The Blue and Gray

[Misfit_travel]

It was not a particularly good year for the CSA. Although there were some victories, there was not sufficient damage inflicted on the Union to prevent the steady loss of border cities.

Major victories were at sea, with the sinking of 6-7 frigates. 4 in a single battle outside Norfolk, with 3 others in the Key West area. The Union navy can still sail anywhere it wants, but has been stretched pretty thin. Key West was not a major loss, but Brownsville Texas is somewhat troubling as it is relatively close to some major centers.

The key ground victory was in Springfield Missouri. Two artillery softened 3 HPs from a division, then a large force of cavalry (5 units ranging from elite to regular) further softened two Union divisions. An Elite irregular died inflicting more damage. Then 3 CSA rifleman advanced and finished the job.
Union losses: 2 Divisions, 1 Skirmisher and an artillery. CSA losses: 1 cavalry, 1 irregular and 1 artillery (to the Union Skirmisher on the previous turn).

That one battle made up for what had been a rather disappointing Missouri campaign. The only good news is that a goodly number of Union Cavalry has been lost chasing down CSA units.

Other than that its been a pretty steady retreat in the face of superior Union forces. Eric_A is consistently taking away good counterattack opportunities. 1862 should be much bloodier as the Union is advancing on territory that the CSA can react more quickly to.

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

See post #18 and 19.

 

[Misfit_travel]

Sorry, its been a while since we updated this thread but Eric_A and I are still at it.

Here is screen shot from week 16, 1862. As you can see the Union made a major push along the entire Virginia front. In early part of 1862 the Union forced the CSA to retreat from Wincester. The city surrendered without a shot being fired because the Union brought overwhelming numbers against the defenders.

By the end of this turn the Union stacks in the hills west of Manassas were destroyed (except for an artillery and one militia). The Union Division on the edge of the screen near the Army of Northern Virginia was also destroyed. The rifleman/skirmishers in the hills / valley north of Staunton were also killed in mixed fighting.

It was a serious loss for the Union, but they succeeded in forcing the CSA from Manassas. (In the final version of this scenario Manassas is a victory point city, so its loss would hurt badly).

This battle also marked the first battlefield arrival of a Union Corps unit, effectively ending the CSA monopoly on Corps. (In ACW terminology the CIVIII ARMY unit is called a Corps, except for the Army of Northern Virginia which is the only 4 unit Corps in the game, all others have a max of 3 units).

The Union losses in this battle enabled the CSA to retake the offensive at around week 20 of 1862. (More on this in another post).

On the naval front the Union invaded mid Florida and took Tampa. They then landed near Apalachacola (at the top of the Florida Panhandle). The Union division destroyed the Coastal Gun but an unbelievably heroic stand by the CSA Home Guard destroyed a Union Skirmisher and Cavalry. The timely intervention of a CSA Division forced the Union back onto their ships.

A few weeks later they moved across the entire Gulf and took out Beaumont (east of Houston). The Union naval advantage is causing serious difficulties for the CSA. I decided to do something about it......

First step was to build a transport at Norfolk and float a Rifleman brigade across Chesapeake Bay. This scared away the Union militia keeping a close eye on the CSA navy at Norfolk. The original thought was to draw the Union navy somewhere I could hit them.

An unexpected bonus was that the Union navy moved away from their blockade positions to bombard the Rifleman and Militia units I'd dropped in Delaware / Rhode Island. Having been burned before the Union did this in such a way to avoid a sortie from Norfolk. This let me get most of the CSA frigate fleet (4 units) out into the Atlantic unobserved.

6 weeks later, these units skirted the Union stations of Fort Tortuga and Key West and sailed into the Gulf to challenge the Union invasions.

On or about week 30 the CSA navy caught an unexpected bonus. We had spotted 2 Union frigates positioned to bombard the CSA ground forces moving down to attempt to retake Tampa. The thought was to sail the 4 CSA frigates against them. On there way there they came across a Union task force of 4 frigates and 3 transports. The CSA units engaged and sank the Union escorts. CSA units were damaged but none were lost. The Union transports managed to evacuate the 2 Elite Milita and artillery out of Tampa before the CSA forces could pin them against the Gulf coast. My CSA naval units were too damaged to pursue. (I suspect those units will reinforce the Union division and Rifleman brigade in Beaumont).

The Union still has an overwhelming naval advantage, but this is the second time the CSA has managed to sortie and sink a Union task force. At least now the Union has to worry about a significant CSA naval presence in the Gulf. Hopefully this will curtail some of the Union amphibious invasions (or potentially cut off existing sites from further reinforcement).

Unfortunately the bulk of the deterent force is now out of Norfolk (and the Union navy knows it). I can look forward to a continual bombardment along the south shore of Chesapeake Bay until additional naval units can be built.

Regards
Misfit

 

[Misfit_travel]

Here is an example of a battle sequence in the heart of Texas.

BACKGROUND:

Around week 22, 1862 the Union invaded Texas with a Rifleman Division, Rifleman brigade and militia. They obliterated the defenses at Beaumont (which consisted of some regular Texan militia, garrison and home guard units).

Week 36, the remnants of the task force damaged outside Tampa (see previous post) arrives outside Galveston. The coastal gun opens fire, damaging one of the two frigate escorts. A CSA frigate, on patrol off of Brownsville (which is still in Union hands from an earlier invasion), engaged the 2nd Union frigate, destroying it. The CSA frigate was badly damaged and (presumably) finished off by the remaining coastal gun damaged Union Frigate.

The 3 Union transports braved the coastal fortress of Galveston (taking each 1 HP of damage as they moved by) and landed their 2 Elite milita and artillery outside Houston.

The coastal defenses of Houston and Galveston replied and sank 2 of the 3 transports. The sole remaining transport is trying to get away.

THE BATTLE:

The Galveston Coastal gun finishes off the last transport as it attempts to vanish over the horizon. (Hopefully that will dampen Union invasions for a while)....

The CSA Veteran Rifleman (from east of Beaumont) engages and destroys the regular Union Militia. (It takes no damage doing this). The Veteran Skirmisher (from east of Beaumont), uses its stealth attack, engages and destroys the Union artillery north of Houston). GAME NOTE: That artillery was the critical unit that needed to be destroyed as it was the only unit that could have destroyed the rail lines which are VITAL to the defense of Texas.

The Lt. Coastal Gun in Houston opens fire on the Union Elite Rifleman Division, damaging it slightly. Cavalry from Galveston engages the Elite Rifleman Div, damaging it slightly before dying. A second Cavalry unit (from Beaumont) engages and damages the Elite Rifleman Div down to 12 HPs before retreating.

The 18 HP Veteran CSA Division engages the 12 HP Union Elite Division and the battle goes down to the final hit point before the Union Div dies. The CSA division is promoted to Elite.

The Elite Skirmisher from Houston moves to support the badly damaged (3 HP) Elite CSA Division. The Veteran militia (east of Beaumont) also moves to support the damaged division.

TACTICAL SITUATION:

The Union has a veteran rifleman brigade and two elite milita remaining.

Houston is garrisoned by the Lt. Coastal Gun, Veteran Garrison, Regular Garrison and a Home Guard. (I've save you the 100 gold to investigate the city Eric!)

Its unlikely that the Union will attack Houston as they cannot take the city in 1 turn, and the CSA unit counterattack will wipe them out.

The Union could opt to attack the CSA stack north east of Houston. It contains a 3 HP Division, Veteran Rifleman, Elite Skirmisher, Veteran Skirmisher and Veteran Militia. If my math is correct, the Union could potentially kill the Rifleman and both Skirmishers, but the damaged Div (which is the real prize unit) will get away on the following turn.

Unless the Union has another naval task force at sea somewhere close, the Union will likely have to retreat further into Texas, tying up CSA resources to finally hunt them down and kill them.

 

[Misfit_travel]

BACKGROUND:

Following up on the Union / CSA battles on week 16, the CSA took the offensive into West Virginia and Maryland. Union forces were first pushed from Wincester. There was a short diversion toward Washington in order to destroy the rail line into the ivory resource north of the city.

HISTORICAL NOTE: Wincester changed hands 72 times in the Civil War, in this game I think we are upto 6....

The advance then took Harper's Ferry (the fortress icon), and then Hagerstown. The Union opted to retreat its forces rather than stand and fight because they were significantly outnumbered. The rail lines built between Hagerstown and Chambersburg, and between Hagerstown and Cumberland were destroyed by retreating Union forces.

After the CSA captured Hagerstown the original plan was to push north into Chambersburg and (eventually) threaten Harrisburg PA. (I can't take credit for this idea, since Robert Lee was trying to do the same thing at about the exact same time in the real Civil War). The Union put an impressive amount of units into Hagerstown so a frontal assault by the CSA force (even if it consisted of the Army of Northern Virginia, 3 Divisions, 3 Rifleman brigades and 4 skirmishers) would have turned into "Pickett's charge".

The CSA put a holding force into Hagerstown and swung west against Cumberland.

THE BATTLE THAT WASN'T:

The Union has replaced its losses from week 16. It nows has (at least) 3 Corps, 4 Divisions and quite a bit of artillery, cavalry and skirmishers. That's what my scout as been able to spot.

Eric has obviously decided that I've been in Hagerstown long enough. The stack in front of the city consists of 2 Corps, 2 Divisions and more artillery than I've seen in one place in the entire war. My holding force is not that strong.

TACTICAL SITUATION:

Stand and fight (and be destroyed with a limited return) or retreat to fight another day.

I've opted to retreat the holding force out of Hagerstown to north of Wincester, but at the same time I've sacrificed a cavalry to knockout the rail line north of Grafton. This effectively prevents the Union from reinforcing the city from the north. Unless the Union has a whole bunch of forces west of Grafton (which I doubt), they'll be in the same situation there that the CSA was in Hagerstown.

A small force was detached to reinforce Cumberland (just to keep Eric honest).

 

[eric_A]

Lee's 1st invasion of the north in 1862 ended in the battle of
Antietam not Gettysburg, that was his 1863 invasion. We are
currently around week 36 of 1862.

The Bloodiest Day of the Civil War:
Battle of Antietam
Date: September 17, 1862

Location: Maryland
Confederate Commander: Robert E. Lee
Union Commander: George B. McClellan
Confederate Forces Engaged: 51,844
Union Forces Engaged: 75,316
Winner: Union
Casualties: 26,134 (12,410 Union and 13,724 Confederate

For more info try:
http://www.civilwarhome.com/antietam.htm

 

[Misfit_travel]

I stand corrected. I've modified the title accordingly. I can't find an 1862 equivalent to Pickett's Charge, so I've left that in.

Thanks Eric_A.

Misfit

 

[dgfred]

Thanks for the screenshots guys !!! Really interesting .
Keep 'em coming .

 

[Misfit_travel]

A quick update. Grafton is now back in CSA hands. (It only took about 50 turns to get it back after the Union took it early in the war). The Union has systematically destroyed all raillines into any city that has fallen, so there is no quick advance for the Confederate forces.

A large CSA forces is sitting on a hill overlooking Pittsburgh (to the north) and Wheeling (to the west). The Union isn't showing it, but likely has sufficient forces to cover both cities (educated guess on my part because the Union Corps have disappeared again).

The Union sailed its 6 frigate naval task force down Chesapeake Bay and destroyed 30 turns worth of terrain improvements outside Norfolk. The CSA however managed to rush build the CSS Merrimac, which in its first combat sank a veteran Union Frigate (and got promoted to Elite status at the same time). The Merrimac then blocked the end of Chesapeake Bay preventing the Union from sailing out into the Atlantic. A CSA frigate accounted for another Union frigate and the shore batteries of Norfolk badly damaged another.

On the following turn the Union counterattacked, losing a frigate, but the ironclad held its ground. The remaining 3 Union frigates and 1 river gunboat are steaming up the bay toward Annapolis.

The CSA Army of Tennessee (consisting of 1 division, 3 riflemen brigades and some cavalry) has pushed the Union out of Owensboro. The battle for the city is now in its second week. It was captured by CSA cavalry first, but driven out and recaptured by the Union. This turn the infantry moved in and drove the Union back out again.

A large CSA force (1 corps, 2 rifleman brigades and 4 cavalry brigades) is southwest of St. Louis. The city defenses look strong and the Union gunboats are everywhere shelling any CSA unit they can reach.

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Week 41 1862

After a heavy bombardment by gunboats and Napoleons, Tyler's
division disembarked from thier transports and attacked the Army of
the West divison in Owensboro (the red arrow). Tyler's division was
destroyed but the CSA division, with only one HP left was easy prey for
a union skirmisher. Meanwhile another union division plus a horde of
smaller units in marching on Bowling Green (the yellow arrow).

 

[Misfit_travel]

The body count continues to climb in Kentucky......

Eric_A attacked Owensboro again. I don't know what he hit me with but between the gunboats and the ground units, I lost 2 elite riflemen.

My counterattack killed a Napoleon artillery, 2 militia and a skirmisher. The rail line connecting Evansville and Owensboro is finally cut. My cavalry who did it is dead meat, but he's dying for a good cause. Owensboro is surrounded by regular Union militia. (They're not much more than target practice when I get to them).

There is a MASSIVE stack of units on the hill north of Bowling Green. 1 Union Rifleman Division, 1 Rifleman Brigade, 1 Cavalry and 10+ militia (mostly conscript and regular).

My spy was worth his money. I investigated Paducah (having already lost 2 divisions there already I'm starting to pay attention). On Eric's turn he must have moved a division in and taking out one of my rifleman brigades. On my turn my skirmisher picked off the badly wounded 1 HP Union division and got promoted to elite status. Revenge is sweet......

The real question is which one of us is going to blink first and retreat.....

Cheers
Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Week 44, 1862

The battle is over and Owensboro is back in Union hands.
The final assault was made by union cavalry and "target
practice" militias with a flotilla of gunboats to bombard.
No CSA units escaped.

 

[Misfit_travel]

Curses! Foiled again!

I was hoping that I could trap the Union Division (and conscript militia) between the holding force at Owensboro and the advancing CSA forces from Bowling Green.

Owensboro is certainly one of the nastiest battles of the war so far. I believe the CSA lost 1 Division, 3 Rifleman brigades, 2 Skirmisher brigades and 4 cavalry brigades. One Military Great Leader was generated in the battle which resulted in the formation of a CSA Division in Bowling Green.

I believe the Union losses were 1 Division, 2 Rifleman brigades, 3 Skirmisher brigades, 3 militia and 3 Napoleon artillery. (Eric_A correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not sure if any Union cavalry were lost in attacks against me.

The battle at Paducah resulted in the loss of a Confederate Rifleman brigade in exchange for a Union Division and Volunteer brigade. I'll trade a brigade for a division anytime....

As it stands now, all of Missouri, except for St. Louis, belongs to the CSA. Kentucky is split down the middle. In the East Charleston Virginia is in Union hands, but the rest of Virginia and a few cities in Maryland are in CSA hands.

I suspect that most of the fighting on both fronts will die down for a bit while both sides regroup and determine where to press the advantage.

Misfit

 

[eric_A]

I am posting a screen shot of the situation out west
along the Missouri River. The fighting here has recently
swung to the Union's favor for two reasons:
1. Misfit withdrew his corp which had been sitting southwest of St Louis,
it is now in New Madrid and appears to be heading East.
2. The deployment of large numbers of infiltrator units by the Union.

Last turn infiltrators overwhelmed the Carthage home guard (Carthage
is visible right at the bottom of the screen). This turn they attacked
Independance and took the city which was only defended by 1 scout.
Another force with cavalry backed up by gunboats is advancing from the
east and has just captured Jefferson City. Of course Boonville and Topeka
are about to go back to the CSA as the are undefended. Slowly, the tide
is turning as we are able to pump in more reinforcements.

Back in the East our scouts are tracking the movment of large numbers
on CSA troops towards a wooded area north west of Baltimore. If this
battle does happen it will be far larger than any previous battle.

 

[dgfred]

Very interesting game , especially for a civil war buff like me .
Love the screenies, thanks alot!

 

[Misfit_travel]

I must admit that I have underestimated the value of the inflitrator. I lost a number of slave units before clueing in to Eric_A's objectives. Everything east of the Mississippi is now a killing ground for the infiltrator, so they have (rightly) retreated back to Union lines.

West of the Mississippi is another story. Eric_A is correct that the CSA Corps has withdrawn from Missouri. The Rifleman brigades assigned to subjugate the state are not getting the job done. The combination of Union gunboats, cavalry and infantry will turn the tide there again. I'm going to have to do what was done in the real war - wreck the cities and surrounding lands turning them into a wasteland. Missouri (and probably shortly afterwards - Arkansas) will become useless to both sides.

The battles in Missouri and Arkansas will likely come down to which side has mobility and positional advantage to catch the opposing troops in awkward situations.

Mind you, the war won't be won in Missouri.......

 

[Misfit_travel]

The Merrimac has been blugeoning its way through the Union navy in Chesapeake Bay, but its luck may now have run out.

Starting in Week 50, 1862 the Union moved a naval squadron out of Annapolis and another from somewhere along the Atlantic coast. The Annapolis squadron consisted of a few sloops and gunboats. The Atlantic squadron consisted of a monitor ironclad, more frigates and a gunboat.

The CSA Navy in Chesapeake Bay consists of an elite ironclad (the Merrimac) and a veteran sloop.

The shore battery at Norfolk managed to damage a ship in the Atlantic squadron as it closed off the retreat of the CSA navy. The Merrimac pummeled away at the Annapolis squardon.

After two weeks of combat the Merrimac and her escort are down to 1 HP and 2 HPs respectively. They will not survive the Union turn. However, between them they have accounted for 1 Union monitor, 2 Union Steam Sloops and 2 Gunboats on their current rampage. (In her first appearance the Merrimac sank another sloop, and defeated another on the Union counterattack).

She'll go down now, but will have done more than enough damage to justify her short existance.

A CSA sloop managed to pick off a lone transport southeast of St. Augustine Florida. We hope that transport had reloaded a Union cavalry that had been threatening Central Florida.

We would be imaging some frantic naval construction going on in the Union Atlantic harbours given some of their naval losses in the past few weeks.......


Over on the Western front.......

Retook Topeka and Independance, routing the Union units there. The Union has reconquered Jefferson City and Rolla. They are also occupying Carthage. There is a sizable amount of CSA Cavalry loose in Missouri looking for Union troops or supply lines to raid. We can't see the Union holding onto Carthage for more than a couple more weeks. Sedalia will fall as soon as the Union gets around to taking it. After that it will be much tougher going for the Union.

A force of CSA Rifleman and Skirmishers has moved out of New Madrid northwards towards Cape Giradeau. The Union has sent out some militia to screen the city. The forces have not yet engaged each other. (We are willing to bet that there are significant Union Cavalry hiding in Cape G. waiting for a weaken CSA unit to appear).

Union Infiltrator units have been spotted as far south as Texas / Louisiana border. Unfortunately the buggers are staying just far enough out of range. We have to come up with a counterstrategy for those unit types.....

Cheers
Misfit

 

[eric_A]

Yes the Merrimac (or CSS Virginia) is now history, along
with it's sidekick sloop.

The CSA attack in the East has not materialized. Lee's army of NV is
still in Winchester all warm a cozy, waiting for better weather no doubt.

Lots of action happening on or West of the Mississippi. A CSA corp
is marching towards Pudacah while a union corp is advancing towards
New Madrid. A CSA cavalry division got slaughtered attacking the union
corp. Union forces have just arrived outside Sedalia and will assault
the town very soon. My scouts only see 2 CSA units left in Kansas,
I expect they will pull out rather than fight.

 

[dgfred]

All hail the Merrimac . And to the Monitor also .

All screenies are appreciated by us lurkers . Cool game, good players .

 

[eric_A]

Here's another screenshot.

We sent out an engineer along with a militia to repair the
railroad to St. Joseph. The CSA attacked with a cavalry and
a skirmisher. Our cavalry division (in the orange circle), was
keeping well out of sight until now. They launched a counter
attack and destroyed the the skirmisher. Misfit retreated
the red-lined cavalry back to St Joseph.

Due south of the orange circle on the other side of the river
you see our rifleman has just captured Sedalia.

Now for the really strange part of the story. Just west
of St. Joseph, in the red circle is my infiltrator, this unit
has just taken the city of St. Joesph and then has retreated
safely out of range of the CSA Cav, or so I thought. Then
the Indian unit just to the northwest attacked him, forced
him to retreat eastwards. The elite CSA cav in FT. Leavenworth
came out and killed him.

But on the following turn that same Indian unit attacked and destroyed
the elite CSA cav, cutting the CSA cav strength in Kansas in half.