In the ongoing series of wargames pitting Berkut against Habs, we will be playing the campaign game scenario of Grant Takes Command, from the extremely well regarded GCACW series.
Unit scale is divisions, with some brigades. This is the 1864 Overland Campaign, with Grant driving into Virginia with the goal of destroying the ANV and taking Richmond, hopefully before the fall elections, securing President Lincolns second term.
Overall map:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg25.imageshack.us%2Fimg25%2F7420%2Fgtc1start.jpg&hash=c52353965bdbe58d1cac3046bbf11bb7a5c76dc5)
Posted the entire thing so you can see how very far it is to Richmond...
Anyway, you can see the starting locations up north there. The Union immediately is faced with a difficult choice - where to cross the Rapidan?
Drive due south into Western Orange county along the Orange & Alexandria Railroad? This has the advantage of being able to use the rail line for supply, and avoids the mess of the Wilderness. However, the Confederate forces are well entrenched at the potenetial crossing points, and Mosby's Raiders make any reliance on the railroad for supply often problematic in any case.
The other (historical) alternative is to strike to the east, into the Wilderness. This has the advantage of avoiding the forts, we can use the river for supply, and we can likely get across the river before the Confederates really know what is happening. However, we wil then be likely to be embroiled in a bitter fit in the woods of the Wilderness, where our artillery advantage will be useless, and Confederate leadership can be brought to bear in sharp counter-attacks.
A closer look at the terrain:
Option #1:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg524.imageshack.us%2Fimg524%2F7964%2Fgtcoption1.jpg&hash=20927ec621f9f434fcaa86926ee84e5d6dbe255c)
Option #2:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg25.imageshack.us%2Fimg25%2F576%2Fgtcoption2.jpg&hash=3eba8e09175d1d6460b8489bfae2c7707362f007)
(http://yfrog.com/0pgtcoption2j)
I can't wait to take my first Entrenchment action. Then another. Then...
Richmont is a hard road to travel I believe. :P
Looks awesome.
Do what Grant did, try to manoeuvre for a victory, attritit a bit and then keep marching on Richmond.
I say move through the Wilderness as well, just try to avoid getting to strung out so that your units can support each other if attacked.
Quote from: Viking on August 31, 2009, 01:17:07 PM
Do what Grant did, try to manoeuvre for a victory, attritit a bit and then keep marching on Richmond.
It took Grant nearly a year. We are hoping to not repeat that performance.
What's the scale on that map by the way?
Where did you get the rules to this you basterd :ultra:?
Been trying to get my hands on the physical game for ages, which is unpossible unless you want to shelf out enough money that would make Mono blush.
I've been trying to get my hands on this game as well as 'On to Richmon' both of wich unless you are filthy rich is to damn hard.
I traded for it on BGG. I think I traded something lame for it as well...let me check.
OK, not lame, but still a good deal. I traded Silent War for it.
Quote from: Berkut on August 31, 2009, 02:33:33 PM
I traded for it on BGG. I think I traded something lame for it as well...let me check.
OK, not lame, but still a good deal. I traded Silent War for it.
I hate you. :cry:
Have you pre-ordered the latest one yet? It looks excellent.
Quote from: Berkut on August 31, 2009, 02:41:10 PM
Have you pre-ordered the latest one yet? It looks excellent.
What?!?!?!
http://www.gcacw.com/ (http://www.gcacw.com/)
where? :unsure:
Quote from: Ape on August 31, 2009, 02:44:34 PM
Quote from: Berkut on August 31, 2009, 02:41:10 PM
Have you pre-ordered the latest one yet? It looks excellent.
What?!?!?!
http://www.gcacw.com/ (http://www.gcacw.com/)
where? :unsure:
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70 (http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.multimanpublishing.com%2Fpreorder%2Fpo_images%2Fbatc-map-sample.jpg&hash=380817cbcdfe845325239e381ef3b1af30354d18)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.multimanpublishing.com%2Fpreorder%2Fpo_images%2Fbatc-sample-counters.jpg&hash=10bb937aeedf23e14c8dc6c081ffb70d7d04266f)
Quote from: Berkut on August 31, 2009, 02:51:47 PM
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70 (http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70)
Ooooh they're going west, freaking awesome :menace:, to bad they didn't start with Shiloh though
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.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg512.imageshack.us%2Fimg512%2F5620%2Fgtcturn1specact1a.jpg&hash=eaa8b9f41094a64d9f2cd91e79ac69141cb32201)
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.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg26.imageshack.us%2Fimg26%2F5316%2Fgtcturn1specact1bt.jpg&hash=0a95f7563eecf25ee16a41a604be97f45329e32c)
I am happy with the result--I lose a single-SP cavalry regiment and end up mangling an entire brigade in the process.
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.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg42.imageshack.us%2Fimg42%2F4834%2Fgtcturn1specactdone.jpg&hash=8b63a5ba9ca17f7c521b5f204cc2fc4d5c3a16d9)
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.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi14.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa313%2FHabbaku%2FWilderness.jpg&hash=10d3543c6ea41a79dd08ef47e15edc50400a077b)
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.
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?
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.
Quote from: Berkut on September 01, 2009, 01:38:48 PM
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.
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.
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.
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.
Grumbler just likes to knock over the figurines when they die. Flipping a counter just doesn't do it.
Quote from: Berkut on September 01, 2009, 08:36:08 PM
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).
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 01, 2009, 08:51:48 PM
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.
Quote from: Berkut on September 01, 2009, 08:06:58 PM
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).
Johnstons guys are not DO, so they will get the 2-1 ratio bonus.
However, you do not get a flank bonus - you need to "cover" at least 5 hexes, and you are only covering four.
DRM then:
Tacical rating for Ewell: +2
Ratio: +1
Prepared: +1
Looks good, then. Have at it. You may, of course, attempt cavalry retreat.
I need to re-read the flanking section.
OK, as expected, it was not pretty - combat results in a fa for you, and a 1DR for me, so I fall back across the river.
However, you got the 'f' result I needed, so Johnston is done moving as well. He can advance however.
Quote from: grumbler on September 01, 2009, 09:47:17 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 01, 2009, 08:51:48 PM
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.
You know where I work and what time of year it is. I'm busy as balls. :mad:
Well, I have to admit to some disappointment with the days results. It isn't quite over yet, but the Union Corps are pretty tired, and mostly on the wrong side of the Rapidan. We may have to push them to fatigue 4 to get them across anyway, since Ewell will be a problem in the morning, I am sure, and Longstreet is moving up to the Wilderness as well.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg299.imageshack.us%2Fimg299%2F6378%2Fgtcturn1late.jpg&hash=1bf5f3bdd2f43ac268715b962753c3c681c22ceb)
The rest of the Confederate forces:
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg513.imageshack.us%2Fimg513%2F9145%2Fgtcturn1lee.jpg&hash=d79527fc244c1d80220c3b32b56a00db8ca6e784)
Hills Corps (the red ones) has not even activated yet at all - and it is the strongest ANV Corps.
I suspect Habs is considering whether to send it on a counter offensive into Culpepper County.
Quote from: Berkut on September 02, 2009, 08:26:31 AM
Hills Corps (the red ones) has not even activated yet at all - and it is the strongest ANV Corps.
I suspect Habs is considering whether to send it on a counter offensive into Culpepper County.
Wouldn't that just be the two armies swapping starting positions?
Quote from: Viking on September 02, 2009, 08:32:00 AM
Quote from: Berkut on September 02, 2009, 08:26:31 AM
Hills Corps (the red ones) has not even activated yet at all - and it is the strongest ANV Corps.
I suspect Habs is considering whether to send it on a counter offensive into Culpepper County.
Wouldn't that just be the two armies swapping starting positions?
Well, not really. The danger for me is if he goes after my depot - that would be a problem.
However, I would look at it as an opportunity to take on the ANV in relatively clear terrain, where my artillery and numbers can be brought to bear. I do need to be careful not to over-commit to the Wilderness though.
how is this game for re-enforcements?
iirc Grant lost more men than he started with (wilderness to appottomax) and ended up with more than he started with.
This is only covering teh first 6 weeks of the campaign.
After some more minor movement, the turn ended pretty much as it shows above. I think Longstreets Corps activated again.
Quote from: Berkut on September 02, 2009, 12:36:23 PM
This is only covering teh first 6 weeks of the campaign.
After some more minor movement, the turn ended pretty much as it shows above. I think Longstreets Corps activated again.
Didn't Grant lose 60,000 men during those six weeks though?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on September 02, 2009, 01:16:51 PM
Didn't Grant lose 60,000 men during those six weeks though?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_Campaign
It looks like Lee lost about 30K and Grant lost somewhere between 39K and 55K or thereabouts.
Quote from: Valmy on September 02, 2009, 02:08:12 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on September 02, 2009, 01:16:51 PM
Didn't Grant lose 60,000 men during those six weeks though?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overland_Campaign
It looks like Lee lost about 30K and Grant lost somewhere between 39K and 55K or thereabouts.
Between 39k and 65k according to that table. :contract:
Quote from: Valmy on September 02, 2009, 05:41:03 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on September 02, 2009, 05:09:32 PM
Between 39k and 65k according to that table. :contract:
Pfft everybody except that ones source tops off at 65K.
Two sources say 39k, two say 55 and two say 65k.
That said, the average comes out to 53k.
Really, they didn't lose them...
The Rebels sure as hell found 'em!
AAR of May 5th :
"Uncle John" Sedgewick's corps slug-marched up a few hexes and decided that they had found a good spot to rest at the remainder of the day.
Lee and 2/3 of Hill's corps fast-marched off closer to Spotsylvania County, prepared to back up Ewell and Longstreet's corps if they're forced back.
Grant had about a pint of bourbon within the course of an hour, fell asleep and, without him, the entire Union army took a nap. And dug in.
The AoNV decided that they should match the entrenchment efforts and now The Wilderness looks like Verdun circa 1915.
(Translation : After Berkut winning the first round's initiative, then my winning the second round, the initiative dice came up 1/1--meaning that Berkut then had a 50% chance of the day continuing. He failed his roll, so it passed to me to voluntarily continue the day or not. Seeing no reason to give the Yankees even more time to move up...I called the day off and gave everyone a nice, sunny day to entrench!)
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi14.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fa313%2FHabbaku%2FWildernessNaptime.jpg&hash=623087e0b4e61ec4a94e73480c7b1d7a608742c9)
Map of the fortified camp that is The Wilderness.
:bleeding:
Good luck with that, Berk.
May 6th dawns clear.
Sedgewicks Corps finally makes it across the Rapidan, and moves into position south of the Wilderness tavern, flanking Ewell Corps.
However, Longstreet arrives to save the day, securing the Confederate southern flank, and allowing Ewell to counter-attack, driving Wright back, but exhausting 2/3rds of Ewells corps in the process.
Hancock then attacks Johnstons division, left to hold the north flank, but the attack goes poorly, losing 3000 Union to only around 1000 Confederate casualties.
Warren continues to hurry up, and is poised to cross into the Wilderness as well, which is turning into quite the mess, to be completely honest.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg524.imageshack.us%2Fimg524%2F4174%2Fgtcturn3wildnerss1.jpg&hash=5090d2307c946f2b1038e0d63d77ee2312496de3)
Both of these attacks made something clear - you need to have more than a little bit of superiority to attack. The 'D' result means you add 3 Fatigue, and are Disoraganized. Since you spent 1 Fatigue to make the attack, that puts you at 4 - which means you are done for the turn.
Which doesn't mean that you should never make such an attack - had I rolled 1 higher, the result would have been MUCH better, with him forced to retreat, me advancing,and his position taken. But if you are looking to make successive attacks, you need a better result.
There is a great sense of "But I need to attack NOW...before he can respond!" though. I should probably ahve moved Mott and Birney into position to support the attack - but if I did that, he could ahve dug some more, or moved out, or even counter-attacked first!
I am really, really liking this game system.
Quote from: Berkut on September 03, 2009, 10:03:11 AM
losing 3000 Union to only around 1000 Confederate casualties.
Are you telling me you lost 6 sp vs. 2 ? yikes, that's a freaking horrible result, your dice rolls must be crap :cry:
Quote from: Ape on September 03, 2009, 11:23:53 AM
Are you telling me you lost 6 sp vs. 2 ? yikes, that's a freaking horrible result, your dice rolls must be crap :cry:
He actually lost 3 SPs to my 0--but both sides ended up dropping ammunition and becoming disorganized/fatigue 4-ed in the process.
His battle modifier was only +2 and the rolls ended up 1/2 in my favor. Add that on top of the fact that he assaulted with nearly triple the number of troops I had and you end up with a recipe for lots of Yankee dead.
Quote from: Habbaku on September 03, 2009, 11:42:54 AM
He actually lost 3 SPs to my 0--but both sides ended up dropping ammunition and becoming disorganized/fatigue 4-ed in the process.
His battle modifier was only +2 and the rolls ended up 1/2 in my favor. Add that on top of the fact that he assaulted with nearly triple the number of troops I had and you end up with a recipe for lots of Yankee dead.
Ah ok, they must have changed the scale somewhat since the first three games of the series :unsure: was roughly 500 soldiers per infantry SP and 750 for cavalry
What's the scale of these hexes? 1/2 a mile?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on September 03, 2009, 03:02:31 PM
What's the scale of these hexes? 1/2 a mile?
Looks like roughly an inch to me.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on September 03, 2009, 03:02:31 PM
What's the scale of these hexes? 1/2 a mile?
No idea, honestly.
Quote from: jimmy olsen on September 03, 2009, 03:02:31 PM
What's the scale of these hexes? 1/2 a mile?
IIRC, 1 mile/hex.
2000yds/hex.
You guys don't even realize my pain when I see that someone has posted in my thread, but it turns out they didn't really.
If I were the Union I would try some ahistorical tactics - perhaps throwing thousands and thousands of men at the Confederate entrenchments in an attempt to wear them down through a process of merciless attrition.
This game looks awesome. I've never really liked any battle-level Civil War games but I want something to play other than For The People. :cool:
Quote from: Caliga on September 04, 2009, 07:47:06 AM
This game looks awesome. I've never really liked any battle-level Civil War games but I want something to play other than For The People. :cool:
So far I very much like it. It is starting to look rather ugly in the Wilderness though. We are both shoving a lot of troops into a rather small area.
Why this is bad for the Union:
Will it end up with me just slamming into his dug in lines, in a brutal battle of attrition that I will lose - are we doing Cold Harbor in the first week of the campaign???
Why this is bad for the South:
Is he over-concentrating? I have more units - is the ANV going to get "bottled up" in the Wilderness?
Situation in the Wilderness.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg205.imageshack.us%2Fimg205%2F9215%2Fgtcturn3wildnerss2.jpg&hash=ebf52bb3d300d98f4ceb7b14736715ad2aba49f5)
This is towards the "end" of turn 3 - most units are at 3 or 4 fatigue, so more action is not likely today. As you can see, it is very concentrated, and Burnsides Corps is moving in. However, Hill's corp is off to the south still, so the Confederates do have a reserve still.
Cavalry having fun!
The cav has been active further West. Stuart feinted into Madison county, and Sheridan responded by trying to bring in overwhelming force to stomp on some of the isolated Confederate units.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg205.imageshack.us%2Fimg205%2F8751%2Fgtcturn3wildnersscav.jpg&hash=45c1c73ff28ab959638d07f49dbec88eb390cd14)
I think I have surrounded and wiped out Stuart and the regiment with him.
*checks* This game is teh expensive. :huh:
Yeah, it si out of print, and since GCACW is distributed by MMP, I would not hold your breath waiting for a reprint.
I got very lucky, and picked up a copy from BGG in trade for another game.
Quote from: Ape on August 31, 2009, 02:55:16 PM
Quote from: Berkut on August 31, 2009, 02:51:47 PM
http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70 (http://www.multimanpublishing.com/preorder/viewGame.php?id=70)
Ooooh they're going west, freaking awesome :menace:, to bad they didn't start with Shiloh though
:o :mmm: Will probably order this today.
I am not sure Shiloh would be a very good game at this scale - the entire battle lasted two turns.
That entire campaign though, could be pretty awesome - hard though, since much of the decision making was very strategic, and you would have to have some rules to deal with how the Union army could make the amphibious moves they did. Not sure how that would work out...
Well these are campaign games in any event. :huh:
I guess in my mind that game would have to cover from Fts. Henry and Donelson thru the capture of Memphis and Nashville to the Seige of Corinth to be complete. The geographic scale of that would be enormous though (maybe too big).
Of course, by having the other day end incredibly early, I am cursed to have the current day go on forever.
And why not? It's been a good day!
Good-ish. My positions have been shored up, but now my entire army is exhausted or close to it. Then again, yours isn't exactly in good shape, either...
I think as soon as Hill's corps gets into position (which will be an interesting race to see if I can get there ahead of IX Corps), then you will have a tough time accomplishing much.
Then again, maybe I'll just abandon The Wilderness and fall back a bit.
Question: Why are MMP's games all so freaking expensive? :huh:
Because they are all proudly printed in the USA.
I think it's because Curt Schilling needs alot of cash to fund his exploratory committee for the US Senate. :contract:
My house, by the way, is in the half-hex just northeast of hex 2101. :nerd:
Interestingly, there was a battle here in November 1863, in which 2200 Union troops assaulted 2000 excellent entrenched confederate troops well-supported by artillery and killed or captured almost 1700 of them, while losing only about 400 of their own men. It has been called the best small-action Union victory of the war (the Battle of Rappahannock Station) and I brig it up every time some Confedotard starts going off about the "glorious Southern Army" and the "incomparable Bobby Lee" (who was present).
Quote from: grumbler on September 04, 2009, 07:21:27 PM
My house, by the way, is in the half-hex just northeast of hex 2101. :nerd:
Interestingly, there was a battle here in November 1863, in which 2200 Union troops assaulted 2000 excellent entrenched confederate troops well-supported by artillery and killed or captured almost 1700 of them, while losing only about 400 of their own men. It has been called the best small-action Union victory of the war (the Battle of Rappahannock Station) and I brig it up every time some Confedotard starts going off about the "glorious Southern Army" and the "incomparable Bobby Lee" (who was present).
Interesting.
Looked this battle up and it seems the rebels were rather inexplicably caught by surprise. It seems they assumed the fighting was over for the day and didn't keep their guard up.
have you guys stopped playing?
Not at all, although it has slown down a bit, since I am going to be out of work, so I've been rather busy. And I won't get much done over the next few days either.
It is going terribly for the Union though. Another short day, followed by rain for the next three days.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on September 13, 2009, 09:54:09 PM
If you need to know, he'll tell you.
:rolleyes: I forgot how soon it was.
I am back. Should get a turn out pretty soon here.
So General Berkut was shot down by a sniper, or what?
We kept playing for a while, then realized it really isn't all that great of a scenario, so we quit.
As Habs put it: Move. Move. Dig. Dig. Dig. Move. Move. Dig. Dig.
Rinse and repeat.
No Kill. Kill. Kill. ???
:(
There was relatively little killing for either of us. The only notable attacks were when Longstreet and Lee combined several units to assault and effectively cripple an entire division and several other, smaller engagements in which Sheridan's cavalry routed Stuart's beleaguered forces.
Unfortunately for the game, it just doesn't make sense for anyone to really attack all that much--the CSA certainly can't afford a real offensive going awry for fear of losing their entire army while the Union forces can't get decent DRMs without their offensive devolving to a meat-grinder.
So, we both turned to maneuver...which turned into entrenchment, then back to maneuver. Lather, rinse, repeat.
In hindsight, though, I was wary about playing this particular game in the series. It's fairly universally-panned amongst the die-hards for not being the greatest use of the system's abilities. We're going to give it (the system) another shot when Battle Above the Clouds is released some time this month. Ed Beach designed that one and we generally trust his skills at game design and balance (and fun), so we'll see.
Quote from: Habbaku on October 01, 2009, 05:28:06 PM
Unfortunately for the game, it just doesn't make sense for anyone to really attack all that much--the CSA certainly can't afford a real offensive going awry for fear of losing their entire army while the Union forces can't get decent DRMs without their offensive devolving to a meat-grinder.
So, we both turned to maneuver...which turned into entrenchment, then back to maneuver. Lather, rinse, repeat.
So, the game was a lot like that front in the actual war?
:P
:yes:
Quote from: Berkut on October 02, 2009, 10:11:54 AM
:yes:
Don't be a pussy, just hammer the ANV until it breaks.