Lee wets himself, aka Grant Takes Command

[Ape]

http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70

Ooooh they're going west, freaking awesome  , to bad they didn't start with Shiloh though

[Berkut]

The Union starts out with 6 "free" activations they can use only for leader activation.

Let me mention hwo activations/initiative work in GCACW for those unfamiliar.

Each "round", both players roll a die. Whoever has the higher roll gets to activate in that round - the lower roll does not activate at all. This means that if you keep getting initiative, you get to keep moving, while your opponent sits there doing nothing.

However, everytime a unit activates to move, they gain a fatigue level. Once they get up to 4 fatigue, then can no longer move, and you only recover (IIRC) 2 fatigue per evening turn.

So while getting early init can help, the guy who tends to not get it will tend to get move moves later, when your units get tired out.

Anyway, the Union gets 6 free inits, that they must use on 6 of their leaders, then you start the normal initiative procedure.

Fopr my first activation, I activate Sheridan who rolled 4,2 on his movement roll, for a total of 8 MPs for Gregg's and Davie's brigades.

They will be tasked with moving south across the Germana Ford, brushing aside the confederate cavalry regiment defending it (1SP), and securing the ford for later use by the infantry.



Gregg's cavalry has just enough movement points to get there and launch a hasty attack.

However, the atack goes poorly (1D/D result attacker/defender), resulting in Gregg losing a strength point (down to 3), and both units becoming disorganized, which means that Gregg's effective strength is now 2, and the 1st NC is now 1/2.

Davie's follows up, and attacks the badly disorganized regiment, destroying it and advancing into the space. Normally, it would cost extra MPs to move into a space with a friendly unit, but cav can do so. Also, cav can normally conduct a voluntary retreat, which avoids combat and takes MPs away from the moving unit, but you cannot do that against opposing cavalry, so the 1st NC was doomed, I think.

End of the first special activation.

[Habbaku]

I am happy with the result--I lose a single-SP cavalry regiment and end up mangling an entire brigade in the process.

[Berkut]

The rest of my pre-game activations are rather uneventful. The AoP begins moving out, but rather slowly, with the 1st Cavalry covering the southern flank.

[Habbaku]

Old Bald Head proves his worth!  The CSA won the first three "regular" initiative rolls and, so, I got Ewell's corps moving up the road into the Wilderness to block off Sheridan's marauding dunderheads.



Rodes' division detached a brigade to hold the fort/ford line from Yankee raiders (while defending the fort, their strength is effectively tripled which allows a brigade to laugh off attacks from an entire division, if necessary), then promptly joined the rest of the corps in marching up the pikes...to Wilderness Tavern and to a meeting engagement with Sheridan's men.

Though a bit worn out (the corps is at fatigue level 3, now), they still have enough juice in them to assault the waiting cavalry.  Berkut's up to see if he wants to gallop away, though.

[Berkut]

Well, we have our first major rules issue, not unexpected since this is our first time.

Gregg held off both attacks - +1 result on the first (2,2 roll), -1 on the second (2, 6 roll). However, I just remembered that you have to roll for exhaustion when you activate and go to three fatigue, and Early failed his exhaustion roll, so he would have become D f4 immediately, and not been able to move to begin with.

I would guess you would still make the same move with the other though, so I rolled for Johnston which was fine, then Rodes promptly failed his as well. So both Rodes and Early are stuck back where they started.

I will leave it up to you whether you would have still moved in the same manner and made the attack or not. Or come up with some other solution?

[Berkut]

Looking back at the log, it looks like you actually moved those two guys first - so you may not have even moved Johsnton and attacked at all knowing the rest of the Corps was stuck. I will leave that up to you - if you do wish to attack, it will not be as good of odds, since my brigade won't be DO from Earlys attack, so a net of +2 instead of +3.

In case anyone is paying attention, I think this is a pretty great result for me, even if it does mean I am going to lose out on those two rather dicey combats that went my way - Ewells Corps is basically done for the turn, and they did not reach the ford, so it should allow me to get the AoP across unhindered. If I ever get initiative, that is.

[Habbaku]

Looking back at the log, it looks like you actually moved those two guys first - so you may not have even moved Johsnton and attacked at all knowing the rest of the Corps was stuck. I will leave that up to you - if you do wish to attack, it will not be as good of odds, since my brigade won't be DO from Earlys attack, so a net of +2 instead of +3.

Pretty much my thinking, there.  I forgot about the potential to have them just run out of steam like that once they hit fatigue 2.  If at all possible, my ideal is to keep the corps together, not to have them all strung out and potentially able to be cornered.

Just leave Early and Johnson back at the starting gate.

[Berkut]

OK, looking at the rules again, I was wrong - the 'D' result is NOT that same as the 'D' result on the CRT, ie it does not include an increase in fatigue nor does it stop further movement. It just flips the strength marker, and then you can move normally. If you are already DO, it can actually inflict losses. In any case, there is not "f" portion, or even any loss of MPs, so those Corps can go ahead and attack , albeit at their lowered combat values.

[grumbler]

This so reminds me of a discussion I had two weekends ago with a board wargamer on why board wargames, with their limited scope and relatively small scale, needed twice as many pages of rules as an equivalent miniatures game!

This is a great AAR, but definitely reminds me of why I stopped playing boardgames.

[Berkut]

Was this discussion over a delicious 5 Guys burger???

Well, we made a conscious decision (mostly driven by me) to go ahead before we had really absorbed the rules fully. I kind of like "figuring it out as I go along".

I am not sure how this would be any different for a miniatures game with the same scope though. I would say that minis have the smaller scope and scale generally - how would you do a operational campaign game like this with minis? You would still need just as many rules for a similar level of detail or effect, I would think.

Overall though, the basic rules for GCACW are pretty short - 20 pages or so.

[CountDeMoney]

Grumbler just likes to knock over the figurines when they die.  Flipping a counter just doesn't do it.

[grumbler]

Was this discussion over a delicious 5 Guys burger???

No, but it was a result of the conversation we had.

I am not dinging on boardgamers.  I am simply pointing out their increased demand for fidelity.

Miniatures rules can get away with a gazillion things that board game rules could not.  The specific reference was our (name TBD) miniatures rules versus a Market Garden board game based on Panzer Leader, out of which they had devolved 56 pages of actual rules when the game had 28 or so pages.  Our 20 or so pages fazed them not in the least, and when we actually simulated more game time than actual time these guys were impressed (even though such a metric never applied to their boardgames).

[grumbler]

Grumbler just likes to knock over the figurines when they die.  Flipping a counter just doesn't do it.

You coulda been there.  It was your choice.

[Habbaku]

OK, looking at the rules again, I was wrong - the 'D' result is NOT that same as the 'D' result on the CRT, ie it does not include an increase in fatigue nor does it stop further movement. It just flips the strength marker, and then you can move normally. If you are already DO, it can actually inflict losses. In any case, there is not "f" portion, or even any loss of MPs, so those Corps can go ahead and attack , albeit at their lowered combat values.

That is quite the difference.

In that case!  I will position Early's division as I did, but not attack and will, instead, attempt to attack a prepared attack (since Johnson would have 5 MPs remaining after moving into Gregg's ZOC), leaving him with 1 MP.  Unless I'm mistaken, I should also receive a flank bonus with Early's division placed like that.  No ratio bonus, though, since my guys are DO (5:4 odds).