(NOTE: Even though the following reply is not about ACW games, it does reply to the topic and deals with HPS campaign games.)
Col. Thayer,
Rich Hamilton and I started a Southern campaign in Campaign 1776. Not knowing much about that war, I read a little about that campaign and found that the Americans lost most of their battles in the South, but used guerrilla tactics (I think that's an old-fashioned word for 'terrorism', but we won't go there) to harass the British and keep the fight going. Based on that, I figured my goal for the first battle would be to wear the British down as much as I could while taking as few casualties myself as possible. (Solid tactical advice anytime, right?) By simply abandoning the field, he would be able to take the two small geographic objectives and win a Minor Victory.
I planned a fighting withdrawal, and I thought I did a pretty good job -- especially with an engine I wasn't very familiar with and against such an august opponent. I slowly withdrew, taking advantage of terrain heights and longer fields of fire through a main clearing. My guns fired a couple of long-range shots each, then skedaddled so they would be saved for the next fight. I even was able to counter-attack on one flank and ZOC'ed one of his regiments. I had still maintained my lines and lost only two of my regiments to surround ZOC's, and those only because they had routed behind his lines.
Basically, even though I did almost everything right (as far as I could tell), his overwhelming numbers (his forces outnumbered mine by about 2-to-1) and better quality carried the day. (Okay, I DID learn a couple of things about the engine [:)]!) He won the battle clearly with a Major Victory. I wasn't concerned at all about a single loss, since I was able to escape with my guns.
Unfortunately, the campaign ended at that point! [xx(]
We're now engaged in the Saratoga campaign (a custom campaign for 1776), and Rich thinks it is designed to go more than one battle. (We'll see. I won't hold my breath until I see how badly he beats me [:D]!)
LGnen 'Dee Dubya' Mallory
David W. Mallory
ACW - Lieutenant General, First ('Grey Line') Corps, AotM
CCC - Corporal, Georgia Volunteers, Southern Regional Deaprtment, Colonial American Army
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