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PostPosted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 4:04 pm 
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Quaama wrote:
(Night Rules) are intended to stop the forward movement of massed units during the night. I'm sure my opponent doesn't want dawn to arrive and find that I have a Division or Corps on his flank/rear, and I certainly don't want him to do it to me.


If you think about it, it's kind of silly. Wasn't the goal of darn near every general in every battle to achieve just that situation?



The entire Union battle plan at Manassas was a night march around the Confederate flank to surprise them. In fairness, the plan worked. But other setbacks caused the eventual defeat.

At Fort Donelson the Confederates attacked in the pre-dawn darkness to drive back the Union flank and make good their escape.

At Shiloh, the Confederates crept up in the night to their final attack positions and began moving forward even before sunup.

An Antietam, Hooker and Mansfield were sent to the army flank to launch a pre-dawn attack on the Confederate flank. This they did by attacking on the 17th just before the sun was up. Little did they know Stuart had moved guns to Nicodemus Hill which is another example of getting on your opponent's flank during the darkness.

At Brandy Station, the Union cavalry nearly wrecked the Confederates by rapidly advancing under the cover of darkness and slicing up their lines.

At 2nd Winchester, Early's Division moved in the darkness to get around the Union fortifications and by dawn had outmaneuvered them to where surrender and/or inglorious retreat were the only options.

At Gettysburg, I can't recall all the details, but a lot of the fighting at Culp's Hill revolved around trying to outflank the opposing line in the darkness. The Yankees won that fight for sure as their line stretched further and enfiladed the attacking Confederates in the darkness.

Grant and Lee didn't wait until sunup after the Battle of the Wilderness to start trying to flank one another. As soon as the sun went down they were marching hard to try to get around each other.

Going back to the American Revolution (because I am reading about that more in-depth these days), the Americans marched all night to reach and entrench on Bunker's Hill under darkness. This prompted the British to make a foolish charge against them the next day.

The British got us back at the Battle of Brooklyn in which they marched all night around our flank and then completely routed Washington's army back from their defenses.

Not to be outdone, Washington spent all of Christmas night in 1776 crossing the Delaware to attack Trenton where he routed and captured the Hessians at dawn.

I am sure the examples can go on and on and on.




The point is that armies and generals were always trying to outflank one another under the cover of darkness. It should be the responsibility of the player in the game to anticipate this and place men on the key roads to stop such obvious movements.

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PostPosted: Fri Oct 10, 2025 7:48 pm 
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@Blake
LOL, I can't be off researching the lot of them!

Still, as I still have The Maps of Gettysburg next to me I can address that one. On Culp's Hill it says:
Commands rang out: "Forward--guide center!"
The time was approaching 7:00 p.m.

From my earlier research sunset on 2 July 1863 at Gettysburg was 7:59 pm and the full moon was the day before [I think it was cloudy on the day of the full moon]. So, plenty of light when Culp's Hill started. It was all over by 9:30 pm, apart from some sporadic firing by some of the boys.

I'm sure some of the examples you provided are true night actions but they were relatively rare. I agree that generals were often trying to outflank each other under the cover of darkness. However, both armies generally made sure that they had pickets and scouts out to warn them of such things. The game doesn't allow such things, so you are completely vulnerable if complete freedom of movement is permitted during the night turns. [This was partially overcome by the introduction of 10-man scouting cavalry units in some of your earlier MP games. Sadly, the v4.03 rule change meant that those units became far less effective for their functions (i.e. cavalry had to exceed 50 men to exert a skirmish ability).]

I think Night Move Restrictions are a great tool for multiple-day battles. However, as I said earlier, people are free to use them, not use them or adapt them as they see fit. No obligation. It is a house rule and, like all house rules, must be agreed upon prior to the start of a game.

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 11, 2025 12:41 pm 
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IMHO,

There are enough rules built into the code and PDT files to dissuade a player from wanting to make a night attack. I don't see any reason for house rules. With that said, I will always play with whatever rules my opponents wishes to use. Especially since I usually only play one game at a time.

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Army of Tennessee
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 4:37 pm 
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RichWalker wrote:
IMHO,

There are enough rules built into the code and PDT files to dissuade a player from wanting to make a night attack. I don't see any reason for house rules. With that said, I will always play with whatever rules my opponents wishes to use. Especially since I usually only play one game at a time.


<Salute> sir,

I've been following this thread, in the background, and tend to agree with your take regarding night attacks and the need for 'House Rules', an oft source of contention I suggest.

I specifically noted your comment regarding only playing one game at a time, and applaud, once again, your take upon this. In my limited time here at the ACWGC I have never failed to be amazed, dumbfounded and even confused as to how some members have the ability to play multiple games at one time. Perhaps I'm just stupid or slow but having multiple games on the go at one time is, I believe, a recipe for disaster, and indeed I have observed this a several occasions previously, lack of focus, confused moves, incorrect turns etc etc etc. Indeed there are members playing in excess of 10 games at a time, a ludicrous number I personally believe.

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2nd (Gator Alley) Division
Army of Tennessee





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PostPosted: Sun Oct 12, 2025 4:47 pm 
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Karl McEntegart wrote:
RichWalker wrote:
IMHO,

There are enough rules built into the code and PDT files to dissuade a player from wanting to make a night attack. I don't see any reason for house rules. With that said, I will always play with whatever rules my opponents wishes to use. Especially since I usually only play one game at a time.


<Salute> sir,

I've been following this thread, in the background, and tend to agree with your take regarding night attacks and the need for 'House Rules', an oft source of contention I suggest.

I specifically noted your comment regarding only playing one game at a time, and applaud, once again, your take upon this. In my limited time here at the ACWGC I have never failed to be amazed, dumbfounded and even confused as to how some members have the ability to play multiple games at one time. Perhaps I'm just stupid or slow but having multiple games on the go at one time is, I believe, a recipe for disaster, and indeed I have observed this a several occasions previously, lack of focus, confused moves, incorrect turns etc etc etc. Indeed there are members playing in excess of 10 games at a time, a ludicrous number I personally believe.


LOL, in my earlier times in the Club I had up to six games ongoing at the same time. The only thing I made sure of was that they were on different maps, more than one battle on the same map would have been confusing.
I've slowed down a lot since then and currently only have one game ongoing.

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First Division
First Corps
Army of Northern Virginia


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