Inaugural Challenge FoF AAR

[Kingmaker]

HiHi

Turn 5

Dunno how far Alasdair has got with his AARs but I will try and catch up, promise, first off though a,

'Disclaimer'

Please keep in mind I am not the font of all knowledge re FoF I hope what I’m laying down for you is reasonably accurate but don’t bank on it, I am by nature not very good with Rules being more of a PIAS guy, ie, Poke It And See. There is still stuff I ain’t sure about (an eg crops up this turn) as despite several games under my belt I am still learning!

Right lets dive straight in,

Movement

last turn I think I mentioned Fog of War (FoW) well the screenshot below is an eg how it changes and can therefore effect your decisions, last turn I could see what happened in Monongahela province (by Pittsburgh), this turn I cant.



Whats happened is that by moving 1st Corps to join ANV in Fredericksburg I no longer have a sighting of that province so the only info I have is what I remember from the previous turn and what I can pick up off the replay seen before loading the new turn, it is pertinent as I have a quandary, ie warning bells are ringing with the word “TRAP!” associated. If it shows OK on the screenshot you will notice that Ft Hill in Maryland’s Cumberland province has no little green dot beneath it, ie its ungarrasoned!

Mmmm, are Feds attempting to lure me onto their own ground in Cumberland (Blue province indicates Fed owned therefore they will get a defensive Terrain bonus in any battle) and then unleash forces from all the surrounding provinces (including Monongahela which I can’t see) at me while sending a force to take Fredericksburg ?

Now here is the thing I’m not sure on re the Rules, if I have to fight in Cumberland will the ungarrasoned Ft Hill give Feds any fortification defensive bonus, or, because it’s unoccupied will I capture it automatically on entering Cumberland? Well I’m gonna take the pias route, so, the 74,000 strong ANV invades Cumberland!

Before entering the province however (as I can’t change things in an enemy province) I do some alterations, I raise ANV Supply to Normal so the boys have plenty of Ammo, Beans & Backy, and to assist in the slaughter of Yankees (always a ‘Goodthing’) I upgrade Jeff Davis arty to 24 pounders, now I wait to see how it turns out.
Out West;

Twiggs Louisiana div doubles back to Baton Rouge to deal with the fresh outbreak of Unrest, necessitating me pulling McCulloch back to White River, this I do via Fayetteville so as not to risk bumping into Feds entering Ozarks (when I fight in Arkansas I want to have superior numbers).

Van Dorns Texas div, currently around Little Rock, I move to White River to link up with McCulloch, however since I don’t want him entering White River (WR) before McCulloch with the larger div arrives, (there is a faint chance Feds could get to WR before McCulloch), so to ensure that, while moving Texas div I hold down the ‘S’ key on the Keyboard this means Van Dorn will support McCulloch into WR but not go in 1st.

Prices MSG raid against Louisville petered out as it only got as far as the Lower Tennessee River and even then failed to capture the unoccupied province; with any element of surprise now gone, I abort the Louisville raid and turn MSG eastwards to link with 2nd Corps via the Cumberland Gap & Mufreesburg.

Lorings Franklin div I move to Chattanooga where it will join 2nd corps on its arrival, 2nd corps moves by Rail to Chattanooga. My aim here is to have a fairly strong 2nd corps eventually operating along the Kentucky-Tennessee border where it can fairly swiftly move West to Cumberland Gap, Northeast to Virginia or North into Kentucky, while at the same time covering the industrial cities of Chattanooga & Knoxville, and finally for Movement (and this is going to be a contradiction in terms :) ), Lee stays put in Norfolk because of the Unrest.

At sea, the newly repaired Georgia Peach is ordered to Apalache Bay for 50 Horses @ 60/10 while Carolina Pride I move to the Carolina Atlantic from where next turn she can cover all the North Eastern seaboard and a fair way into the Gulf region; she is given no target this turn as the success/risk ratio is not good enough on any of the remaining targets.

Politics

From the Events page (for last turn) we can see that my spends on diplomacy are starting to pay off



This is reflected in an increase to 5 vp Rebs, -5 Feds in the Victory report section (the other 3 are from the earlier victory in battle at Manassas). With French & European support rising to 3, I will also start to get the option on purchasing European weaponry + better & more Runner targets.

John Miltons support for Money production (Mints) will mean a bonus of 15 to money.

Builds

This turn I order another Mine (6 turns) to be built, this time in Augusta GA (foundry city) and another Logistics Laboratory in Raleigh NC (University city).

Hardee is promoted to 2 star Gen to give me a div commander for 4th div Tennessee, Polk has been calling the shots so far.

This turns tourist spot for the end of turn City Detail is Raleigh NC



As you can see money is going to be well down next turn, this is in part due to my putting ANV on Normal supply. In the upgrade section Training leads the field with 5 bulbs lit (apparently the designers forgot that light bulbs hadn’t been invented yet, just shows we are all human even games designers ), the Experience bulbs may light up next turn if there is a large battle in Cumberland, we’ll have to wait and see.

Finally on this page is an example of where despite the favourable aspects 70% & the Governor supporting Voluntary Mustering I will not Muster, with only 3 population figures using 2 for an Inf bgd risks slowing my production there; a dampener on all the Brain power, no thanks!

That’s all for now.

All the Best
Peter