A Newbie's AAR Introduction to HPS ACW Campaign series

[mntineer]

I'll be posting new tomorrow -- used the weekend to recharge batteries :whis: and today was "solve the crisis" day!

This is making for great reading, keep up the fantastic work.

It's making me want to give Campaign Peninsula another go. :whis:

:bow:

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Is "solve the crisis" day another way of saying working on the Honey Do list? :)

[mntineer]

The Waltz.
(Turns 4-6)

Back to the dance!

Turn 4 is looking rather good for the Union player. The rebs are pulling back, and I'm able to keep them pushed in front of me. I've realized this is a rearguard action that is covering the main Confederate force making haste to Sharpsburg to the west.

I organize my cavalry just east of Porterstown and form a line just in case the Rebs counter attack, and to provide a screen my infantry coming down the Boonsboro-Shepardstown Pike. I send a couple engaged cavalry units that were low on ammo back to the supply wagons in the rear. To the north of Porterstown, I set up a couple sections of horse artillery in an orchard south of Pry's Ford and assign a regiment of the 8th NY Cavalry to guard the position.

To the south, the Confederates are clearing the gap and are preparing to make a stand against the cavalry that is coming out in pursuit. In the meantime, Robinson's Division is entering the board behind Devin's cavalry. To the north, Davis' brigade is making its northward sweep to scout out the Confederate forces to the north.

The Confederates, though moving west are determined to stall my approach to Sharpsburg. Bluto has quickly set up a battery to the south of Porterstown that gives him great coverage of town and the surrounding countryside. The good news is that I can keep out of his sights for the most part, with some creative manuvering. The bad news is that he still has the ability to lob some Rebel toll tokens my way, and delay my approach into and past Porterstown.



To the south, the Rebs are setting up a rearguard just east of Sharman's Branch and waiting for Devin's cavalry to come busting through.



To the north, Bluto is reading a possible attack to his immediate rear, and is setting up a brigade to block Davis' cavalry near Neikirk's Ford.



On Turn 5, it's apparent that Bluto's stalling is beginning to work. This scenario is 27 turns, and time isn't on the Union side. I've got to secure a crossing at Antietam Creek in the two or three turns to have time to make a run on Sharpsburg.


At this time I let my infantry take the lead into Porterstown and mount up the cavalry and take them northwest to illuminate any Rebs who happen to be nearby. I further divide those forces, and sent Starr's cavalry a little further north to spot the extent of the Rebel hold on Niekirk's Ford. My artillery near Pry's Ford is doing a great job of scoring some casualities on those forces too. Hopefully I can force a withdawal there and clear the ford for the use of Mr Lincoln's forces. I assign Meredith's brigade to the task to clear out the Rebel artillery on the ridge south of Porterstown. The Rebel infantry that Routed in Turn 3 have rallied and can provide some protection of those cannons, promising some sharp action in order to move or destroy those units.

To the south, paranoia finally gets the best of me. I send Robinson's Division to the south toward Hawk's Hill. I suspect that Bluto has some units situated to the south to follow the infantry into the gap and cause casualities and delay:



Devin's cavalry clears the gap, and the Confederates get some opportunity fire in. The Rebs there have a couple regiments of infantry and a couple sections of cannon. I'm able to dismount and form up the bulk of the Devin's cavalry brigade to push the Rebs back from Sharman's Branch.

To the north, Davis' cavalry brigade opts to turn away from the Rebs at Niekirk's Ford, and heads north to cross at a smaller stream and away from slow moving infantry. Even with infantry, Bluto keeps a shadow on Davis' scouting force.

The Rebs get some decent opportunity shots at the infantry coming into Porterstown with the artillery sections on the ridge to the south. This is becoming a thorn in the Union's side, and I make it a priority to clear the ridge of Secesh influence. Bluto also sets up some artillery west of Antietam Creek, covering the Boonsboro-Shepardstown Pike bridge. Contrary to my hopes, the Rebs hang on to Niekirk's Ford.

To the south, the Confederates pack up their positions near Sharman's Branch and head northwest after a sharp skirimish with Devin's cavalry.

Turn 6 offers some small surprises. The Rebs are still east of Antietam Creek!

I combine my infantry divisions at Porterstown, but the cavalry I sent close to the northwest of there has discovered some Reb infantry lurking between Boonsboro-Shepardstown Pike bridge and the town itself. With my infantry's remaining movement points, I form battle lines just east of town. My plan is to simply drive the Confederates before me and prompt a total retreat over Antietam Creek. At this time, Bluto's artillery on the heights west of Boonsboro-Shepardstown Pike bridge is taking some opportunity fire shots at my forces as they press westward. Meredith's brigade on the ridge south of Porterstown is making slow progress. The elements of Starr's Reserve brigade is coming under fire from the Reb forces at Niekirk's Ford.

To the south, Robinson's Division presses southward, coming up empty-handed. No Rebs lurking around. I play it safe with Devin's cavalry and advance cautiously to Sharman's Branch, but don't run into any Confederates. It appears they have withdrawn from the immediate vicinity.

To the north, it appears that the forces at Niekirk's Ford and the detached units shadowing Davis' cavalry scout are the only forces north of Sharpsburg. The scout begins a southwesterly track towards the Hagerstown-Sharpsburg Pike.

The Confederates close to the west of Porterstown trade some shots, but are mostly ineffective, except for the artillery on both heights, which are becoming a major concern.

The beginning of Turn 7 looks like this:

[mntineer]

The "Probing Westward" AAR is back after a brief break! I had to wait for the game to end to write the rest of the AAR - some of my strategy I needed to describe for my next posts played out toward the end of the game.

To recap, The Union forces (played by Mntineer) are making a push westward against the Confederate rearguard (played by Bluto) after the Battle of Gettysburg. This action is taking place near Sharpsburg, MD, on the bloody grounds of what was the Battle of Antietam the year before.

To this point, the Union forces are currently in control or Porterstown and Bluto's Confederates are putting up a stiff rearguard action, slowing the Union advance on Sharpsburg, about a mile or so to the west. In response, Mntineer has sent a cavalry probe to the northwest and then west to the Hagerstown-Sharpsburg Pike to see the extent of Confederate forces in the Sharpsburg area.

For new players to note so far, there have been some good examples of running a rearguard action, managing an advance, and making a probe behind the opponent, as well as shadowing such a probe.

In the HPS Campaign games, setting up your artillery is one of the keys to controlling the battlefield (and the scenario), and in Turn 7, Bluto has the upper hand with a position sweeping Porterstown and another position sweeping Boonsboro-Shepardstown Pike bridge, where the Union forces are approaching. Granted, unless the artillery is in close range, its not going to do terrifying damage. What it lacks in damage, it makes up for the fact that your forces are being slowed, whittled down and softened up for any confrontation with your opponent's infantry. In order not to be nibbled down, it's usually a good idea to learn to "walk in the fog" to avoid opportunity fire. But, with every tactic comes a counterpoint. Well-placed artillery also inhibits movement along favorable routes, and without firing a shot, can still slow a bold advance against an opponent who wants to avoid early losses.

So without further adieu, back to the Dance...


The Waltz continued.
(turns 7-9)

The hard push on Bluto's Confederates happens on Turns 7 and 8. I'm determined to make up for lost time once my infantry comes on line. My immediate goals are to sweep all Rebel resistance to the west of Antietam Creek, doing as much damage to lingering units as I can along the way. The last thing an advancing force needs is any kind of opposition that has been routed, and then rallies in a turn or two and attacks vulnerable units in your rear areas, such as supply wagons and long range artillery. I manage to isolate and rout a Rebel rearguard unit on Turn 8.

Meredith's Brigade is making slow and steady progress along the ridge, closing in on the artillery position that is sweeping Porterstown.

I also send some weaker elements of Starr's cavalry northeast to hold Keedysville, just in case Bluto gathers his units in the north and tries to march on Keedysville and the objective marker there.

This what the situation looks like west of Porterstown on Turn 8:



By Turn 8, Davis' probe is knocking on the doors of Sharpsburg. Since this is a probe to see what Confederates are in the Sharpsburg area, I don't go into town. Infantry and artillery units already set up in defence of a town can be a very bloody for attackers, and fatal to any units unprepared for the losses. Davis' cavalry does take the opportunity to harass Rebel units going into Sharpsburg, causing some light casualties.



To the south, I'm able to muscle the Confederates out of the Sharman's Branch area without much resistance. But this comes with the realization that Sharpsburg is going to become packed with retreating Confederates in the next few turns. I'm going to have to do some hard thinking about taking it. Is the the juice worth the squeeze? Am I going to waste more than 500 VPs in forces taking the objective? I send out a couple units of Devin's cavalry to keep the retreating forces in sight. By turn 8, I'm satisfied that Bluto hasn't left me any surprises in the Hawk's Hill area, so I form into columns, throwing out a precautionary rearguard and make haste toward the gap.



On turn 9, I'm beginning to formulate my grand strategy for the rest of the scenario. From what intelligence I gather from my cavalry probes north and south of Sharpsburg, the Confederates are converging there, with the exception of a brigade's worth of infantry and a section or two worth of artillery to the north. I've already taken the entrance/exit point at Keedysville, and it seems there might be a light force holding the other entrance/exit point in the north center edge of the map.

My thought is to keep the Rebels pinned in Sharpsburg, creating a blocking force north and west of town. With the rest of my forces, take and hold the other entrance/exit point, protecting it with a token force. The terrain to the north of Sharpsburg is very suitable for artillery, so I would set up everything I have, and using my advantage in numbers and range to inflict damage on any Rebel force coming to retake the north center map objective. As long as I can hold on, I can pull out a victory

It's my experience that when a plan seems sound, it usually doesn't go as imagined. And that usually isn't realized until the end of the game.

Turn 9 is more pressing the Rebels to the west, and finally achieving my first goal - pushing Bluto's forces west of Antietam Creek, and opening up the avenue for an approch to Sharpsburg. An assault on the routed Rebel regiment opens up the way to the Pike and eliminates any possiblity of a harrassing force to the rear of my lines.

Bluto finally packs up his artillery on the ridge overlooking Porterstown and heads south. along with an infantry regiment that was routed in the first skirimishes around Porterstown, and recently rallied.



To the north, Starr's cavalry is going into position around Keedysville.



To the south, I've delayed all but two regiments of Devin's cavalry to allow the infantry and artillery to catch up. The one thing I don't want to happen is some lingering Rebel elements hitting vulnerable units in the gap. Bluto had some units heading southward from the Porterstown area.

The two regiments assigned to tail the Confederates come within a mile south of Sharpsburg and dismount. I just want to see what the Rebels do at this point, and but I want to make sure I'm not caught flat-footed.

To the north, I send another contingent of cavalry to circle northward, seeing what the Confederate units there are up to. They will progress roughly the same track as Davis' probe, meeting up with Davis' forces west of Sharpsburg helping to screen the infantry and artillery that will come on line west of Sharpsburg.

Everything seems to be going my way by Turn 10:



At this point I imagine Blutos in grey retreating post haste to Sharpsburg, in front of a victorious Union host! What a sucker I am.

[Bluto]

I have enjoyed reading this thread about my battle with mntineer. It is always interesting to learn of the viewpoint from the other side of the 'table'. For my part, by this point in the game (turn 10), my 'brilliant' tactics had all been thwarted by mntineer's moves, the disparity in numbers and movement, and the overall lousy quality of my units (most were D quality). I had been reduced to trying to concentrate my units in a relatively defensible area, namely Sharpsburg, where my strategy was simply reduced to hoping I could protect at least this objective hex! I also knew something that mntineer did not. I will allow him to reveal this particular surprise.

Bluto

Oh yes, in case you are wondering, I did not use this thread for 'intelligence' gathering, as I did not discover it until near the end of our game.

[mntineer]

I tried to write on the turns where the movement and immediate strategy was already played out and obvious. The last post was bumping into what I needed to explain as the grand stratgy. I do admit writing this makes playing the ACW Campaign games very pleasureable - I'm able to analyze my strategy better and apply to future games.:cool:

Oh yes, in case you are wondering, I did not use this thread for 'intelligence' gathering, as I did not discover it until near the end of our game.