Looks like a couple game months have happened without me posting. Truth be told, hardly anything happened in terms of battles or fighting, though it appears 1862 will be considerably busier.
DISASTER!
News sweeps the South of a monumental disaster, with an enormous impact on the morale of the nation! Calls are made for Jeff Davis's head for the latest news from the front!
Tuscon has fallen! 5 NM is lost!
Seriously, why is Tuscon, with the 916 citizens recorded in the 1860 census, worth the same NM loss as New Orleans, in 1860 the largest city in the South and home to 168,000 people? Or worth more in NM loss than the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.....COMBINED?
It makes no sense, other than it was made that way for the Sibley scenario, for what is otherwise a pretty minor footnote. Gunnulf put alot of men into the California column, so short of sending 5000 men into Arizona, which I was not going to do, no way I could hold it.
Kudos to Gunnulf for making it a priority and taking it, but sheesh.....it should not be 5 NM in game.
Virginia:
I moved back to Harpers from Annapolis, and used the time to shuffle leaders and re-organize the AnV. Joe Johnston was sent WEST toward Tenneessee, following Longstreet. I formed another Cav Division under Jeb Stuart. We're building units and gathering strength.
The weather is clearing now, so time to make a move......look at the map, the obvious one is smashing Butler's army, and threatening Maryland again. I don't think I can take Washington, but the objective would be to draw enough troops here to curtail operations elsewhere, and maybe get someone promoted.
Tennessee:
Kentucky, the "Shield of the South", is still closed. Grant is still at New Madrid, doing not much other than building a depot. He has a large Corps though. Longstreet has enough men at Island 10 that a direct assault is not possible for him. He'll probably move on Osceola, or wait until KY opens.
Far West:
Spies tell me that Carson's command at Valencia, NM, is starving, and the AV seems to be going down. We have taken Ft. Craig, which we intend to burn, and attack Carson's men.
I have burned every stockade in New Mexico now, so the only Union supply sources are the dusty towns arount Santa Fe. Carleton is building a depot in Arizona, but I think he needs one in Los Angeles to pull supplies down there.
The Union supply situation in New Mexico, I noticed last game, is very tenuous; I barely had enough food to make it, and I built hardly anything. It's a real problem for the Union. For whatever reason, it isn't for the Confederacy; I have a stockpile at El Paso.
Seaborne Incursions:
The big news are the Union Navy is now active.
First, a 2-division force of 12,000 men or so landed at Ft. Pike, destroying the Fort and taking it. I railed a bunch of units to New Orleans to join Bragg's forces there, New Orleans is a must-hold at this point. When we attacked Ft. Pike, we found air; Union gone, except the Fort Guns, which I recaptured (no fort for them, though).
These guys instead boarded ship again and landed in Texas; that's a major problem. If they stay, I don't have the units to kick them out. Are they taking Matagorda, and cutting my cotton shipments?
Texas has alot of space, so most I can do is form forces that are large enough to prevent him from spreading out and taking multiple points, that will keep him restricted to 2 or 3 cities. That's about all I can do; I don't want to build a 20,000 man army in Texas.
