in Cairo
3. Build gunboats in SL and Cincinnati
4. Build 3 light and 1 heavy artillery in Chicago
5. Fill out with supply.

Lol, thanks herwin. Don't believe I'll be second guessing your strategy with those credentials!

ORIGINAL: Pford

Lol, thanks herwin. Don't believe I'll be second guessing your strategy with those credentials!

I'm a lousy chess player.

ORIGINAL: herwin
8. Dix goes to Fredricksburg to build a fort. Reinforce him with an infantry commander and militia.

I'm assuming you mean Frederick, MD. [;)] Look like good suggestions tho. In terms of production I mostly concentrate on building cruisers and transports for the maritime states. I could see building a lot of artillery, but there usually aren't a whole lot of commanders with a good artillery rating who can get the best of out them yet.

ORIGINAL: Bo Rearguard

ORIGINAL: herwin
8. Dix goes to Fredricksburg to build a fort. Reinforce him with an infantry commander and militia.

I'm assuming you mean Frederick, MD. [;)] Look like good suggestions tho. In terms of production I mostly concentrate on building cruisers and transports for the maritime states. I could see building a lot of artillery, but there usually aren't a whole lot of commanders with a good artillery rating who can get the best of out them yet.

Yep, even when I was living in Herndon.

I took the islands in August, the first time I had amphibious initiative. I used 5 commanders, each with a militia attached and made sure I had 50/4 transport in each of the island areas. I built the depots the next turn.

I invaded Kentucky in September. I had two armies along the border--Cairo and along the northern border of KY in a position to take central KY, Bowling Green, and Lexington.

1047 PP in October.

Yes I think the first turn will boil down to an "automatic" union move for most. Add disable all builds, build 100% supply, and call a DRAFT to the list.

- P

7. Kent county in Maryland is overrun by 1 NY Mtd Inf

Huh?

ORIGINAL: Berkut

7. Kent county in Maryland is overrun by 1 NY Mtd Inf

Huh?

There's a mounted infantry in Washington DC at the start of the game. Send it to Kent County.

ORIGINAL: herwin

ORIGINAL: Berkut

7. Kent county in Maryland is overrun by 1 NY Mtd Inf

Huh?

There's a mounted infantry in Washington DC at the start of the game. Send it to Kent County.

Ahhh, gotcha, I was looking all over for that guy! Guess I didn't look in the obvious spot.

I just used this opening, or a modification of it in a new PBEM game.It is rather nice.

ORIGINAL: Berkut

ORIGINAL: herwin

ORIGINAL: Berkut



Huh?

There's a mounted infantry in Washington DC at the start of the game. Send it to Kent County.

Ahhh, gotcha, I was looking all over for that guy! Guess I didn't look in the obvious spot.

I just used this opening, or a modification of it in a new PBEM game.It is rather nice.

The actions in Maryland may require some fine-tuning. What I'm trying to do is take Charles and Kent counties, garrison and fortify Frederick, and put a commander in Baltimore to control that garrison. The force in Kent county will eventually move south; the force in Charles will fortify. I try to have five commanders in Washington with a single militia each prepared for taking the five offshore islands. The two eastern army commands cover the direct route to Richmond and can switch between Fortress Monroe and the Valley.

The army in Missouri goes to Ohio to command the direct invasion force, while a second army is formed under Halleck in Cairo to move down the Mississippi river. I'll be fortifying the Missouri border.

I'll revise this opening here once I have more experience and reports.

[&:]  what am i missing?  i can't get the 1NY Mtd to move to Kent; when i try it says 'Unable to do amphib move.'

I found if you move it next to Kent you can then move in the next turn.

Take Davies alond after the grafton attack and move him 2 regions south where there is a leader and two militia.
Convert one to mounted and attach it to him and move on into Charleston.

Madgamer

ORIGINAL: dwyche

[&:]  what am i missing?  i can't get the 1NY Mtd to move to Kent; when i try it says 'Unable to do amphib move.'

It gets complicated if you have both an amphibious and a land option. To move amphibiously, you need shipping in Chesapeake Bay. See if you can move by land, one hex at a time. You also may be lacking enough movement points.

now i'm even more confused.  i thought all Union MP's were fixed for the opening move.
 
anyway, 1NY Mtd has 3 MPs, which is enough to get it to Lancaster, but there doesn't seem to be any way i can get it to go to Kent on the first turn

ORIGINAL: dwyche

now i'm even more confused.  i thought all Union MP's were fixed for the opening move.

Not necessarily true. You can drop the artillery from some of the 3 Inf, 1 Art leaders and their movement rate will go up to 4, from 3. This doesn't make any difference with respect to this particular first move template, but can should you choose to make a variation upon it.

After the first move, I tend to do the following:

1. Keep a corps in Baltimore with 5 inf and 1 arty for landing operations.
2. Move into Kentucky either when it's acceptably cheap or after the CSA invades.
3. Advance along the Shenandoah Valley to outflank the Manassas position.

Once the CSA invades Kentucky, I come to their aid with two armies, one crossing into Paducah and the other entering at Louisville and Lexington. If I can, I outflank the CSA forces in Tennessee and Kentucky via the Appalachians.

Herwin, are you doing this against a human or AI opponent?

No human player worth their salt is going to let you stroll through the Shenandoah.

ORIGINAL: Berkut

Herwin, are you doing this against a human or AI opponent?

No human player worth their salt is going to let you stroll through the Shenandoah.

Currently against the AI. The fact that a live opponent would be smarter doesn't make the strategic direction invalid. Note that Lee did not try to hold the Potomac line--it was too far forward from Richmond for supply. I guess the game is slightly unrealistic in that regard.

Edited for 1.01 changes.