First, the background. The battle takes place in August, 1862. I’ve been playing the standard scenario (= Nov. 1861 start-date), on a relatively high difficulty setting, and with just about all of the advanced options on. As the CSA, my strategy is always to devote 1862 to trying to build up my economy and forces while holding on to as much territory as I can – I’m not about to engage in any opportunistic adventures, unless the enemy messes up and invites me to do so. With the exception of the Union’s successful siege of Wheeling, which was just too difficult for me to get forces to in time, all of the fighting has been out west. Here I’ve been lucky: I drove off an attempt to invade the Mississippi River in the area of Memphis, Island No. 10, etc., using some superior soldiers armed with superior weapons to do so. And then I got lucky again: I chased off another corps that was invading Arkansas, and then all but eliminated it when it came back for more. (I’ve seen the AI when it’s defeated spend many turns licking its wounds and regrouping, but this time the AI was on rabid pit bull setting, and kept attacking me in an increasingly vain hope of dislodging me from Little Rock. I guess some general was afraid to disappoint his superiors by failing his assignment.) With the trans-Mississippi area safe, I could then concentrate my western forces to beat back a siege on Ft. Donelson and keep Tennessee free.
I’m winning in the west, but none of the battles have been major. Out east, the Union has been keeping the Army of the Potomac in Maryland, presumably building it up. I, too, have been building up the Army of Northern Virginia, but since the fighting has been out west most of my resources have been poured into those western forces. This means that more than half of my brigades in the ANV are poorly armed when the Union suddenly invades Fredericksburg province. Now, from experience I’ve learned that one can soften up the enemy by giving him a few turns to get slaughtered by the big guns and rifle pits of my forts, and I’ve armed two forts there with 10-inch Rodmans and rifle pits. However, I’ve made a mistake – since I’ve been concentrating my resources on the western forces and forts, I never built abatis or palisades or bombproofs in Fredericksburg, so those forts will fall soon and I’ll lose the province. So, I send in the ANV after having only two turns to bulk it up with what meager resources I could find. (I also attempt to send one of my best divisions by rail from Tennessee, but it doesn’t arrive in time. It turns out that my battle will be my 94000 men against 103000 Yankees.
Here is a screenshot (in black and white, for Windows reasons) that shows what the province looks like just before the battle begins.
