Inaugural FoF AAR - Union side

[cillmhor]

Late March 1862:

Sorry I haven't been able to update for a couple of turns, but the general gist has been Peter sending two divisions behind my lines into the west with one of them taking an undefended Chicago, much to the displeasure of the Governor of Illinois!

Peter is cleverly spreading unrest which is in turn effecting output and so some of my plans for building up my armies and production are behind schedule.

I know know the value of building forts and keeping some of my garrisons in place, as I struggle to force the defenders out of Jefferson Missouri. I've sent three divisions, one cavalry division west to deal with Peter's roving raiders, and I hope attrition will take its toll as they are no next to adjacent friendly provinces which I think has a supply effect on them, although I'm not sure.

I have not been able to muster much lately for two reasons: manpower is low is some provinces and as I have done it a few times already the Governor attitutes have taken a hit, so I'll have to wait a while so that % chance of success goes up again. In April manpower increases again, it does so each year, so I should be able to muster a few more units.

Peter seems to have troops everywhere, but his numbers in many units must be pretty low. As he goes on the offensive in the west, I can only assume he is on the defensive in the east?

He has a largish force north of Richmond, but I am able to move one of my armies into Shenandoah again, and I am toying with the idea of plunging that army (the 90,000-strong Army of the Potomac) into the south towards Lynchburg in order to try and sow some unrest in Peter's provinces and perhaps stall his offensive manouevres in the west.

I have another army of 50,000-plus sitting on Washington, so the north will not be totally unprotected. The move south in 1862, with the Union forces still so woefully unprepared would be a massive gamble. But I can already feel, with the unrest and roving CSA divisions in the west, that the game might be slipping away from me due to some crucial early errors in my strategy - not building forts, and being slightly too aggressive in the west early on, drawing a response from Peter, and I should have mustered first turn and much more earlier on.

If I can start to effect his production in the Carolinas? Then we both might go into the winter of 1862 with economic and political troubles. In another battle, we are both spending quite a bit on diplomacy in an effort to win over the European powers. I have gained access to French and British rifles for money as a result, I don't need to spend guns on them, which if I had more money could be a valuable choice!

Money is the thing which is holding the Union back at the moment. I continue to build mints and I am thinking of building a bank in the next turn or two - but they cost a lot of money. They are supposed to make you 1% interest on saved money. But I'm not really sure what saved money is, as I have to spend all my money each turn to keep up with Peter.

When I get the next turn, I'll have a big decision to make. Do I take the Army of the Potomac down south and risk a battle on southern soil where I would lose my defensive bonuses?

Or do I continue to remain passive and allow Peter to dictate the course of the war?