quote:

But here is a situation that comes up quite frequently in combat. Suppose I have a large Union force in an area that is adjacent to a second area that I wish to occupy that has few defending CSA forces. This second area is adjacent to a third area with a sizable CSA force. And that third area is either (i) adjacent to the first area with the large Union force or (ii) adjacent to yet another area that has a considerable Union force. (Hopefully this is clear.) Assume all Union forces have the necessary initiative.

If the Union player were simply to move his large force into the second area, the CSA force would react move into it and thereby quite possibly prevent the Union force from taking that area. My question is this. Is there anything the Union player can do to "pin" the CSA force to prevent most or any of it from react-moving into the area the Union player wishes to take? Perhaps First consider an overrun if you have 6:1 odds; that solves the problem.
Second, look up the rule on units exiting a region with enemy troops. If the reaction force is in an area that you can move troops into, then at the trouble of generating a separate battle you may be able to prevent the CSA reaction force from exiting that region; remember that cavalry have different criteria for exiting than infantry/artillery.For example, could the Union player split his large force in two, sending half into the area with few CSA defenders and the other half into the area with the sizable CSA force (or send another adjacent Union force into that area), knowing the Union is not likely to win this combat but still somehow preventing most or any of the sizable CSA force from react-moving into the area the Union player is seeking to occupy?

My experience suggests that the game system does not allow this kind of tactic, but maybe I am missing something in the system that I could exploit. Two related questions are, how does the game system determine the order in which combat in different areas is resolved, I have never seen this process described, and I was a beta tester, I would assume it is random and how does having participated in combat in one area affect a defending force's ability to subsequently react-move into combat in a second area? A force cannot both defend and move during the reaction phase because combat does not begin until all reaction movement is completed. A "kindofa" exception is that if a defender is subject to overrun and is retreated during the enemy movement phase (when overrun combat takes place), then it would be available for movement during it's side's subsequent reaction movement.Thanks to anyone that makes it through this long post.