Forums

Late April 1862:

Well I compromised... I sent a Corps down past Lynchburg towards North Carolina in an attempt to perhaps draw some of Peter's troops away from Richmond. The AoNV sits in Fredricksburg and despite having a 1.5 to 1 advantage, I suspect, I cannot afford to take them on on their own territory as I will have no defensive bonus. I hope they move south to counter my Corps thrust on Lnychburg and then I will send the 3rd Army and the Army of the Potomac into Fredricksburg.

In the West Peter continues to send troops around the west and mid west sowing unrest. This will work, but the game bug where I get 2 points of National Will (NW) and Peter loses 1 point of NW each time I retake a city means that this strategy may advantage me. As National Will affects the quality of troops produced, if it swings enough in my favour, I may be able to produce a few high quality troops to send to battle.

I continue with my production of mints, and I will use money to produce mansions for a while now in order to allow production of more buildings in my provinces as I have reached the building limit in many states. A mansion allows you to build 4 more buildings in a province but they cost 100 gold, which is at the moment about a third of my money available each turn. So producing mansions will effectively prevent me from doing much else for a turn or 2.

I continue to produce camps to try and replace losses, some brigades are running pretty low on reserves.

My biggest worry for now is the appearance of a sizeable Army in the West under Lee. It is patently clear that Peter intends to go on the offensive in the West. But he still seems able to field a large army in the East. I can't see how he can have this many men available to him, if he has only been using muster. Unless his governers are a lot more understanding than mine.

I may have to test the AoNV soon in the east, if for no other reason than to try and pressurize Peter in to sending some troops from the west.

Well sadly myself and Peter have agreed to end our game, as there were some oddities appearing in the game, due to the fact, I think, that we were not exchanging the required number of PBEM files. The last turn had a battle occur three times in a province, which I do not think should happen. Peter was also having problems with upgrades as he had the correct number of research points but could not upgrade. Like I said I think it was a problem with our email exchange files, which became corrput perhaps? Not sure, but I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and we have agreed to play again once the second addition to my family arrives in the not too distant future.

Peter has very sportingly awarded me a draw for my game, when in reality he was whooping me. His strategy of spreading unrest and confusion worked perfectly as I became fixated on arming and producing a massive army to fight a decisive battle. I also thought the main thrust would come in the east. And my lack of an early muster cost me dear, as it became more difficult to muster later on. I also think spending money on European diplomacy may be a much better cost effective means of blockading southern trade rather than assembling a navy, as producing ships appears to take too long to me and uses valuabe resource early on.

That's the beauty of the game, there are so many opinions on how best to play it.

I have learnt a lot from the experience, and I will now play the AI a couple of times to familiarize myself with the system more before taking on Peter's mighty southern armies! And I will keep an eye on the two other AARs which are ongoing here at the moment.

HiHi

A good AAR Alasdair, cheers. As you have probably read my report by now, just thought I would add some postscripts here to give you some Feedback as to how I saw some of your actions.

In the west I have moved into southern Missouri and I am looking to at least strike a threatening posture on the Mississipi.

Yes this worked well, I was worried about any further advance into Arkansas as I had Twiggs div tied up with the Baton Rouge unrest, caused lots of shuffling around and hence a very slow build up of Polks AoW

I have the Army of the Potomac sitting in eastern Maryland protecting Washinton and two Corps of 25,000 and 45,000 men in southern Pennslyvania, and I moved two divisions into Franklin to threaten the southern supply lines of the AoNV.

Again your movements had me worried, I was so, so desperate to strike out at your Iron production at Pittsburg, to undermine your Naval builds and any prospective Fort building, but I was uncertain due to your manoeuvres if I dare leave the door to Richmond etc open, so very reluctantly I shelved that plan.

I can't see how he can have this many men available to him, if he has only been using muster. Unless his governers are a lot more understanding than mine.

You have that the wrong way round mate, yes I only used musters, but it’s ME that is not understanding of my Governors. I have an inbuilt intrinsic loathing of all politicians and this carries over into the game, if the people are willing to muster I do so and stuff the governor’s opinion.

I also think spending money on European diplomacy may be a much better cost effective means of blockading southern trade

You may have a very valid point there, it was certainly affecting my blockade cargoes, I realised you were spending quite heavily on diplomacy and toyed with the idea of during the winter months, when storms at sea create probs with sailing, of dropping all my diplomatic spends completely and divert the money elsewhere leaving me able to giggle inanely at the thought of you spending a bloody fortune fighting a diplomatic battle totally unopposed (I know, I know, my parents weren’t married )

Looking forward to our next encounter, in the meantime hope all goes well for you, your Lady & Baby.

All the Best
Peter