A Short Victorious War

[Randomizer]

Mid November 1863 and the America’s Civil War comes to a surprising end when the Confederacy, completely demoralized and despite valiant resistance from its brave soldiers, sued for peace. Thus ended my first serious FoF complete game as the Union. I have taken a rather different approach than some to solve the problems of the Union and thought to share them with the members of the Forum. The July 1861 scenario without Balanced Economy for the Confederacy was chosen.

House Rules:
1. All land combat was conducted using Detailed Combat (DC) only.

2. Divisional integrity would be self-imposed on Union troops in all DC situations. This means components of a division had to be contiguous (although not necessarily adjacent) with each other while in battle. One brigade per division could be ‘detached’ but had to then belong to another division and could not rejoin its parent division until a night turn. Supply wagons are free to roam the battlefield however.

3. At least 20,000 (later 30,000) men must remain in Washington and its forts at all times starting from January 1662. Washington forts must be fully equipped with guns and two defensive attributes before any other forts can be upgraded.

4. To maximize banking income, every effort must be made to retain between 50 and 100 Money at end turn.

5. Randomized leader attributes were in effect; an option I’m not likely to use again.

6. Advanced rules used with no plus or minus modifiers and First Sergeant difficulty.

7. Each turn was saved at the start with a unique name and again, using a common ‘Turn End’ file name before ending a turn. DC battles were saved at the beginning and while in progress in a common ‘Battle Save’ file. The intention however, was not to replay bad results in the hope of making things better and I managed to stick to this resolve even when it hurt.

Initial Strategic Considerations:

1. National Will (NW) imposes quite a number of benefits and problems. Managing NW will take priority over short-term tactical decisions affecting other areas.

2. Certain actions provide one-time victory point (VP) allocations that continue as long as the situation awarding them remains. These include the Blockade and clearing the Mississippi River.

3. Getting state Governors on side is important, every reasonable effort is to be made to keep them happy.

4. There are specific minimum requirements that must be achieved before Emancipation can be proclaimed so creating to great a deficit in VP’s and very bad relations with Europe need to be avoided. The aim is to Emancipate earlier rather than later but only at a point where effects are maximized to Union advantage.

5. I expect the AI to be aggressive tactically and strategically but when all is said and done, it is just a computer opponent.

6. The Union Army is initially weak and inexperienced, ill equipped and poorly organized to carry out the type of warfare that I intend to conduct. Correcting these flaws will be expensive in time, money, resources and virtual lives.

7. At game start, on 02-July-61, the main Union army in Fredericksburg is poised to fight a battle that it is unlikely to win. My initial response is to withdraw it back to its forts in Cumberland or Washington but resolved to stick it out and let the chips fall where they may.

8. It is essential that Kentucky join the Union at some point. Sooner is better than later.

Union National Strategy 02 July 1861 through to 01 April 1862:

1. Reorganize the field forces on common Division/Corps/Army lines. Divisions will initially have three brigades (Bde) (later up to five as more Bdes are created) and Corps will have two divisions if part of an Army and at least three if independent. Each Corps will have an attached Sharpshooter/Artillery/Cavalry Bde and Armies and independent Corps will have attached Cavalry and Artillery Bdes. This is the desired end state, not to be achieved for some time if ever.

2. Since the Star ranking system is more an indicator of responsibility rather than substantive rank, all container units will have the appropriate level leader when it is created. This means promoting some incapable generals but that will have to be managed as the Army and its leaders gain experience and attributes become known. Shunting an ineffective three-star off to command a Bde or a fort might be a better option sometimes than taking a hit on relations with the General’s governor if he is demoted.

3. The Navy gets initial priority of money and resources. Sufficient Fleet container units and ships must be built and deployed to completely impose the blockade as soon as possible. This will be expensive and time consuming.

4. Initial infrastructure builds are prioritized as Railroads, Arsenals, Camps, Banks and Hospitals.

5. Musters in all states where supported as often as support and manpower lasts.

6. Forts will be built and garrisoned in all border provinces and those adjacent to them. The garrisons for these forts are to come at the expense of expansion of the Field Forces in the short term. Forts around Washington to be built up to house 30,000 men by January 1862.

7. Cavalry and Artillery Bdes will normally be created by buying those attributes for selected Infantry Bdes rather than direct purchase. Once the initial musters are complete, one Bde is to be raised somewhere every turn and acquiring the War Department upgrade lowering the price of Infantry to 30 Money will be important. Purchasing Scout, Brigade Artillery and Signal’s attributes for the Infantry of the Field Force is a higher priority than raising specialty units.

Reports on how the execution of the National Strategy played out in the event will follow once I have complied the data and (hopefully) interesting bits from the saved game files.

[Randomizer]

Year One – 02 July 1861 through 02 March 1862

First order of business was to withdraw all Union forces from Kentucky and consolidating the assorted independent Bdes into container units. Also, in accordance with the planned reorganization of the Army, an orgy of unit renaming is carried out in a manner that managed to confuse even me. Essentially, independent Corps are designated as Armies (although still Corps sized and three-star commands) and soon there are two, one in the East (The Army of Virginia under Meade) and West (The Army of Kentucky under Halleck). McDowell retains the Army of Maryland and Fremont commands the Army of Missouri.

A series of battles are fought, east and west. In Fredericksburg the Confederates soundly thrash McDowell although they are outnumbered and I try to fight on the defensive. The AI ruthlessly seeks out my flanks and Union Bdes trying to react frequently go out of command and run off randomly to do something dumb. I stick it out until nightfall and then sound the retreat after losing over 5000 troops. The battle results in McDowell actually getting some good attributes so he keeps his four stars. In August the Confederates invade Maryland and the Battle of Annapolis ends after two days in a Union victory. Fighting amongst my forts and hindered by rivers the Southern troops are hit in the left flank by Meade on the second morning. They managed to take one Victory Hex (VH) on Day 1 but the Northern troops retained the Will to Fight (WTF) and eventually prevailed. Over 10,000 casualties are suffered on each side and there was no pursuit.

In the West, Confederate troops rushed into the vacuum created by the withdrawal of Union troops from Kentucky. A series of small battles are fought, I manage to save Cairo but Confederate raiders score some painful successes including burning the barracks at Wheeling and destruction of the railroad at Cincinnati.

Kentucky joins the Union in late September and another series of battles are fought over Bowling Green and Paducah with both changing hands several times but by Christmas things quiet down and I am able to complete and garrison forts in Lexington, Bowling Green, Cairo and West Ohio River by February 1862.

The Blockade is partially in place by the end of period adding two Victory Points (VP) to those from a couple of successful defensive battles in the West. I have 4 VP and NW is 2 but relations with Europe on a downward slide.

Mustering went well as had construction of camps and arsenals. With almost 70 Guns per turn and the Rifle Manufacturing upgrade, Muskets have replaced Improvised as weapons in most of the Field Force and the Army of Missouri (46,000 men in four divisions) gets the first converted cavalry and artillery Bdes, both of dismal quality at the start.

Comment:
Overall am quite happy with the way things are shaping up to the end of March ‘62. The Confederate eastern armies have remained quiet while I have built my fortified line in the West and the Washington defenses now mostly feature artillery, rifle pits and bombproofs, breastworks or abbatis. The musters were generally successful but only Rhode Island still supports them and Governor Burton of Delaware is an obstructionist pain.

My plan to produce one Bde per turn has not been carried out because the money is being spent for upgrades and weapons. Garrison troops from the forts and cities of the interior have been allocated to the Field Forces but the overall quality of my armies remains poor. Tactically I have won more battles than I have lost but much of that is due to fighting on the strategic defensive. In the summer campaign season of 1862 the Armies plan to march South. Then we’ll see.

The Navy is almost entirely frigates armed with Naval Improvised weapons and so the blockade will be highly vulnerable should the South build anything resembling a fleet. Nothing to be done about that in the near term however.

[Randomizer]

Have neglected to update this AAR because I overwrote the notes that I had made while fighting this out. Stupid error on my part and the delay in summing up is due to attempting to recreate the details from the handful of saved games from this campaign that survived in spite of my convoluted former system of saving FoF turns.

So, if anybody is interested I will run this out, there may be an insight or two that might help a beginner.

The Anaconda worked, assisted by an AI that was offensive far beyond prudence, at least in the West. By May of 1862 I was able to combine five gunboats with a 70,000+ strong Army of the West under Fremont (this one was a much better than his historical counterpart) and run roughshod over the Mississippi River forts and cities. Fremont was supported by the Army of Kentucky (50,000+) advancing east and the Western Department (25,000+ under Hancock) advancing west downriver respectively.

Time and again (five times in six turns into September 1862) the AI threw its forces at this army and each time it was defeated in detailed combat. The attrition caused by these successive attacks essentially destroyed the Confederate armies in the West to the point where I was able to campaign all winter, capturing New Orleans from the north in early February 1863.

In detailed combat I fought mostly defensively, identifying and then seizing tactically vital ground and holding off repeated attempts by the AI to destroy my forces. The AI often attacks in a piecemeal and uncoordinated manner and tends to try for flank attacks. Digging in and utilizing refused flanks with breechloader-armed brigades creating fire sacks proved a very successful tactic. In one case over 700 casualties were inflicted in one volley on a Confederate brigade and a two-brigade counter attack that in effect, annihilated the brigade in one turn.

Digging in was good, and my research was mostly aimed at improving defensive attributes and accepting the fatigue hit for digging on multiple hexsides.

I made extensive use of cavalry, mostly inferior in morale and special attributes until well into 1863, as scouting. When given an opportunity to select battle options I would typically select Cavalry Reserve and then employ my fresh Corps and Army cavalry to scout out the Confederate forces. I discovered that even when the AI did not seem prone to attack, once my cavalry found them they would pursue aggressively and I could lead them right to my defenses. After that, the AI would launch attack after attack, a technique that gradually broke its army while improving the quality mine.

In one major battle fought in Fredericksburg in the summer of 1863 I used this technique to lure the AI out of its fortifications on the afternoon of Day 2, up until then I had concentrated on high ground out of sight of the Confederate force and dug in overnight. The net result was I inflicted over 16,000 casualties and captured four complete brigades for the loss of less than 5000 against a larger and qualitatively (in morale and attributes) better force (although I was better equipped.

I found difficult to fathom the criteria used by the AI in general but it was capable of inflicting damage and defeat and I by no means had everything go my way all the time. Still, the combination of five gunboat flotillas using bombardment siege tactics proved unstoppable while clearing the Mississippi watershed.

In the east, the large Confederate armies remained mostly on the defensive and I was content to leave them, occasionally launching into Fredericksburg just to inflict attrition. The battle detailed above was one such feint.

Victory arrived at the end of the early November 1863 turn and it actually came as something of a surprise. Sufficient victory points were gained primarily through Confederate combat losses which generally exceeded mine by greater than 50%. The offensive AI coupled with (eventually) superior Northern firepower and defensive tactics even when nominally attacking broke the Confederate forces qualitatively while in the west, brigade had, in many cases, shrunk to under 1000 men.

My detailed combat techniques are predicated on superior firepower, I seldom used charges and then only against units that were already broken. Some might see these solutions as gamey and while I do not agree, so be it.

End comments for the Union:
1. Keep the governors happy; by the end I was getting huge bonuses from them in every field from diplomacy to cash. Rather than demoting a useless general, I would just park them in some fort where they could do no harm.

2. Bite the bullet as far as money and blockade as early as possible. This gives a small influx of VP’s immediately but more importantly reduces Confederate resource acquisition and technology transfers. Building the required fleet containers and ships is expensive but it pays over the long haul.

3. Decide early what you want the Army to look like and then relentlessly build towards that goal. I settled on the following organization:
Divisions – Five brigades, priority attributes Scouts, Artillery, Engineers, Signals and Pioneers. Once a division had one of each attribute, Signals and Medical were next.
Corps – If part of an Army; two divisions plus 1 cavalry and one-artillery brigade. Priority attributes Signals, Quality horses, Medical, Supply.
Corps - If independent; three divisions with attached cavalry and artillery brigades.

I never fully achieved this ideal by game’s end but was a long way towards it.

4. Use of forts. All border provinces received at least one garrisoned Level 1 fort. These just acted to delay capture of the province until a formation from the Field Force could arrive and counter-attack. It seems like one must retain at least 100 money at the end of a turn to enable container units to build a fort but I could not find this documented anywhere. Any insight into this is welcome.

5. You can never have too much railroad infrastructure. Although the bonuses do not accumulate, what you do not use this turn might save a city next turn.

6. Firepower wins detailed combats. Wherever possible, occupy vital ground and fight on the defensive. Once you have achieved a sufficient advantage in Will to Fight, a well timed counter attack can be decisive. If you have to attack from the start, be methodical, concentrate firepower and coordinate attacks.

7. Getting enough scouting and leadership resources to be able to select the scouting and battle options pays big dividends in detailed combat.

That’s about it; I apologize for trashing my notes and not providing a better quality narrative. FoF is a very deep game and as can be seen from the varied AARs here, there are a number of strategic options and consideration that affect the campaign. The strengths of the Union are in (in part) money and machines and I tried to use these attributes to advantage and it worked, at least against the AI in this event.

Best Regards