Inaugural Challenge FoF AAR

[Kingmaker]

HiHi

Well I have fallen well behind, fraid the other ‘Life’ has occupied my time somewhat, anyhow will try and catch up a bit today if battle files don’t come in too fast.

Turn 6

OK some questions answered for me this turn, the invasion of Maryland by ANV didn’t lead to the automatic capture of the unoccupied Ft Hill, so as there is a Fed fort in Cumberland albeit unoccupied that province stays Fed Blue, however there was a small battle there (Reb victory) and from the Quick Battle (QB) screen I could see feds only had a +2 terrain defensive bonus, so that answers another question, ie unoccupied forts will not give a defensive bonus.

The screenshot below shows the position in Maryland.



On the screenshot you can see that there are 2 Stonewall Bgds, this is an oddity the game produces, at set up both sides get some ‘Legendary units’ (mine I give the small Confederate battle flag) and sometimes the same one appears in different containers, in the case of the Stonewall Bgd this game I had one with ANV & 1 with 1st Corps Shenandoah, so I have now given one of them the larger Reb Battle flag (I normally use that one for the Emancipation Bgds). On the shot you can also see that 8th & 9th divs have a + next to their header, this indicates they are rolled up so to speak, to see whats actually inside their respective div containers I would click on the + which would turn into a – and a drop down would appear showing the Bgds inside (see 7th div), this is a useful feature when reorganising within an Army/Corps as it cuts the clutter down and you can see only what you need to. In the ANV stats box you can see I have decided to stay in Cumberland and attack the Fort and so have issued the ‘Begin Siege’ order.



The clever Dicks amongst you will spot that this screenshot was taken before the one above as the 2nd Stonewall Bgd hasn’t been reflagged :)

OK still not being quite sure what will happen with the siege of an unoccupied Ft, and as time is important to me here (I’m casting a nervous eye over my shoulder at Fredericksburg and Richmond) I opt for the aggressive siege; against occupied forts this is extremely costly to the besieger, but with time constraints etc that’s what I go for, I can’t afford to be tied down with a long siege, eg encircle, which Bragg used against Ft Pickens in Pensacola.

Now as Feds have a lot of troops around Cumberland if they decide to attack, with their +2 terrain bonus ANV may take a bit of a pummelling; of course with movement being somewhat uncertain in this game it may be that any attacking forces don’t synchronise and ANV could therefore have far superior numbers for each unit coming in individually which would be great, but this early in the game I can’t afford a major defeat so I stick with the cautious approach, and set ANV to ‘Avoid battle’ (this is where a high Initiative comes in handy, Beauregards is superb), as Cumberland province has a fairly high Forage factor of 9 (clicking on a province shows this info + how many troops you have there and an approximate of Enemy numbers), I hope my boys can do a bit of Chicken stealing and set ANV to Low priority.

Finally for ANV I detach 1 Bgd and send it back to Fredericksburg, in the hope that any incursion into Virginia will be stopped by it in Fredericksburg due to the Feds having to fight a battle there (be warned, this ploy doesn’t always work, and can be catastrophic when it doesn’t!).

Whilst in the Eastern theatre, Lee stays in Norfolk, I need that province back up and supplying produce etc and don’t wish a repeat of Baton Rouge, I am surprised that Lee & 11th div hasn’t actually helped lower the unrest, but at least it is contained and in 2 turns Norfolk should be OK.

The Abingdon Gap, (screenshot below is after movements)



It's all very well ANV charging off after glory in Maryland, but with Lee tied up in Norfolk and Johnston still forming up 2nd Corps around Chattanooga it leaves Southern Virginia & North Carolina somewhat vulnerable to any rapid advance by Feds through the Abingdon gap from for eg, Appalachia KTY to Lynchburg, or the forces in Grafton swinging through Kenawha and into Abingdon, thereby cutting my Rail links.

Johnsons small 2nd Corps (just Lorings Franklin div @ 13,000) can reach Abingdon, but Prices MSG @ 17,000 will only get to Knoxville. Here therefore I go looksee what the Feds have, by clicking on the Union flag in Appalachia I see it is 9 independent bgds with no div or corps container + no commanders present (yellow dot beneath units) this means that while he could move them into Reb territory they could not turn a province Blue.

So being reasonably confident that Ft Donelson can at this stage in the game (ie little or no Fed arty) hold for a turn or 2, I opt for partially covering the gap and building 2nd Corps into a stronger unit. To this end I opt to Move Johnson only as far as Knoxville and have Price join him there, by adding Price to 2nd corps I now have a fairly strong 2nd corps of 33,000 ready to respond to any threats in the Abingdon area while still being close enough to return and help out in the Cumberland Gap area.

While here I buy a Scout attribute for 2nd cav in Prices MSG this will help the scouting check before battle or help ‘Avoid battle’ if that’s been set.

Out West

Twiggs Louisiana div stays put in Baton Rouge, while there I buy a 2nd Artillery brigade attribute for 47th Inf, this costs me 20 Money & 40 Iron



Next turn 47th will turn into an arty bgd armed with 6pds, while it means I lose the Richmond Muskets the bgd is armed with (they came at game setup along with the 1st arty bgd attribute), it will at least gives me some arty out West, I’ll upgrade to 24 pds at the 1st opportunity, one disadvantage of get arty like this on the cheap is that the experience level is reduced by 1/2and needs a good commander or battle experience to build it back up.

I again upgrade Island No 10s guns, this time to 42 pdr rifle.

At Sea

Carolina Pride sent to Virginia Atlantic were I am hoping that she can pick up 50 weapons @ 70/20 from right under the nose of the blockading fleet, Georgia Peach has a less risky venture to Apalache Bay for 70 Iron @ 70/30

Builds/Political

In Richmond I order an army container which will become the Army of Tennessee and a Corps also for out West, at the moment Richmond is the only place I can build Corps & Army containers.

As Florida’s gov is supporting money production I make a gesture and order a Mint built in Tallahassee, and finally, I increase spending on British diplomacy by 8gp to hopefully keep the momentum of support from across the Pond going.

End of turn financial/resource City is the above mentioned Tallahassee.



Thats it for this turn, think I may have missed something out but am in a hurry trying to catch up so sod it :)

All the Best
Peter