RE: Call to Arms (Full Version)

All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> The Operational Art of War IV >> After Action Reports



Message

StuccoFresco -> RE: Call to Arms (5/15/2019 6:57:16 AM)

Will you fall back from Boston and let the British overextend?



cathar1244 -> RE: Call to Arms (5/15/2019 11:43:28 AM)

This map made me wonder how history would have progressed had the British opted to hold only significant ports with some surrounding terrain and told the Continental Congress they could have the rest as long as a cease-fire took hold.

[image]http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/upfiles/767/FB9C3BA2B6EC44778DA77ED7C223B8A0.jpg[/image]

Cheers



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/15/2019 12:57:22 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: StuccoFresco
Will you fall back from Boston and let the British overextend?


Not as much as I probably should.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/15/2019 1:20:24 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: cathar1244

This map made me wonder how history would have progressed had the British opted to hold only significant ports with some surrounding terrain and told the Continental Congress they could have the rest as long as a cease-fire took hold.

The British seriously considered a stand-in-place cease fire. They might have even made the offer. But I don't think they ever controlled enough territory to cause the Americans to believe it would have been in their best interest. The British would have been playing off of their reputation of invincibility, and the unsophisticated Americans would not have been impressed.

But there were always those in Congress and Parliament that wanted to stop the war now, without waiting for a military decision. In scenario terms, I'm always looking for ways to include diplomacy in the design. The trick is to get players to think like their historical counterparts without actually forcing them into a specific course of action.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/19/2019 10:47:07 PM)

October 1780

Another British force arrived off Portsmouth this month. This time they were able to take it.

De Galvez finished securing Mobile and then marched on Pensacola. The 6th Battalion of the Royal Americans Brigade surrendered the city after a brief fight.

And being that this is a turn of second efforts, Hand renewed his assault on Detroit and captured it with the help of some VA Militia.

“Two out of Three Ain’t Bad”



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/22/2019 1:18:04 PM)

November 1780

I think my peripheral strategy is starting to work. Even though I’m taking a terrible pounding at Boston (as usual) the loss penalties are narrowing. And by capturing many of the isolated British outposts I’ve managed to nudge the victory level into the win column.


[image]local://upfiles/767/093EC0EB480F49DAAE8DCDAFF26E4BFB.jpg[/image]



StuccoFresco -> RE: Call to Arms (5/23/2019 8:19:48 AM)

Keep going!



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/24/2019 10:56:40 PM)

December 1780

I had hoped that the French could continue campaigning through the Winter this year but I don’t think that will happen. Some British sortied out from Savannah and inflicted a sharp blow on Lazun’s Legion (the scouting group for the French forces). Just as well because we needed to fall back to get our supply situation straightened out. It is taking longer than expected to repair the bridges. When they resume the march, Lincoln will also head down from Augusta with two Continental regiments, the NC Dragoons, and some SC Partisans. The force they will be going up against at Savannah appears to be mostly Loyalists. But we do know that at least one British Foot regiment and Tarleton’s Legion are still there.

When these operations commence in the Spring, maybe it wouldn’t be too much to hope that Gates will lead his army back to New Bern.


[image]local://upfiles/767/361298D96C974FA6AE64B71A35E9C194.jpg[/image]



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/27/2019 4:21:56 AM)

January 1781

Normally in Winter the British pull back close to their bases. This year I’ve noticed, at least at Boston, that they are maintaining their positions on the front lines. This tells me they plan on a New England push in the Spring. We’ll see.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/28/2019 1:27:46 AM)

February 1781

As we come out of Winter 1781, the FEF is still stuck in the marshes of East Florida. It has been surprisingly difficult to repair these bridges. I’m thinking of sending down a couple more HQs to help out.

Lots of enemy activity detected in several places. I think this is going to be an eventful year.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/28/2019 9:52:21 PM)

March 1781

I think I’m in for a bruising next month. I made some limited attacks with artillery near Providence. The turn ended after the first round and I wasn't able to regroup or dig in. Now the British will emerge from their Winter quarters and reign terror on everyone that participated in the attack.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/30/2019 2:19:26 AM)

April 1781

The Redcoats finally decided to break the stalemate in New England by conducting landings at New Haven and New London, and conducting a frontal assault on my right wing. There’s nothing we can do to stop this so I’ll just roll the front back another 20 miles.

Meanwhile in the southern theater, the remainder of De Galvez’ army has arrived and the Spanish took over garrison duties at St. Augustine. That frees up Rochambeau to make an all out drive on Savannah.



[image]local://upfiles/767/FE90C3FB2C1A43B89D523F7A93EB178C.jpg[/image]



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/30/2019 11:17:31 PM)

May 1781

The British continued their New England offensive by capturing Newark and Amboy in New Jersey. This evens up the objective totals at 50/50. However, we still have a victory point lead of 30. This means that the British must have called up some extra reinforcements. There are British theater options to call up 6 additional Brigades. But there is a victory point penalty due to the geo-political consequences of withdrawing troops from other parts of the Empire. Remember, by this time in the war the the French and Spanish were engaging the British in theaters other than the North American.

SC partisans and NC dragoons did some heavy scouting of Savannah this month. They identified 5 Loyalist regiments and 3 British Foot regiments guarding the approaches to the city. We couldn’t get any spies inside the city so the number of defenders there is unknown. If they keep their current deployment, the best plan would be to slice off the defenders on the Savannah river and then conduct a combined land-sea assault on the city’s defenses.



[image]local://upfiles/767/F054329D88FA40DF9A8658B400CB264D.jpg[/image]



StuccoFresco -> RE: Call to Arms (5/31/2019 5:47:22 AM)

Wouldn't it be too costly? Do you have enough troops?



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (5/31/2019 1:15:18 PM)

It will be a hard fought battle, to be sure. But I've got more French troops standing by in St. Augustine and the West Indies. And half of the enemy is composed of Loyalists. Not as tough to beat on the battlefield as British Regulars.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/4/2019 3:22:00 AM)

June 1781

Well, it doesn’t look like I’ll be attacking Savannah this year. I’ve got every engineer in the army working on those bridges and I just can’t seem to get them repaired. Maybe next year.

Redcoats occupied Morristown and Princeton. PA Militia delivered aggressive counterattacks at both locations. They recaptured Morristown, but Princeton remains in enemy hands.


[image]local://upfiles/767/E5E0EF8EC5544AE58F147E50FDF83588.jpg[/image]



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/5/2019 3:13:37 AM)

July 1781

Nothing new this turn. It must be the quietest July on record. Initial probing attacks against the British defenses as Savannah confirm that I am not yet ready to take the city by storm. This is going to require a slow wearing down of the defenders combined with a blockade of the port.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/6/2019 1:34:22 AM)

August 1781

Well, I was all set to back off from Savannah and take a long term approach, but the Redcoats sortied out again and forced my hand. They practically wiped out the The GA and SC continentals and are threatening the French contingent as well. So I have 2 choices: 1) give up on Savannah completely and withdraw back to St. Augustine, or 2) throw everything I have into a sea assault and take the city by sea while the British are preoccupied further inland. I chose the latter. So we brought up the Spanish fleet to help with bombardment (Spanish ground troops are forbidden from operating outside of East or West Florida, but their navy can go as far as Charleston). It was a hard fought battle but the ground was taken on the last round of the turn.


[image]local://upfiles/767/69DBCBAF6DED41659C437459C0C7718A.jpg[/image]



StuccoFresco -> RE: Call to Arms (6/6/2019 7:16:28 AM)

Brilliant move, but the map doesn't show up.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/6/2019 12:34:44 PM)

That's odd, it doesn't show up for me either. I'll try to post it again.

Edit: Still not working. It's only a 48 KB file so I don't know what the problem is.

[image]local://upfiles/767/ABA879C9C3164ACCA90E106F2C790C8F.jpg[/image]




Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/8/2019 2:18:35 AM)

September 1781

We survived the British counterattack and held on to the town. Unfortunately, the British destroyed so much of the SC/GA force that I don’t have enough to hem them in and achieve my own little Yorktown. Gates will start down from Hillsboro to try and block their retreat. But this only works if the Loyalists try to retake the city again. If they retreat straight away to Charleston I will be too late.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/9/2019 12:51:13 PM)

October 1781

As expected, the Loyalists were able to escape before Gates even got close to cutting off their retreat. The battle of Savannah was certainly a welcome victory, but I’m afraid it was not decisive. The Redcoats that got away will be faced again when I drive on Charleston.

To avenge the loss of Savannah, the Redcoats unleashed their fury on Baltimore and took it with a frontal sea assault. It is late in the campaigning season and not really enough time to deal with this until next year.


[image]local://upfiles/767/1CBBB4C3936549869AC18A0D32331AFE.jpg[/image]



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/10/2019 4:17:22 AM)

November 1781

The British pushed further into Maryland and captured Alexandria, VA. To prevent further loss of terrain in the middle colonies I’ll need to beef up the Port defenses. I’ll do that with French forces. We may even try to retake Alexandria in the Spring.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/11/2019 12:29:08 PM)

December 1781

The fall of New Rochelle this month heralded the loss of the last of my New England ports. There is no longer any point in maintaining a front. I’ll put some strong garrisons in the major cities and retreat everything else to Albany (I plan on making a surprise attack on Ticonderoga in the Spring). The New England campaign is over.


[image]local://upfiles/767/F85D896C49934E7CB6306712F0B08CF2.jpg[/image]



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/12/2019 2:37:21 AM)

January 1782

It’s the dead of Winter and all is quiet.

Here’s the current situation. We are currently +15 VPs. The sudden death victory conditions are now in effect. First side to reach +25 wins. I’ve already captured almost all of the “easy” (inland) objectives. I can get a few more points out of the southern campaign, but it won’t be enough since Charleston is way too strong for me to even attempt an assault. My army is numerous but in a weakened state, with the average Continental rgt at only 60% strength. Most of the militia have already been spent. I still have Virginia and Rhode Island, but that doesn’t really help. The VA militia is being held in reserve for if/when the British move on Philadelphia. And RI is occupied by British forces so it wouldn’t do me any good to call up their militia. Besides, I’m done with New England.

The British have an even tougher path to victory. First, they have to heavily garrison all the major cities. If I take a place like New York even temporarily now, it is over. But they also have to put together enough force to capture more coastal cities. The French fleet is in control of the southern waters. So the only ripe fruit left for the picking is in the middle colonies (Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia). That happens to be where the Continentals are strongest, and they’ve just been reinforced with several Foot Regiments of French soldiers.

So the odds are in my favor at the moment. But I still think it is more likely than not that this will end in a stalemate.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/13/2019 2:36:36 AM)

February 1782

A group of Loyalists was seen poking around in the woods south of Ticonderoga. Normally I wouldn’t concern myself with such a small threat. But we are mustering a decent sized force at Ft. George and don’t want to be discovered. So a few militia and Indian scouts were sent out to deal with them.

Otherwise a quiet turn.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/15/2019 11:34:22 AM)

March 1782

We decided to call off our attack on Ticonderoga. Indian scouts reported two Loyalist, two Hessian, and one Foot regiment. That is a force at least equal to our own. And if we fail we risk losing Albany. Better to play it safe. The expedition moving up from Ft. George will be recalled. Instead, we’ll send a smaller force against Niagara.


[image]local://upfiles/767/4F4CE295F2914573B61A764570A71337.jpg[/image]



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/17/2019 2:38:35 AM)

April 1782

The British bombarded Richmond, probably in preparation for a landing. I am as well defended there as anywhere so if the British can make further progress into the middle colonies, it may be all over for me.

So, it would appear that not only did my victory at Savannah not change the course of the war, but I fear it prompted the British into such action as to guarantee that neither side will prevail.



Raindem -> RE: Call to Arms (6/18/2019 1:44:28 AM)

May 1782

Yep, the British captured Richmond. And they appeared to do it without too much trouble. A few rounds of cannon fire from ships in the harbor, and the Patriot defenders just melted away as soon as the Redcoats hit the shore.

If the British capture of Richmond was in response to our victory at Savannah, then we had a response of our own. Gates was finally prodded to lead his army into action at New Bern, NC. Rochambeau arrived by sea to repeat the successful formula we used at Savannah. Only this time we didn’t waste time nipping at the outer defenses. We went straight for the objective. Gates made repeated attacks on the landward side of the defenses, drawing off Redcoat units in Tactical Reserve status. Our naval armada then arrived and took the port by storm.

Unfortunately the turn ended early, before I could tidy up the defenses and dig everyone in.



[image]local://upfiles/767/A27CD4BE17844196B83C65546E6DD866.jpg[/image]



StuccoFresco -> RE: Call to Arms (6/18/2019 10:50:23 AM)

Bold move.



Page: <<   < prev  2 3 4 [5] 6   next >   >>

Valid CSS!




Forum Software © ASPPlayground.NET Advanced Edition 2.4.5 ANSI
0.921875