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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 3:21 pm 
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Thoroughly enjoyed video number 3; great work again Blake!

One reason why these games are compelling to me is that different people can look at the board & see the same thing differently. For me, Tim's encirclement of the Iron Brigade was textbook. If opportunities were missed to bag the Iron Brigade sooner, so too was a potential window of opportunity to save them, which I think speaks to the natural caution which a blind game tends to foster in all players.

It's not like in a really well-known battle like Gettysburg, when an experienced Rebel player can say, yes, I've contacted Wadsworth's Div on McPherson Ridge, Robinson's Div on Oak Ridge, I see units which can only be Doubleday in reserve on Seminary Ridge, the XI Corps is extending the I Corps line into Gettysburg... given I know the orders of battle and the reinforcement schedule because I'm a keen student of the battle and I've played this or similar scenarios a few times before, I can be pretty certain that my drive towards Cemetery Hill from the Peach Orchard will meet little, if any, resistance, and therefore I know I can be super aggressive. Blind games throw all that logic & experience out of the window.

Thoroughly looking forward to the next one! Well done & thank you Sir!

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Marshall's Brigade 'The St Andrews Greys', 2nd (Gator Alley) Division, Stewart's Corps, Army of Tennessee


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:22 pm 
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Thomas Marshall wrote:
Thoroughly enjoyed video number 3; great work again Blake!

One reason why these games are compelling to me is that different people can look at the board & see the same thing differently. For me, Tim's encirclement of the Iron Brigade was textbook. If opportunities were missed to bag the Iron Brigade sooner, so too was a potential window of opportunity to save them, which I think speaks to the natural caution which a blind game tends to foster in all players.

It's not like in a really well-known battle like Gettysburg, when an experienced Rebel player can say, yes, I've contacted Wadsworth's Div on McPherson Ridge, Robinson's Div on Oak Ridge, I see units which can only be Doubleday in reserve on Seminary Ridge, the XI Corps is extending the I Corps line into Gettysburg... given I know the orders of battle and the reinforcement schedule because I'm a keen student of the battle and I've played this or similar scenarios a few times before, I can be pretty certain that my drive towards Cemetery Hill from the Peach Orchard will meet little, if any, resistance, and therefore I know I can be super aggressive. Blind games throw all that logic & experience out of the window.

Thoroughly looking forward to the next one! Well done & thank you Sir!



Thank you Sir,

A very interesting and noteworthy take on both the historical perspective of the games and indeed the 'blind game' system. I shall tuck it in my knapsack for the future !

<Salute> Sir,

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:20 pm 
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Inquiring minds want to know:

Why did Reynolds not scout forward to the river? Mistake, perhaps, but he stated that he had no intention of crossing the river. There was no indication at the time that he was confronted by two CSA corps as you can read from Union discussions. There did not appear to be an urgency to do other than have patrols out to warn of any approaching danger. The real mistake was advancing the Iron Brigade to the position it ultimately occupied. If Blake were to make a YouTube video it might be entitled "A Crossroads Too Far".

Why did Caldwell not move in an attempt to relieve Meredith? The same judgment was made as to which Blake eluded: Meredith would last two turns. Once isolated the Rebels would immediately melee. As such there is nothing Caldwell could have done to prevent this. The Rebels were surely blocking the road -- so was the calculation -- and they could have released a couple of regiments from the encirclement to block the advance. Caldwell only had his lead brigade to attempt such rescue, and it would have then put his division at risk of flank attack in open ground. The fact that Rodes gathered his entire division to complete the battle, spending additional turns, does not change the initial calculus.

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:44 pm 
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Robert Frost wrote:
Inquiring minds want to know:

Why did Reynolds not scout forward to the river? Mistake, perhaps, but he stated that he had no intention of crossing the river. There was no indication at the time that he was confronted by two CSA corps as you can read from Union discussions. There did not appear to be an urgency to do other than have patrols out to warn of any approaching danger. The real mistake was advancing the Iron Brigade to the position it ultimately occupied. If Blake were to make a YouTube video it might be entitled "A Crossroads Too Far".

Why did Caldwell not move in an attempt to relieve Meredith? The same judgment was made as to which Blake eluded: Meredith would last two turns. Once isolated the Rebels would immediately melee. As such there is nothing Caldwell could have done to prevent this. The Rebels were surely blocking the road -- so was the calculation -- and they could have released a couple of regiments from the encirclement to block the advance. Caldwell only had his lead brigade to attempt such rescue, and it would have then put his division at risk of flank attack in open ground. The fact that Rodes gathered his entire division to complete the battle, spending additional turns, does not change the initial calculus.



Gentlemen,

Alarm ! Turn out the guard ! Stand to arms ! The enemy are amongst us.....tell them Nothing !!! Name, Rank & Serial Number :lol:

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 7:46 pm 
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Thanks Robert for the explanation. I figured that was the reason.

When moderating games I don't ask the questions I really want to sometimes. I fear if I ask a pointed questions (i.e. why don't you attack?) that I might give away some intel on accident. I generally stay quiet and observe.

Could Caldwell have busted the Iron Brigade out? I think so. But they might also have been hit in flank and gotten sucked into a battle there before the rest of the Second Corps was up and ready. I think the hard decision was made to leave the Iron Brigade to their fate - but it was the right one.

I'd have probably attacked with Caldwell and regretted it, lol.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 4:55 pm 
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Things really begin to heat up in Episode Four! The decision made at midday would have many long-term effects.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 5:28 pm 
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Another riveting episode #4, great battle, great presentation, great everything in fact

<Salute> Sir

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 21, 2023 6:52 pm 
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Gentlemen!

This is a great and exciting documentation of a complicated battle. Blake suggests that a move by Reynolds towards Hooker (Meade) might have been a good one. This was considered and rejected because it meant Reynolds would have to move his people W over mostly open and unroaded (no E-W roads) ground in the face of two CSA Corps which were both concentrated on or near the two northward leading roads in this sector of the field leading into his flanks if he attempted to move W.

By this time, we were nearly certain two full CSA Corps were arrayed against Reynolds of sufficient strength to defeat both Reynolds and Meade separately (or combined for that matter) if, as suggested by Blake, they had directed Hill W to attack Meade. This westward move against Meade worried me continually since the UA Center Grand Division is artillery rich and infantry poor and easy pickings for a full CSA Corps supported by Cavalry. Thus the orders for Reynolds to move to Morrisville, concentrate his army and make a stand to draw the CSA Corps out of the battle to the E and NE was thought to be the best choice at the time.

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Last edited by Walt Dortch on Sun Jan 29, 2023 4:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 4:47 pm 
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New Episode released today!

The action along the Hazel River really starts to escalate as Sickles's Grand Division joins the battle.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 5:12 pm 
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Grab some popcorn Honey, the latest episode is on the tube!! Dangerous Dan is making his move.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:04 pm 
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Episode #5, another winner Sir.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 28, 2023 10:24 pm 
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Episode #5 is when I felt the heightened anxiety that must have been experienced by Captain John Smith, when he learned that his beloved ship, the Titanic had just struck something....

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 4:26 pm 
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I would like to make clear at this point that General Lee does not subscribe to the loose talk that one Confederate can whip ten Union men! How did McLaws end up facing such long odds? Well, it was an intelligence failure & the seemingly logical (and utterly wrong) decisions which flowed from that intelligence failure.

I like seeing the board in both 2D and 3D. One of the benefits of 3D is you can spot the flags of your opponents, and if they're distinctive enough, then you can begin to fit together a picture of the force you're up against, even with FOW and even before your forces come to contact. Rebel troops on the south side of the Rappahannock, in Ewell's Corps, saw the Iron Brigade flags, which obviously meant I Corps. We saw the Emerald flags of the Irish Brigade, and the pale green flags of the Philadelphia Brigade. We also saw Vermont flags of 3XX units, all heading onto the map on the Falmouth Rd.

Now, General Lee knew there were two Vermont brigades in the AOP at Gettysburg; Grant's in the VI Corps, and Stannard's, newly attached to I Corps who of course IRL got around the flank of Kemper's Brigade during Pickett's Charge. However, General Lee knew that Stannard's regiments were large by mid-war standards, 600-700 men. The units on the Falmouth Rd were therefore incorrectly identified as Grant's men of the VI Corps, rather than Stannard's men of the I Corps. If General Lee had thought a little harder, he would have checked that the large NC regiments in Daniel's and Pettigrew's Brigades, for example, were split into wings, and if that had been done for the ANV, there was a decent chance that had also been done for the AOP.

For a good portion of the morning, Lee therefore believed that the VI Corps, along with the I and II, were in the south of the map. From our scenario briefing, we knew there were five Federal infantry Corps on the field. V Corps, we knew was opposite Wilcox at Tinpot Run. If the I, II, and VI Corps were in the south of the map, this left a final Union infantry corps, by a process of elimination, Sickles' III Corps, in the north of the map. If you reckon on 15,000 men per Union infantry corps, not terrible odds for McLaws, especially with the Hazel River as an obstacle.

As Ewell pursued the Federals in the south of the map, a Vermont unit from Stannard's Brigade was left as a sacrificial rearguard & we knew then, given we had contacted no other VI Corps units, that a mistake had been made & we did not know where the VI Corps was after all. So where was it?

Now, Lee believed that massing two thirds of the ANV and striking one of the Union flanks was sure to draw a reaction. It did - cavalry from Meade and some of the Pennsylvania Reserves went to safeguard the flanks of the retreating I and II Corps. But Lee believed the Union response was sure to be of a different order of magnitude and at least one Union Corps would have be sent to help Reynolds. Plus, if Reynolds was retreating, and leaving rearguard units to their fate, then he must surely be retreating towards reinforcements (we know all about the Iron Brigade in this game now, but Caldwell's Division had also suffered significant losses) in order to ensure his stand would be successful when it eventually came to be made.

Where were those reinforcements likely to come from? Well, in Lee's mind at this point, it had to be Sedgwick's VI Corps, who might easily have been part of the centre of the Union army, and who might easily either have been racing towards Morrisville, or having their route to the Rappahannock cleared by Sykes' Division of US Regulars. But as we now know, the Union had other ideas.

But enough about Lee's logic, or the lack thereof. At times, you do just need to take your hat off to your opponents - I think a lot of players would have panicked at the spectre of 40,000 screaming Rebs overwhelming a portion of their army, but Walt, Jim, and Robert kept a cool head and did not panic & that showed a good deal of moral courage, I think.

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Marshall's Brigade 'The St Andrews Greys', 2nd (Gator Alley) Division, Stewart's Corps, Army of Tennessee


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 5:43 pm 
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By God Sir, that treatise had me 'dizzy' :shock:

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PostPosted: Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:03 pm 
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Up until General Marshall's last post, I had never considered using the unit flags in 3D to ID units. I am impressed at the level of CSA intel efforts and his eyesight.

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