American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Forgot to take the End of Turn screen shots this turn.

CSA Turn 46 (9:20 AM)

Command Report



Routs went back up.

Jackson AO

Looks like Ewell, on Jackson right, will have some opportunities to cause heavy union losses. There are units in the low ground and they are nearly surrounded.

Longstreet's AO

What a mess. These guys are brittle. I expected more out of Longstreet's men then this. Every time that the union line looks near collapse, Longstreet's men rout. I guess success can be scary for some people.

Magruder's AO

Things have stabilized in this area. I thought that Magruder was going to easily walk over the union line. The trenches were tougher to crack then I though. I didn't handle things well tactically. My arty is starting to hurt him but I have suffered terrible losses to my gunners. He has been killing about 1-2 crews per turn. If I can shatter his line it will be worth it.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

First turn I have been able to play in a few weeks. It went rather well for me, or so it seems.

CSA Turn 47 (9:40 AM)

Command Report



It didn't start too well. I had 18 units break and run.

Jackson and AP Hill's AO

DH Hill's division, which has performed very well, finally had enough and "withdrew" themselves from the front. Not the whole division but what feels like most of it.


AP Hill has a few units break but there isn't much organized resistance in front of him, at least not that can be seen.


This might be what I have been looking for...a general collapse in a large area of the Union line. I should at least get some much needed victory points by killing/capturing some of the yanks I am surrounding. I have much of Ewell's fairly fresh division just waiting to break through in this area. I don't feel like Daniel has much left in the way of reserves. If he did I think he would have sent more down to defend against Longstreet, as Longstreet has a couple brigades ready to break into Daniels rear area.

Longstreet's Division

Of course it wouldn't be a real turn if Longstreet didn't have units rout. I drew some arrows to show how the path seems open to Daniel's rear area. There are a lot of VP hexes to the east. You can see one of the VP hexes in the lower right corner. That is my cavalry regiment South East of Daniels extreme left. So basically he has been outflanked, just not by a large force. It is this open area that leads me to believe he is out of reserves and therefore Ewell has the chance for a major breakthrough.


Most of Longstreet's division is used conservatively. No need to push things and the units break easy anyways. The rightmost brigades fall into a line formation in order to push past the two regiments to their front. I am sure Daniel will pull regiments from elsewhere to slow these guys down. If he is out of reserves, so this will only lead to weakness elsewhere.

Magruder's AO

Wow...this is what I was expecting to happen early on. His right finally collapsed. This provides me with several strategic options. I can roll up his line south of the Chickahominy. Or, cross the Chickahominy with several brigades to assist in that fight. Or head due East, through rough wooded terrain, to capture the last Chickahominy bridges.


Holmes division swings around and begins to push south. No matter what strategic option I choose I need a little more breathing room in this area. So I think I will try and roll up his line a little bit. Then I will decide which way to send Magruder's men. Leaning towards capturing all the Chickahominy bridges. I want to destroy the union troops north of the river. Not only will that effectively end the Union push against Richmond, but should be devastating to Northern morale.

Victory Report

Still a long way to go before I achieve a victory but things are starting to swing my way. I expect the casualty amounts to even out before noon. About that time I should have several more VP hexes in my possession. I captured 2 hexes this turn worth 300 VPs in total.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 48 (10:00 AM)

Command Report


More rallies then routs. All units resupplied, this was a problem earlier in the morning. Things are looking up.

Jump Map

That is Stuart's cavalry in the boxed area facing off against Daniel's cavalry. Not much going on there. The important part is Daniel's line isn't anchored on the Chickahominy at any point. His forces are divided not just by the Chickahominy but also by my forces.

Jackson's AO

The Union line is strong to Jackson's front except for the area where we are surrounding some units.


AP Hill has some routs.


Couldn't do much this turn because the units have high combat fatigue. Using arty to inflict losses at longer distance, Daniel has evacuated much of his arty. Ewell and AP Hill work to isolate those union regiments.

Longstreets AO

Of course at least one regiment has to rout.


Longstreet pushes forward on his right. It is looking wide open here.

Magruder's AO

Pretty wide open here.


But it is still slow going. Magruder's troops were pretty beat up trying to break Daniel's line.

Victory Report

Almost out of the losing range.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 49 (10:20 AM)

Command Report


More units rally then rout.

Jackson

Jackson's units are pretty beaten up.


He doesn't do much except to try and reorganize along with extending his line to his left in an effort to overlap Daniel's defence. His men are just too worn out.

AP Hill

AP Hill is pretty beat up also. Lots of routed units.


He doesn't do much except to try and rest.

Longstreet North

Of course a unit routs.


I managed to cobble together another line in this area but I am running out of units.

Longstreet South

Still looking wide open.


No surprises as the units advance. It is funny, Longstreet has performed horribly, yet he is most likely going to deal the fatal blow to Daniel's units north of the river. And take credit for it.

Magruder

Need just a little more breathing room then I want to strike out to the east with two brigades (Holmes Division) to capture the bridges across the Chicohominy.


Magruder spends most of the turn trying to reorganize his jumbled units.

Stuart

Back on the far left Stuart begins to get aggressive again.


I think he will make short work of the Union cavalry regiments in this area. One has 300 men but the other are less then 100 each.

Victory Report

Moving closer to a minor victory.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 50 (10:40 AM)

Command Report

One of the best I have had all morning.

Victory Report at turn start


Stuart (extreme left)

This looks easy.


He had more cav troopers in the area then I though. A few hundred more. Stuart should be able to handle them but not easily.

Jackson and AP Hill

Daniel has a better line patched together here then I thought he would be able to put together.


AP Hill pushes forward across the creek running from the mill pond. Jackson is still reorganizing and resting, with a slight extension of his line to his left. Several regiments and officers are captured at the bend where AP Hill and Ewell meet.

Longstreet

No routs for Longstreet. The Yanks to his front have run. Not all of them but most.


Longstreet pushes forward. Most of all on his far right, where he captures a VP hex.

Magruder

Looks easy here. Holmes will push to the east and Magruder will push forward.


I run into more yanks then I expected. I hope they are brittle. If not it is going to mess up my plan to head east.

Jump Map

It looks bad for Daniel

Victory Report

I move into solid Minor Victory territory. Even getting close to a Major. That was a good turn for the South.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 51 (11:00 AM)

Command Report


Stuart

Trying to cave his flanks (Brigade colors on)

Jackson

Jackson is hurting to much to launch an all out attack but he continues to push forward and test Daniel's right

Longstreet

Longstreet is in similiar shape as Jackson except Daniel's left is nearly nonexistant.

Magruder

Searching for Daniel's right flank south of the Chickahominy

Victory Report

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 52 (11:20)

Command Report

One unit routs but it is an important one as you will see below.

Jackson

That routed unit was Jackson's extreme left. So instead of extending past Daniel's right, Daniel's right extended past Jackson's left. It wasn't suppose to be that way...lol.


Jackson recovers fine during the turn.

Longstreet

Turn begining. BTW, the brigade on the far right is Pickett's brigade. Not much is standing in front of him.


Pickett finds another regiment but completely eliminates a cavalry unit.

Magruder

By the end of the turn it looks as if we have found the end of Daniel's right of his forces south of the Chickahominy.

Stuart

Southern cavalry is hurting the Northern cavalry.

Victory Report

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

Just recognized the huge amount of Union leader casualties, surely doesn't help to hold the Union line.

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 53 (11:40 AM)

Command Report

Nothing bad

Jump Map

The planned attack routes of Stuart (Yellow) and Ewell (Grey)
The yellow pixels are VP hexes.

Stuart

At the end of my turn there is little Union resistance left in front of Stuart

Jackson

There is a large area of forested and swampy terrain running North/South just to thee east of the bulk of Daniel's forces. It has basically 3 area that he can use to escape to the east. Jackson main focus is to secure the most northern one while sending Ewell to the east to cut of any other routes.

Longstreet

Longstreet will secure the southern most escape route. Daniel is finally moving some troops down to engage Picket.

Southern Escape Route

Some of Daniels artillery has already escaped through the southern route. I have a few cavalry regiments that might be able to run them down.

Magruder

Magruder is almost done pushing Daniel's forces back. There is a forest path heading east which is now secure. It will be used to capture the last several bridges in the area.
There is also some unsupported artillery to the southeast that I would like to beat up on.

Victory Report

There was a 250 VP hex I could have captured this round which would have placed me in the Major Victory category. I would have exposed my cavalry more then I wanted. Maybe next turn.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 54 (12:00 Noon)

Command Report

I need more units to recover fatigue. I have Hood's and Lawton's Brigades resting but it isn't going down fast enough.

Stuart

Turn start is showing that all union cavalry has been driven off from Stuart's front.


He begins to move SW to protect Jackson's left flank.

Jackson

I didn't do much here. Moved up some arty into the line and pushed on Daniel's right a bit. Ewell is getting his division in order. He will take up his position on the left, between DH Hill (currently Jackson's leftmost unit) and Stuart. Once he gets in position this should be the end for Daniel.

Longstreet

I need to get another brigade over to help Pickett. I had to pull back the cavalry that was going to pursue Daniel's artillery. They should be quite the surprise to the southern most infantry unit in the screenshot.

Magruder

I might be able to capture a yank regiment or two. Daniel is going to have a tough time withdrawing in the wooded terrain and I have turned his right.

Victory Report

End of the turn finds me in the Major Victory category, but just barely.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

CSA Turn 55 (12:20 PM) Game Ended

Game called by Daniel. He was more then willing to continue but had to admit his cause seemed hopeless. He had no real possible escape routes for his corps north of the Chickahominy and had been without artillery ammo for about the last ten turns. With the loss of so many units he did not feel it would be worth even continuing the campaign.

It was a good game and a fun game. I do have to admit that at times it almost felt like a chore to play, this was because of so many units being involved. Each turn generally took me about 2 hours between watching Daniel's turn, playing mine, then writing an AAR. Sometimes it took more, sometimes less.

It was a bloody battle. At times it was almost painful to watch. I can't imagine the horror of witnessing such battles in real life.

I believe that these losses surpass Antietam, which would make the Battle of Gaines Mill the bloodiest day in American and Confederate history had this been real. Now that I won the Seven Day's battles it is time to head north. Me and Daniel are going to play Campaign Antietam. You can read about the battle of Cedar Mountain here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=20940


Here are some screen shots for you of the final force dispositions.

Jackson's AO CSA Pov


Jackson's AO USA Pov

As you can see there wasn't much to stop me from outflanking Daniel on his right, my left. And I had Ewell moving in that direction behind Jackson's main line.

Longstreet's AO CSA Pov


Longstreet's AO USA Pov

Pickett doesn't have it so easy anymore but I had a brigade I was going to send to help him. Things were under control in this area but not as promising as they once were.

Magruder's AO CSA Pov


Magruder's AO USA Pov

His right broke and ran. I was going to be charging his artillery assembly area in just a few turns. That would be when the real VPs would start adding up.

If I had one thing I could do over it would be keeping my attacks more organized. I was really sloppy there for a while, and it caused me problems. My units wouldn't have nearly the combat fatigue they have, and casualties would have been lower, if I had just concentrated better on command and control and providing proper supporting fire. I thought I could just overwhelm Daniel by shear numbers and it turned out to be not the case. Once I calmed down his line broke rather rapidly, and a loss turned into a win.

I want to give Daniel a lot of credit for being a good opponent and a good guy. If you have a chance to meet him on the battlefield then I recommend you do. I have enjoyed it.

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

_________________
General Scott Ludwig
Ludwig's Light Division
Isgro's Corps
Army of Northern Virginia (ANV)

_________________
Lt. Col. Thomas Wayne (Iddings)
6th Brigade, 3rd Division, I Corps
Army of the West

The overall result doesn't surprise me, in turn gameplay the attacker usually has the upper hand and the defender isn't able to get out of his defense what he deserves.
If the Union artillery ammo is correct, and I doubt that a bit because he ran out of it before noon, it's just another proof because if so low on ammo artillery fire has to be selective and confined to stop assaults instead of being wasted by the AI in long range fire that has low if any effect.

As for the time consumption, recording replays might help, at least in some parts of a scenario there is usually nothing to see like night or before the forces meat. If recorded one can simply fast forward and check if there is anything to what at all, there is nothing more frustrating than watching a replay just to recognize that there was nothing to see at all.

@Scott
Pretty artwork as always!

_________________
Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac

"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."