PBEM AAR - Long Live the Union!

[jchastain]

And the real war begins... Turn 7

The winter is over. Let the fighting begin.

The Event report shows Wheeling was captured. Hardly news.

[jchastain]

Page 2 goes on to show them stealing more weapons. I need to start spending my weapons just top keep them from getting so many I think.

Once again, the political report is the interesting section. My diplomacy worked on England and they like me better. Then their diplomacy worked and they like me less. At this point, I have to believe the Rebs are spending a lot of money on diplomacy. I'm OK with that. My economy is stronger so I can better afford the diplomatic arms race.

France support for the CSA falls to 0. Perfect. That takes them out of the picture for now and I can reduce my spending on them. But they now have additional support from continental Europe. Of the 3, "Europe" is the only one that will never send troops or intervene in the war directly and therefore is the one I worry about the least. But I will go ahead and apply some more spending there. I want to cut his economy off and as I said above I am more than happy to engage in a spending race on diplomacy.

The governor of Delaware still wants a camp, but notice how it changed from a request to a demand. He's getting finicky. I'll soon need camps anway, so I might as well go ahead and make him happy. I haven't been using my precious horses for cav because of recent cash shortages. I'll go ahead and take care of this if I have enough.

Maryland now wants a bank too. What is it with all these bank requests? I'll have to ignore this one for now also. Virginia wants a shipyard, so he gets to deal with a stupid request also. But looks like his governors are finially starting to give him some additional support. I wish they wouldn't, but it is to be expected.

[jchastain]

OK, we have the horses so let's go ahead and buy that camp while we're thinking about it.

[jchastain]

And now we'll get the army moving. I won't bother to show each move, but let's take a look at the overview and then examine the two main areas that are fast evolving as the focal points.

[jchastain]

In the east, I am going to move Gregg's AoP from Washington all the way over to attack his division in the mountains. I have to cross Fredericksburg to get there and run the risk that the ANV will move forward and catch me on the move. If it happens, then I'll likely lose and retreat back to the capital but at least then he'll have to respect my forces in the east and can't completely ignore the entire theater. What I'm really hoping though is that I can go spank a small unit and build some experience in this terribly green army. The scouting report shows 51K troops there, but I don't believe it. This is by far my riskiest move of the game, but sometimes you have to try doing something unexpected.

The Army of Maryland (which is really a collection of AoP rejects) is moving to Wheeling. I'll reinforce with the division there and then decide where to go from there. That is a nice location where I can go to the East or West depending on some outcomes. But with troops so concentrated what I'd really like to do in drive into eastern tennessee and begin disrupting his economy. Anyway, that's a good location that should give me lots of good options.

[jchastain]

In the west, I'm being more cautious and positioning for my attack. With so many separate armies, I can't afford for only one of the three to make it to an attack and I'm still getting myself organized. This will give him more of an opportunity to react, but I'm not willing do commit to two reckless assaults in the same turn and risk completely losing the war before it even begins. I have the numerical advantage and need to be at least somewhat patient and use it to my advantage. Rmember, the high quality cav and art units are still in production. The real question is whether I attack next turn or the turn after that. Probably next turn, but it isn't a definite yet it it might be interesting to watch his reaction to having so many troops in the area before making a full scale commitment.

EDITed to say that the troop estimate here is definitely garbage. My reports will continue to suck until I get some cavalry to be my eyes.

[jchastain]

I still have a few reserves - mostly the low quality troops I've been assembling. I just need to get them organized and tie them to an army.

[jchastain]

It is too late to buy any weapons in the east. My army is already on enemy soil and you can only upgrade while in friendly territory (perhaps I should have thought more about that before ordering the march). Out west though, there is still time to buy a couple more minies. Overall though, this army is looking ready and I like my chances.

[jchastain]

Two posts above, you can see where my iron and labor have been building up a bit while cash has been tight. It might be a good time to spend a bit of my reserve on a few mints to keep building the cash supply. I have to build them somewhere that is producing money, will continue producing money, has excess building capacity and already makes enough that I likely won't be stripping the population out and turning them into soliders. Chicago looks like a good choice to me. It has room for 3 more buildings. (Building a mansion to build mints has a very long payback and my investment horizon is limited).

[jchastain]

OK, they are in the queue now. Notice they will all be finished at the same time. This isn't Civ. You can build in parallel so long as you have the space and the resources.

[jchastain]

I've been avoiding it until now, but I do need to look at diplomacy yet again and shift some attention away from France and towards Europe.

[jchastain]

And one more promotion before I send the files off and wait anxiously to see what happens. My troops won't all make it to where I sent them, but I have to believe that the war will begin in earnest with first blood coming in the east, not the west.

[jchastain]

The best laid plans of mice and men.... sometimes it is a wonder that every general in wartime isn't driven to drink. What a mess. Turn 8

The first page says pretty much nothing... which should tell us that something is very very wrong.

[jchastain]

If only this were a winter turn, I'd be pretty excited right about now. England and Europe both backed away from the rebel slime. Our diplomacy is making real inroads now and the governors didn't do anything to cause any heartburn. But things were way too quiet considering all the hype I lavished on.

[jchastain]

Rut Roh. (Any scooby doo fans out there?) The army got halfway there and decided to take a two week break. The plan was perfect, but the execution was flawed. Not only did we not catch that division sleeping but it appears we fell right into a trap with half of Robert E's fraternity waiting to pounce on us. One thing is clear, we need to get out of here - and fast. Calgon, take me away! The Southern officers all have better initiative than I do. I'll try to get back to where I was going to begin with, but this could get really ugly.

[jchastain]

the execution out west was just as flawed, but we're left in a less precarious position. Good thing we didn't try to coordinate a long distance attack. These guys can't find their way from the tent to the latrine. The attack will be delayed yet another turn. I need to just get these idiots to a central location and organize them before trying anything else. They are just not ready for any maneuvers more complex than making their morning tea. I suppose the only good news is that I should be able to pull in all the new units and get a real numerical advantage - though the quality remains questionable. And god help us if disease strikes. Still, I think that is my best course of action.

[jchastain]

The east is easy. It is all about marching one province. Just make it one province please. And I am still trying to get that opther army to Wheeling. But that isn't the big worry.

[jchastain]

In the west, it is all about getting everyone together.

[jchastain]

Buying camping supplies for all of these guys is expensive. I'm not scraping the bottom of the funding barrel. But I need to keep the supplies flowing just in case any of the ever find their way to a battle.

[jchastain]

Just peeking at research, it does seem to be making progress. I thought about buying more weapons based on last turn's thievery but seeing this I will wait. I should see some results in one more turn or two tops.