rmday
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Joined: 7/9/2008
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I just finished a new game where my overall strategy was to never step foot into the state of Virginia.
(My settings were: Union side v. the AI, personal control of production, challenging difficulty, FoW, unknown leader ratings, and sub-commanders. My intention was to set up one AC in the Trans-Mississippi and two ACs in the Western Theater. One AC would remain in the East to support amphib operations.)
Turn #1: I began with a standard US opening including a draft (like you might find in another post in The War Room).
Turn #2: I took Ft. St. Phillip and Roanoake Island. Lucky initiative let me send Davies into Monroe. WV and Lyon's force to win Fayetville.
Turn #3: CSA invaded Kentucky and Kentucky went all Union. Lucky again. I filled troops into most of Kentucky. I built a small force in Cairo to watch Paducah and sent my major force to push the rebs out of central KY. I snapped up southern MO in the far West. Another invasion force took Baldwin, AL to cut off Mobile. Smaller amphib forces took the rest of the East coast islands. Build up a big navy including plenty of ironclads.
Turn #4: The CSA was really on it's heels in AK. I was able to overrun Newport, Van Buren, and Ft. Smith. With Lyon's initiative, I was able to move a division into Little Rock and take the capital. Small KY units were able to overrun both Livingston and Cumberland TN. Davies had initiative again in WV and took Huntington. The major force in Louisville attacked to the south and took Bowling Green. Semmes was sunk!
Turn #5: Overrun Texarcana. Consolidate infantry and supply at Little Rock and Bowling Green. Another Amphib force goes after Jacksonville and consolidated Eastern Maryland.
Obviously, all USA so far and lots of luck and initiative. This is the best I have ever done in the Trans-Mississippi. Only bright spot for the CSA thus far has been the Heavy Arty in Paducah. They have owned every gunboat force that I have sent.
Turn #6: USA attacks Gallatin and wins. More consolidation. KY is all Union except for Paducah. Grafton, HF, and Frederick are all garrisoned and fortified. Washington is a navy town as all forces are formed for amphib operations.
Turn #7: Winter is here and no initiative anywhere. Fremont dismissed. Halleck and Grant get promotions. Continued consolidation in Little Rock and Gallatin. Corps assembled. Score = 1144-878 already.
Turn #8: Lyon gets initiative and takes Camden, AR. Cavalry fails to take Madison, AR. One division gets amphib initiative and takes Galveston.
Turn #9: Ashley, AR and Monroe, LA get overrun. CSA has no answers in the Trans-Mississippi. Major Gallatin force overruns Clarksville. Consolidation and corps optimizing in Clarksville and Washington. 1172-830.
Turn #10: Overrun Ferriday, LA and Minden, LA. Invasion force seizes Pensacola. Amzingly, Jacksonville force gets initiative and takes Talahassee.
The Gulf of Mexico is a Federal bathtub. My cruisers are all moved to the East coast ports for blockade duty. I haven't so much as scouted Virginia.
Turn #11: Lyon gets initiative and wins Shreveport, LA. Big union force loses to RE Lee (Strategic loss) in Dickson, TN. Big Navy build comes online and cruisers move to AO2 to eliminate the raiders.
Turn #12: Galveston force get initiative and takes Austin, TX. US Cavalry loses in Alexandria, LA. Arkansas rebels got a hand up while I was moving forward. I stomp them down this turn. Medium size force overruns Tullahoma, TN. Riverine force finally defeats the Hvy Arty in Paducah....for now. Anti-raider force is killing one or two raiders a turn now. Ironclads come online and start moving south. Large transport fleet construction is begun.
Turn #13: CSA attacks for the first time and pushes me out of Monroe, LA. My Tullahoma force pushed West and overran Murfreesboro. Large amphib force takes Port Royal. Consolidating in Texas, Arkansas, and northern LA. 1162-805.
Turn #14: The big CSA force in Nashville under RE Lee takes Clarksville. In return, I push from Murfreesboro to take Nashville easily. Austin, TX force overruns Corpus Christi. CSA reinforces Paducah with more Hvy Arty and DuPont knocks them all back again. Bowling Green is reinforced.
Turn #15: Lyon force takes Minden, LA and preps for the push to the Gulf Coast. KY force takes Lawrence, TN. CSA forces in Shiloh-Dickson-Clarksville line. Ironclads are just now arriving at the mouth of the MS delta. Transport construction plan is coming to fruition now with big influx. Extra large amphib force takes Savannah. Call another draft. Seven raiders have been dispatched so far.
I have the Lyon force in Northern LA and looking towards taking Alexandria and linking up with the delta forces. Arkansas is in the bag. Coastal Texas is too. Charleston and the North Carolina ports are still operating but with a large blockade force. CSA raiders are outnumbered and being hammered by Farragut. Virginia is still untouched.
Turn #16: Overrun Lake Charles. Lyon regains Monroe, LA. Overrun Florence, AL. I have two seperate riverine force that are cleaning up Hvy Arty in Paducah and Memphis. Ironclads hit Hvy Arty in New Orleans. Savannah force gains initiative and takes Jenkins, GA. Nashville and Washington get consolidation and newer/better leadership.
Turn #17: Overrun Lafayette, LA. Lyon consolidates in Monroe, LA. CSA keeps coming up with Hvy Arty to shoot at in Paducah, Memphis, and New Orleans.
Turn #18: RE Lee attacks Tullahoma but Grant turns his force from the western attack and defeats Lee. Aleandria, LA is overrun. St. James, LA overrun. Waycross, GA overrun. Jenkins, GA force moves inland and takes Augusta, GA. I had to reorganize my KY forces in Nashville and Tullahoma. 1168-704. 20 Supplies from Free Trade.
Turn #19: Major Amphib force takes New Orleans. Consolidating forces closer to Nashville and fortifying Tullahoma. Consolidating at Augusta, GA. Bombarding wherever I find Hvy Arty.
Turn #20: Rebs attack Tullahoma again. Grant gambles the a small relief force should be suficient for the improved defenses. US holds in Tullahoma. Only five CSA raiders left. Small amphib force takes Tyrell, NC. How much Hvy Arty does the CSA have? More bombarding.
I did not expect to start the Augusta salient. It just worked out. Lyon is running out of things to do in the Trans-Mississippi and will get moved East. At this part of the game I noticed my drifting focus on the Tennessee campaign. Also, I don't have a strategic victory in my pocket yet. A human player would have figured out that I have a shoe-string defense between Grafton, WV and Frederick, MD. Not even a cavalry scouting mission into Virginia yet.
Turn #21: AS Johnston leads a huge force and takes Port Royal back. I regroup at Savannah and pull back my offensive forces from Augusta. John Reynolds leads a medium amphib force to take Natchez, LA. The US wins despite Reynolds being killed. Only two radiers left.
Turn #22: Vicksburg is getting bombarded regularly now. Savannah force strikes back to retake Port Royal. With plenty of victory points, I call another draft. 1117-667.
Turn #23: RE Lee attacks Tullahoma and wins. A combined ground-amphib attack on Charleston outnumbered the defenders but lost momentum after key leaders were killed. A close loss. Victories are not as easy as they were early in the game. CSA is doing a better job of counter-attacking. Only one raider remains. Half of anti-raider fleet moves to blockade duty.
Turn #24: New Orleans force attacks Baton Rouge and lose the closest fight of the war. Hancock was killed. Large Nashville force overruns Dickson. Reinfored Port Royal. Bombarded Hvy Arty wherever it appeared.
Turn #25: Bowling Green force overruns Clarksville. Large Dickson force attacks Humbolt and wins. Smaller force attacks and loses in Tullahoma. Large amphib force strikes Wilmington and wins. Rebs are left with 11 Free Trade supplies. US goes for EP and BR finally!!
The CSA forces in Tennessee are broken or isolated in Paducah. The Trans-Mississippi is lost to the CSA. The US finally has a strategic victory (pretty slow for my usual game). Foreign supplies are all but dried up. 1113-769 score and Lincoln's reelection is all but assured. The game is over except for all the shooting and dying that happens on the way to CSA submission. All extra forces in the Trans-Mississippi are pulled out to reinforce Grant's western campaign to take Mobile and Sherman's drive to Atlanta. The Washington force would take Elizabeth City and New Bern shortly. Goldsboro and Fayetteville NC would soon fall.
One interesting moment on the march towards inevitable US victory was Turn #28. RE Lee led a huge attacking force (finally) to try to take Washington. The US defenses were very weak with most of the Eastern command serving on the North Carolina coast. The rebs appeared to have enough momentum to storm the Federal capital. An undersized corps of green troops managed to stall the CSA attack and forced them to return to their homeland in Virginia. That US corps commander was none other than General George McClellan, the man who rose from Army Commander to Theater Commander before missing a year of the war due to illness. His return to active duty was bitter sweet as other commanders had replaced him at the highest levels in the Union army. The best command he could find was the defense of Washington's forts. And, thank goodness The Great Cause had the right man at the right place. :)
Union victory was achieved with not one step on Virginian soil.
< Message edited by rmday -- 10/1/2008 3:33:20 PM >
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