Brother Against Brother -- Ultimate General: Civil War(Interactive)

[Brian Swartz]

Command Briefings

Army Structure

I Corps
** Wagner
---- Race(Infantry, Springfield M1855)**
---- Scales(Artillery, 10pdr Ordnance)*
** Durrell
---- Kemper(Infantry, Lorenz)*
---- Duryee(Infantry, Lorenz)*
---- Birney(Carbine Cavalry, Smith)*
---- Seymour(Artillery, 6pdr Field)*
** Loomis
---- Moody(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- York(Infantry, Harpers Ferry M1855)*
---- Pease(Infantry, Springfield M1842)
---- Wright(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)*
II Corps
** McCook
** Liddell
---- Egan(Infantry, Springfield M1855)*
** Church
III Corps
** Lawton
** Ferrero
----- Baldwin(Shock Cavalry, Palmetto M1842)
** Elder

Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade

Col. Gregory Race will be a General soon; he is currently 81% of the way there.

Alter Ego: Coffee Warlord

Men: 1410
Experience: **, 25% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

Efficiency: 57
Morale: 78
Stamina: 69
Firearms: 75
Melee: 24

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Order has already been given to divert funding to the rest of the army, so that's what we'll do here.

Scales's Brigade

Lt. Col. Wade Scales is 93% of the way to full Colonel, which I imagine he should accomplish after his next engagement assuming the worst doesn't happen.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Gun Crews: 16
Experience: *, 91% to **
Perks: Physical Training

Efficiency: 41
Morale: 77
Stamina: 58
Firearms: 65
Melee: 14

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

Another round of doing nothing while we see what happens in Virginia??


Durrell's Division

Col. Rafael Durrell appears to be roughly 70% of the way to getting his general's star.

Alter Ego: ntndeacon

Col. Kemper -- 1148 infantry(Lorenz, *, 80%)
Col. Duryee -- 983 infantry(Lorenz, *, 80%)
Col. Birney -- 482 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 54%)

Last time the instructions were take on some rookies but you want the ** available after the next battle. That probably means all vets here, but it's up to you -- I can take some newbies to increase numbers(and drive that experience number down a little more) if you wish.


Seymour's Brigade

Lt. Col. Walter Seymour has a ways to go at 39% to full Colonel.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 15
Experience: *, 77% to **

Efficiency: 38
Morale: 69
Stamina: 47
Firearms: 62
Melee: 16

Weapon: 6pdr Field

New weapons are always an option to at least request, otherwhise there's nothing to do here.


Loomis's Division

Col. Adam Loomis is about a third of the way through this rank, so he's got some ways yet to go.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

** Col. Moody -- 1506 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 18%). Still stuck without a leader.
** Col. York -- 1642 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, *, 99%). Got a big influx last time out and I thought he's probably close to max. I was wrong -- York can command a max-level 2k unit. With the cost of the weapons and no more in the Armory he won't get that high, but we can keep adding.
** Maj. Pease -- 1584 Infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 61%). Command-efficiency limit reached.
** Col. Wright -- 18 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 54%). Two more more cheap guns in the Armory is nice to have in case something happens, but he's maxed out for now.


Egan's Brigade

Col. Darryl Egan is subordinate to Col. Liddell, II Corps 2nd Division. He's up a bit to 32% now on his progress.

Alter Ego: collegesportsfanms

Men: 1053
Experience: *, 65% to **
Perks: Endurance Course

Efficiency: 36(+2)
Morale: 54(+4)
Stamina: 55(+3)
Firearms: 46(+1)
Melee: 21

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Goal here has been to keep adding veterans with the same weapon. We've got 1665 of them in Armory so all the brigades that have them will get at least some additions, reducing the cost of new men.

Baldwin's Brigade

Lt. Col. Bryan Baldwin is 24% of the way to full Colonel. He serves in III Corps, 2nd Division, under BG Duane Ferrero.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Horsemen: 435
Experience: Green, 59% to *
Perks: None

Efficiency: 11
Morale: 9
Stamina: 10
Firearms: 16
Melee: 16

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

Still hasn't seen any action as he was fortunate(?) enough not to participate at Seven Pines. Unless there are weapons requests we'll keep working on increasing manpower. It won't go up a lot more; Baldwin's command-efficiency limit will hit at 494.


Fire away, gentlemen. Gaines Mill will commence late Wednesday(your deadline here) or Thursday. That's the plan anyway.

[ntndeacon]

1. Veterans lean still
2. Let's get the big guns
3 . Sell the farmers

[DavidCorperial]

The only thing I can think of is grabbing one of the better guns from one of the other units, otherwise hold pat.

[ntndeacon]

I request the 12 pdr Napoleon for Seymour. Unless he has a different idea....

[collegesportsfanms]

Holding pat on my end, it seems to be working fine so far.

[chesapeake]

Moody's unit needs a CO. There really should be a mechanism to get one. Is there really no competent major in the entire army that doesn't have a brigade command already?!!

Bank my money for now. When Moody's brigade gets a CO after Gaines Mill, I want them to have their weapons upgraded. If you feel that you need to add somewhere, you can add some troops to York's command. They should be vets, so increasing that unit will be expensive.

If you have open brigade slots, I think you're better off spending troops and money adding full 1500 men brigades. Certainly, that is more valuable that adding a few hundred more expensive troops to York's command.

[Brian Swartz]

Moody's unit needs a CO. There really should be a mechanism to get one. Is there really no competent major in the entire army that doesn't have a brigade command already?!!

Pretty much, although Stewart doesn't have the whole Army, just part of it. Probably between a third and a half of it at this point. Way I understand it, the Barracks just represents those we have the ability to use. But yeah, there really needs to be a way to deal with this situation better.

If you have open brigade slots

I don't. We filled em all after Shiloh and elected not to go with more ArmyOrg. A lot of brigades are close to or at their maximum. About half of them are classified 'green' though, including most of III Corps.

[Brian Swartz]

It's looking like this is shaping up like a battle we are upgrading artillery for. With no other votes on the matter, the order is to invest reputation in the Parrots and sell the Farmers. Army Emphasis remains the same. Camp details will come this evening, but we got $26k+ from the sale, giving us about $136.5k to spend instead of $110k.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

Whether due to orders or the command-efficiency limit, a third of our force was not eligible for any changes. I Corps added a bit of supply but other than that there was no overhead, as the officer situation has remained unchanged.

The request for Napoleons for Seymour made sense, and was approved. It's an upgrade on the same type of weapon he already has, and would have the benefit of freeing up more 6-pounders for other brigades that use them. II Corps' 1st Division(Col. McCook commanding) was of the right size and experience to receive the 20-pd Parrots. They now have all 11 that are available(6 via reputation investment, 5 via purchase). Between these two it was $37k+ spent, and the rest was deemed best used for adding to existing brigades given our continued veteran lean in terms of emphasis.

I Corps

Race's Brigade remains at 1410 per instructions.

Durrell's Division

** Kemper +104 to 1252.
** Duryee +105 to 1088.
** Birney +51, 533 cavalry now. With the max at 750, this is a pretty solid number.

Loomis's Division

** Moody does nothing, on account on being leaderless.
** York +67 to 1709.
** Pease was already maxed also
** Wright maxed as well.

II Corps

Egan's Brigade +182 to 1235.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade +59 to 494. That's the command-efficiency limit for you, so hopefully your first actual combat here will demonstrate something worthy of future investments.

On the final pass to use up remaining funds, we upgraded one brigade from the 42 Springfield to the 55s(BG George Tannatt's men), and then one from the Re-bored Farmer to those newly available 42 Springfields. It's a slow process, but we're gradually modernizing.

The final count is $9 left in the treasury, and 6,837 recruits. The total force now numbers somewhat over $35k -- it's been increasing slowly in these recent battles.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/KgV6LyN.png


Gotta learn to start looking ahead more when giving advice. Appears we can only use two of our Corps here, and given the situation we might well have been better off expanding the army to have larger ones as we have only a dozen brigades in a Corps, not 20. I assumed(incorrectly) that all three Corps would be involved. In the next campaign I'll correct that with more foresight given the game's mechanics in this area, but we could end up overmatched here. With apologies to Grant and Baldwin, I decided to leave the greener men of III Corps behind. They'll have the right of participation in whatever comes after this no matter what; but if we're going to be outnumbered, let's do it with our best men. Ergo I Corps forms the battle line under Stewart, Heintzelman's II Corps are the reinforcements(most of it, a couple brigades will be left out).

With this distribution, contrary to the description here, we are outnumbered 2:1. We haven't faced such odds in a while, and we'll have to rely on the AI ineptness in attack and hopefully superior quality of arms and training to win the day. This could prove interesting ...

https://i.imgur.com/U9ULIuL.png


https://i.imgur.com/hDuSiHJ.png


This is some ways to the southeast, and the line extends northeast off the picture as you can see. Looks like a decent, but far from impregnable, position.

https://i.imgur.com/IILqjiJ.png


https://i.imgur.com/ZH4dyZ0.png


I'm betting 'may' means 'assuredly will' here. Defending on multiple fronts is rarely trivial.

https://i.imgur.com/ltuwhAZ.png


https://i.imgur.com/kRDoNHW.png


This is to the extreme southeast.

https://i.imgur.com/VQfjegy.png

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/MPEnfAL.png


And now we're live. It's 1 pm, June 27, 1862. Wagner and Durrell's divisions are in the northwest, Loomis in the southeast at our intended defensive position. The only exception is that Seymour's guns are down there with Loomis as well. That suits me just fine since that's where I'll want them anyway. 33 of the 12-pound Napoleons between them, both with capable, reasonably experienced(*) crews. They should provide a quite adequate 'introduction' when the rebels reach us. We have fortifications set up for four infantry brigades. To start with it'll be the strong York in the middle, with the leaderless Moody on the left and the incompetent Pease on the right. Later I hope to move both of those into reserve positions, with the stronger brigades of the other divisions taking the line.

We have a 2-hour clock to start and scouts report that we out number them for now: no guns are yet on the field for the rebels and they have less than 9k total strength, while we're at well above 10k. Looking good really. For the delaying part we'll use Birney's cavalry, Lynch's skirmishers, and detach more from Pease to move forward and help them. They'll suck, but they are also expendable. Everybody else falls back to the main line at Boatswain Hill.

** 1:08 PM -- Birney reports lead elements of Ambrose P. Hill's Corps approaching. It has begun.

Soon it's clear that they have skirmishers. A lot of skirmishers. Far more than we have. We're retreating, only hanging around to ensure they don't over-run us before we regroup.

** 1:23 PM -- Time to figure out who we want where. I decide to place our sharpshooters under Durrell on the left(Kemper and Duryee), then Race and York on the right, our two most elite units(Race because of experience, York due to size and having the best weapons). That leaves Peace, Moody, and Trimble available for flanking/reserve duty, or dealing with the right flank if that presumed attack does come.

** 1:30 PM -- They are taking a reasonable amount of time working this way, but it's up to 16k total on the rebel side now.

** 1:46 PM -- They are starting to bring up their artillery. Time to form up. By 2pm pretty much everything is in position ... and we wait.

** 2:04 PM -- First shells from our artillery as the battle properly begins. They hit York on the right first. A quick flanking assist ends that quickly, and the kill ratio during the initial flurry is 10:1 in our favor. I'll take that.

Over the next hour, we endure a couple of relatively small and undetermined charges in the center and on the right, but nothing which does any serious damage. Then ...

https://i.imgur.com/LCHKDWL.png


Outstanding. Latest count is 25k for the rebels, more than twice our number. If they organize themselves propely(unlikely, but ... ) that could prove quite problematic.

https://i.imgur.com/Wxf5VnJ.png


York's lost about 150 men on the right, Race far fewer in the middle. Durell's riflemen on the left are bored, frankly.

https://i.imgur.com/VyW5v2B.png


** 3:15 PM -- Starting to look a little more serious here. I shift Moody, Peace, and Seymour's guns further to the right to support, but if they get the sense to do a massed assault here we could end up having a very bad day. Duryee still isn't involved but Kemper's gotten into the action now. The supply situation is still fine for the time being.

** 3:36 PM -- Only flanking feints by Birney's cavalry have kept them from crashing in on our right. I'm about to comment on how they are content to exchange volleys with us(volleys that we are winning due to our weaponry and fortifications) when this happens

https://i.imgur.com/cgjUseJ.png


Yes, run right into the most elite infantry brigade in the Union Army, backed up by sharpshooters on the left and artillery behind. That'll go fine for you.

Eight minutes later, they'd lost 329 men, Race 85. Not that this was entirely predictable or anything.

4:15 PM -- I'm informed that Ewell has arrived, possibly to threaten our left. Superb.

https://i.imgur.com/6Ak0WkO.png


4:46 PM -- And so it is. Soon we have plenty of customers everywhere, but they push us back on the left while we are having all we can do to keep them at bay on the other side as well. If they retain a foothold on our side of the stream, we're in trouble. Peace has moved forward to try to plug the hole.

We have 9400 men left, trying to fend off over 30k. This does not look good.

5:01 PM -- With most of the rebels content to snipe from the woods on the other side of the stream, we've pushed them back.

5:27 PM -- Looks like the mentioned flank on the right has begun. Trimble and Moody go out that way, but I don't know if they can stop them. That's all I can afford to send though, or they'll overrun us here.

https://i.imgur.com/zDGiISV.png


Outstanding. We should be flattered.

"We must hold until the end of the day!"

Apparently that's another 2.5 hours, until 8 pm. We might be able to do that. Then again, I might be a Chinese fighter pilot.

5:33 PM -- York breaks, and they charge on the right. All categories of chaos are breaking out there. Yeah, I'm going with the 'Chinese fighter pilot' option at this point.

https://i.imgur.com/KukFjES.png


** 5:55 PM -- Plugged a couple of holes elsewhere but I see no chance of holding on the right here. What the heck ever happened to those reinforcements from Heintzelman??

** 6:04 PM -- Now they show up. Took you bloody long enough!! Lynch's skirmishers have been shattered, and Trimble is basically trying to hold off three large Confederate brigades at once, while Moody alternates between doing something useful and running away like a cowardly fool. The main line his holding ... barely.

Heintzelman is sent in to reinforce McGhee hill(the eastern flank) and double-quick it.

** 6:07 PM -- Col. Andrew Kemper is wounded. Fan-freaking-tastic. So much for our center.

** 6:13 PM -- Longstreet's Division presses forward to crush our center. I'm thinking the critical moment has arrived, and I don't know that we can hold them.

** 6:31 PM -- York is pushed back again, but II Corps has begun to push against their incursion on the right.

https://i.imgur.com/W7uEoF7.png


It'll be a while before the artillery is in position and it's kind of a mess, but this should relieve the pressure significantly. Latest numbers are 19k for us, 37k for the rebels.

** 6:50 PM -- Having lost half his men, Col. Gregory Race is wounded. Awesome. A few minutes later, Pease routs for the second time on account of Pickett's Charge(a year early).

** 7:07 PM -- Having lost most of his protection from the infantry, Col. Wade Scales is wounded. I'm noting a trend here ...

https://i.imgur.com/6kGu04u.png


In the center ... well, it's basically a complete and epic disaster. I gradually retreat our guns to keep them out of the worst crossfire and try to shift men this way from II Corps, but they've got troubles of their own and there's only so much that can be done.

** 7:38 PM -- Col. Oscar Duryee has been killed. Yeah, this war just got a lot less boring. There's quite a bit to be said for boring. Duryee died heroically, trying to save our doomed left flank.

** 8:20 PM -- The armies finally separate. We had our moments, conducting a decent attack on their artillery on the extreme right, but the last hour didn't change much. We weren't able to hold the Boatswain Stream and were pushed back, but not entirely defeated.

Ultimately, Gaines' Mill(in contrast to history), was determined a Draw. General Stewart's perfect record is soiled, and there will be many sorrowful families after this day.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics

Strength

Infantry: Union 20,545; Confederates 46,586
Cavalry: Union 843; Confederates 0
Artillery: Union 1925(77 guns): Confederates 3351(135 guns)
Total: Union 23,313; Confederates 49,937

Numbers may not win a battle, but they sure help. We found that out the hard way here.

Losses

Infantry: Union 6,721; Confederates 18,368
Cavalry: Union 84; Confederates 0
Artillery: Union 115(3 guns): Confederates 283(11 guns)
Total: Union 6,920; Confederates 18,651

I would have guessed our losses much higher. Almost 3:1 here in our favor. The rebels lost a lot, especially in the early afternoon, before finally forcing our defenses. What we lost though, was almost all high-quality men.

Units

** Race -- 1,548 kills; 1,007 losses. Those placed at the vanguard like this were just under terrible duress all day long. An elite brigade, decimated, and it's commander wounded.

** Durrell -- Kemper(1788 kills, 891 losses); Duryee(1601 kills, 816 losses); Birney(372 kills, 84 losses); Seymour(767 kills, 27 losses). The sharpshooters took major losses once again, although this time you had company.

** Loomis -- Moody(588 kills, 555 losses); York(2837 kills, 1230 losses); Pease(862 kills, 671 losses); Wright(884 kills, 20 losses). York's numbers are just ridiculous here.

** Egan -- 789 kills, 80 losses. In the limited time they were around, quite a good show.

No two ways about it, I Corps has been decimated. Stewart has a lot to rebuild, and the other two Corps will need to do the heavy lifting for a while.

Officers

Wounded were Col. Andrew Kemper and Lt. Col Wade Scales from Durrell's Divison, along with Col. Gregory Race from Wagner's Division.

There were also seven promotions, including Col. Gordon Wright(BG now), Col. Julian York(same), and Maj. Herbert Pease(Lt. Col.), all from Loomis' division. Two more subcommanders make General before him. Col. Allen Birney(cavalry under Durrell) is a General now also. I think having the brigade commanders promote easier than the divison guys is a rather striking design flaw, though I definitely still enjoy the game it is quite annoying.

The other three to get promoted were II Corps commanders.

Weapons

** Springfield M1842 -- 327 rescued, 1392 captured
** Re-Bored Farmer -- 17 rescued, 1318 captured
** Springfield M1855 -- 518 rescued
** 12 pdr Howitzer -- 2 captured
** Harpers Ferry M1855 -- 295 rescued
** Smith -- 20 rescued
** Lorenz -- 486 rescued
** Sharps Model 1855 -- 72 rescued
** Hunter -- 194 captured

We didn't capture all that much, mostly because they were attacking. I think you mostly capture weapons from territory you control at the end of the battle, which would make sense.

Rewards

** Career Points -- zilch, nada, nothing, zero. Gotta win. And for the first time, we(I) didn't.
** Reputation -- +1
** Funding -- $165k
** Recruits -- 11k

Duryee's Brigade(under Durrell) was completely shattered, as were Lynch's skirmishers(for the second time). Of more than 11k who went into the fight, I Corps retains 4,279. There's ... work to do, to put it nicely.

Scales and Race, take a seat over there on the pine pony and enjoy the next campaign from the sidelines. Everyone else will still be in action -- and the two of you will still have choices to make.

Next up we don't have another campaign -- we have another Grand Battle right away! And we need it to go better than this one ...

https://i.imgur.com/14GRrdL.png


Malvern Hill. Shiloh gains up a 5% reduction, but failing to win Gaines Mill means the Confederate force will be larger(amount not specificed, it just says they have fresh forces preparing an assault). So that's probably pretty much a wash, and we figure to face a roughly 'standard' amount of resistance.

Took a look at the force distribution and it's 2 Corps locations at 15 brigades each. Ours are 12 each. It appears most likely that we'll be slightly outnumbered but nothing like Gaines Mill. Of course we'll be sending II Corps and III Corps to this.

Bottom line is that this just got a little real after a nice relaxing first year-plus of the campaign. This'll be our first 'quick' camp as there's only the one step with no Career Points to assign.

[chesapeake]

You did well to gain a draw after being outnumbered by more than 2 to 1. The losses on our side were also kept to a manageable number, which is even more impressive.

[Coffee Warlord]

Gimme all the painkillers.

[Brian Swartz]

You did well to gain a draw after being outnumbered by more than 2 to 1.

*Bow*. If nothing else, it will make things somewhat more interesting for the next bit going forward.

Weapons Reference updated.

** Both types of Springfields have somewhat increased availability.
** More Sharps Model 1855s, the one most of our skirmishers use, are also available. We'll need them.
** Similarly, we have access to increased numbers of low-level cavalry and artillery weaponry. No significant change in those of higher-quality that are harder to come by, and no new weapons available. Given the quick turnaround here, that's understandable.

Officers

This needed immediate attention. Literally half of I Corps needs a new officer -- if you include the two brigades that no longer even exist. Col. Gerald Moody goes back to his unit, the one obvious choice. 14 new officers are available in the Barracks, from which we will need to replace Race/Kemper/Scales and then get new guys for the new units. That'll still leave nine, so that's fine.

For the two infantry units I chose the cheapest ones I could, as they are too small now to worry about any command limitation and I'm sure their wounded commanders would prefer funds go into new recruits and weapons. For Scales, I thought it best to get someone as similar to his skill as possible, so that we would be able to have a seamless transition when he returns. Good news is that you guys are only out for this one battle instead of a longer campaign. With these in place, I can say that half of the surviving I Corps brigades earned a unit promotion, so there will be some new perks to pass out. And there certainly won't be any need to add supply for a while. On that front we did well at Gaines' Mill -- nobody ran out of ammunition. That's pretty much it in terms of good news, but it is something.

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis -- Slight lean to veterans, over increasing numbers and/or upgrading weapons.

2. Reputation Investment

We sit at 39, which is a 'neutral' level with no morale effect.

** $50k funds(18 Rep.)
** 2.5k recruits(18 Rep.) -- These first two choices have the same cost, but half the benefit, as before. I'm not amused.
** Springfield M1855 x2000(7 Rep.) -- Several of our brigades use these, and they would make rebuilding I Corps faster and cheaper.
** Harpers Ferry M1855 x1750(7 Rep.) -- Similar but a hair better. Right now only York has them ... if we added these we'd probably expand to a second brigade using them, most likely Trimble or Race, the two best ones in the first division.
** BG Henry Slocum(4 Rep.)
** BG George Sykes(4 Rep.)

A little under 161k funds, 18k recruits, for the record. I expect to have extra manpower by the time we run out of money again. Recruits and the generals are advised against, the others are in the 'worth considering' pile. When it comes to generals, we now have five 'extras' at the brigade level, two below their optimal position of Corps Commanders. Suffice to say that as the army expands, we are not in danger of running out of top-level guys who can do the job. It's more the mid-level ones to handle large brigades that could prove troublesome. Still have yet to see a single divisional leader get wounded.

3. Weapon Sales

We have just under 3600 Re-Bored Farmers, and it probably boils down to whether we want to consider using them at all for I Corps. There are two other brigades possessing them but they will need very few due to command limit issues. We can get $5 apiece for those. I expect to use everything else that we have enough of to make a difference from a financial point of view.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Re-bored Farmer(2 brigades, 3074 total, 2 green)
** Springfield M1842(9 brigades, 14629 total, 5 * and 4 green)
** Lorenz(1 brigade, 397 total, 1 **)
** Springfield M1855(6 brigades, 5749 total, 2 ** and 4 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 528 total, 1 **)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 261 total, 1 green)
** Sharps Model 1855(1 brigade, 454 total, 1 *)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 316 total, 1 green)
** Palmetto M1842(2 brigades, 919 total, 2 green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 310 total, 1 *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 453 total, 1 *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(3 brigades, 45 total, 3 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 14 total, 1 **)
** 12pdr Howitzer(1 brigade, 10 total, 1 green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(2 brigades, 32 total, 1 ** and 1 *)
** 20pdr Parrot(1 brigade, 11 total, 1 *)

[Brian Swartz]

Command Briefings

Army Structure

I Corps
** Wagner
---- Race(Infantry, Springfield M1855)**
---- Scales(Artillery, 10pdr Ordnance)**
** Durrell
---- Kemper(Infantry, Lorenz)**
---- Birney(Carbine Cavalry, Smith)*
---- Seymour(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)**
---- One to replace
** Loomis
---- Moody(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- York(Infantry, Harpers Ferry M1855)**
---- Pease(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Wright(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)*
II Corps
** McCook
** Liddell
---- Egan(Infantry, Springfield M1855)*
** Church
III Corps
** Lawton
** Ferrero
----- Baldwin(Shock Cavalry, Palmetto M1842)
** Elder

I Corps

Our protagonist BG James Stewart is close to a promotion, around 90% it seems. When he gets there, we'll have a group decision on what his next perk will be.


Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade

Col. Gregory Race is apparently still stuck on 81% due to the injury. Major Derrick Tannatt temporarily replaces him.

Alter Ego: Coffee Warlord

Men: 415
Experience: **, 32% to ***(+7%)
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

Efficiency: 66(+9)
Morale: 89(+11)
Stamina: 73(+4)
Firearms: 92(+13)
Melee: 31(+7)

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Accuracy and morale are pretty much as good as it gets. Problem is there aren't many left. $52-$53 per veteran, not counting the weapon price. Could take on as many as 79 rookies and stay at 2-star status. That would lower the price to a little under $48 each.


Scales's Brigade

Lt. Col. Wade Scales is still at 93% it appears as well. Lt. Col. Evander Hunt replaces him.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Gun Crews: 14
Experience: **, 16% to ***
Perks: Physical Training

Efficiency: 57(+16)
Morale: 88(+11)
Stamina: 61(+3)
Firearms: 80(+15)
Melee: 14(--)

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

If we stick with the same weapon, it'll be about 2k for replacement men and we may or may not have enough for another 5k to add a 15th crew. Otherwhise we can try for a different one. Meanwhile you need to pick your second perk. Tactical Training(+50% rotation speed, +25% cover, +200% stealth); Gunnery Training(+10 Firearms, -10% Reloading Time); or Shooting Training(+10 Firearms, +10% Accuracy).


Durrell's Division

Col. Rafael Durrell appears to be roughly 80-85% of the way to getting his general's star. It shouldn't be long now.

Alter Ego: ntndeacon

Col. Kemper(temp. Maj. Herman Grose) -- 397 infantry(Lorenz, **, 6%)
Col. Birney -- 453 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 74% -- +20%)

You are short a brigade now and need a new infantry one. You can go with Lorenz again and try to rebuild, or perhaps a lesser weapon to start with until they gain some experience -- that will build numbers faster. For Kemper, we need a second perk to be decided. Assault Course(+10 Melee/Morale/Stamina); Firearms Course(+10 Firearms, -10% Reloading Time, -10% Accuracy); or Marksman Training(+10 Firearms, +10% Reloading Time, +10% Accuracy). Also your artillery:


Seymour's Brigade

Lt. Col. Walter Seymour is a lot closer now, 80% of the way to full Colonel.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 14
Experience: **, 3% to ***

Efficiency: 44(+6)
Morale: 81(+12)
Stamina: 50(+3)
Firearms: 76(+14)
Melee: 16(--)

Weapon: 12pdr Napoleon

Not quite as good as Scales' boys in the 1st Division, but with the upgrade given to Napoleons you're back in the spot of best defensive artillery unit around. Very minimal reinforcements needed to your existing crews. You can add up to two more crews at about $4600 each for veterans. Rookies will sink you back down to 1-star status. Possibly would end up adding one gun at a time due to the cost but you're not slated to be in the next fight anyway.

Also time for another perk here. Same choice as Scales has if you look above for that. Note that both Col. Durrell and yourself have a vote here for what that training will be.


Loomis's Division

Col. Adam Loomis continues to progress slowly; he's halfway there now. One wonders if the war will end before he gets his star.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

** Col. Moody -- 973 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 81%, +63%). Wanted a weapon upgrade before; that may still be possible but seems less likely to happen right away. Really high morale(82) but no other ratings above 45. They don't run away from a fight, but can't do all that much to win one either. At least their Colonel is back.
** Gen. York -- 528 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, **, 56%). About 70% of them died at Gaines Mill. Those who remained are considered the most elite infantry in the Union Army. 97 Firearms, 82 Morale, 71 Efficiency. Stamina(39) is still quite low though, interestingly enough. Not enough randomly marching around the battlefield I guess. Need a new perk here(see Durrell's Division, it's the same second-tier infantry choices).
** Lt. Col. Pease -- 940 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 26%). No ratings at 40 or higher so they aren't really good at anything yet, and efficiency of 20 still sucks. More than twice as good as they were before though, across-the-board gains for the most part. First Infantry perk is needed: Discipline Training(+10 Morale, +5 Efficiency) or Endurance Course(+10 Stamina, +5 Efficiency, +10% Speed). They've run away in every battle, yet they keep on keeping on and might make something useful of themselves yet.
** Gen. Wright -- 18 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 82%, +28%). You're now in charge of two Generals. Weird. Almost 4k apiece for new crews and you need about 1700 for replacement men for the ones already. On the other hand, the options is here to eventually max out once the funds are available.


II Corps

Egan's Brigade

Col. Darryl Egan is subordinate to Col. Liddell, II Corps 2nd Division. Moves up to 49%, so he's halfway to getting his star.

Alter Ego: collegesportsfanms

Men: 1158
Experience: *, 80% to **(+15%)
Perks: Endurance Course

Efficiency: 42(+6)
Morale: 58(+4)
Stamina: 60(+5)
Firearms: 50(+4)
Melee: 21(--)

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Didn't see the big gains in ability that others did, but then you were only there for the tail end of Gaines Mill. More action is expected next time out. A little under $32 per veteran not counting the weapon; you could take a large number of rookies if desired to get numbers faster at lower skill.


III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

Lt. Col. Bryan Baldwin is 24% of the way to full Colonel. He serves in III Corps, 2nd Division, under BG Duane Ferrero.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Horsemen: 494
Experience: Green, 59% to *
Perks: None

Efficiency: 11
Morale: 9
Stamina: 10
Firearms: 16
Melee: 16

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

Sitting around is apparently the thing for him. I'm confident that finally changes at Malvern Hill. You're at max. until more experience is gained and we can't afford to invest in a better weapon for green horsemen, so there's nothing to be done here. You need action, and are about to get it.


Time to rebuild -- Commanders, tell me how that'll be done and in what way. Malvern Hill needs to go better for us to get back on track, and I think our odds are good in making that happen. Aiming for a Wednesday evening camp.

[chesapeake]

We're going to win the battle of Malvern Hill, and after being so undermanned at Gaines Mill, I think we need to plan to invest that point from winning in army org so that we can add new brigades to each division. With that in mind, I think we need to plan ahead and not sell muskets that we'll need to outfit several new infantry brigades.

Marksman's training for York's unit. It is going to be hard and expensive to reconstitute this brigade, particularly since vets cost a lot more for a 2* brigade. I suggest adding as many rookies as you can without losing a star and seeing where that gets us. Since I Corps is out of the next battle, we can see what kind of money and needs we have after Malvern Hill.

Refill Wright's brigade but no new guns.

Pease's brigade needs discipline training. Badly. Fill up with rookies but keep the star.

I would still like Moody's brigade to get a weapons upgrade. Blend vets and rookies to keep them at at least 50% towards the 2nd *.

Thanks!

[DavidCorperial]

I'll go with Gunnery Training and let you make the call if I add any Vet crews right now.

[Coffee Warlord]

Keep us at 2 stars, and get as many men as we possibly can.

[collegesportsfanms]

Gunnery Training right now, and you can fill me up with some rooks if you think that's best.

I've admittedly been swamped with work and haven't given this a lot of attention, so I'm open to suggestions for what to do.

[Brian Swartz]

We're going to win the battle of Malvern Hill

Glad you're sure of it. I was thinking it's likely, but ... in any case there are no changes to the army-level stuff. Time to do the math for camp.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

The basic situation here is that III Corps is nearly maxed out everywhere. That meant most of the resources would go to I & II Corps. As a general rule, if a brigade was new to a certain rank(*, **, etc.) they added as many rookies as possible. If they were most of the way to a new promotion, they held with veterans in order to get that new ability soon. This seemed to me in keeping with the spirit of instructions given.

Race's Brigade -- 184 added, roughly evenly split between rookies and vets. Now at 599 strength. Long ways to go.

Scales' Brigade -- Random selection of Perk fell on Tactical Training. They'll be better at using cover and will be able to turn the guns faster, which is sometimes useful. Between needing to commission a replacement commander and reinforcements for the existing weapons, they hold at 14 crews.

Durrell's Divison

In the absence of any instructions, we continue with the most recent orders.

Kemper -- Replacement CO in Grose, Marksman Training selected at random. Took on a few rookies, mostly vets. +186 to 583 men. It's a start.
Hoke -- That's Maj. Jason Hoke to you, leader of a new brigade of infantry. They'll get Re-Bored Farmers for now. Once they prove themselves, they will be given something better, probably the Lorenz imports. This brigade satisfies the dire need the Corps has for boots on the ground, starting at 1625 men.
Birney -- Adds 79 veterans, for a total of 532 horsemen.

Seymour's Brigade -- Gunnery Training as requested, and one crew added for a total of 15.


Loomis's Division

** Moody -- 476 added, roughly an even mix, to 1339. The request for improved weapons is denied for the time being. The price tag is high, over $35k, and Stewart has deemed the money better used for increasing our numbers given the recent losses. A similar amount was spent on new weapons, but it was felt bringing most of the units still using Farmers up to the baseline capability of the '42 Springfield was a better use of funds.
** York -- Marksman's Training per orders. Added 394 reinforcements, about two-thirds of them rookies going down to the bare ** level. This leaves the brigade at a considerably less inadequate number of 922.
** Pease -- Discipline Training. Maybe now they can fight for more than an hour without running away. We were able to add almost a thousand men here, up to 1864. Most of the new ones are rookies.
** Wright -- Reinforcements to maintain maximum readiness with the 18 crews, no additions.

Egan's Brigade

145 men added, to a total of 1303 men. Note that there must have been an error in paperwork filing. The training request is vacated, since there was no current training available here.

Baldwin's Brigade

As indicated in the briefing, there was nothing to be done.


Summary

I Corps is up to 8,631 men, just over double what it was just days ago. The quality is not what we would like in some instances, but that can be improved over time. II Corps has just under 12k, III Corps is pushing 13k.

The treasury($19) is basically gone once again. Took a nice healthy bite out of our recruits, but still almost 12k remain there. Plenty of men.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/mdAyMK2.png


Main decision is who to place in the main line and who to have as the reinforcement Corps? Grant's III Corps needs the experience; they'll take significant losses I expect but they have the manpower to absorb them. They go in the 'Defend' position, while Heintzelman's II Corps, now our best of the three, will deploy as needed when they arrive. Hopefully sooner than last time.

Estimated total force is 36k with 107 guns for the rebels, 27k with 68 guns for us. So they are a third larger. I like that better than double, but we certainly can't afford to be careless. I also very much like the sound of the words 'heavily fortified' in this case.

https://i.imgur.com/CHsiOrU.png


https://i.imgur.com/MoDJJIr.png


A long ways to the south-southeast.

https://i.imgur.com/uk2bZOb.png


This is between the two previous positions.

https://i.imgur.com/zwfHUli.png


They are crazy, no doubt about that.

https://i.imgur.com/E8VcmTp.png


So just defend everything then? Sure.

https://i.imgur.com/NaGI88J.png


Let's hope it works out that way.

https://i.imgur.com/ZbPx4Va.png


https://i.imgur.com/MFUuqPt.png


Hey, I thought you said this was going to be easy ...

https://i.imgur.com/kBnJI0b.png


Whoever's writing this sees threats everywhere despite our supposed strong position, that's for sure.

https://i.imgur.com/QcJNzR6.png


Stand your ground and don't move away, but be sure to defend these six other key locations. Umm okey-dokey.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/SL0CI3Y.png

** July 1, 1862, 1:00 PM. Our objective is hold the place where we are, 'North Malvern Hill', for a little over an hour. Hopefully that means Heintzelman shows up sometime just after two. The nearby forest on the east looks like a good place for Baldwin's cavalry to keep watch -- across the stream we'll put some artillery as instructed, with Rains' smaller group of horsemen.

Four big infantry brigades, but all carry the 1842 Springfield. Two artillery units, a total of 24 guns in all, basic 6-pounders. Getting the drift here? This is the first major action for III Corps, and they look the part. Total numbers have 9k Union, 21k Confederate in the vicinity to start. I don't like those odds -- they better improve. We've got enough earthworks set up for three brigades, which leaves one for reserve.

** 1:05 PM -- We spot the rebels right away, and there's no possibility that our artillery is going to get across the river to those woods in time. That whole idea is abandoned, though the cavalry will head over and try to annoy their flank.

https://i.imgur.com/viYMK6F.png


On second thought, how about no. Looks like it would be very easy to get trapped over there. We'll come back across and stay focused on this location.

** 1:26 PM -- The battle has already been underway for ten minutes. Three of Rains' men were taken out by artillery on their way back, but that beats the heck out of losing all of them.

https://i.imgur.com/TG2iBuJ.png


** 1:38 PM -- Canfield's position on the right has already been compromised. Note that fenceline he's supposed to hold, and the right angle it forms at one point. That's not real helpful, because it makes it very likely that he'll be the victim of a flanking attack. What say we pull Leslie over there to support him, and just have both brigades form up in the trees. We have already survived one charge straight up the center quite easily, and sent that infantry brigade fleeing much the worse for their attempt.

Meanwhile I'm told to brace for a general attack. Yeah I kinda got that drift already. The third division has arrived(two infantry, more cavalry, and skirmishers). I'll attempt to have them do something vaguely useful.

** 1:49 PM -- Baldwin performs his first task; getting shot at in the forest while the infantry reforms over there. Not what we were looking for but it keeps them out of the trees, and soon we're in position.

** 2:01 PM -- Cpt. Andy Carruth, commanding the smaller artillery unit, is killed. They've lost only 11 men, half a crew, and it's mostly just bad luck. I pull both gun brigades back a bit, but they need to be close to the line to be effective.

** 2:06 PM -- Col. Andy Wright, commanding our brigade on the left, is wounded. Grrr. Custer, recently arrived as part of 3rd Division, will take his place on those earthworks. Enough with the bad-luck CO injuries already.

Then reports come in that Hill is coming at our center, while Huger's Division is coming up in reserve for the rebels. Fan-freaking-tastic. Also the new timeframe is two more hours. Better not be that long for Heintzelman to arrive. 32k of them now against 13k of us. This is having a very Gaines' Mill feel to it and I'm not a fan. Casualties aren't very heavy(yet), and are in our favor, but it's only a matter of time if we keep losing leaders and stay outnumbered like this.

https://i.imgur.com/oJBkCgN.png


** 2:16 PM -- Anderson charges on the left, but they'll need more than that to move us. In this kind of fight there aren't many times where cavalry is of much use, but Benning here is in position for a nice counter-charge. Takes out 50 of them over the next few minutes, but even that was expensive as the other rebel infantry find the horsemen to be good targets and take out two dozen of them.

https://i.imgur.com/Spi3Wmb.png


** 2:55PM -- We're getting attacked everywhere and holding so far, but I'm particularly concerned about the left here. Those trees are providing them cover and they are making use of it reasonable well to mass close to our lines. I send Baldwin over here as well for counter-charge duty and focus the artillery on any exposed confederates. Grant will hang out over here for the time being as well as all the infantry we can spare. Seems to be the key spot on the battlefield at the moment.

** 3:02 PM -- Well that didn't go well. Custer was wounded and routed, Benning surrendered, Baldwin wounded and lost most of his command, and yeah the whole thing basically caved in.

** 3:41 PM -- Our whole position has collapsed. The only chance we have now is try, somehow, to form some sort of coherent defense and hold out until II Corps arrives. And they'd better damn arrive. We're in disarray and full retreat.

** 3:45 PM -- I'm instructed to hold until nightfall(fat chance) and that 'the rebels keep coming. They've got courage alright!' Courage? To attack an enemy that is retreating and unable to form a coherent battle line?? Shiloh required courage. This requires merely sense.

** 3:53 PM -- Hood flanks across the bridge to the east, and I desperately rush cavalry over that way to help ... and then we are finally now getting our reinforcements. About bloody time. Heintzelman better get his arse up here, because we're going to lose men by the hundreds if not thousands if he doesn't. Orders are basically that I don't give a damn about the terrain, double-time and get here freaking NOW.

** 4:01 PM -- Baldwin's charge breaks Hoods line, buying us valuable time and even more importantly a vague chance at forming a defensible line. At the moment they've suffered terrible losses and not killed too many of the enemy, but that was big nonetheless.

https://i.imgur.com/fSVrXLl.png


Most of our infantry is to the west here, cavalry tries to handle the east, Ledlie and MacIntosh repositioning to form our flank over here for the moment. Heintzelman is coming up, but not fast enough.

** 4:13 PM -- We keep most of them from coming down the east, but not all. Hagood and Egan are first on the scene over there. Congratulations boys! Come on down!! You're the next contests on 'Let's Shoot A Yankee'!! They arrive literally just in time. Five minutes later and McIntosh, and who knows what else, would have been attacked on three sides. As it is they took a sandwich volley but somehow managed to not rout. No clue there but kudos to them.

https://i.imgur.com/TrWlGf3.png


Cover doesn't matter all that much here. Push the bastards back, or at the very least don't collapse. That's about it. They're trying to flank on both sides and we can't let them do that. Meanwhile the rest of III Corps is coming up and estimates are that we have about 22k, 27k for the rebels, on the field. That's actually a potentially sustainable amount if we can get everyone in the field in reasonable positions.

** 4:24 PM -- I'm told a Col. Leroy Elder is wounded. That's rather confusing because I have no unit led by an Elder right now.

** 4:30 PM -- We're making headway on the flanks, but not looking good in the center. Rains, not a particularly large brigade but more skilled and better-equipped than anyone in III Corps, is sent that way to reinforce things.

** 4:38 PM -- In another bad-luck casualty, Col. Darryl Egan is killed though 90% of his brigade remains.

** 4:42 PM -- Looks to be a battle of wills here. Can they crush us in the center before the surge of III Corps down the right flank turns them? Tannatt, Hagood, and Egan are the key 'hinge' on that side, pushing ever further forward.

https://i.imgur.com/V0n9q1t.png


This is important as well. Wharton(skirmishers) and Carruth here ensure no further flanking nonsense across this river. It was in the fight to control our side of this crossing that Egan fell.

** 5:50 PM -- Officers have gotten hit left and right for the past hour, and brigades regularly routing in the center only to be reformed. Nonetheless we had enough to give better than we were taking and gradually push them back, but the hour was growing late.

https://i.imgur.com/lS4offl.png


Continually we pressed forward, pushing the splintering rebels backwards, but there were not enough hours in the day. We'd lost too much in the mid-afternoon, and darkness fell before we could regain our original position(northwest banner in this shot). Malvern Hill is judged a DRAW, a second in a row.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics

Strength

Infantry: Union 23,251; Confederate 31,922
Cavalry: Union 1296; Confederate 0
Artillery: Union 1700(68 guns); Confederate 2603(107 guns)

Total: Union 26,247; Confederate 34,525

Losses

Infantry: Union 10,853; Confederate 17,567
Cavalry: Union 401; Confederate 0
Artillery: Union 367(13 guns); Confederate 13(1 gun)
Missing: Union 263; Confederate 0

Total: Union 11,884; Confederate 17,580

Definitely the closest battle we've had in terms of casualties. We lost a lot of men today, though most were raw recruits.

Brigade Performance

** Baldwin -- 72 kills, 239 losses. Yikes.
** Egan -- 992 kills, 325 losses.

Losses were horrific for some of the III Corps units. Canfield had 1822 kills, but sustained almost 1200 losses. Another unit had about 1500 both ways. Seven different brigades lost at least 900 men.

Officers

It was the worst battle of the war so far for our leadership. Ten were wounded; one general, multiple colonels of both ranks, and one captain. Killed in action were Col. Darryl Egan, Maj. Tyrone McIntosh, and Cpt. Andy Carruth. Against that were just two promotions:

** Col. Clyde Canfield is promoted to Brigadier General.
** Cpt. Adrian Truex is now a Major.

Weapons

** Palmetto M1842 -- 255 rescued
** Sharps Model 1855 -- 46 rescued
** Springfield M1842 -- 1954 rescued, 1114 captured
** Springfield M1855 -- 560 rescued
** Hunter -- 40 rescued
** Palmetto M1842 -- 662 captured(same name as the first weapon, which is the cavalry one. This is a rifle)
** Re-Bored Farmer -- 489 captured
** 6pdr Field -- 4 rescued
** M1841 Mississippi -- 318 captured
** MJ&G Type II -- 355 captured

Rewards

** Career Points -- None. Sorry chesapeake, I guess we have to wait.
** Reputation -- +1(40)
** Funding -- $168k
** Recruits -- 11.3k. So basically we broke even in terms of manpower.
** MG George McClellan joins our command as well. We'll have to find a task for him at a lower-level until we have a Corps ready for him.

What now? Well it's time for the 2nd Manassas Campaign, which is a trio of battles covering the last week of August 1862. There's a gap of almost two months after today when both armies lick their wounds.

https://i.imgur.com/Zh29azw.png


The rebel army continues to gradually grow. Unfortunately we cannot say the same for ours. I will say that either due to scripting or some other cause, they have been much better in pressing home attacks when they've had the advantage in these last two battles. I've been a little surprised -- definitely saw less ineptness on their part. May have been a patch I overlooked or didn't notice? Regardless, we will definitely be giving the Confederates more respect, esp. when outnumbered.

Looking at the army size allotment going forward, in our next battle at Kettle Run, we are permitted 1 Corps(7 brigades). The one after is 1 Corps(10 brigades), and then the next Grand Battle, 2nd Manassas of course, allows 4 Corps(20 brigades each). Ahem. We have 3 Corps with 12 brigades each. That ... is a 'situation' needing tending to. But we need career points in order to do so. I would say this is a critical point in the campaign. We need to do well in these next two battles, build up our numbers, and expand the army. If we don't ... well, we could be dreaming of a draw at 2nd Manassas.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Reference updated, no Career Point decision to be made.

** MJ&G Type II has been added, though we don't have enough of them to be useful yet.
** There's enough for one brigade to potentially purchase the Pattern 1853 Enfeld now. A British rifle that appears to be equal if not slightly superior to the Springfield M1855, for a hair less in terms of price.

Otherwhise it's the usual modest increases in supply of this or that, more Springfields of course, but nothing that's really going to change things a lot.

Barracks

Things were really busy here. With all the officers we had wounded, I've got to spend quite a bit of money on replacements whether I feel like it or not. I also noticed something overlooked before; we did have our first division commander wounded. So that is a thing for certain, just a rare thing. Col. Leroy Elder(III Corps, third Division) in this case. Seemed rather obvious to put McClellan there. Then Race, Kemper, and Scales from the I Corps were put back in charge of their original brigades.

That left three officers free to cover a dozen vacancies(13 if you count the fact that we need to replace the one cavalry unit that was captured). They went to the most capable brigades in need of a new leader, which meant II Corps.

If you're looking for good news, we still have 14 able man in the Barracks(13 after we fill the open brigade spot), even with 10 in the 'Wounded' column. There are also nine brigades that qualified for promotion perks. Overall a little over $7k was spent, 4-5% of our funds for this camp, on commissioning the new guys.

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis. Still leaning slightly to veterans over increasing raw numbers with rookies and weapon upgrades.

2. Reputation Investment. We're at 40, providing a +1 boost to morale. The following options are available:

** $120k(18 Rep.)
** 5k recruits(18 Rep.)
** Springfield M1855 x 4000(15 Rep.)
** Harpers Ferry M1855 x3500(15 Rep.)
** Burnside x 500(7 Rep.)
** 20pdr Parrot x 6(6 Rep.)
** BG Josh Reynolds(6 Rep.)
** BG Winfield Hancock(4 Rep.)

Don't ask me why Reynolds is worth more than Hancock; maybe he starts with more experience. Lots of weapons options here, including the Burnside for the first time. Definitely better than any cavalry weapon we are currently using, but whether it's worth the cost is another matter. Perhaps conserving our reputation or going for one of the infantry rifle options or even the cash would be more useful.

[chesapeake]

By my count, we have about 23K reinforcements after the battle? We need to get those men in uniform.

The new rifles are very tempting. I'd be inclined to jump at the Springfields to outfit 2-3 veteran units that need them so that we can restore the decimated units more cheaply. It would really depend on how many weapons we had in inventory. I know we've got ~3K older Springfields from Malvern Hill that will take care of a lot of those reinforcements.

The risk is that we'd be letting our reputation drop quite a bit. But since we are about to embark on a big streak of victories, I think it is a risk we can afford.

[Brian Swartz]

Do I understand correctly that you are voting for switching emphasis from veterans more towards getting the recruits out there?

On the details, as of this moment we have $160,687 in the bank and 23,159 available recruits; you were right on in terms of what we have available.

Weapons Reference has all the new stuff, but to summarize here as it affects what you said, the relevant available infantry weapons:

** 5531 Re-Bored Farmer
** 3068 Springfield M1842
** 662 Palmetto M1842(that's the one slightly better and more expensive than the Springfield)
** 300 Lorenz
** 560 Springfield M1855

These are the ones we can buy significant quantities of beyond this if we need to. Either one of the infantry-rifle Reputation options would make it easier to add numbers to our better brigades -- IF we can stomach the price.

Campaign Planning

I should also mention that I do think it was arrogant of Gen. Stewart to put III Corps in front for the last battle; we would have struggled either way but rather than trying to get men experience, it's clearly more important right now to win some battles and preserve our men. Therefore the most prepared Corps will take the field from here on out. It's a photo-finish at the moment between I Corps and II Corps; probably going to be II Corps this time due to the way the brigades are picked for these, I Corps for the one after that, giving III Corps time to lick it's wounds and recover before 2nd Manassas.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Re-bored Farmer(1 brigade, 1625 total, 1 green)
** Springfield M1842(11 brigades, 10112 total, 10 * and 1 green)
** Lorenz(1 brigade, 583 total, 1 **)
** Springfield M1855(6 brigades, 4414 total, 4 ** and 2 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 922 total, 1 **)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 101 total, 1 green)
** Sharps Model 1855(2 brigades, 561 total, 1 * and 1 green)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 294 total, green)
** Palmetto M1842(1 brigade, 264 total, green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 377 total, 1 *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 532 total, 1 *)

I should mention we may well be switching out the Cook & Brother unit here(III Corps, 1st Division) as we haven't captured any more of those weapons and can't buy any more. As is we don't have enough for that unit to grow and develop.

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(3 brigades, 33 total, 2 * and 1 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 14 total, 1 **)
** 12pdr Howitzer(1 brigade, 11 total, 1 green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(2 brigades, 33 total, 1 ** and 1 *)
** 20pdr Parrot(1 brigade, 12 total, 1 *)

[ntndeacon]

I'm still for the slight lean to wards veterans. I am also very wary of dropping our reputation too much. Certainly we don't want the brigades to lose any of the expertise they already have.

[Brian Swartz]

Command Briefings

Army Structure

I Corps(BG James Stewart, 90%ish)
** Wagner
---- Race(Infantry, Springfield M1855)**
---- Scales(Artillery, 10pdr Ordnance)**
** Durrell
---- Kemper(Infantry, Lorenz)**
---- Hoke(Infantry, Re-Bored Farmer)
---- Birney(Carbine Cavalry, Smith)*
---- Seymour(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)**
** Loomis
---- Moody(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- York(Infantry, Harpers Ferry M1855)**
---- Pease(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Wright(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)*
II Corps(BG S. Heintzelman, 55%ish)
** McCook
** Liddell
** Church
III Corps(MG Ulysses Grant, 15% or so)
** Lawton
** Ferrero
----- Baldwin(Shock Cavalry, Palmetto M1842)
** McClellan

I Corps

Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade

Col. Gregory Race is at 81% and returns to action.

Alter Ego: Coffee Warlord

Men: 599
Experience: **, 25% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

Efficiency: 57
Morale: 75
Stamina: 64
Firearms: 80
Melee: 23

Weapon: Springfield M1855

$43-$44 per veteran, not including the weapon. Up to 121 rookies could be added while maintaining perks, reducing that to $36-37.

Scales's Brigade

Lt. Col. Wade Scales is also back, still at 93% to promotion.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Gun Crews: 14
Experience: **, 20% to ***
Perks: Physical Training, Tactical Training

Efficiency: 57
Morale: 88
Stamina: 61
Firearms: 80
Melee: 14

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

5k per veteran crew, $1.7k(weapon price) for rookies. Two more to max out at 16 for the current experience level.


Durrell's Division

Col. Rafael Durrell appears to be roughly 80-85% of the way to getting his general's star. It shouldn't be long now.

Alter Ego: ntndeacon

Col. Kemper -- 587 infantry(Lorenz, **, 23%)
Maj. Hoke -- 1625 infantry(Re-Bored Farmer, green, 51%)
Col. Birney -- 532 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 74%)

Hoke is maxed out for the moment. He may or may not be in line for Springfield 42s before the next battle you are involved in. The other two here can take on new men.


Seymour's Brigade

Lt. Col. Walter Seymour is a lot closer now, 80% of the way to full Colonel.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 15
Experience: **, 3% to ***
Perks: Logistics, Gunnery Training

Efficiency: 44
Morale: 81
Stamina: 50
Firearms: 86
Melee: 16

Weapon: 12pdr Napoleon

Most accurate artillery in the army and best defensive unit for sure. One more crew is permissible, at about $4.6k.

Loomis's Division

Col. Adam Loomis continues to progress slowly; he's halfway there now, perhaps just a hair over. One wonders if the war will end before he gets his star.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

** Col. Moody -- 2449 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 63%). Still looking for that weapon upgrade. Morale is down to 72 with the recent rookie additions but still quite a strength, with the other ratings in the 46-50 range.
** Gen. York -- 922 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, **, 0%). Still the only unit with this weapon, and rebuilding.
** Lt. Col. Pease -- 1864 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 0%). Not very good yet, but there are a lot of them and they are adequate at a basic level. Still has room to grow.
** Gen. Wright -- 18 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 82%). New crews are $3850 each for vets.

II Corps

Nobody left here right now.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

Lt. Col. Bryan Baldwin is wounded; Wade Siegfried is the cdaretaker.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Horsemen: 264
Experience: Green, 66% to *(+7%)
Perks: None

Efficiency: 12(+1)
Morale: 29(+20)
Stamina: 15(+5)
Firearms: 17(+7)
Melee: 20(+4)

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

Not that much positive happened in the first battle but they did make themselves known at a key moment, preventing the rebels from turning our flank. Minimal XP gain but the skills did grow some aside from efficiency. Not counting the weapon, veterans are $23 each, rookies $10 each.


You're on the clock, everyone. With Thanksgiving coming up I won't be proceeding until after the holiday -- Saturday probably, so you have until then. collegesportsfanms, you are once again without a chair after getting yourself killed. If you want back in, just tell me what you want and I'll give you a commission and let you know the situation for your new unit.

[Coffee Warlord]

Keep the reinforcements coming, keep us at 2 stars.

[DavidCorperial]

Up to you on a final crew.

[chesapeake]

I have no problem generally maintaining the current effort to maintain stars of experience with veterans. When I say that we need to get men in uniforms, I think we need to win the next battle and invest in army org. We need to rebuild units where necessary, but we also need several new brigades filled with these new recruits. We were outmanned by the rebs at Gaines and Malvern Hills. Primary focus needs to be on fixing that.

For my division, after growing Pease's brigade to 2k, focus on growing back York's unit. 1500 men for a veteran brigade is plenty. Moody and Wright are fine as is.

[ntndeacon]

we need reinforcements, but keep Kemper's at 2 * and don't go below 50 toward the second star for the cavalry. I am in favor of giving Seymour the extra gun!

[Brian Swartz]

FYI patch 1.09 came out yesterday and is considered the final one by devs. A major emphasis of it was AI improvements(flanking, setting up proper battle lines, etc.). That's something that's definitely improved already from the time I began this project. We could continue find some challenges going forward, but we'll see.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

I Corps

Race's Brigade -- +215, pretty equal numbers of rookies and vets. 814 men now.

Scales' Brigade -- Holding, decided not to add any more crews here due to needs elsewhere.

Durrell's Divison

Kemper -- +294, just over 100 of them rookies. Now at 877.
Hoke -- Due to the number of Springfield 1842s we have, I decided to upgrade here from the Re-Bored Farmers since we could do it for free and still have some to spread around elsewhere.
Birney -- +58 veterans. Per your instructions I could have gone with rookies, but he's good on numbers -- by far the largest cavalry brigade in the army. 590 now.

Seymour's Brigade -- A rare over-rule here. CO doesn't care, division commander wants the extra gun, but who knows what we might capture next battle to possibly get it for free, and more importantly we have a lot of depleted units that need the money. Seymour holds where he is.

Loomis's Division

** Moody -- No changes per orders.
** York -- The division orders resulted in more than 90% of the funds being available here. +287 veterans, for a total of 1209.
** Pease -- +164 veterans, maxing out at 2000.
** Wright -- No changes per orders.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

145 more cavalry were added, to a total now of 409.

Summary

We used up all the Springfields we captured, and bought a lot more -- of both types. I Corps and II Corps are a little under 10k each in total, with III Corps rebounding to about 8100. Approximately 28 thousand in all, about 5-6k below where we were a few months ago but a lot better than things looked after Malvern Hill.

The treasury is spent again($57) with 17,228 recruits in the pool and growing. Not much in the way of weapons that anyone uses. 10 12pdr Howitzers, which isn't quite enough for a new brigade to get them.

II Corps is still looking a bit better than I Corps -- in the first couple of divisions there are still three infantry brigades with less than 900 men. The other one are all raw recruits. Definitely think Stewart will benefit from a little more time to prepare for the next battle. II Corps has a couple of weak brigades as well but things aren't as dire there. Heintzelman remains the guy to hopefully remind the rebels what it's like to crawl away from the field of battle in utter defeat.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/tMzrD4r.png

They say we slightly outnumber the enemy, with nearly a 2:1 edge in artillery. But Heintzelman will only have a couple divisions, not his entire Corps, so who knows.

https://i.imgur.com/magO8Ch.png


https://i.imgur.com/suNU6uW.png


The last two battles we've defended, and met with limited success at best. Perhaps today's counter-attack will change the momentum.

[Brian Swartz]

** August 27, 1862, 4:03 AM. It's still very dark out here -- even the sun isn't up yet. Not particularly verbose in the instructions. As you may have noticed, there is a steep ridge east of the rebel position. Instead of attack along it's slope, I'm going to try to seize those heights. At the outset, there are five infantry brigades(two decent-sized, two small, and one max). A couple are high-quality. We've also got one of our better cavalry units and the long-range 20pdr Parrots under Root. Those would do very well indeed on that hill. Devin's horsemen will lead the way, and if we can secure a position there, we may well be in business.

** OOC Disclaimer: I did this once and got a draw, and replayed it here. I didn't know how limited the time was going to be, and it's such an arbitary cutoff in terms of the info given(nothing about reinforcements, still very early in the morning, etc.) There were no big surprises 'spoiled' for me or anything, so really all that changed the second time is that I knew I had a hard time limit to race against.


We have two hours to get this done. Call it 6 AM for the deadline.

** 4:10 AM. Partway up our side of the hill and no sign of trouble yet. Recon parties indicate the rebels have 9k men in the area and 24 guns, two thousand more than we have and double the artillery. If we do outnumber them, it hasn't shown up yet.

https://i.imgur.com/E4j1zg2.png


** 4:14 AM. Coming up on the crest of the hill, Devin's cavalry comes under fire from enemy artillery. He'll slide to the northeast behind the ridge, but I need him to find a reasonably secure sighting position to pinpoint where they are so Root can give them a piece of his mind -- and his ammunition.

** 4:21 AM. He finally does so on the edge of some trees. Any approach we make will be over open ground, so I'm hoping to use the elevation to our advantage. The three larger infantry brigades will be in front, two smaller ones in reserve.

https://i.imgur.com/Nikl5Br.png


** 4:52 AM. Mostly in position on the hill, and we don't have time for any more subtle maneuvering. I spread out the infantry in a long line, Root's artillery focuses on their guns, and everyone moves forward. Hopefully we can sweep them down.

** 5:02 AM -- Devin is surprised by some skirmishers to the north, but soon makes short work of them. Meanwhile the rebels start to give way. Carruth's large brigade stays in position, while the others increasingly look to swing around to the north.

https://i.imgur.com/bUWNsXe.png


** 5:21 AM -- A little over a half-hour to go and they try to form a defense in the trees ahead of our objective. Trimble breaks here, and we can push forward more. This could be close.

https://i.imgur.com/LRHTyf5.png


Or not. Just 15 minutes later, a lack of co-ordination on the Confederates part allows us to get into the trees, while Devin sweeps into their artillery on the flank. It's over. The forest makes for a good defensive position, and we mostly hold there, keeping the rebels off to the south. Our supply lines here are safe now.

A small one, but a VICTORY nonetheless.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics

Strength

Infantry: Union 5,974; Confederate 8,809
Cavalry: Union 451; Confederate 0
Artillery: Union 300(12 guns); Confederate 600(24 guns)

Total: Union 6,725; Confederate 9,409

It was not numbers, but seizing the high ground and general co-ordination of troops that made the difference today.

Losses

Infantry: Union 789; Confederate 2,527
Cavalry: Union 127; Confederate 0
Artillery: Union 0; Confederate 420(16 guns)

Total: Union 916; Confederate 2,927

We decimated their artillery and did well on the infantry comparison. Cavalry continue to take heavy losses, but between the skirmishers and guns on our flanks, they still did very well. Either way I'll take less than a thousand casualties quite happily after the last couple of battles.

Brigade Performance

** Carruth: 393 kills, 454 losses. They had the toughest job, holding the weakest position as the southern end while we swung around to the north.

** Tannatt: 698 kills, 93 losses. On the other end of the spectrum, coming down the steepest part of the hill is a favorable task

** Root: 243 kills, 0 losses. The artillery exchange was very one-sided.

** Devin: 217 kills, 127 losses. We'll need more of them once again.

** Hagood: 804 kills, 204 losses. Right in the middle of the thickest fighting pretty much the whole way.

The smaller units(Hunt, Rains) were kept out of most of the worst of it, and only had 38 casualties between them. They should definitely be stronger in the future.

Officers

We didn't lose any!! Also, Col. Mark Rains is our latest General now.

Weapons

** Springfield M1855: 161 rescued
** Springfield M1842: 218 rescued
** Colt M1855: 61 rescued
** 12pdr Napoleon: 5 captured. How about that.
** Palmetto M1842: 132 captured
** Re-Bored Farmer: 314 captured. Good to see the rebels still using these. That definitely helped overcome their numbers.
** Sharps Model 1855: 60 captured

Rewards

** Career Points: 1
** Reputation: +4
** Funding: $135k
** Recruits: 7.9k

https://i.imgur.com/YM5Wmcu.png

[Brian Swartz]

Career Points Briefing

Been a while since we even got to do one of these.

** Politics(4) -- Increase gold and recruits from + 10% to 12.5%.

** Economy(0) -- Increase weapon discount from 0 to 2.5%%.

** Medicine(2) -- Increase casualty recovery rate from 4 to 6%.

** Training(6) -- Increase the discount on veteran recruits from 15% to 17.5%.

** Army Organization(4) -- Increase the maximum size of the army. We currently have a max of 2 Corps, 3 Divisions, 4 Brigades, and 2000/Brigade. This would give us a 5th Brigade in each Division.

** Logistics(1) -- Increase starting ammunition from +5% to +10% for all brigades.

** Reconnaissance(4) -- Currently we know the enemy army size going in real-time, and while I haven't used it much yet, what Corps/Division/Brigade we are facing. The next level will give us more detail on the individual units they are fielding, described the game only as 'partial info', whatever that means.

Put in yer votes now gents. We proceed on Monday.

[ntndeacon]

Army Organization!

[Coffee Warlord]

Army Organization would be nice, but do we have the manpower and money to support it?

[Brian Swartz]

Manpower definitely; we have 25k recruits right now. That's almost as many as we have in the field(about 27k). Money-wise, it'll add 9 infantry brigades. Most of them will be infantry, and we have 7.5k Re-Bored Farmers we can throw out there if nothing else. So in this particular case I don't think it costs that much money.

I try not to lean too hard on pointing people in the direction of a particular choice, keeping my 'hands off the lever' so to speak. I will say though if we go into 2nd Bull run with 36(current total) brigades -- the max there is 80 -- we are probably going to have a disaster on our hands. It's hard to say for sure because it's one of those where the rebels start small and will get more men later, so I can't get a good read on what their total force will be, but being outnumbered by that much will likely result in a bigger catastrophe than the barely-saved battles at Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill. Granted the rebels did win the battle historically ... but I would think our goal is to not repeat that :).

[DavidCorperial]

Army Organization

[Qwikshot]

Army Organization

Logistics

[chesapeake]

Army Org. Best to do it now so we can blood some of the new brigades at Thoroughfare Gap.

[Coffee Warlord]

Army Org.

[Brian Swartz]

Army Organization it is. Division Commanders will need to consider now what to do with the new brigade.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Reference Updated. Most interesting is probably that we have almost 800 of the Palmetto M1842s and one brigade will probably get upgraded to those at relatively minimal cost given the lack of other decent stockpiled weapons. I'll also be looking to reinforce with the captured Napoleons and there are still some 12-pd Howitzers to find a home for.

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Re-bored Farmer(None, but we'll definitely be adding some here)
** Springfield M1842(12 brigades, 16471 total, 10 * and 2 green)
** Lorenz(1 brigade, 877 total, 1 **)
** Springfield M1855(6 brigades, 5305 total, 5 ** and 1 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 1209 total, 1 **)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 318 total, 1 green)
** Sharps Model 1855(2 brigades, 561 total, 1 * and 1 green)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 300 total, 1 green)
** Palmetto M1842(2 brigades, 647 total, 2 green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 329 total, 1 *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 590 total, 1 *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(3 brigades, 47 total, 2 * and 1 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 10 total, 1 **)
** 12pdr Howitzer(1 brigade, 12 total, 1 green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(2 brigades, 33 total, 2 **)
** 20pdr Parrot(1 brigade, 12 total, 1 *)

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis. We've maintained a lean towards veterans over weapon upgrades or increasing numbers for some time now. The general meaning of that has become that any brigade above 50% xp or well over half-strength will go for veterans. Brigades that are smaller and less than 50% to the their next perk will instead try to increase their numbers while maintaining something close to their current level.

2., Reputation Investment

We are at 44 Reputation, which confers a +2 boost to morale.

** $120k(18 Rep.)
** 5k recruits(18 Rep.)
** 4k Springfield M1855(15 Rep.)
** 3.5k Harpers Ferry M1855(15 Rep.)
** 500 Burnside(7 Rep.)
** 6 20pdr Parrot(6 Rep.)
** BG John Reynolds(6 Rep.)
** BG Winfield Hancock(4 Rep.)

Commanders are advised that, even with the new brigades, we are not in need of any new generals or recruits. The others would all be useful if deemed worth the price.

3. Weapon Sales

Due to the need to outfit several new brigades, we won't be selling anything.

[Brian Swartz]

** Note that I Corps will be handling the action at Thoroughfare Gap; II Corps went out last time, and III Corps is still going to be the weakest.

Command Briefings

Army Structure

I Corps(BG James Stewart, 90%ish)
** Wagner
---- Race(Infantry, Springfield M1855)**
---- Scales(Artillery, 10pdr Ordnance)**
** Durrell
---- Kemper(Infantry, Lorenz)**
---- Hoke(Infantry, Springfield M1842)
---- Birney(Carbine Cavalry, Smith)*
---- Seymour(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)**
** Loomis
---- Moody(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- York(Infantry, Harpers Ferry M1855)**
---- Pease(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Wright(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)*
II Corps(BG S. Heintzelman, 60%ish)
** McCook
** Liddell
** Church
III Corps(MG Ulysses Grant, 15% or so)
** Lawton
** Ferrero
----- Baldwin(Shock Cavalry, Palmetto M1842)
** McClellan

I Corps

Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade

Col. Gregory Race is at 81% and returns to action.

Alter Ego: Coffee Warlord

Men: 814
Experience: **, 0% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

Efficiency: 50
Morale: 65
Stamina: 57
Firearms: 70
Melee: 25

Weapon: Springfield M1855

$36-37 per veteran, not including the weapon. There aren't many in the armory right now so after the first 25-30 you'll be paying almost double that. No room for rookies so there really isn't anything to decide here; as many vets as I can manage.

Scales's Brigade

Lt. Col. Wade Scales is also back, still at 93% to promotion.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Gun Crews: 14
Experience: **, 20% to ***
Perks: Physical Training, Tactical Training

Efficiency: 57
Morale: 88
Stamina: 61
Firearms: 80
Melee: 14

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

5k per veteran crew, $1.7k(weapon price) for rookies. Two more to max out at 16 for the current experience level.


Durrell's Division

Col. Rafael Durrell appears to be roughly 80-85% of the way to getting his general's star. It shouldn't be long now.

Alter Ego: ntndeacon

Col. Kemper -- 877 infantry(Lorenz, **, 0%)
Maj. Hoke -- 1625 infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 51%)
Col. Birney -- 590 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 74%)

Hoke is maxed out and Kemper is locked in to all veterans to maintain perks, Birney as well to stay reasonably close to the next level. I don't see any real choices on these three, unless you want to hold Birney where he is and use the money on other units(750 is the cavalry max, so he's not far away).

You'll be getting a new infantry brigade, but there aren't any real decisions to make there either until they and Hoke get some experience.

Seymour's Brigade

Lt. Col. Walter Seymour is a lot closer now, 80% of the way to full Colonel.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 15
Experience: **, 3% to ***
Perks: Logistics, Gunnery Training

Efficiency: 44
Morale: 81
Stamina: 50
Firearms: 86
Melee: 16

Weapon: 12pdr Napoleon

Most accurate artillery in the army and best defensive unit for sure. One more crew will be added unless you request otherwhise. Since we captured Napoleons in the last battle, the price is down to a little under $3k.


Loomis's Division

Col. Adam Loomis continues to progress slowly; he's halfway there now, perhaps just a hair over. One wonders if the war will end before he gets his star.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

** Col. Moody -- 1449 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 63%). Still looking for that weapon upgrade but with the new units coming in he'll probably have to keep waiting. There are nine other brigades in the army with similar experience and outfitting. It's a long queue, though you are at least near the top of it here.
** Gen. York -- 1209 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, **, 0%). Still the only unit with this weapon, and rebuilding continues.
** Lt. Col. Pease -- 2000 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 0%). Maxed-out, and the only way they will improve from here is by increasing their abilities. Not good enough to justify a weapon improvement.
** Gen. Wright -- 18 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 82%). New crews are $2200 each(veteran). One more will be added with a captured gun from the last battle, barring objections.

You are already at the minimum for infantry, so you can choose any brigade type for your new unit; make it more well-rounded with cavalry or skirmishers, or hit harder with another one of the other kinds. Up to you.


II Corps

Nobody left here right now. One brigade did get a promotion from the last battle.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

Lt. Col. Bryan Baldwin is wounded; Wade Siegfried is the caretaker.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Horsemen: 264
Experience: Green, 66% to *
Perks: None

Efficiency: 11)
Morale: 30
Stamina: 15
Firearms: 17
Melee: 20

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

No spare weapons, and the III Corps continues to rebuild. $53 each for veterans, $40 of which is the weapon and the horse. Rookies wouldn't save much money anyway.

Thoroughfare Gap is up next; make your choices. 10 brigades here, so at most two divisions will be going in from I Corps. Always a guessing-game who fights and who doesn't in these situations. Once again, our two active division COs(Durrell and Loomis) are reminded to note the situation with the new brigade that will be added to your commands.

[Coffee Warlord]

Heh. CO already made my choice.

[ntndeacon]

Let's get as many infantry as we can in the new brigade and whatever gun we have enough of.. We can go to a better gun after they get a little seasoned.

[chesapeake]

I think it may be worth using the rep points to "buy" the 4k Springfields and give them to the top 2 brigades that have earned an upgrade. That will free up roughly 4k older muskets for the new brigades you're bringing on. If you've already got the weapons in hand, a new infantry brigade's only cost is bringing on a CO if you don't have one already waiting in the barracks.

Does I Corps already have a cavalry unit and a dedicated brigade of sharpshooters/skirmishers? If so you can give me another infantry brigade. If you don't have a skirmisher brigade with weapons that can fire at long range (400+), I'll take one of those. Those can be very useful blunting charges while standing safely behind a green unit with high melee 1842 weapons.

[Brian Swartz]

Yes and sort of. First off, let me invite others to chime on the weapons investment idea. We have one ** brigade that would benefit from the new weapons and could spread the others out among existing units(a lot of the '55 Springfield brigades are smallish) or I'd pick a * to add the others off to.

I Corps has the biggest and best cavalry brigade in the army, almost 600 of them, * experience, with decent Smith weapons. That's in Durrell's Division. Wagner's Division(1st in the Corps) do also have a skirmisher brigade, but it sucks(third iteration of it as the previous two were destroyed in battles). So green as green can be and they have the Sharps Model 1855(230 range). The slower-firing Hunter is used in another brigade(III Corps), which fits that bill(450 range). We don't have enough to equip another and can't buy them.

The only option for that kind of range is the standard Sharps rifle, which is considered the 'standard weapon of choice for sharpshooter regiments' according to the game. 450 range, decent firing rate, good accuracy. It also costs an arm and a leg($100 each). We've got 38 of these captured during the course of the war so far, and 324 more in the armory, so it's enough to outfit a decent-sized skirmisher unit. New brigade with the minimum size(100 men) would cost a little over $6k, but that kind of investment in a green unit is not something I'm really excited about doing. The usual Sharps Model 1855(a third the price) would make more sense for now if you want a skirmisher unit, and then investing the more expensive, longer-range gun once they get a little experience.

[DavidCorperial]

Yes I'll take another crew.

[collegesportsfanms]

I'm fine with the weapons investment idea

[chesapeake]

If it was financially feasible, I'd ask for a skirmisher unit with the Sharps rifles, but it appears it is not. So, send me a 1500-2000 greenhorns to whip into shape as an infantry regiment.

[Brian Swartz]

I'm fine with the weapons investment idea

Yeah, but you're dead. Twice, and stayed dead the last time. :D

Anyway, there being no opposition this approach was approved. 15 Reputation invested for the 4k Springfield M1855s. One brigade at least will be upgraded, the several low-on-numbers units carrying them will also get more relatively reasonably priced additions, and we'll see where that leaves us. 29 Reputation remains, which is a 'neutral' state; no morale effect one way or the other.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

A bit more wordy on the explanation here, but things got a little complex.

Col. Stephen Carruth's brigade, first in the 2nd Division of II Corps, was deemed the most worthy of getting first crack at the new Springfield M1855s. They're 83% of the way to their second star, the most capable unit still carrying the 1842s by a modest distance. That still left almost 2600 additional weapons to be divided between the now-seven brigades that carry them, while freeing up over 1500 of the 42 version as well.

I started with the new brigades; 8 of the 9 are infantry, with II Corps getting one cavalry unit. It soon became clear we'd need more guns than we have; about enough to equip six, not eight, infantry brigades were on hand. So I threw in a couple more upgrades; left less to be divided between existing units but that couldn't be helped. A small brigade in III Corps got the Springfield 1855, as did Moody finally(Loomis's Divison). Good things come to those who wait :P. These choices were all made by virtue of the next-most-deserving unit(in terms of skill), as I continue to aim to give weapons to those who know how to handle them(and are less likely to shatter in combat and waste the investment). It was more than I would have preferred spending, but one unit in II Corps gets an upgrade from the Springfield 42 to the Palmetto 42; we already had over half the guns they needed in the Armory but it still cost over $9k.

Once that was done there were over 5k Springfield 42s to go with the 7k+ Re-Bored Farmers. That figured to be enough to outfit 5 Farmers' brigades, 3 of the Springfields. The choice of who gets what was determined purely by random, as always -- I do the same thing for the officers.

** Pease(3rd brigade) is maxed; Moody +104 to 1553. York +132 men to 1341. Wright adds a 19th crew.

** Hagoods spent, Hunt spent, Devin's spent, Root spent also.
** Stuart(4th brigade) maxed, Sinclair(new 4th) exceeded max. spending on creation. Carruth, Rains, Tannatt, last two at about $2.5k.
** Truex(3rd brigade) and Cutshaw(4th brigade) maxed; Grose already upgraded, Appler spent,

I Corps

Race's Brigade -- +105, up to 919 men.

Scales' Brigade -- added a 15th crew, there's room for more but not the funding this time around.

Durrell's Divison

Kemper -- +86, now at 963.
Hoke -- Maxed out numbers-wise, so they just need more experience.
Lt. Col. Douglas Pease -- Unknown if he's related to the guy from Loomis's command one division further down. Debuts with 1494 infantry, Re-Bored Farmers.
Birney -- +33 to 623

Seymour's Brigade -- Adds the 16th gun crew.

Loomis's Division

** Moody -- Gets the upgrade to the 1855 Springfield, and adds 104 men to 1553 now.
** York -- +132, at 1341 men. Still haven't reached the goal of 1500 but we're getting there.
** Pease -- Maxed at 2k and nowhere to go yet.
** Lt. Col. Glen Gary debuts with 1786 men, drawing the good straw with Springfield 1842s.
** Wright -- Adds a 19th crew.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

Siegfried still in command, and still efficiency-limited at 409.

Summary

Still some stuff in the armory but not enough to do anything with; it's pretty empty. Treasury is gone again($18) and we're down to 9,716 recruits. Used up about 60% of the pool we had. I Corps is up to 15k, 13k for II Corps, 14k for III Corps. So in terms of soldiers the army has been considerably expanded, and we've got relatively healthy balance across the different Corps. I don't think we could have done much better.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/Hiisob7.png


Whether we have enough to stop Longstreet remains to be seen; last time we faced him things didn't go too well. Depends largely on which units get to deploy here.

https://i.imgur.com/cboubfx.png


https://i.imgur.com/R1fwI8e.png


We really ought to be able to hold almost anything for three hours. Right??

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/Dy9H9Ga.png


** August 28, 1862, 9:30 AM -- I think we want to use the trees as much as possible here. Depends on how far they've advanced when we run into them. Wagner and Durell, the first two divisions, are here. Loomis has the day off or whatever, which is unfortunate -- he might have the strongest of the three divisions right now.

We've got to hold until about 12:30 it says.

Ellis's green skirmishers and Birney's cavalry head across the stream, still making no contact.

Initially I was thinking I'd much rather force them to cross and fight on more favorable ground over here, but want to just scout them out. Right now they've got just over 2k nearby with two dozen guns; a quarter of our number say the recon parties. We should be able to cross in force then into the trees, forcing them to advance across the open fields. That might be better.

Seymour's Napoleons will advance as well, while Scales and his rifled 10-pounders hold back. The skirmishers reach the edge of the trees, and keep going a bit, while the rest of the divisions cross the stream and get into position.

** 9:41 AM -- Birney spots elements of Gen. Hood's Division before we can do that. He's ordered to dismount and look to slow them down.

** 9:44 AM -- Another division is now incoming. Up to more than six thousand rebels now approach, and their artillery is coming up through the woods. Birney withdraws, while Ellis looks for a suitable position to harass their southern flank.

https://i.imgur.com/zTDBBvQ.png


** 9:47 AM -- We could have a bit of a problem here. The main attack was expected to come a bit further south, the fields you can see by Hood's brigade here. But it's shifted to the north, and they are already getting into the trees more than I'd like. Wagner's Division will have to shift up that way, but two of his infantry brigades are totally green. Ellis has drawn off their skirmishers but that's all.

** 9:52 AM -- Kemper's Division has arrived on the other side, towards the south. Ok then. 12k on the field for the confederates, and we have about 8.5k to stop them. This is looking less encouraging, and it's basically three divisions to two here.

https://i.imgur.com/XdOyYND.png


** 10:21 AM -- It didn't look great for us in initially, as Hoke(Durrell's Division) got flanked in the forest and routed. Eventually they retreated across the stream, and stayed there to stop Anderson's flanking effort to the north. At least they didn't give up entirely. Here, in what has become the center of the battlefield, we have recently pushed them back with the help of Seymour's guns. Kemper's sharpshooters are being pressed by superior numbers to the north, while Wagner's Division has troubles of it's own holding off the rebels to the south. We're doing ok for now. How long it lasts? that's another question.

** 10:53 AM -- Trimble has taken a lot of punishment on the south, and breaks ... they try to flank around us there and I'm not sure we can hold them, but what's left of Ellis's skirmishers will support. We're giving better than we're receiving overall, so if time really is on our side I think it's going to be a decent day.

https://i.imgur.com/L2KC7GX.png


** 11:35 AM -- This could be a problem. Somehow these bastards managed to get behind us. The cavalry will come around to try to help, but we only have so many men ...

** 12:00 noon -- Chaos all over the field. Anderson charges Hoke in the north, but is repulsed. Birney's cavalry is barely enough along with Trimble and some guns I sighted in that direction to hold our rear position, but things aren't looking great there. Ellis' skirmishers are no more, yet another such unit that has collapsed, while Kemper's guys are holding off more than two brigades by themselves but I don't know how long that can last. .

** 12:22 AM -- Lt. Col. Javier Stone, who received his command less than a week ago, is killed in the south. It does not look like a sacrifice that will be wasted, as the rebel momentum has been halted and they are running out of ammunition. Our supply situation is just fine, thank you very much.

Battle Statistics

Strength

Infantry: 8,305 Union; 13,297 Confederate
Cavalry: 0 Union; 0 Confederate
Artillery: 31(775) Union; 46(1130) Confederate

Umm ... we brought 600 cavalry here. Go home game, you're drunk.

Total: 9,080 Union; 14,427 Confederate

Not the best odds here. But it was enough

Losses

Infantry: 3,068 Union; 5,753 Confederate
Cavalry: None(again incorrect)
Artillery: 0(13) Union; 0(3) Confederate

Total: 3,081 Union; 5,756 Confederate

It was not an easy victory, but most importantly it was one.

Brigade Performance

** Race: 1173 kills, 153 losses. Positioned in the center-south, these boys were pretty much killing machines, almost single-handedly responsible for holding off Kemper's Divison.

** Pease: 863 kills, 556 losses. They're new.

** Kemper: 840 kills, 507 losses. Good work, but I seem incapable of not getting this brigade devastated. Every. Freaking. Time.

** Stone: 623 kills, 674 losses. And got their CO killed. Their job was to get shot at on the south with Race.

** Trimble: 605 kills, 497 losses. Another elite unit that really took a pounding.

** Seymour: 416 kills, 13 losses.

** Hoke: 564 kills, 306 losses. After the nasty surprise in the early going, they acquitted themselves quite well holding the northern flank.

** Scales: 299 kills, 0 losses. Both artillery brigades definitely contributed.

** Ellis: 254 kills, 167 losses. Not a good debut, and I think they're gone.

** Birney: 163 kills, 208 losses. Wouldn't have gotten it done without them, but a third of our best cavalry is left on the field.

Officers

Stone is the one casualty, and he'll need to be replaced. Definitely had a short go of it, approximately two hours after a few days' prep.

** Maj. Jason Hoke is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. I approve.

** Lt Col. Wade Scales is promoted to full Colonel. What took you so long?? :P

** Col. Luis Wagner, commander of 1st Division, is now our latest Brigadier General. Also well-deserved.

Weapons

** Springfield M1842 -- 147 rescued, 347 captured
** Palmetto M1842 -- 0 rescued, 87 captured
** Re-Bored Farmer -- 591 rescued, 410 captured
** Sharps Model 1855 -- 123 rescued, 109 captured
** Smith -- 100 rescued
** Lorenz -- 244 rescued
** Springfield M1855 -- 312 rescued
** M1841 Mississippi -- 172 captured

Rewards

** Career Point -- +1
** Reputation -- +4
** Funding -- $135k
** Recruits -- 7.9k

https://i.imgur.com/ENuV1IH.png


Successes in these last two battles will result in a 5% reduction in the rebel force. So that's something at least.

[Brian Swartz]

Career Points Briefing

** Politics(4) -- Increase gold and recruits from + 10% to 12.5%.

** Economy(0) -- Increase weapon discount from 0 to 2.5%%.

** Medicine(2) -- Increase casualty recovery rate from 4 to 6%.

** Training(6) -- Increase the discount on veteran recruits from 15% to 17.5%.

** Army Organization(5) -- Increase the maximum size of the army. We currently have a max of 3 Corps, 3 Divisions, 5 Brigades, and 2000/Brigade. This would give us a 4th Division in each Corps. That would give us 60 of the maximum 80 brigades for the next fight -- we're presently at 45. We have the men for it, but not the guns, and don't have enough Reputation to get any the cheap way. If we go for the new Divisions, most of the money will go to purchasing weapons for them and we won't be able to do much for the existing units. If we don't, we'll have less manpower but I'll be able to do more in terms of bolstering the brigades we have. I think it's a tough choice and something of a Catch-22 -- but I don't have to make it.

** Logistics(1) -- Increase starting ammunition from +5% to +10% for all brigades.

** Reconnaissance(4) -- Currently we know the enemy army size going in real-time, and what Corps/Division/Brigade we are facing. The next level will give us more detail on the individual units they are fielding, described the game only as 'partial info', whatever that means.

Another big fight is on the horizon -- what say you?

[Coffee Warlord]

I almost thinkg we need more Army Org, and just get as many warm bodies as possible out there.

[DavidCorperial]

Army Org for many more bodies.

[chesapeake]

In my opinion, we need to get all available recruits into the field. If that requires us to take Army Org and spend the money we have on weapons for the new recruits, so be it. If we can get most of the recruits into the field in another way, then I'd support taking the point in politics.

[collegesportsfanms]

I say Army Org is the way to go

[ntndeacon]

Army Org

[Brian Swartz]

It would appear that the Army Orgs have it. To Chesapeake's point, the only way to make that happen would be to devalue the experience of current units and downgrade their weapons. And in any case it's a clear decision here. We'll have a lot of greenhorns going into 2nd Bull Run, and will hope that numbers matter enough to bring us victory(or at least, non-disaster).

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Reference updated. Here's what we are currently using.

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Re-bored Farmer(5 brigades, 6289 total, all green)
** Springfield M1842(11 brigades, 17407 total, 6 * and 5 green)
** Palmetto M1842(1 brigade, 1501 total, 1 *)
** Lorenz(1 brigade, 476 total, 1 **)
** Springfield M1855(9 brigades, 9286 total, 5 ** and 4 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 1341 total, 1 **)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 318 total, green)
** Sharps Model 1855(1 brigade, 315 total, 1 *)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 300 total, all green)
** Palmetto M1842(3 brigades, 841 total, all green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 391 total, 1*)
** Smith(1 brigade, 423 total, 1*)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(3 brigades, 47 total, 2 * and 1 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 15 total, 1 **)
** 12pdr Howitzer(1 brigade, 12 total, green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(2 brigades, 35 total, 1 ** and 1 *)
** 20pdr Parrot(1 brigade, 13 total, 1 *)

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis. Choosing Army Org basically made this choice for us; we'll be getting numbers out there above all else. This will be revisited after the next battle.

2. Reputation Investment.

We're at 33, a neutral amount with no impact.

** Burnside(x500): 7 Rep.
** 20pdr Parrot(x6): 6 Rep.
** BG John Reynolds: 6 Rep.
** BG Winfield Hancock: 6 Rep.

As always we don't need the generals; if either one of the weapons is chosen they'll go to a relatively more experienced brigade, with the cheaper weapons transferred to some of the newbies.

[Brian Swartz]

** Note: Out of necessity things are going to work a little differently this time. To get the numbers out there, we won't have any funds available for a lot of brigades. Unless you are particularly low on manpower or in one of the new units, you're going to be pretty much stuck with what you have. If you're looking for something expensive, feel free to use this opportunity to keep it to yourself :).

Command Briefings

Army Structure

I Corps(BG James Stewart, 95%ish)
** Wagner
---- Race(Infantry, Springfield M1855)**
---- Scales(Artillery, 10pdr Ordnance)**
** Durrell
---- Kemper(Infantry, Lorenz)**
---- Hoke(Infantry, Springfield M1842)
---- Pease(Infantry, Re-Bored Farmer)
---- Birney(Carbine Cavalry, Smith)*
---- Seymour(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)**
** Loomis
---- Moody(Infantry, Springfield M1855)*
---- York(Infantry, Harpers Ferry M1855)**
---- Pease(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Gary(Infantry, Springfield M1842)
---- Wright(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)*
II Corps(BG S. Heintzelman, 60%ish)
** McCook
** Liddell
** Church
III Corps(MG Ulysses Grant, 15% or so)
** Lawton
** Ferrero
----- Baldwin(Shock Cavalry, Palmetto M1842)
** McClellan

I Corps

Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade

Col. Gregory Race is at 99%. A hair away from his promotion.

Alter Ego: Coffee Warlord

Men: 772
Experience: **, 14% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

Efficiency: 57(+7)
Morale: 68(+3)
Stamina: 59(+2)
Firearms: 75(+5)
Melee: 25

Weapon: Springfield M1855

You may be eligible for a fairly small amount of rookies: we've got a few hundred M1855s to spread throughout the army, and you can take on up to 92 and still retain your ** status. Numbers are low but others are worse off; division-mate Trimble is at less than 500 right now for example.


Scales's Brigade

Col. Wade Scales has a shiny new rank, and is 7% of the way to getting his General's star.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Gun Crews: 15
Experience: **, 29% to ***
Perks: Physical Training, Tactical Training

Efficiency: 58(+1)
Morale: 91(+3)
Stamina: 62(+1)
Firearms: 84(+4)
Melee: 14

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

Pretty simple here. You don't need any reinforcements, and a new crew would cost over $5k what with us not having any spare guns of your type. That won't be forthcoming. So sit back and enjoy the show. Oh, and congrats on making full Colonel!


Durrell's Division

Col. Rafael Durrell appears to be roughly 90% of the way to getting his general's star. That could happen as we return to Bull Run.

Alter Ego: ntndeacon

Col. Kemper -- 476 infantry(Lorenz, **, 15%)
Maj. Hoke -- 1331 infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 85%)
Lt. Col. Pease -- 960 infantry(Re-Bored Farmer, green, 92%)
Col. Birney -- 423 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 83%)

We've got 200+ Lorenz and 100 Smith weapons available. Nobody else uses those, so you should see some growth in those units(vets for Birney, rookies for Kemper). Go ahead and up in your two cents here, but that's likely to be the extent of it. We won't have any spare guns for the others, and they're sitting better in terms of men than some units.

Seymour's Brigade

Lt. Col. Walter Seymour, like Race, just narrowly didn't get promoted. 98% of the way to full Colonel.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 16
Experience: **, 14% to ***
Perks: Logistics, Gunnery Training

Efficiency: 47(+3)
Morale: 84(+3)
Stamina: 52(+2)
Firearms: 91(+5)
Melee: 16

Weapon: 12pdr Napoleon

Continues to be the most accurate artillery in the Army. A dozen replacement men are needed. Since we still have a few spare Napoleons, you can add one more(rookie crew) while still retaining the second star, 1or stand pat, as you prefer.

Loomis's Division

Col. Adam Loomis was tending the supply lines or somesuch nonsense and hasn't been in a battle in quite some time. Still roughly halfway to his star.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

** Col. Moody -- 1553 Infantry(Springfield M1855, *, 63%). Finally got the requested weapon upgrade last time. And then didn't get to use it. Yet.
** Gen. York -- 1341 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, **, 0%).
** Lt. Col. Pease -- 2000 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 0%).
** Lt. Col. Gary -- 1786 Infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 58%).
** Gen. Wright -- 19 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 82%)

At least relatively speaking, this division is looking about as good as any in the Army. With resources needed more elsewhere, I don't expect anything to be available here.


II Corps

Nobody left here right now.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

Lt. Col. Bryan Baldwin is wounded; Wade Siegfried is the caretaker.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Horsemen: 409
Experience: Green, 66% to *
Perks: None

Efficiency: 11
Morale: 28
Stamina: 15
Firearms: 17
Melee: 20

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

Maxed-out until something changes.

Present now your orders for 2nd Bull Run. Comparatively there won't be a lot to do but all feedback and suggestions are always welcome. There are only 4 ablebodied officers in the Barracks; we'll need 18, not counting one replacement so we'll be using them all and generating a bunch of new ones. I'll let you know who that affects when I get to it. We'll have a bunch healing up after this though, so we should be ok if we don't get a bunch more shot up.

[DavidCorperial]

I'll take the extra crew of rookies.

[chesapeake]

If you feel you have to do something to the strongest division in the Army, you can add 1 gun to our artillery brigade. General Wright likes even numbers.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

First up was the officer reassignments. For the new divisions, I Corps lost Julian York from Loomis' Division, and John Hagood takes the job in II Corps. At that point I couldn't 'promote' anyone for III Corps, since we were out of officers. So Felix Toon is our new auto-generated Colonel for that spot. Loomis' 2nd Brigade is now led by Col. Pedro Finegan, who is plenty capable.

It also seemed wise to max out on supply. We were mostly there, so it was a small expense. Then I did some experimentation to see how to do the outfitting to accomplish the stated goal that was pretty much unanimous from the voting; get as many boots on the ground as possible, by whatever means. That turned out to be a dicey proposition, even more expensive than I'd hoped.

The new brigades were all formed at default strength; simply all we could afford. That means 1000 men for infantry, 150 for skirmishers, 4 guns(a couple got 5 here simply because we had extra in storage) for artillery, 250 for cavalry. That took all but literally a few thousand bucks.

Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade -- 92 added, up to 864 men.

Durrell's Division

** Kemper gets 103, now at 579 for one of our smallest infantry brigades.

** Seymour adds the 17th crew(rookies).


Altogether we added over 10k men, for a total of a bit over 49 thousand. There are still 7,089 in the recruit pool, but we took a nice good chunk out of it.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/TmOlYpD.png


And now -- which spots to fill here and which one to leave empty? I don't really know what to do here for sure, but it seemed most likely that the Rear Guard wouldn't see as much action, so I left that alone. If it becomes a problem I'll have to try and send some troops for the other spots out that way. It seemed II Corps was most prepared to take the Vanguard spot though you could honestly argue in favor of any of them. Regardless, Heintzelman was deployed there, with Stewart and Grant taking the other two 'main army' locations.

I don't know at all how the numbers will work out; as the description shows, we are pursuing a smaller force at first.

https://i.imgur.com/CtgmrWo.png


https://i.imgur.com/6ejNu6y.png


https://i.imgur.com/r5VnqeY.png


Battle pretends to start, but before I can do anything ...


https://i.imgur.com/Sak2XMi.png


https://i.imgur.com/Dps4HKK.png


I'm sure it will be as easy as all that.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle of 2nd Bull Run: Part I

** August 28, 1862, 6:30 PM -- Getting ourselves a late start here. Regardless, that last location is Brawner's Farm. Heintzelman has one division and approaches it from across a stream to the southwest:

https://i.imgur.com/aVR6w6B.png


Doesn't look like an inviting location. Probably best to head east and get across the stream first, then advance into the trees. Deadline here is just before 8PM, almost an hour and a half. With less than 5k on the field, and scouts reporting 7k for the rebels, the odds don't look great initially.

Riding north to the top of a nearby hill, Devin's cavalry spotted the artillery which had already opened up on our men crossing the stream. 14 guns there; Root's 13 20-pound Parrots were ordered up to those heights, where they could pound that position. Meanwhile Heintzelman led the infantry into the trees, where they met their first resistance before 7pm:

https://i.imgur.com/DwvaX2T.png


It was slow going, and we bogged down in the forest. We drove off their skirmishers and took out a few of the cannon, but they had enough numbers to make the casualties pretty much even as night fell. About 700 on each side.

[Brian Swartz]

2nd Bull Run: Part II

https://i.imgur.com/uhWHmDq.png


Nobody's going anywhere: it appears the work here has just begun.

"The incident at Brawner's Farm revealed Stonewall Jackson's positions. He is isolated, and is trying to march south towards Richmond."

https://i.imgur.com/GBz5WQb.png


https://i.imgur.com/7gFPWso.png


Hope springs eternal.

https://i.imgur.com/ahp1euu.png


https://i.imgur.com/FcH5NpO.png


Text briefing here indicates we should send one division to the other end of the line, guarding our own left. There might be an opportunity to attack from there.

https://i.imgur.com/vwAa2ep.png

Ok then.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/AHUwwUA.png


Just south of the ridge here there are more troops. We need to push roughly from east to west, cautiously, looking for opportunities on Jackson's flanks as described. BG S. Heintzelman now has another division and a half, 2nd and part of the third having joined him overnight along with the 1st that took part in yesterday's action. His supply wagon has also arrived, which is good because a couple of units are low on ammunition.

Lacking any compelling reason to do otherwhise, I'll keep the roughly 50-50 split and move the units along towards both flanks. Stony Ridge, which lies behind the rebel's expected defensive line, is our eventual objective. One thing is certain; this will be a long, bloody day.

** August 29, 1862, 8:00 AM. Initial troop estimates are 11k for us, over 18k for the rebels. I'll definiely be taking the proferred advice, and exercising caution, maximizing cover, etc.

https://i.imgur.com/rtM8d1S.png


** 8:26 AM. We encounter some infantry at the railroad in the north, somewhat east of where we expected to find them. We'll hold in the trees and see if we can push them back. It's a longer distance to march in the south as the ridge winds to the west more in that direction; they have still reported no contact.

A small cluster of buildings a bit further to the north, proved the best way to approach. There was another brigade there, but we concentrated fire and quickly routed them. Pushing forward on that flank, we were able to threaten the next brigade over and fire from superior position. It was not as rosy in the south.

https://i.imgur.com/G5A8usC.png


Crossing that open space would not be healthy. I attempted to set up our artillery in range, but that's about it.

https://i.imgur.com/Cv1gOvm.png


After we'd softened them up for a while, I risked what ended up being one of the most effective cavalry charges we've yet had. We lost a few dozen horsemen, but smashed another brigade. This let us broaden the hole we'd made in the north flank. A pretty successful morning overall.

[Brian Swartz]

2nd Bull Run Part 3: Attack Jackson Again

Briefing Text: "Jackson as expected is a tough nut to crack ... we have to rest while waiting for reinforcements."

https://i.imgur.com/LvcMZ0O.png


There's Stewart with I Corps arriving! Had the camera at a weird angle when this came up, and you can't change it afterwards.

https://i.imgur.com/ANu7fsp.png


This is the situation in the south. Right now, I'd say no.

** 2:30PM -- We've fast-forwarded basically four hours here. Two divisions from I Corps have arrived. They'll press forwards toward the rebel center -- they are already trying to counter-attack a bit, and we can't have that.

We now have 16.5k men on the field, just over 17k for the Confederates. If we see an opportunity, we'll press this harder. It's not enough to bloody them; we have to capture Stony Ridge for victory here. The rebel position in the south has weakened. What the heck; I tell the men down there to attack. Fortune favors the bold, right?? They get more men in position before we can get far though. I decide to wait and just keep firing the artillery until we are presented with another opportunity.

** 3:04 PM -- The brief rebel counter-attack has failed, and the new divisions are reaching the battle. Those trees right in the middle, just west of the railroad track, look to be an important foothold. I send some of our best sharpshooters there with other brigades ready close-by to move in if there's a weak spot. Race and Kemper are among them. They should have good cover in there and be able to do some damage to the rebel's fortified positions.

Turns out it isn't close enough, we're still out of range. We need a concentrated push somewhere to dislodge them; there's just no cover close enough. I go back to the southern plan. I think we've got the numbers there, and if we can force their men further north to shift, we might create an opening for the bulk of the Army. It's as good a plan as any.

** 3:30 PM -- Just as they are charging in, for better of worse, the rest of II Corps arrives along with Loomis' men from I Corps. A few minutes later, a good portion of III Corps is also on the field and marching towards the front lines. We're pretty much all here now.

https://i.imgur.com/pSpGzVZ.png


As it turns out, this was as lightly defended as I hoped. Just the one brigade, and we quickly drive them off, gaining a foothold in the forest here on the south end of the ridge. With the latest reinforcements, we appear to have the advantage; 36k for us, 24k for the rebels. It's time to push harder; we'll form up in the south and push a flanking maneuver as hard as we can.

https://i.imgur.com/eex8T2s.png


We push partway up the ridge, then they manage to form an organized resistance. These brigades have had a hard last hour or so and are getting tired -- and there are reports of rebel reinforcements arriving behind them to the west. It could get very bad if they are sandwiched.


** 3:49 PM -- As the new Corps continued to, too-slowly, work their way westwards towards the fighting, it looked like the rebels were re-deploying away from their prepared fortifications. I didn't know where they were going for sure. Didn't care either. Wherever it was, I didn't want to give them the opportunity to get a secure position there and set up ready for us. Even without our full strength yet gathered, it seemed the moment was ripe for a general advance.

By 4, the south was looking a little wobbly as one brigade's impetous charge had turned disastrous. Ammunition was starting become an issue there as well with no fresh supply yet in the area. In the center though, it looked like we would have a good chance to push them back.

** 4:04 PM -- A band of less than 100 skirmishers surrenders to us on the north flank. Meanwhile Hood was was starting to cause our brigades in the south some serious trouble. I did everything I could to relieve the pressure, but our reinforcements might not get there in time to save them ...

** 4:20 PM -- Col. Clayton Peabody, one of our new skirmisher captains, is wounded as his fledgling brigade is overrun.

** 4:27 PM -- Col. Ken Stuart, commanding the artillery in the south, is wounded. Our position there is collapsing; we've drawn off some of the rebel attention, but not enough of it. On the other hand, they're not looking so hot in the north as their main artillery position has been taken.

[Brian Swartz]

2nd Bull Run, Conclusion: Continuing to Attack
Jackson

I detecting a pattern in the instructions we get in this battle ...

https://i.imgur.com/qRZ5HOV.png


Rather obvious that it already is.

https://i.imgur.com/SP6S8uI.png


I think we've got him on the run. Recon parties agree, reporting that we have about 35k strength in the area, with 25k for the rebels. Unless that swings against us, we keep going. Much of the ground, as you can see here, favors them. Organization and coherency of their men does not. We're pushing them back, and once we take the ridge I don't forsee good things for the Confederates here. I will not run at the mere thought of a threat.

The south flank is basically surrounded, but if they can hold out a while longer ...

Terrain, cover are virtual non-issues here. This has degenerated into little more than a general free-for-all, and that's much to our benefit it seems as we're definitely giving better than we are receiving. While some are still coming up, most of the Army is now in the fight. At the moment we estimate about 2700 losses on our side, nearly 5k for the enemy. Why would we stop now??

We've taken the north end of the ridge, and begun the process of wheeling south. We will crush Jackson, Hood, and any other rebel SCUM who stand in our way!!

** 4:34 PM -- Cpt. Alvin Ransom, another new skirmisher commander, is killed. This is a heavy-handed slugfest, and the newer, flimsy skirmisher units have their place. This isn't really it. They've served as little more than a useful distraction.

** 5pm -- We have some late arrivals, giving us almost a 2:1 edge in manpower here. At this point though it could be basically over by the time we get them in action. We've relieved the pressure on one side in the south. While half of our men down there have been crushed, the other half are heroes, and will soon get some rest I think.

Soon one of our biggest problems is the need to constantly reposition the artillery due to how quickly we are pushing them. A good problem to have.

** 5:19 PM -- Another rebel division, under Gen. Jones, has been spotted. We'll take them out too.

https://i.imgur.com/cnYeOjh.png


** 5:30 PM -- Shumaker here, on the west of the ridge, is the first of their main artillery emplacements to be reached. It is the end for our enemy.

They had their moments, catching us off-guard in isolated ambushes here and there, but the overall trend for the rest of the evening was that the Confederates were swept from the field.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics


Strength

Infantry: 41,863 Union; 29,299 Confederacy
Cavalry: 2,205 Union; 784 Confederacy
Artillery: 116 guns(2900) Union; 80 guns(1934) Confederacy

Total: 46,968 Union; 32,017 Confederacy

The new men we threw into action were enough to give us a significant edge.

Casualties

Infantry: 7,959 Union; 11,874 Confederacy
Cavalry: 333 Union; 140 Confederacy
Artillery: 12 guns(367) Union; 36 guns(885) Confederacy
Missing: 91 Confederacy

Total: 8,750 Union; 12,899 Confederacy

We took more punishment than I had thought, but it was still a clear Victory. The latest arrivals never got involved at all, which skews the numbers a bit here.


Brigade Performance

So many units involved it's hard to see who is who. That'll be easier when I get to camp briefings and can look up how each brigade did.

Officers

Col. Rafael Durrell has been promoted to Brigadier General. Finally.

BG James Stewart gets his second star, and is now a Major General. We'll have a decision to make collectively on him.

Col. Gregory Race is also promoted to General, as are four others.

Lt. Col. Walter Seymour is promoted to full Colonel.

Says we had nobody wounded or deceased even though there were two reports of it happening during the action. It appears that happens when the entire brigade is shattered.

Weapons

** Re-Bored Farmer: 607 rescued, 650 captured
** Sharps Model 1855: 152 rescued, 199 captured
** Springfield M1842: 1385 rescued, 1272 captured
** Springfield M1855: 1271 rescued, none captured. That's actually probably a good thing, indicated we didn't have to face any and that the rebels aren't using them.
** M1841 Mississippi: 85 captured. We may eventually get enough to use, but we'll need more than this.
** Palmetto M1842: 346 rescued, 319 captured
** Harpers Ferry M1855: 217 rescued, 0 captured
** Smith: 47 rescued
** Lorenz: 12 rescued
** 6pdr Field: 9 rescued, 3 captured
** Palmetto M1842(cav. version): 90 rescued
** Colt M1855: 34 rescued
** 12pdr Napoleon: 8 captured
** Sawed-off: 28 captured

That's, uh, a long list.

Rewards

** Career Points: +2
** Reputation: +20
** Funding: $277k
** Recruits: 16.6k. Plus another 91 in exchange for the men we captured.

First 'Grand Battle' we've won in a while. It remains to be seen whether it ushers in a new era of momentum. In the actual events, the Union lost 16k and the Confederacy 7k here as the rebel reinforcements turned the tide, so it's nice that we fared better than that.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/mcvu5wX.png


We are now in the 1862 Maryland Campaign, in which we are in general on the defensive. Two smaller battles(on the same day), require 9 and 20 brigades. This will be followed up by Antietam, which has a higher brigade limit than 2nd Bull Run(which we had more than enough more men for) at 100(we have 60 right now). III Corps is by far the strongest right now, and will take at least one of these battles on if not both. It's been an extremely busy, and up-and-down year, in the war. That's now drawing to a close, one way or the other.

Career Points Briefing

** Politics(4) -- Increase gold and recruits from + 10% to 12.5% or 15%.

** Economy(0) -- Increase weapon discount from 0 to 2.5% or 5%

** Medicine(2) -- Increase casualty recovery rate from 4 to 6% or 8%.

** Training(6) -- Increase the discount on veteran recruits from 15% to 17.5% or 20%.

** Army Organization(6) -- Increase the maximum size of the army. We currently have a max of 3 Corps, 4 Divisions, 5 Brigades, and 2000/Brigade. The first point would upgrade to 2500/Brigade; the second would add a 4th Corps. So we definitely have the option to keep growing -- or to improve what we already have.

** Logistics(1) -- Increase starting ammunition from +5% to +10% or 15% for all brigades.

** Reconnaissance(4) -- Currently we know the enemy army size going in real-time, and what Corps/Division/Brigade we are facing. The next level will give us more detail on the individual units they are fielding, described the game only as 'partial info', whatever that means.

First Two-Pointer to decide on in a while -- enter your votes!. For anyone who's curious, we sit at $277k funding, almost 24k in recruits. That's enough to handle another Corps if we decide to go that route.

[DavidCorperial]

I'd say one Politics and one Training.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm down with that.

Excuse me.

GENERAL Coffee is down with that.

[chesapeake]

1 in politics and 1 in economy.

[collegesportsfanms]

politics and training looks good to me

[ntndeacon]

Medicine and training for me

[Brian Swartz]

Politics and Training win the vote. We move up to 5 and 7 points invested there respectively.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Reference updated in the OP. There's really nothing exciting to mention there; modest increases in availability at best.

Barracks Report

The 10 wounded officers are now available, and 14 more are available to recruit. We do need to replace five, the number of brigades that shattered at 2nd Bull Run, but that will still leave us looking very good indeed. In fact, there will now only be one division left that isn't commanded by a General, with enough left over for a few of them to be brigade commanders. Qualified leadership has never been less of an issue.

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Re-bored Farmer(6 brigades, 6076 total, 3 * and 3 green)
** Springfield M1842(19 brigades, 22543 total, 7 * and 12 green)
** Palmetto M1842(1 brigade, 832 total, 1 *)
** Lorenz(1 brigade, 554 total, 1 **)
** Springfield M1855(8 brigades, 7059 total, 6 ** and 2 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 907 total, 1 **)

One obvious change that we will look into here is outfitting the promoted brigades with Farmers with something better -- and using the freed-up weapons for a couple new brigades, and reinforcing the remaining green ones.

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 318 total, 1 green)
** Sharps Model 1855(2 brigades, 465 total, 1 * and 1 green)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 300 total, 1 green)
** Palmetto M1842(3 brigades, 910 total, 3 green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 323 total, 1 *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 329 total, 1 *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(3 brigades, 33 total, 2 * and 1 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 15 total, 1 **)
** 12pdr Howitzer(3 brigades, 22 total, 3 green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(2 brigades, 36 total, 1 ** and 1 *)
** 20pdr Parrot(1 brigade, 13 total, 1 *)

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis. Although we definitely went for numbers last time, our long-term outlook continues to be a slight lean to veterans over weapon upgrades and recruit numbers.

2. Reputation Investment

We're at 53 right now. That confers a +4 morale bonus on all units.

** $125k cash(22 Rep.)
** 5k recruits(22 Rep.)
** 7.5k Springfield M1855(18 Rep.)
** 12 12pdr Napoleon(7 Rep.)
** 12 10pdr Ordnance(7 Rep.)
** 12 10pdr Parrot(7 Rep.)
** BG George Meade(6 Rep.)
** BG Ambrose Burnside(4 Rep.)

As before, all Commanders are advised that we are not in need of men or generals; we have plenty of both, at least for the current state of things with the choices that have been made. Cash or weapons will always be useful in upgrading our capabilties however. Useful enough to warrant the investment? As always, that choice is in your hands.

3. Weapon Sales

There are a few that we have enough to raise a bit of money with, those we've captured, can't buy, and don't have enough to outfit a brigade. With the big 'payday' we got though it's not enough to be more than a drop in the bucket. We'll revisit this in the future.

Command briefing hopefully later tonight. With Christmas weekend coming up though, I'm likely to delay the next battle until afterwards, to ensure everyone has a chance to look things over.

[Brian Swartz]

Command Briefings

I've thought about how to approach the next couple of battles. Since they are both on the same day, I don't think it's reasonable to send III Corps out for both. Their strength in numbers would be most useful in the larger skirmish, so we'll switch gears and head to South Mountain first. Current estimates are that they will outnumber the enemy a bit even before considering reinforcements(though artillery is another matter, favoring the rebels currently). It's still a quite inexperienced Corps but we'll rely on numbers to carry the day. This will both allow the other two Corps to recover their strength more before going out again, and also give them the advantadge of weakening/diverting the force they'll eventually face at Crampton's Gap. I think this gives us the best reasonable approach to the next couple of battles ahead of Antietam.

Army Structure

I Corps(MG James Stewart, 5%ish)
** Wagner
---- Race(Infantry, Springfield M1855)**
---- Scales(Artillery, 10pdr Ordnance)**
** Durrell
---- Kemper(Infantry, Lorenz)**
---- Hoke(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Pease(Infantry, Re-Bored Farmer)*
---- Birney(Carbine Cavalry, Smith)*
---- Seymour(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)**
** Loomis
---- Moody(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Finegan(Infantry, Harpers Ferry M1855)**
---- Pease(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- Gary(Infantry, Springfield M1842)
---- Wright(Artillery, 12pdr Napoleon)*
** York

II Corps(BG S. Heintzelman, 80%ish)
** McCook
** Liddell
** Church
** Hagood
III Corps(MG Ulysses Grant, 15% or so)
** Lawton
** Ferrero
----- Baldwin(Shock Cavalry, Palmetto M1842)
** McClellan
** Toon

I Corps

James Stewart has been promoted to Major General! All I Corps officers, which is most of you, are directed to put in your two cents on what perk he should choose. Note that division COs will have their opinions be given somewhat greater weight. Stewart's first perk was pre-selected as Tactics(+5% speed) when we started the game. The new options are:

** Artillery Specialization(+5 Firearms/+5% Accuracy/-5% Reloading Time)
** Infantry Specialization(+5 Melee/+5 Firearms/-5% Reloading Time)
** Cavalry Specialization(+5 Melee/+5 Firearms/+10% Charge Damage)

Each applies only to units of that specific type(Artillery/Infantry/Cavalry).

Wagner's Division

Race's Brigade

BG Gregory Race is at 19%. Next step for him really is getting his own division; he's fairly close to the top of the list in terms of that happening, but there are still a few ahead of him due to 'general glut'.

Alter Ego: Coffee Warlord

Men: 589
Experience: **, 16% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training
Last Battle: 2nd Bull Run(287 losses, 614 kills. Not bad)

Efficiency: 57
Morale: 73(+5)
Stamina: 60(+1)
Firearms: 74(-1)
Melee: 25

Weapon: Springfield M1855

$39 each for veterans(not counting the weapon, you'll at least get some of those for free). Can take on up to 81 rookies while maintaining second star; That would reduce the price to $34-35 each. Not a big difference at this point; of course you are the one who chooses whether it is worth it.


Scales's Brigade

Col. Wade Scales progresses to 20%.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Gun Crews: 15
Experience: **, 39% to ***
Perks: Physical Training, Tactical Training
Last Battle: 2nd Bull Run(0 losses, 223 kills. Actually one of the lower kill numbers for them in the war).

Efficiency: 60(+2)
Morale: 99(+8)
Stamina: 66(+4)
Firearms: 89(+5)
Melee: 14

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

$5250 for veteran crews. You can take on up to two more under the command-efficiency limit; the money's likely to be available for one if you choose it. No reinforcements are needed since there were no casualties. Also worth noting that you've maxed-out morale; fighting efficiency and stamina are the only things that are really going to get much better. Could also campaign for a different weapon.


Durrell's Division

BG Rafael Durrell has received his general's star, and is a percent or two towards the next one, not much progress there yet.

Alter Ego: ntndeacon

Col. Kemper -- 554 infantry(Lorenz, **, 12%). 26 losses, 157 kills in limited action at 2nd Bull Run. Small size of the brigade contributed; have to be more careful without there being enough men.
Lt. Col. Hoke -- 960 infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 10%). 387 losses, 252 kills at 2nd Bull run. Promoted to * status!
Lt. Col. Pease -- 715 infantry(Re-Bored Farmer, *, 15%). 255 losses, 228 kills at 2nd Bull Run.
BG Birney -- 329 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 91%). 98 losses, 77 kills at 2nd Bull Run.

Aside from the usual vets/rookies call, there's also the matter of what perks to get for Hoke & Pease's brigades. It's the usual choices: Discipline Training gives morale, Endurance Course gives Stamina and Speed, both increase efficiency. Also, Pease at least is in line for a new weapon; any * brigade is good enough to be given something better than a Farmer. There are enough Lorenz's available that we can go for two brigades with them again, but not three. At least one of the units will need to make do with something else long-term. Either way, I'd say 2nd Bull Run was a good one for your division overall, though Birney has really taken a hit the last couple times out.

Seymour's Brigade

Col. Walter Seymour is a full Colonel, and stands at 18% towards General rank.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 17
Experience: **, 13% to ***
Perks: Logistics, Gunnery Training
Last Battle: 0 losses, 112 kills at 2nd Bull Run. Only at one of the minor skirmishers did they record a lower total, but of course they were late arrivals.

Efficiency: 45(-2)
Morale: 87(+3)
Stamina: 52
Firearms: 91
Melee: 16

Weapon: 12pdr Napoleon

Gained enough skill to make up for the rookie additions, more or less. We currently have 10 Napoleons in the armory, and will be looking to use them either here or in equipping a third brigade with them. However, you are maxed-out in terms of the command limit so there doesn't appear to be much unless you want a different gun or something.


Loomis's Division

Col. Adam Loomis is the only division commander who hasn't been made a General. About 70% now. I think he'll get there eventually. I hope.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

** Col. Moody -- 1547 Infantry(Springfield M1855, *, 77%). 6 losses, 501 kills at 2nd Bull Run. Was positioned well in mop-up duty, but that's still darned impressive.
** Gen. Finegan -- 907 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, **, 8%). 452 losses, 363 kills at 2nd Bull Run. Not real impressive for one of the elite brigades, and they didn't improve a whole lot.
** Col. Pease -- 2000 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 25%). 458 losses, 683 kills. They were involved in some pretty heavy fighting, improved in all categories, most notably morale(up to 47, basically doubled).
** Lt. Col. Gary -- 1262 Infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 78%). 546 losses, 232 kills. Eeek. Those who survived are now just half as incompetent as they were before.
** Gen. Wright -- 19 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 93%). 22 losses, 259 kills. Wright was caught in one of the surprise rebel ambushes near the southern flank. Got out of trouble reasonably quickly, but almost $2k will need to be spent on reinforcements. Can increase up to the max, and given the extras, this is a good candidate for an additional gun on top of the replacement men if desired.

II Corps

A few brigades to promote, and 2nd Division was among the hardest-hit by 2nd Bull Run. They, uh, have only two brigades left. Who recorded almost 1300 enemy casualties between them. Heroes, every last man.

III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

Lt. Col. Bryan Baldwin is back in action. 24% to promotion.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Horsemen: 328
Experience: Green, 86% to *
Perks: None
Last Battle: 84 losses, 8 kills at 2nd Bull Run. That's, uh, really bad. Can't sugarcoat it really.

Efficiency: 12(+1)
Morale: 40(+12)
Stamina: 17(+2)
Firearms: 17
Melee: 20(+1)

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

Didn't learn anything skill-wise, but they are more seasoned. Vets are $27 here(without the weapon cost), rookies $10. Still the same story; this brigade needs to push for a promotion perk before much can be changed.

Lots of resources, so this is an important set of orders. We're back into the 'normal' vein of investing some resources in most brigades and going for a broad, gradual improvement here. I Corps officers are reminded to vote on their Corps Commander's perk; everyone is reminded to consider emphasis and reputation options. I think Wednesday evening the 27th would be a good time to resume here. Enjoy Christmas ... but don't forget to put in your two cents here. We've got the initiative back, perhaps, but will need to fight hard to retain it.

[Brian Swartz]

Just a reminder that I plan to proceed later tonight; hope everyone had a great Christmas. It's a busy time of year for everyone, so no harm no foul if anyone doesn't have to time to chime in, but I also don't want to overly drag this out without advancing.

[ntndeacon]

Let's get as many men in Durrell's units without lowering stars....the exception being Birneys unit. Veterans only there. And get Pease the Springfield M1855 if we can get them. Lets give Home Discipline and give Pease endurance.

[chesapeake]

Recommend that the CO select the infantry specialization.

Give Wright's unit an extra gun. We like even numbers.

Disappointing performance from Finegan's brigade, but they're the unit that needs the investment from my division. Build them up with veterans, if you please.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

Every infantry brigade that has reached * status was upgraded to the Springfield M1842 if they didn't have them already. This was given priority, as it seems best to me to have a halfway-serviceable weapon for men who have proven themselves capable of using it. There were three of them, taking up almost all of the applicable weapons in the Armory.

I Corps

MG James Stewart takes the Infantry Specialization. I was debating between that and RNG-decision there, but chesapeake's vote pushed it over the edge.

Race's Brigade -- 81 rookies for free took you down to the ** experience minimum again. 157 vets as well, a total of +238, now at 827 men. Still small, but recovering.

Scales' Brigade -- Given the lack of instructions here, the fact that another veteran crew would put him just over the brigade allotment in terms of funding, and the relative need for more bodies elsewhere, Scales holds at 15 crews with no changes this time around.

Durrell's Divison

Kemper -- 55 rookies, 143 veterans. +198 to 752 strength.
Hoke -- 277 rookies, 142 veterans. +419 to 1379 men.
Pease -- Not experienced enough to justify the expense of the Springfield M1855. They do get a shipment of M1842s though. 365 rookies, 107 veterans. +472, now at 1187. The requested weapon is noted for future reference though, and may come in time.
Birney -- +82 veterans, back up to a credible 411 horsemen.

Seymour's Brigade -- Holds at max of 17.

Loomis's Division

** Moody -- No change.
** Finegan -- 417 vets to 1324. This took a truly ridiculous amount of money, siphoning from the other brigades in the division as part of it. Approached $20k spent on the one unit ... so I hope they perform now as a result :).
** Pease -- Adds 11 rookies as part of a general disbursement of the Springfield M1842.
** Gary -- Same 11 for him, and 227 vets to get him up to the 1500 mark.
** Wright -- Up to 20 guns now.


III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

155 reinforcements, up to 483. Good-sized cavalry now, but they still pretty much suck in the skill department.

Summary

We just spent over a quarter-million warbucks(TM). There is a whopping $25 left, and 8,414 recruits; we put about 70% of the available manpower in the field as well. We now have a third Napoleon-firing artillery brigade, but the biggest change was in the lower-level infantry. Several thousand new Springfield M1842s are now out there. In fact, we raided over half of the available stock. Once as high as 20k, it's now at just over 4500 remaining. If things go well, we'll probably have to upgrade more units out of necessity; but that would be a really good problem to have. A lot of green/1-star brigades that were at about 1000 moved up to close to the 1500 range. This was made possible by our biggest warchest yet to spend, continuing training improvements, and also the increased experience of our top commanders, which has a trickle-down effect on the brigades. The command-efficiency limit is becoming less of an issue.

Of course, the more experienced units, and those with more advanced weapons, remain much more difficult to increase the numbers in.

Here's how the total manpower stands:

I Corps -- 16.9k
II Corps -- 18.1k
III Corps -- 20.6k

Over 55,000 now under our command. Which is still just half of the size of the total rebel force, so we oughtn't get cocky, but we've never gotten much above 40k before.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/cmjCIcN.png


Estimates are 22k for us, 17.5k for them, though we remain significantly outnumbered in terms of artillery. Early in the war, this number of men would have been considered a grand battle for sure; I think it's more than were involved in 1st Bull Run, for example. It's hard to consider this a minor skirmish. Let's hope Grant's up to the challenge with his large, but inexperienced, Corps.

https://i.imgur.com/JH0Clff.png


https://i.imgur.com/CUPDsNJ.png

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/5vl1Ll9.png


** September 14, 1862, 5:30 PM

Updated troop estimates are currently at 21k for us, less than 16k for them. Same range as expected. I'm told we have three hours here to accomplish our task.

Grant's men are massed east of here, well on the other side of the river. It seems best to focus most of our efforts on the forests, flanking them to the north and south if possible. One division to the north, one in the center where we'll have the best firing positions for most of the artillery, two divisions south where we'll have better cover and can get closer before we press home the attack.

Or so goes my theory. It is not a plan without risk -- but then what is? Attacking from the south gives us better cover, but also puts us at lower elevation.

** 5:39 AM -- Skirmishers met us on the east side of the river, and there was more significant opposition on the west side; close-placed artillery and multiple infantry brigades. The division assigned to the center would not be able to do more than hold our side of things.

https://i.imgur.com/yII1fEW.png


** 5:47 AM -- McRae's Brigade here didn't feel like waiting, aggravated at some of our skirmishers and nearly a thousand men charged across immediately. They got into the woods, but we were still able to give them a rather rude reception.

Definitely not a slow positional beginning here. Soon afterwards, we noticed they had one brigade in the north, and a second shifted up that way from the center; but nobody was guarding the crossing to the south. Perhaps we'll have a chance of flanking from that direction, and orders were sent out for all units to proceed forward so long as there was no enemy contact.

** 5:56 PM -- McRae routs, having lost well over 200 men in about ten minutes. The artillery refocuses on Ripley & Anderson, who hold the most advanced positions in the rebel center. Meanwhile, with the enemy pulling back a bit in the north, our most ... uh ... 'disposable' brigade out that way, 1500 infantry under Averell with Farmer's muskets, were sent across the stream to claim a small grove of trees, with the other two infantry brigades in support. This is also where Bryan Baldwin is deployed; his cavalry are backing up that flank.

Current casualty report: 94 Union, 272 Confederate. I'll take that.

** 6:04 PM -- A couple of brigades push our way in the south; we're further west down here, and a couple of units(Kitching and Harker) engage them while more infantry is coming up behind them and also to push round the flank. Most of the cavalry is further west now, and reports no enemy activity. Circling around them in this direction still appears to be possible.

https://i.imgur.com/o11YJlM.png

** 6:14 PM -- The Confederates appear to be shifting south en masse. Ripley, Drayton, and Anderson here, their former center, are all heading that way. Meanwhile in the north Averell was slowed by skirmishers but the rest of the rebels appear to have retreated or redeployed It seems we should be able to push forward now in the center and north. Cautiously, we do so, moving into apparently-abandoned footholds on the western side of the stream.

A few minutes later, Gen. Longstreet is spotted in the vicinity of the southern flank, confirming these reports.

https://i.imgur.com/7DDltos.png


** 6:49 PM -- While the rebels are holding in the center where there is no action, and in the north where they have enough numbers to make further attacking foolhardy, we've got them encircled pretty well in the south. This is where we will continue focusing our efforts, hoping to gradually roll them up northwards.

** 7:26 PM -- Having circled around behind the rebel position, BG Clyde Canfield got himself wounded.

The terrain was just too rough, too many Confederate guns, too little time. A general attack up the hillside would have fared even worse. Night fell with the Battle of South Mountain appearing to be the first clear Defeat of the war for the Union -- but in fact Grant deserves credit for the casualty numbers achieved, and for not getting his Corps shot up more than it was. Longstreet just had too many things in his favor on this night.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics

Strength

Infantry: Union 18,842; Confederate 15,348
Artillery: Union 1,075(43 guns); Confederate 1,816(76 guns)
Cavalry: Union 1,638; Confederate 0

Total: Union 21,555; Confederate 17,164

Losses

Infantry: Union 1,689; Confederate 2,776
Artillery: Union 8(0 guns); Confederate 326(14 guns)
Cavalry: Union 132; Confederate 0

Total: Union 1,829; Confederate 3,092

It is at least arguably a lose-the-battle, win-the-war kind of day for us.

Brigade Performance

** Bryan Baldwin basically hung out in the north; 0 kills and 1 loss. Again though the achievement here is in not forcing action in a situation where the enemy was entrenched with superior firepower and cover.

** Kitching's Brigade, part of the southern flanking effort, is our hero of the day. Started out with a little over 900 men, and killed 459 with less than 200 losses.

Officers

A handful of promotions, none to anyone we care about. Getting a general wounded(Canfield) was not good.

Weapons

** Palmetto M1842: 11 rescued
** Springfield M1842; 121 rescued, 5 captured
** Hunter: 7 rescued
** Re-Bored Farmer: 16 rescued, 46 captured
** Cook & Brother: 1 rescued
** Springfield M1855: 18 rescued
** Sharps Model 1855: 6 captured
** MJ&G Type II: 25 captured
** M1841 Mississippi: 30 captured
** Palmetto M1842: 25 captured

In other words, a whole lot of nothing important. Surprisingly low numbers, and I thought we'd have captured some of the artillery as we routed a couple of batteries.

Reward

** No Career Points
** -10 to Reputation
** $79.3k funding
** 6.3k recruits

Without capturing South Mountain, there was no Victory or even Draw option. A more aggressive battle plan was demanded here really -- and yet it would have been catastrophic. The Draw condition only kicks in if we gained the ground but lost more than 40% of the Corps. That's pretty horrifying.

[Brian Swartz]

I apologize for the delay here, I've been slacking on this. Weapons Reference updated; short version is we don't have jack in the Armory.

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis -- Slight lean to veterans at the moment.

2. Reputation Investment -- We're down to 43 here, which confers a +1 morale effect. Same choices as last time remain available:

** $125k cash(22 Rep.)
** 5k recruits(22 Rep.)
** 7.5k Springfield M1855(18 Rep.)
** 12 12pdr Napoleon(7 Rep.)
** 12 10pdr Ordnance(7 Rep.)
** 12 10pdr Parrot(7 Rep.)
** BG George Meade(6 Rep.)
** BG Ambrose Burnside(4 Rep.)

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Re-bored Farmer(5 brigades, 7172 total, all green)
** Springfield M1842(22 brigades, 31331 total, 12 * and 10 green)
** Palmetto M1842(1 brigade, 998 total, 1 *)
** Lorenz(1 brigade, 752 total, 1 **)
** Springfield M1855(8 brigades, 8400 total, 6 ** and 2 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 1324 total, 1 **)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 258 total, 1 green)
** Sharps Model 1855(4 brigades, 1055 total, 1 * and 3 green)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 294 total, 1 green)
** Palmetto M1842(3 brigades, 1218 total, all green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 388 total, 1 *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 411 total, 1 *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(3 brigades, 46 total, 1 * and 2 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 15 total, 1 **)
** 12pdr Howitzer(3 brigades, 27 total, 3 green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(3 brigades, 48 total, 1 ** and 2 *)
** 20pdr Parrot(1 brigade, 13 total, 1 *)

[Brian Swartz]

** Note: I skipped the command briefings for a couple reasons -- one was to get things moving again, but the biggest reason was simply that there isn't much money(because we got lost the last battle, literally less than a third of the normal amount each), and that left it without really any interesting choices to make. Ultimately I thought it would just be a waste of time. I hope to go back to having everyone put in their orders next time out; if we do better in the next battle it'll certainly help that out.

Camp Results

I Corps

Race's Brigade -- 44 veterans added, now at 871.

Scales' Brigade -- Only a fraction of the cash needed for any real improvement.

Durrell's Divison

Kemper -- +41 to 793.
Hoke -- +114, at 1483.
Pease -- +113 to 1400
Birney -- +32, at 443.

Seymour's Brigade -- Holds at 17.

Loomis's Division

** Moody -- No change.
** Finegan -- +164 to 1488.
** Pease -- Nothing.
** Gary -- Zip.
** Wright -- Nada.


III Corps

Baldwin's Brigade

+28 to 510

Summary

Main takeway is we chopped down the Springfield M1842 boulder some more; now not much over 3000 of them left. It's close, but I think II Corps is best prepared to take on the next bit of action at Crampton's Gap.

[Brian Swartz]

https://i.imgur.com/vMxPsvJ.png


https://i.imgur.com/XkF4RCl.png


https://i.imgur.com/ycEPt6j.png


Cuts off a bit due to how big the image is, but says 'We must attack and secure the passage".

https://i.imgur.com/5qncyCY.png

[Brian Swartz]

I have decided to discontinue this project. Thanks for all who participated; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. I've felt like it was petering out in terms of activity for a while, and the way promotions are done/arbitrary limits on force numbers in battles/inability to control which brigades are committed/etc. was wearing on me also. I still think UG is quite a good game, but putting in the necessary effort to continue had become more work than anything else.

I've also been encouraged by the community on another site to do some LP-related stuff, which is probably what I'm going to be spending more time on as opposed to dynasty stuff here.

[chesapeake]

Sorry to hear that! I was enjoying the stroll through history, so thanks for taking us this far. But I certainly understand how bad it can be when a project like this changes from fun to work.

Pardon my ignorance with all the fancy lingo that you hep cats are using nowadays, but what does LP stand for in this context?

[DavidCorperial]

I enjoyed it, thanks for running it.

[Brian Swartz]

Glad you both participated. LP stands for 'Let's Play' -- gaming videos youtube/twitch and such.