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RE: The Anaconda Plan

 
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RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/12/2007 6:09:20 AM   
gabriel night

 

Posts: 2
Joined: 7/12/2007
Status: offline 		Interesting.

I am thinking of getting this game as I've always wanted a game that combines strategic depth and decent tactical combat.

How do you feel the tactical combat measures up to the likes of say Civil War Generals 2 or the like? I realize its really not a fair comparison but I want to know if the combat is more than just an afterthought.

Also , why are the force numbers so large for your western battles? What are the overall troop levels for the USA? It seems very inflated to me but perhaps you have some options selected that would cause that.

(in reply to d714)
Post #: 61
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/12/2007 7:55:32 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		Garbriel:
I loved Civil War Generals 2. The tactical combat is similiar. I would say morale and various other modifiers that you can obtain (purchase or rewarded for having the right general in command) in the strategic portion make a much greater difference in this game, and you can't stack troops. I can't quite remember, I think you can stack in CWG2. So in this game it is greatly intuned with the strategic game. I'm a little dissapointed that holding "good ground" (high ground, cover, etc) is not as effective in this game, as it seems the other modifiers listed above just overpower everything. I have to say the AI is impressive in the tactical combat since the last patch. I have really had some nail-biting battles. You can see the AI likes to flank, and sometimes, like the last battle, they just slug it out in the middle and find a gap to exploit.

Not sure why force numbers are so high for the Confederate's in the western theater. It's almost like the AI read my mind and knew I wanted to focus on the Mississippi river. There is a discussion in the other sections of this forum about the confederate AI raising ahistorical troop levels and I think they may patch that. On the other hand I am finally (after a huge amount of conscriptions and mustering) toe to toe with the confederates in terms of manpower and you can see, to achieve that huge army in the west, it pulled out all it's manpower from all other areas.

Check out other areas of this forum and you will get much more input to this game.

(in reply to gabriel night)
Post #: 62
The Anaconda Plan - 7/15/2007 7:57:43 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		EARLY MAY 1863, Union VP 8 (national will -2), Conf VP -4

During the remainder of April, Columbia falls into Union hands, and thus South Carolina under force of arms has rejoined the Union. In accordance to Lincoln’s plan at the beginning of the year Reynolds moves south towards Milledgeville and Doubleday move north to Greensborough, intent on now “liberating” Georgia and North Carolina.

In the west Grant is watching Jackson’s movements more carefully now. Jackson moves to the east again, taking the land route over the Pulaski province. This time there can be no doubt to Jackson’s destination – Nashville. Fort Donnellson has fallen and Nashville is under siege by Buford, but Buford does not have the forces to withstand an attack by Jackson. Grant moves his corps and Sherman’s corps into the Cumberland River area. To keep Jackson from flanking him in his rear however, he must keep Hancock’s corps of 40,000 behind. Buford with his Army of Kentucky have 36,000 soldiers, forces that have been locked in static sieges for the last 5 months, most are still armed with Muskets. However Grant’s and Sherman’s forces add 144,000 more to the number.

Battle for Nashville part 1

Grant unfortunately is forced to meet Jackson on Jackson’s choice of ground. But he outnumbers Jackson’s force by 40,000. His plan is thus to try to position his forces to envelope him. At the same time he has 3 road junctions to his southwest that he sets as an objective. His approach to Jackson is not the best, with Cumberland and various tributary rivers to his front. He sets his forces into 3 wings, Grant himself to command 2 division’s to capture a bridge on the north, and thus proceed into what he hopes is Jackson’s left flank, Sherman with his corps and the bulk of Grant’s forces in the center to ford the river and pin Jackson in place, and Buford to the south to sweep around Jackson’s right and to take the important road junctions beyond.

Almost immediately things do no go to plan. Grant moves slowly and it is not until the afternoon that Grant is within range of Jackson…and Jackson moves fast. A division commanded by AP Hill moves up to block Grant from crossing the bridge. Grant has artillery, and, although inflicting a number of casualties to the rebel force across the river, including AP Hill himself, he cannot cross. Sherman is also forced to engage before all his forces have crossed the river, some of his brigades themselves pinned down in river marsh ground. Afternoon rains further slow Grant.

Buford however is able to make good time, sweeping to the south. Jackson forces are scattered there, and Buford turns into Jackson’s rear. A few confederate brigades make futile stands, intent on stalling the union advance. One of these brigades is commanded by Jackson himself. Jackson stands like a stone wall, paying in blood to keep the Union from rolling up its right. But the rebels finally give in to overwhelming force. Surrounded, Jackson is wounded and his brigade surrenders. But now the sun sets and Buford cannot press the attack further this day.





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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 63
The Anaconda Plan - 7/15/2007 7:59:07 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		EARLY MAY 1863 continued, Union VP 8 (national will -2), Conf VP -4

Battle for Nashville part 2

Grant remains pinned down in the north, and Sherman, although holding his own on the center, still have some forces stuck in marshy ground, where confederate brigades repulse continued advance attempt during the afternoon. But Buford’s forces to the south appear to be what will turn the current stalemate. With that in mind Grant orders Buford to continue to move around the confederate forces during the evening in order to envelope and engage from a flanking position in the morning. However, Buford is also ordered to break off 3 divisions to capture the road junctions to the south and west.

Buford moves throughout the night but can not quite fully envelope the rebel army with 3 divisions broken off. The rebels meanwhile move into a strong defensive interior line circle, there is no flank to engage. To make maters worse, Buford is wounded in one of the morning's opening volleys. Buell takes command, but the union has lost the initiative. Confederates counterattack, and Sherman in the center, expecting an attack by Buford in the confederate rear that is destined never to come, is forced to fall back. By mid morning Buell’s forces are routed, and Grant retreats. It is not an orderly retreat. Buell and Sherman’s men, separated from the line of retreat by the river, are cut down in mass by advancing Confederate cavalry. Grant finally gathers his forces and falls back to the Tennessee River. Nashville is lifted from the siege; a union gunboat left behind is destroyed. It is the bloodiest union defeat yet at a loss of 33,361. The confederate loss is 27,000. Although, with one bright note on this union disaster - the war is over for confederate general, now prisoner of war recuperating in a union hospital, General Thomas Jackson.





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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 64
The Anaconda Plan - 7/16/2007 4:52:29 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		JUNE 1863, Union VP 1 (national will -4), Conf VP 3

Grant is blunt with the president – setbacks like this are to be expected in this war of attrition. Still, Lincoln is shaken and distressed at the impact of the news – “what will the country think”. Grant is also in no condition to continue an offensive for several months, his depleted brigades need replacements, and with many of his rifles dropped in the farmland surrounding Nashville during his route he must refit and retrain. More improved Springfield rifles are ordered, more artillery is ordered, sharpshooter training is ordered, gunboats are ordered, and, blessedly, new army organization are planned to increase brigade sizes by 20%. Nevertheless, he continues to maneuver. Buford, recovering from his battle wounds, is ordered in the Tennessee portion of the Mississippi to siege Memphis. The union will heavily garrison Fort Henry, north of what was Jackson’s force, and withdraw to Cairo yet again. Grant does have a plan, although it looks to Lincoln’s adversaries that he is on the run – The rebels appear unwilling to divide forces, yet they cannot be two places at once. Again Grant will force them to maneuver.

In the deep south news is better - Milledgeville is under siege by Reynolds’s stout army. Doubleday, somewhat delayed from train travel up to North Carolina due to unrest in some of the occupied rebel provinces, is moving by foot to the Neuse River province. When he does move north he will find a few gifts from Lincoln that will move down from the northeast to join him – heavy ordnance siege cannons.





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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 65
The Anaconda Plan - 7/17/2007 4:51:24 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		JULY 1863, Union VP 2 (national will -4), Conf VP 2

The 2 months since the Battle for Nashville have been relatively non-eventful as both opposing sides reform and refit. There have been small skirmishes way out west in the Indian territories between mustered Indian brigades. Confederates have been victorious, but it is not of strategic importance. Near Memphis, Buford’s giant siege cannon, “The Dictator”, has done most of the work of pulverizing Island 10 to rubble. But still Buford has taken casualties in flushing the remaining rebels out. Hancock moves in to reinforce him in his final siege of Memphis. Grant is meanwhile in Paducah, preparing to move his forces in between Memphis and the confederates. He orders Sherman’s corps, still organizing outside of Fort Henry in the Tennessee River, to join him. To Grant’s frustration, both forces are moving slow, tied down as they are with miles of supply trains. Still, he is hoping to see the confederate army fall into the trap that Jackson avoided.

The rebels outside of Nashville finally do move in early July, just a bit too soon. Sherman is still in place, and he is forced to retreat without engaging. This is to Grant’s plan except for one thing - Sherman was cut off from joining Grant in the south, and retreated north back up the Ohio. A frustrating development for Grant, Sherman’s 40,000 are effectively out of any fight for the immediate future, Hancock’s corps will have to be lifted out of the Memphis siege to reinforce Grant. Still, the rebel army, estimated at 125,000 strong, will be forced to batter themselves against Fort Henry, well fortified with breastwork, entrenchments, and 24 pound mortars, or move outside there supply lines, or retreat back south. Any choice the confederates make now will be to the Union advantage.





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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 66
The Anaconda Plan - 7/18/2007 5:45:25 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE JULY 1863, Union VP 2 (national will -4), Conf VP 2

Alas, the confederate army realize themselves the importance of taking Fort Henry quickly and thus opening up their supply route up the Tennessee. The drafted union garrison troops are overwhelmed in a matter of weeks, but not before inflicting 15,000 confederate casualties. Grant must act fact, and all three of his armies move in to meet the confederate force, now commanded by Joe Johnston. Sherman moves in from the north, bringing in his 40,000 to add to Grants number of 125,000. Hancock unfortunately, with his lines still stretching back to Memphis, is moving in piecemeal. Even with some of his forces arriving by train Hancock does not expect his fatigued force to be in effective fighting shape until late afternoon at the soonest.

Johnston has 142,429 rebels on the field of battle to meet Grant. A strong force, many of them battle tested. Grant on the other hand has a number of raw conscripted recruits in his ranks mixed in with trained troops. Unperturbed, he moves over river ground to the rolling and wooded Tennessee countryside. If he can move to one of the heights to his front, he will have good ground.

Confederates appear to have the same thought, and two divisions, Armistead’s and AP Hill’s, move against the union as they line up to form battle just short of Ivy Hill in the late morning. But these are only 2 divisions, not the rest of Johnston’s army. Union cavalry moving out forward of the union front confirm it – these 2 divisions have broken off from the main confederate force. Grant is perplexed, perhaps AP Hill, wounded by union artillery in the Battle for Nashville two months ago, was compelled to move forward against better judgment for reasons of vengeance. Jackson would never have let his brigadiers make this mistake. Whatever the reason, Grant takes advantage of the situation and engages them in corps strength. These wayward rebels divisions are soon surrounded and overrun, a number of confederate brigades surrender, and AP Hill, as fate would have it, is both wounded again and taken prisoner. The day is starting out well for the union.

But as the union forces chase Hill’s and Armistead’s remaining rebels across the plains, to the next series of heights, the next wave of rebel forces move up. Again Grant, still moping up from the previous fire fight, must move up and take the next heights to secure the good ground at DuckWiller and Sheen Hill.





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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 67
The Anaconda Plan - 7/18/2007 5:46:50 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE JULY 1863 continued, Union VP 2 (national will -4), Conf VP 2

During the afternoon the hills are covered with musket smoke and scrambling gray and blue lines. But the rebels are forced to extend lines north and south to meet union flanking attacks. Thus weakened, the rebels are forced off the hill. Union artillery is moved up the hill and unlimbered to cover the plains below. And as the sun sets Grant moves in Hancock’s late arriving corps into line on his right.

Grant is not content on holding the good ground and fighting defensively. He stresses to his brigadiers – push them. Push them off the field! Thus in the morning his forces move off the hill and do just that. Confederates, engaging on all fronts, just do not have the forces left. Rebels on the Union right try one futile counterattack and rout some of Hancock’s march-weary brigades, but with the rest of their line collapsing they cannot sustain any attack. By late morning Johnston and the remainder of his rebel army are in retreat. The confederate have suffered 34,443 dead and wounded, 11 brigades including 6 generals had surrendered. Union losses are 20,139.





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/18/2007 5:49:43 PM >

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Post #: 68
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/18/2007 6:09:46 PM   
janh

 

Posts: 1216
Joined: 6/12/2007
Status: offline 		Does it only appear to me that the AI is in most cases sending forces forward piecemeal, making it really easy for you to consider your whole campaign only a long lasting mopping up operation? Sack the graybacks and wait until the next hopeless division or brigade shows up and attacks your whole army, well placed and in prepared line?
It seems to me that the AI is way to overagressive, could it be?
Have you ever noticed the CSA to set up its own line of battle and stay concentrated on good grounds instead of just flowing towards your lines? Does AI sometimes switch from offensive to defensive overall behaviour or vise versa in detailed combat?
I have also the feeling that the detailed combat maps look a bit "sprayed" with all these small forest and hills dispersed and rarely larger, more conected woods with clearings and higher or extending hillsides like for instance in Wilderness (wood), Gettysburg (hill chains, partially wooded), Chattanoogha (both), Chickamauga (both) or maybe the Frederiksburg (hills to the north, both in the south). Or am I wrong with this observation?

(in reply to d714)
Post #: 69
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/18/2007 7:21:42 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		Janh-
There are people on the other forums that have played this much longer than me, but in my opinon:
1.) I have not seen the AI send forces forward in peacemeal except in the case of the two divisions during the last battle. That may be an anomoly due to the terrain. I guess you can find out ways to exploit and manipulate the AI to do this (i.e. send out the cavalry and lure a few in at a time), but really it has not been in my expierience and I don't purposely try to manipulate the AI. To mop up like I did I had to get my forces out of line, and if other AI forces were directly behind these 2 divisions that came up, the AI knows very well to hit you hard in your rear or flank. The AI is aggresive, but not suicidally so. They will at time try to flank in force, but they also protect there own flanks pretty good. In the first picture of the in my last AAR post above you can see the AI in a very effective battle line - in good order, no gaps, very organized, protecting flanks to the south. They even seemed to know the rocky hills to the north were impassible to my forces
2.) I am not sure the AI is aware of good ground except in the effect on it's movement. Not really sure. It seemd like they were really interested in taking those hills however. You have to ask the programmers about that. The AI sure moves and shifts around like crazy, probably based on some calculations that consider the placement of my forces and the strength of there forces. Some times they hold back and are content on firing from far off, some times they move in agressevily. Haven't figured out one trend or another. The AI in my opion works very well. One thing in consideration - the confederates, man to man, are just stronger in this game due to various factors. You really have to be on your toes to defeat them.
3.) Yes I agree the maps seem sprayed on at times and have made a comment about that in the past. The game does take the unique geography of the region into consideration - in the appalahian province you will get a map with many hills, in the east you may get a map with many roads and towns, in the Tennesse River provinces you get a map with many rivers and maybe some swamps and woods. Also if you win a "scouting check" before the battle you get to choose your terrain typs, i.e "many hills and many rivers", something like that. I would like to see maps, however, with long ridges extending the whole map - such as in virginia where the terrain in real life is a series of long ridges, valley's, and then ridges again. Instead of one hill hex here, one woods hex there, etc.

I've read the game developers talking about adding some maps in that recreate the map of Gettysburg and some other historical battles. That would be nice.


< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/18/2007 7:35:30 PM >

(in reply to janh)
Post #: 70
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/20/2007 1:07:57 AM   
Gil R.


Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005
Status: offline
quote:

Yes I agree the maps seem sprayed on at times and have made a comment about that in the past. The game does take the unique geography of the region into consideration - in the appalahian province you will get a map with many hills, in the east you may get a map with many roads and towns, in the Tennesse River provinces you get a map with many rivers and maybe some swamps and woods.


Finally, someone notices! Yes, we have a terrain file (ACWProvinces.txt) in which I manually assigned every terrain type one might reasonably expect in a given region, so that "Wilderness" only appears in Fredericksburg and Rappahanock, there are mountains in eastern Tennessee but not Indiana, etc. This file also weights terrain, so that "open" terrain is far more likely in Kansas than Fredericksburg (but can be found in both), fortifications are more plentiful in James River than the Arkansas River, villages and roads are more common out east than out west, etc.

And yes, we're hoping to include some historical battlefields in our next FOF-related project -- current working title: "Revenge of FOF" -- but have not made a final decision yet.

< Message edited by Gil R. -- 7/20/2007 1:09:12 AM >

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Post #: 71
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/20/2007 6:26:42 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		AUGUST 1863, Union VP 4 (national will -4), Conf VP -1

Grant knows very well the disturbing ability of the confederate army to replenish their ranks very quickly. Somehow they always find, in the farms and backwoods of Tennessee, Mississippi, or Alabama, more field hands, farm boys, students, or older men to fill the ranks to replace those planted in the ground around the Cumberland and Tennessee river battlefields. Knowing this, Grant wastes no time in pursuing the retreating rebels. He, along with Sherman and Hancock, will follow the rebel western army into Nashville. Sheridan, who had been moving into northern Georgia and Alabama during the last few months, has been ordered to move his small quick division into the rebel army’s possible lines of retreat to his rear. Thus Grant sees the opportunity before him – destroy this rebel army and end this civil war.

2nd Battle for Nashville

As Grant moves towards Nashville he learns that General Nathan Bedford Forrest has been promoted over Joe Johnston and thus is now in command of the rebel force he is about to engage. The rebel army is wounded, but still numbering 93,000, and still dangerous. Grant moves over good open and wooded ground, his objective is to move strongly on the Nashville road and either cut-of the rebel army from two important road junctions to the south or trap them around these objectives. There is a road towards the front, allowing swift movement up and down the battle line for whatever force holds this road. Capturing the road is key.

Forrest appears intent on holding this road as well, stretching his lines to prevent Grant moving unto the road. But with Grant’s superior numbers, he finds the rebel right and a clear path across the road, and an opportunity to both roll up the enemy’s right and take the objectives to the south. General Forrest is meanwhile hitting hard on Grant’s own right, with the weaker union forces starting to waver on this side of the battle. But Forrest, in the thick of battle himself, catches a minnie ball and is carried from the field with serious wounds.





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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 72
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/20/2007 6:27:40 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		AUGUST 1863 continued, Union VP 4 (national will -4), Conf VP -1

2nd Battle for Nashville

Through the afternoon the union pushes confederate forces north along the road, and Forrest’s counterattack on Grant’s right is stalled when Hancock’s late arriving corps enters the field. With nowhere for the confederates to go, nowhere to maneuver, they slug it out with volley after volley, both sides taking heavy casualties. But it is union artillery, unlimbered behind the firing line and firing heavy howitzer shell and shot over the union ranks, that sets the course of the battle. A hundred rebel soldiers fall to each battery salvo, to an enemy they can’t even see.

In the southern portion of the battlefield, the Illinois Volunteer division and parts of the 3rd corps are seizing the confederate road junction objectives in the towns of New Bethlehem and Cartersville, which would surely compel the confederates to retreat from the field. But by 6PM it is not needed, the main confederate force in the north are beaten.

The victory is total – confederate casualties are 31,702, roughly a third of their number. 8 brigades had surrendered, a number of Confederate generals join the long list of prisoners – including Longstreet and Joe Johnston. The rebel army in the west is now virtually leaderless and diminished to perhaps only 50,000 in number, certainly unable to relieve Nashville or Memphis. Grant needs only to chase them into the deep south and destroy them for good.





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Post #: 73
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/21/2007 10:53:17 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		SEPTEMBER 1863, Union VP 10 (national will -3), Conf VP -4

The remnants of the western confederate army are being chased now. No longer an effective offensive force, they switch to the defense and try to at least keep Grant in Tennessee. In late August Grant and Sherman engage the retreating rebel army in the Pulaski region (Hancock’s corps is left behind to secure Nashville). At 150,000 strong, he outnumbers the rebels three fold. The rebels fight bravely in hit and run charge attacks, but they are woefully outnumbered and suffer grievous losses. Again they retreat into the interior of Tennessee into the protection of there Fort Pickering in Murfreesboro. But at this point, they are at little more than division strength.

In the mean time – Memphis falls to Buford, mercifully before it is totally destroyed by Buford’s siege works; Milledgeville, the capital of Georgia falls, and Reynolds waste’s no time in moving up to Atlanta to capture this all important transportation hub; and the last of the Neuse River confederate forts in North Carolina falls, leaving Raleigh open to siege by Doubleday.

In reward for the defeat of the western rebel army, Lincoln approves Grant’s commission as “general of the army”. Five stars, last held by George Washington. At this point Ulysses S. Grant is in command of all forces in the U.S including McClellan’s standing garrison troops around Washington.





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The Anaconda Plan - 7/22/2007 8:45:17 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE SEPTEMBER 1863, Union VP 11 (national will -3), Conf VP -5

Grant and Sherman pursue the remaining rebels to Murfreesboro. The union however find themselves short of ammunition, having traveled hundreds of miles in the last month in the pursuit of the rebel army. 33,000 confederate troops, including Fort Pickering’s garrison troops, are intent on making a last stand. Grant, with only a few supply wagons available, must wait a day until his army is resupplied, and thus the first days fighting sees only light skirmish activity. Overnight he envelops the rebel defensive position on the hill and attacks the rebel positions without mercy. Confederates take 15,000 casualties, half there number, before surrendering. Three or four rebel brigades manage to escape southeast to Chattanooga. Maybe 10,000 soldiers are all that are left of a rebel army numbering 160,000 at the beginning of 1863.

Grant’s soldiers have fought four major battles in nearly 8 weeks. Low of supply and exhausted, Grant and Sherman decide to stand down for the moment. He also needs to set strategy for the future course of the war. With Buford taking his corps down the Mississippi to finally accomplish the goals of the “Anaconda Plan”, and Hancock in place to sweep up Tennessee and move down to the south to link up with Reynolds, he can finally issue some new commands for his own immediate army – it will be time to move east to Richmond.





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Post #: 75
The Anaconda Plan - 7/23/2007 8:56:44 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		OCTOBER 1863, Union VP 12 (national will -3), Conf VP -5

Grant’s strategy for the course of the war, into 1864, is simple – conquer and occupy the population centers of the south and isolate them from the last remaining organized confederate army in Virginia. Compel them to surrender, and, as a last resort, destroy the army in Richmond. To that end –

1.) Buford will secure the Mississippi and occupy New Orleans, with Sheridan in support. If needed they will send a division or two into Texas, securing Galveston.
2.) Hancock will siege and occupy the capital of Alabama – Montgomery, and link up with Reynolds.
3.) Reynolds, after occupying Atlanta, will move down to Savannah and Tallahassee.
4.) Doubleday will secure the North Carolina outerbanks area before moving back north to keep the confederates from making any moves to reclaim Raleigh or Lynchburg.
5.) Grant and Sherman will move up to Virginia for a final battle with Stuart and to take Richmond, if needed. McClellan will move in to support Grant and to otherwise protect the north.

But it is clear the confederate’s will not give in easily. Buford, moving towards Vicksburg, finds 19,400 gray clad combatants outside Vicksburg waiting for him. Mostly garrison troops, he routs them easily, but not before they inflict 3,000 union casualties. They also scamper back to their forts – the “Gibraltar of the West” – Vicksburg, Fort Garrett a little further south, and the city of Natchez. Even with gunboats and “The Dictator” pounding these fortifications, he doesn’t expect this province to fall until early next year.

The remnants of the former rebel Army of the West is also active. They move south from Chattanooga into Georgia. Grant must already vary from his plans and pursue them again lest they move into and retake some of the lightly garrisoned towns held by the union in Georgia.





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Post #: 76
The Anaconda Plan - 7/23/2007 9:02:57 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		NOVEMBER 1863, Union VP 11 (national will -3), Conf VP -4

It’s now clear what orders have been issued by Jeff Davis in Richmond. The rebellious southern leaders intend to fight it out and lengthen the war until war weariness overcomes the north. An exasperated Lincoln ponders this situation – Raleigh has just fallen to the Union and Montgomery is about to be seiged by Hancock; but with the capitals of Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and now North Carolina in union hands, the rebel cause still lives. There is danger in this war lasting past mid-1864 – the presidential elections in one year are just one of the risks.

Grant and Lincoln find more confederate surprises in early November. Stuart in Richmond has broken off a corps of 30,000 commanded by Robert E. Lee, including artillery, and moved into the Union held Shenandoah. Thinking that his destination may be to the lightly garrisoned Wheeling on the Ohio, Grant is forced to send Sherman and his forces north to intercept. It’s a gutsy move, if Lee makes it over the mountains before winter strikes then the union may not make it up to Wheeling until spring, and a main east to west river route will be blocked.

Grant must also deal with Nathan Bedford Forrest, apparently returning in command after his injury in the 2nd Battle for Nashville. Not content to let the soldiers of his beaten western army return home to their farms, he gathers more forces from the countryside as they withdraw south. Finally he settles in to surround the lightly union garrisoned Milledgeville, with Grant in pursuit.





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Post #: 77
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/24/2007 1:08:14 AM   
jkBluesman


Posts: 797
Joined: 2/12/2007
Status: offline 		Looks like you are making it. You did a good job in the major battles and your strategy finally worked out.

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(in reply to d714)
Post #: 78
The Anaconda Plan - 7/24/2007 4:10:06 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE NOVEMBER 1863, Union VP 11 (national will -3), Conf VP -4

At this point it is a war of wills and politics. Forrest, with no hope of holding Milledgeville, lays siege to the city and wipes out the Union garrison. His intent clearly to harass and keep the western Union forces diverted. To this end Forrest is successful, as he has an Army of 125,000 chasing a division strength force. Nevertheless, Grant moves in on Forrest and, after a quick battle, forces Forrest to retreat before he can possess the Georgia capital. Forrest and his rebels (enlarged to a force of 24,000) take 8,000 casualties to Grant’s 2,000, but again slips away to southern Georgia. Enough of this – Grant will lift Hancock from seiging Birmingham and move it from the west and Grant will separate out a few of his divisions and move in from the east and wipe out Forrest once and for all. Georgia, although almost all in Union possession, remains a rebellious state still with plenty of manpower sources – Augusta has a garrison of 8,000, The Savannah River area has two forts as well as the city holding a garrison of some 16,000, and Ogeechee to the south has another fort held by 3,000 rebels. To add to this, in North Georgia, the site of blue coats marching unto southern soil and Forrest fighting against overwhelming odds has encouraged no less than three newly mustered confederate brigades to organize.

Another surprise in the north. Sherman moves up towards Shenandoah, and finds no army to fight. Robert E. Lee, instead of moving west towards Wheeling and the Ohio, moves into Maryland for a formal invasion of the north. Militarily, it appears to be foolhardy. Politically, it could be a disaster as the lightly defended but populous industrial center of the northeast lays beyond the border forts. Lincoln is well garrisoned and fortified in Maryland, but Lee’s movement into this province presents a problem indeed as the only army adjacent to Lee is the army protecting the capital. He gives the OK for McClellan to engage with the full force of The Army of the Potomac as long as he keeps within distance of Washington, in case this is a well planned diversion from Stuart to compel the United States to leave their national capital open to capture.





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Post #: 79
The Anaconda Plan - 7/26/2007 6:54:11 AM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		DECEMBER 1863, Union VP 11 (national will -5), Conf VP -4

The political damage has been done with Forrest’s raids in Georgia. The capital of Georgia was back in confederate hands but for a moment before Grant chased Forrest out, and the United States political will to fight plummeted as telegraph wires reported the news to the big cities “Grant Caught in Quagmire in Georgia”. Grant separates a corps strength force of 50,000 from his army around Milledgeville, led by General Lyons (previously of the ill-fated Little Rock campaign) to move in from the east as Hancock move in from the west.

Forrest is not complete with his adventures. In late November he moves up to Atlanta with 15,000 haggard rebels and harasses Reynolds’s besieging force. In a short bloody fight he loses half his force, but not before incurring 4,000 union casualties, including General Reynolds himself, wounded while leading a volley exchange on the front lines. Then he takes his survivors south, engages in hit and run skirmishes with Lyons in the Flint province, and again escapes south to the swamps of the Okefenokee. But Forrest is wounded here, his second time in the war, and thus out of action at for the moment at least. But his second in command, Wade Hampton, continues the hide and seek battle with the Union. Two weeks later Lyon again catches up with the elusive rebel band, rebels are badly mauled, and Hampton is killed, but again a few scattered companies escape once again south to Florida.

In Maryland McClellan confronts Lee on a battlefield covered by winter snowfall. Both forces are well drilled, but only a few veterans had been in combat from the very first engagement of the civil war over two years previously, the rest experiencing battle for the first time. Both forces fight surprisingly well. Lee is at a disadvantage however, facing the entire Army of the Potomac. McClellan executes a well ordered flanking attack to Lee’s right. The confederates take 11,000 casualties (the union casualties are only 4,000) and see two brigades surrender before withdrawing back south to Fredericksburg. And so ends the confederate invasion of the northeast.. Sadly, one of McClellan’s divisional commanders, Thomas Random, was fatally wounded during the battle.





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/26/2007 7:03:00 AM >

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Post #: 80
The Anaconda Plan - 7/27/2007 4:57:00 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		JANUARY 1864, Union VP 12 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

The fourth year of the war begins quietly. The remnants of Forrest’s raiders move deftly north through union lines, back towards Tennessee, collecting mustered brigades of hardcore Georgian and Alabamian horseman as they travel north. Grant orders Lyon and Hancock to discontinue pursuit for now, and instead occupy the secessionist seats of governments in the last of these deep south southern states. Lyon is directed to capture Tallahassee and Hancock is to return to Montgomery and take the capital of Alabama. Atlanta falls to the union, and Reynolds, now free from the siege, is directed to keep an eye on the troublesome rebel forces moving around in Alabama.

In late January Natchez finally falls to Buford after 4 months of siege in the province. Buford now moves into Louisiana towards Baton Rouge, one step closer to New Orleans and the opening up of the Mississippi waterway. Sheridan has been in support of Buford, but he is ordered to break off again, moving west of the Mississippi, and liberate some of the secessionist provinces in Arkansas and move unto Little Rock. At the Mississippi/Arkansas River junction a gun boat has floated down from Cairo to help him in this endeavor.

One consolation to the union war efforts – war weariness is now affecting the Confederacy. With many of their cities occupied, the confederacy exists in little islands of government – Richmond and coastal Virginia, a stretch of Louisiana to Texas, some of the Appalachian areas of Knoxville and Chattanooga. Regardless, the meddling European powers continue to support the confederate war efforts. Particularly Napoleon III of France, who, with all the confederate ports blockaded or in Union hands, apparently continues to funnel money and supplies through the Mexican border with Texas towards the south.





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/27/2007 6:47:29 PM >

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Post #: 81
The Anaconda Plan - 7/27/2007 7:39:02 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		FEBRUARY 1864, Union VP 12 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

The renegade force once commanded by Forrest appear headed to Nashville. This time it is Reynolds that catches them near Huntsville in Northern Alabama. Mounted confederates make a good fight of it, but most of their forces are irregulars – field hands, farm boys, equipped with their daddy’s shotguns and old rusty muskets. Capable riders but inexperienced in combat, unable to compete with seasoned Union forces, their mounts are quickly dropped and each of them are either killed or captured. It appears, once and for all, this menace roving about the south has ended.

In late February Lee, recovered from his December defeat, once again heads into Maryland. Again Lincoln and his cabinet go into a frenzy. Grant on the other hand see’s this as an act of desperation on the part of the confederacy. The forts of Maryland have been reinforced since Lee’s last invasion, and Lee will find heavy artillery and abetis if he moves on any of the works around Annapolis. On the contrary to Lincoln’s worry, he sees this as an opportunity. If he can make it up to Virginia in time he can engage Richmond while Lee is occupied in Maryland. He orders McClellan to stay put in Washington for the moment and to not engage Lee.

Thus as Grant sees it, this may be the opportunity to end this war. He knows that the CSA is stalling for time. The union have over half a million troops in the field, not counting garrison and naval troops, to the CSA’s last organized force around Richmond that number less than 100,000.





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/27/2007 7:45:02 PM >

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Post #: 82
The Anaconda Plan - 7/28/2007 9:18:03 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		MARCH 1864, Union VP 12 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

During March Grant moves up to Lynchburg by rail, then to Petersburg. At the same time he orders Sherman into Fredericksburg. The intention is to lure Stuart away from his works around Richmond by squeezing him in, as well as to cut off any retreat by Lee in Maryland. Hopefully, he will be tempted to send some or all of his army out to meet the union as he had sent out Lee.

Robert E. Lee, as expected, is slogging his way through the fortifications of Annapolis, not really making any progress. In spite of complaints from Lincoln’s enemies that Lee should be chased out of northern territory, Grant encourages Lincoln to let Lee stay in place and he will be dealt with at the Union Armies convenience.

Grant also must prepare for a siege of Richmond if all else fails. McClellan is ordered to move into Fredericksburg as well, minus one division that will be kept in Washington as a contingency.

In the west, no less than 5 confederate cities are under siege by various elements of the Union Army. Buford, having taken Baton Rouge in late February, has moved down the Mississippi to take the last remaining block to the Anaconda plan.

Edit note: At this point it occurs to me I am not getting all my city victory points. I hold 13 confederate cites and I have 6 “city” VP’s. This is a recognized bug on the support forums and it appears it will be addressed. However in my scenario it may mean I can never win, thus I am going to manually track my VP’s to see if I make the 24 VP’s required by the game to achieve victory.




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Post #: 83
The Anaconda Plan - 7/28/2007 9:20:43 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		APRIL 1864, Union VP 12/corrected to 20 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

McClellan, already insulted that he has to leave a division of his army behind in Washington, is further incensed when he is ordered to give up a corps of his Army of the Potomac to Sherman, in preparation for an attack on Richmond. Grant try’s to sooth his ego, and assigns him the easy but rewarding task of defeating Lee in Maryland. McClellan, overcautious as he is, takes 4 weeks to move his remaining 68,000 into Maryland to meet Lee’s besieging force of 19,000. Now it is Grant that is beside himself, having wanted Lee dealt with and McClellan back in Fredericksburg for the move on Richmond before the end of April.

But McClellan finally does bring his army north to Maryland to engage Lee and relieve the besieged forts. General Lee tries to make the best of a hopeless situation, attacking the union right in the morning fog and momentarily throwing McClellan off-kilter. But the fog clears and McClellan is able to move around Lee, while at the same time pounding his lines with deadly artillery fire. Lee expertly withdraws under fire, although a few of his brigades are overrun. But several hours into the battle, the brave general is wounded trying to rally his troops against all odds. Seeing their beloved leader down, the remaining rebel brigades show the white flag.

Although now a hero to the Union, Grant is not all to pleased with McClellan’s slow pace. Tallahassee was captured in early April, and with that siege over Grant pulls Howard Hunt from General Lyon’s command in Florida. Hunt, a general that fought well under him during the Tennessee River campaigns the previous year, will be groomed to replace McClellan.





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/29/2007 11:21:27 PM >

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Post #: 84
The Anaconda Plan - 7/30/2007 5:36:57 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		MAY 1864, Union VP 13/corrected to 21 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

The nature of combat has changed in the last 6 month. With a few exceptions, no longer are masses of troops meeting on the field of battle to exchange volley after volley in line formation. Various confederate and southern home guard fight on in cut off cities and remaining state capitals. But, outnumbered, unable to organize, they entrench and fortify. Trenches become the front line, and siege cannon and sniper rifles the weapon of choice. Not that the war has become any less bloody – both sides incur over 20,000 casualties in the first two weeks in siege/trench warfare ranging from the Arkansas River to the coast of North Carolina. This level of losses had been going on since the beginning of the year.

But one large battle remains. Grant is preparing to assault Richmond head on, and to that end he has accumulated an army of a quarter of a million around the confederate capital. The bulk of his army will be moving in from Fredericksburg, and while he has one general there who he trusts with his life, Sherman, he has another that he cannot trust to follow his commands. Thus he gives the news to McClellan, he will be demoted to three stars, and Hunt promoted to 4 stars to take his place. McClellan, to no ones surprise, resigns in protest. With that done, Grant gives the command – on to Richmond.





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/31/2007 12:48:38 AM >

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Post #: 85
The Anaconda Plan - 7/30/2007 6:01:44 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE MAY 1864, Union VP 13/corrected to 21 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

At the end of May over 350,000 soldiers meet in battle outside of Richmond. Grant and his 60,000 Department of the West move in from Petersburg, Sherman and his 125,000 man army (simply known as “4th Army”) move in from Fredericksburg, with Hunt’s 62,000 Army of the Potomac following behind. Stuart has 101,000 entrenched in a series of 6 fortifications on clear flat ground, each one emplaced with overlapping cannon fire from adjacent forts.

Battle of Richmond

To march into the forts would result in extremely heavy casualties. Instead, Grant decides that he will move on the forts during cover of darkness and storm them in the morning. Grant stays in cover waiting for dusk; however a rebel division move to Grant’s right in the late afternoon, where Grant has his own division behind tree cover. Here Grant takes heavy casualties, as rebel troops punish them with enfilade fire from a position where they are covered by the guns of there forts. Finally, the sun sets, and as the rebel fire dies down Grant gives the order to move unto the rebel breastwork. By 2AM a number of brigades are hunkered down in front of 3 rebel works, having approached successfully without casualties, ready to open fire at the morning light.





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Post #: 86
The Anaconda Plan - 7/30/2007 6:03:10 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE MAY 1864 continued, Union VP 13/corrected to 21 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

Battle of Richmond continued

The union has a surprise for the confederate division that caused so much damage the previous afternoon. Hunt arrived late on the battlefield, behind Grant’s lines. Grant directs him to move his forces above this rebel division and quietly surround them during the night. Morning finds the rebels behind Union lines, encircled, and quickly cut down by withering musket fire. By 9AM the survivors throw down their guns and surrender.

At the forts themselves, casualties are horrendous in the first 20 minutes of daylight as both sides have clear fire without the obstacle of musket smoke, fatigue, and jammed weapons. Union soldiers fire toe to toe across the earthen and logged walls of the fortification, able to deliver fire to those inside, but unable to scale the works to take them. One fort to the south is finally taken, but two others hold fast, even while being battered down by union artillery. Rebels are able to move into an effective battle line to prevent these two forts from being surrounded, while at the same time trying to find a flank to exploit.

By 10 AM Union forces are into a second fort, collapsed by the fury of the battle, with fighting at times hand to hand. Jeb Stuart, the confederate commander, is wounded. John Pope, one of Grant’s corps commanders, is also wounded. A number of Union troops in the first wave have fallen back by this time, fought out after a night of marching and a morning of battle. But the numbers are on Grant’s side, and finally the confederate army, overwhelmed by casualties, retreats. Richmond is not quite taken, garrison troops hold onto other forts in the area, but the main confederate army is forced off the field and into Norfolk. Union losses are 19,000, confederates dead and wounded number 31,000 with another estimated 30,000 taken prisoner (9 brigades).





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< Message edited by DI7 -- 7/30/2007 11:01:18 PM >

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Post #: 87
RE: The Anaconda Plan - 7/30/2007 9:49:40 PM   
cerosenberg

 

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/4/2007
Status: offline 		Thank you for an interesting report.  I am pleased to see that the Union can win this game.

(in reply to d714)
Post #: 88
The Anaconda Plan - 7/30/2007 10:29:10 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		JUNE 1864, Union VP 16/corrected to 24 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

Edit note: I know by my calculation I have enough victory points to win the game (corrected from the game bug), but for closure I wanted the game to record New Orleans as fallen, which it will not do until the next turn.

Richmond and a few fortifications around the city are defended now by only 14,000 home guard garrison troops. The confederate army in nearby Norfolk number less than 50,000 tired, starving, and beaten rebels. New Orleans is declared an open city, battered by union artillery fire, the garrison troops there have either surrendered or deserted. Talk of the end of war is near. But Jefferson Davis, stuck in the besieged city of Richmond, vows to fight on until death. The south shall rise again. Lincoln and Grant, demanding unconditional surrender including the emancipation of slavery, prepare for an aggressive siege of Richmond. Hunt meanwhile maneuvers into Petersburg while Doubleday, having liberated Wilmington, moves up north to pen in the confederate army, thus surrounding them on three sides and pinning them against the Atlantic Ocean.





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Post #: 89
The Anaconda Plan - 7/30/2007 10:31:44 PM   
d714

 

Posts: 111
Joined: 4/11/2007
Status: offline 		LATE JUNE 1864 continued, Union VP 19/corrected to 27 (national will -5), Conf VP -4 (national will -3)

Bloodshed continues. Grant bombards Richmond and the forts surrounding them in a series of aggressive siege attacks during late June that cost Grant over 12,000 casualties. But Grant has manpower to spare, and is welcome to trade men for time if it means an end to the war.

Jefferson Davis compels the trusted and beloved Robert E. Lee, still recovering from his wound and escape from capture in Maryland, to engage in one last all or nothing offensive to relieve Richmond. Thus 51,000 confederates, loyal to the end to Virginia and the confederacy, march into the James River to confront an enemy of almost four times their number.

2nd Battle of Richmond

Lee’s movement takes Grant by surprise, engaged as they are by his siege of Richmond. Union troops are momentarily shaken, forced to move into line, unlimber artillery, and move supply wagons to the rear under fire. But these are battle tested troops, the Army of the West. The relatively green Army of the Potomac had moved south to camp near Petersburg after the first battle. Thus Grant and Sherman’s forces recover quickly and return fire. Lee, outnumbered, is forced back to his fortifications and flanked on both sides.

Union take casualties as they approach Lee’s forts, cannon fire opening up huge gaps in their lines. But northern soldiers, seeming to know the end is near, stay in good order and move up against the rebel works. Lines of rebels line up in front of the forts, futily attempting to keep the union at bay with musket fire. But the Virginians are flanked, fired on from enfilade, fall back leaving behind hundreds dead, and the action continues. As in Maryland, again Lee is wounded. Rebels fight on beyond the limits of normal endurance, seeming to know that with this defeat the confederate cause will end. Finally, with one of every two rebel on the field dead, dying, or wounded, the battle ends. Barely 7,000 confederates leave the field that day, scattered around fleeing into the Virginia countryside. The Union’s second victory ends the confederate Virginian army as a threat – 24,000 rebel casualties are recorded, along with 21,000 prisoners (6 brigades). Union casualties are 13,000.





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Post #: 90
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