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

[Brian Swartz]

Got it. I think I've been listing that wrong for a long time. Fixed.

[Brian Swartz]

Recon it is. Weapons Reference in the OP updated. Next set of briefings coming hopefully tomorrow, assuming RL permits.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Distribution: Who's Using What?

We've reached the point where I think this is something useful to track and report. The idea here is to give a sense of the distribution of weaponry across the Army, so that theoretically intelligent choices can be made on where/if/when to upgrade.

In each category I'll list the weapons currently in use, and the experience of those using them(grades are green, *, **, and ***, just as a reminder -- though we don't have any of the elite *** units yet). The goal for this is for it to serve as a snapshot of the Army's current capabilities. Hopefully it can be looked at as a quick and useful source of information.

Infantry

** Farmer(2 brigades, 3540 total, all green)
** Re-bored Farmer(2 brigades, 3108 total, all green)
** Springfield M1842(8 brigades, 11549 total, 3 green and 5 * brigades)
** Lorenz(2 brigades, 1643 total, all *)
** Springfield M1855(5 brigades, 5437 total, 3 * and 2 ** brigades)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 1506 total, all *)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 214 total, all green)
** Sharps Model 1855(2 brigades, 487 total, 1 green and 1 * brigade)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 313 total, all green)
** Palmetto M1842(2 brigades, 500 total, all green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 262 total, all *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 404 total, all *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(4 brigades, 38 guns total, 2 green and 2 * brigades)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 16 guns total, all *)
** 12pdr Howitzer(2 brigades, 11 guns total, all green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(1 brigade, 17 guns total, all *)

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis -- We have a slight lean towards veterans right now. Weapons would emphasize putting more recent, effective, and expensive equipment in the hands of more brigades; Manpower would see us ensuring that all recruits get used, and that our newer, greener brigades get the priority in terms of making sure they max out their numbers.

2. Reputation Investment -- We stand currently at 36 Reputation, which is a good safe number but also does not present any morale effect.

** 6x 20pdr Parrot(6 Rep.)
** BG John Sedgwick(4 Rep.)
** BG Joseph Hooker(4 Rep.)

Once again we are oversupplied with generals(3 minimum needed, we have 5). It seems that at the Division/Corps level, wounded officers are either extremely rare or not a thing in the game; every injury has come to the Brigade CO. I looked at the help file for this; Corps commanders are essentially invulnerable but Division ones have the same mechanic as the Brigade level but an apparently lower chance; opportunity to get injured is based on how many losses have been taken in their command for a battle. So I guess we've mostly just been lucky on that front.

As far as this battle's reputation situation goes, it looks like it's either nothing or those big guns.

3. Weapon Sales

I'm not going to list them all this time; the better weapons we need for our Army. The way I see it there are three that may be worth considering.

** 3053 Farmers @ $4 ea.
** 2146 Re-Bored Farmers @ $5 ea.
** 34 Sawed-Off @ $6 ea.

All three weapons cannot be purchased, so if we run out that's it -- at least until the end of this campaign. The two Farmer's variants are supplied exclusively to new infantry brigades when we just need to give them something to get them out in the field -- a case of a bad weapon being better than no weapon and not being able to fund putting them out there. Once they reach their first unit perk promotion(* status) they get the 1842 Springfield at a minimum. It's still good to have some around, but we may not need as many as we have; selling all but several hundred of each could be an option. Of course, it's not known whether we will need more for additional Corps in the future, but so far each campaign has resulted in another Corps being added so I'd call that likely, and then we could use them if needed at that point.

The Sawed-Off is an inaccurate but high-damage carbine cavalry weapon. We could sell those and make about two hundred bucks since we're unlikely to need them anytime soon, or save them in the hopes of eventually capturing more.

[Brian Swartz]

Command Briefings

As a reminder here, the coming battle will involve II Corps. That means those of you not in II Corps can afford to take a more long-term approach, since you won't be fighting again right away.

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, Harpers Ferry M1855)*
---- York(Infantry, Springfield M1842)*
---- 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

To keep the above from getting too ungainly, I only listed stuff below the division level if the Brigade or Division CO in question is a controlled sign-up character. I.e., obviously Egan isn't the only Brigade in the 2nd Division of II Corps, but he is the only one that is relevant for the command briefings here.

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: 1284
Experience: **, 25% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

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

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Stamina and Firearms saw the most improvement from the action in the last battle. Almost $44 a man for veterans, not including the weapons which will be another $31 each. Could take on as many as 264 rookies while maintaining ** status. Additional veterans would be reduced some to $36-$37 each. It's likely though that limited rookies will be available to the more experienced brigades -- maintaining their good skills and putting the most men into the newer, greener units is likely unless the Army Emphasis changes. This continues to be the best brigade from a shooting standpoint, though in other aspects the smaller brigade under Trimble is superior.

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

Nice Stamina boost this time, the other abilities improved only marginally. We may be able to give you one more gun crew; it would drop your efficiency by just a single point(3 points each after that). To absolutely maintain peak effectiveness though, we'd need to stand pat in terms of numbers.


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 -- 840 infantry(Lorenz, *, 98%)
Col. Duryee -- 803 infantry(Lorenz, *, 82%)
Col. Birney -- 404 carbine cavalry(Smith, *, 54%)

The infantry took a beating while playing the pivotal role last time out. In both cases they inflicted almost twice the casualties received, but it's still been a struggle getting them up closer to full strength. Cost for veterans are in the upper 30s for Kemper, low 30s for Duryee. They'll probably get slightly more funding to improve things, but what they really need is a successful battle where they don't lose much and can actually function more of the time as the sharpshooters they are supposed to be.


Seymour's Brigade

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

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Gun Crews: 14
Experience: *, 77% to **

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

Weapon: 6pdr Field

No big jumps anywhere but efficiency saw the biggest increase. You'll get the one additional gun crew you can afford within the command-efficiency limit, unless you want to go for a different weapon.


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(Harpers Ferry M1855, *, 18%). Moody is wounded and irreplaceable ... it appears there's no way to generate a new officer to replace the wounded when there aren't any in the barracks. This means that your best infantry brigade is going to be severely hampered(efficiency of four instead of being in the mid-upper 20s) until he's back. I'll keep this unit in a reserve role as much as possible for that reason. I'm thinking that it would probably be best to give their weapons to a more battle-ready unit, at least for now.
** Col. York -- 1085 Infantry(Springfield M1842, *, 99%). Like say, perhaps this one?
** Maj. Pease -- 1281 Infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 61%). Can't go any worse for him than it did last time, can it?
** Col. Wright -- 17 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 54%). The all-powerful command-efficiency limit sez he can have one more crew.


Egan's Brigade

Col. Darryl Egan is subordinate to Col. Liddell, II Corps 2nd Division. Egan is presently just getting started, 23% to his general's star.

Alter Ego: collegesportsfanms

Men: 938
Experience: *, 58% to **
Perks: Endurance Course

Efficiency: 34
Morale: 50
Stamina: 52
Firearms: 45
Melee: 21

Weapon: Springfield M1855

A decent-enough unit that benefited from it's small size in having just enough money to get them the latest Springfields. They're solid enough skill-wise for the most part, but need more drilling(efficiency) to really be quality. Going rate for veterans is $26, with the weapon costing $31 of course so that's going to be the limiting factor here. Interesting choice(at least IMO) here. I can add more men if you want to return to the worse 1842 Springfield; otherwhise you're pretty much locked in to, for now, a relatively small but effective brigade since there's only so many of the new guns I'll be able to buy for you. Very roughly speaking, just to give you some numbers, we are probably talking about getting 70 or so new men as is, maybe 200 if you go with the reversion. Not enough of a difference to be huge, but I know you were concerned about being down on manpower last time so I thought I'd throw out the choice. Those numbers could change based on what's happening elsewhere, it's purely a guess.


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: 250
Experience: Green, 59% to *
Perks: None

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

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

There's not a whole lot in choices here. Rookies/vets aren't a thing for you yet; have to get close to * status before you can bother trying to train up the recruits. You can request a different weapon, switch to Carbine Cav. if you want, but as a new, green brigade such requests may not find the most eager hearing. Otherwhise, you'll get whatever men can be given, and it will be hoped that you don't kill them all/yourself in your first engagement. After that, things can be re-assessed.

It's that time. Fire off your orders. And questions. And insults. Whatever. Friday, let's call it 6pm EST, is the deadline unless everyone speaks up before then.

[Coffee Warlord]

Stick with Vets for me. As many as you can budget.

[DavidCorperial]

I'll take one extra gun crew, your choice on vet or green.

[Qwikshot]

Standing pat is fine with me

[chesapeake]

Didn't realize that you can't replace a wounded CO with an newgen. They'll still be useful if kept in line with other brigades and not asked to move around much. Still, unfortunate.

I agree with your suggestion to swap weapons with my other veteran brigade. Growing York's unit to 1500 with veteran replacements is a priority. Pease's brigade can be increased with as many rookies as you want to assign. The artillery unit should have vets added to it to keep all the existing gun crews full. Other than that, I think 17 guns is plenty. It appears that there isn't a huge difference in effectiveness once you get past 12-14 guns.

[ntndeacon]

We need more bodies. Give as many veterans as we can get and some rookies, but we still want to get our second star this next battle

[collegesportsfanms]

Col. Egan has decided to go with what he has for now. Definitely don't want to go back to a lower rated weapon, and the men that we have seem to be getting the job done. Finding a way to get better efficiency out of them will be key though, I think.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

we still want to get our second star this next battle

FYI that won't happen until at least Gaines' Mill, because you won't be fighting until then.

Originally Posted by DavidCorperial

I'll take one extra gun crew, your choice on vet or green.

There'll be enough money for vets, no need to dilute the abilities of one our best artillery units.

[Brian Swartz]

Took a bit of family time tonight so I didn't get to anything with this -- hopefully I'll get camp done and start on the next battle tomorrow.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

No additional supply was needed, and no officers were available, so everything went straight to the brigades. No changes, rep investment, etc. were requested.

Wagner's Division

Race -- +81, now at 1363
Scales -- No change

Durrell's Division

Kemper -- 140 rookies(down to 80% xp), then switched to veterans, 105 of them. 1085 men now.
Duryee -- 12 rookies(same level, wasn't quite as experienced). Also 105 veterans. Up to 920 men.
Birney -- +46 vets, now at 450 cavalry
Seymour -- +1 veteran crew, up to 15 now

Loomis's Division


Moody -- Given replacement Springfield 42s and other than that they did nothing, money transferred to York's brigade.
York -- With the extra funding and new guns, added 202 men for a total of 1287.
Pease -- Added 303 men, now at 1584.
Wright -- Needed about a dozen men, holding at 17 guns.

II Corps

Egan -- +75 veterans for a total of 1013 men.

III Corps

Baldwin -- +103 cavalry, 353 total.

Outlook

We end up with almost 3k left(bit of a down-payment on future weapon upgrades, can't do anything significant with that amount) and almost 2k recruits. Looks like we're back to money running out first; I'm starting to think that's going to be a continual see-saw between the two key resources.

Why? Well, as more brigades get improved weapons, the costs go up a lot. Also, the green units are pretty much all maxed out now. So basically we spent over 100k to put just over three thousand men in -- but they are relatively well-trained and equipped men in most cases. In that vein for example, we have enough Re-Bored Farmers that only one unit still carries the standard, and slightly worse, standard Farmer musket.

[Brian Swartz]

The numbers say we have the upper hand here, but we won't be able to use the entire Corps so I don't know if I trust that.







Even 'only' six thousand against one division(3000 or so) is ... not good.







Seems a reasonable plan.

"We cannot afford extensive losses before our attack on the Rebel capital, so you must be cautious. Good luck, General".

I think they are building mighty castles in the sky on the basis of a rather spurious plan.

[Brian Swartz]

** May 27, 1862, 6:03 AM. Small battlefield here; we have until just after 8:30 to capture the meetin point, which is close by(the grey banner). Elements of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions are here; three infantry brigades, supply wagon, artillery and cavalry. Egan is not among them. Two brigades(Carruth and Tannatt) have the older '42 Springfield, while Hagood has the more modern ones. He'll be kept in reserve at the start.

** 6:15 AM -- Moving in, Devin's cavalry spot the 28th North Carolina, 800+ infantry*, moving in on our destination. They're going to beat us there. Five minutes later, Captain Root's artillery opens up on them as we move in. No point in being subtle here.

** 6:25 AM -- They run, having sustained 150 casulaties to less than 20 for us.

** 6:30 -- We capture the destination, and spot another small NC brigade across the brook.




** 6:38 -- Looks like that was a mere diversion. They have two brigades formed up in the woods to the northwest, and appear to be preparing to attack on multiple fronts. Hagood is tasked with making sure the eastern road across the stream stays in our hands, while everyone else will face this new threat.

** 6:43 -- Two more small units further west, says Devin. We are now half-surrounded, and could well have unwitting walked into a trap here ...

Tannatt and Carruth both detach skirmishers -- I'd rather keep Hagood's men intact. One will cover the stream crossing, the other will head west to harrass and slow down the latest couple of brigades spotted out that way.




** 6:46 -- Skirmishers appear behind us(southeast) and take out a few men from our artillery. Devin will head that way immediately to show them the price of such things, but we are now literally being attack on all sides. He takes heavy losses and doesn't do much to them, as a second skirmisher brigade appears. Hagood will have to head all that way, but meanwhile they are pressing us hard from the trees to the north. It's not looking too good.

** 7:11 AM -- We have the balance of 2nd Division now incoming; Appler, Rains, and Egan approach from the east, along with Stuart's 16 6-pounders. They are badly needed. Hagood has routed one skirmisher unit and is charging into the second one, Tannatt's skirmishers are managing to bother one approaching brigade from the west, but we are still threatened with being overrun by the rebels in the northern woods.




Maj. Dean Appler will take his men into the woods here and handle the skirmishers, allowing Hagood to pull out and the rest to proceed across the stream to relieve the remainder of our men.




** 7:32 AM -- The brunt of the rebels have moved off the west some, pursuing another avenue of approach I think. Tannatt here has lost over 300 men, inflicting just slightly more than that as their position has been forced three times, but without success. This shift is giving us the time we need to bring up our new brigades, and I think we'll be able to do much better now.




** 8:05 AM -- The rebel skirmishers cross the stream again, but soon find themselves sandwiched between three different brigades. To the north, Rains falls in between Tannatt and Carruth, while Egan protects the western flank and both artillery units focus their fire out that way. Our defensive position is now much more secure.

By 8:30, it is clear they will no longer be able to threaten us seriously. We have secured our forward vector, and won yet another battle.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics

Commanding Generals: Samuel Heintzelman(Union), Lawrence Branch(Confederate)

Strength

Infantry: 8521 Union, 6427 Confederate
Cavalry: 310 Union, 0 Confederate
Artillery: 650(26 guns) Union, 0 Confederate
Total: 9,481 Union, 6,427 Confederate

For once we outnumbered them, though that was not the case until the last hour when the reinforcements showed up.

Casualties

Infantry: 843 Union, 2701 Confederate
Cavalry: 112 Union, 0 Confederate
Artillery: 10(0 guns) Union, 0 Confederate
Total: 955 Union, 2701 Confederate

Good numbers here overall, almost 3:1. Tannatt accounted for over half our losses, and Devin's "elite"(meaning, the best in the Army, but only *) cavalry did not do as well as hoped against the skirmishers. Everyone else pretty much cleaned up though.

Brigades

Since it's a smaller engagement, I'll list em all here.

** Appler -- 278 kills, 95 losses
** Carruth -- 346 kills, 28 losses(on the northern front with Tannatt, but he was rarely targeted for whatever reason)
** Devin -- 61 kills, 112 losses(not good, to put it mildly)
** Egan -- 206 kills, 18 losses(good work in a short period of time on the field)
** Hagood -- 256 kills, 98 losses. Never stayed in one place for long, and despite the short fight was exhausted by the end of it. Protected our rear against the skirmishers very effectively.
** Rains -- 324 kills, 32 losses. When he joined the main line against the north, this battle was effectively ended.
** Root -- 318 kills, 10 losses
** Stuart -- 25 kills, 0 losses
** Tannatt -- 876 kills, 570 losses. Definitely the heroes of the day here, taking about 40% casualties but the good Colonel was not hit. Without them, this is not a success.


Officers

** Lt. Col. Stephen Carruth is promoted to full Colonel.
** Col. George Tannatt is promoted to Brigadier General(*). Can't argue after the way his men stood their ground in minimal cover(a wheat field) against repeated rebel assaults.

Weapons

** Re-Bored Farmer -- 46 rescued, 357 captured
** Springfield M1855 -- 74 rescued
** Springfield M1842 -- 294 rescued, 121 captured
** M1841 Mississippi -- 4 captured. This is a new weapon we haven't seen before. Short version is that in terms of accuracy and price they occupy a middle-ground between the two Springfields; better than the '42, not as good as the '55. The price reflects that. Obviously we'll need a lot more before we can consider using them.
** Hunter -- 0 rescued, 128 captured. III Corps has a skirmisher unit with fairly low numbers using these. They'll be up next, and will be glad of the chance to bolster their numbers as we'd used up all the previously-captured ones.
** Colt M1855 -- 55 rescued. About half of the ones Devin lost.

Reward

** Career Points -- +1
** Reputation -- +4
** Funding -- $110k
** Recruits -- 5k




Here's our next fight, which will involve III Corps just four days after Rendezvous, and the latest Intel Report. Nothing much has changed there. Due to our last two victories, we'll face a 5% smaller army than normal.

[Brian Swartz]

Time to get set for our last minor battle in this campaign.

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(1) -- Increase casualty recovery rate from 2 to 4%.

** 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 woudl give us a 5th Brigade in each Division.

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

** Reconnaissance(3) -- Currently we know the starting enemy army size going into battle. Having invested a point last time, another one will allow us to know how many men the enemy is fielding in real-time during battle, and what Corps/Division/Brigade we are facing off against.

Get your votes in or hold your peace, as it suits you.

[DavidCorperial]

Recon

[ntndeacon]

Recon

[chesapeake]

May as well finish out recon.

[Coffee Warlord]

Recon.

[collegesportsfanms]

Recon

[Brian Swartz]

Recon has it, unanimously. Weapons Reference updated with no major changes. It is worth noting though that we are starting to run out of some of the cheaper/smaller artillery piece types. Depending on what becomes available for the next campaign, it could become necessary to upgrade just to keep everyone firing. We're ok for now though.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Distribution

Infantry

** Farmer(1 brigade, 2000 total, all green)
** Re-bored Farmer(3 brigades, 4555 total, all green)
** Springfield M1842(8 brigades, 12529 total, 5 * and 3 green)
** Lorenz(2 brigades, 2005 total, 2 *)
** Springfield M1855(5 brigades, 5677 total, 2 ** and 3 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 1287 total, *)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 214 total, all green)
** Sharps Model 1855(2 brigades, 621 total, 1 * and 1 green)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 316 total, all green)
** Palmetto M1842(2 brigades, 706 total, all green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 200 total, all *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 450 total, all *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(4 brigades, 49 total, 2 * and 2 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 16 total, 1*)
** 12pdr Howitzer(2 brigades, 17 total, all green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(1 brigade, 17 total, *)

[Brian Swartz]

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis. Continued slight lean towards veterans is being maintained until there is a contradicting proposal.

2. Reputation Investment

We are at 40 right now, enough to give a +1 morale boost to all units.

** $100k cash(18 Rep.)
** 5k recruits(18 Rep.)
** 6x 20pdr Parrot(6 Rep.)

The two generals are still around but we have plenty of those.

3. Weapon Sales

We're up to almost 4600 Farmers($4 each). Nothing else really worth considering right now.

[Brian Swartz]

Strange week. The most blame for the delay here goes to the new FM beta.

Command Briefings

A lot of this is copy-pasted since it hasn't changed a whole lot; I only changed what is different. Once again rookies are most likely to be funnelled into the green brigades, though we will have some available for the more experienced units if desired now.

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: 1363
Experience: **, 25% to ***
Perks: Endurance Course, Marksman Training

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

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Almost $44 a man for veterans, not including the weapons which will be another $31 each. Could take on as many as 281 rookies while maintaining ** status. Additional veterans would be reduced some to $36-$37 each.

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

Orders were to stand pat last time, so I assume unless stated otherwhise that will remain the case.


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 -- 1085 infantry(Lorenz, *, 80%)
Col. Duryee -- 803 infantry(Lorenz, *, 80%)
Col. Birney -- 450 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

Maxed out last time; 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 for a couple more battles.
** Col. York -- 1287 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, *, 99%). Continuing to get the lion's share of the funding; goal was 1500 men last time out, we may be able to get close here.
** Maj. Pease -- 1584 Infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 61%). Command-efficiency limit reached.
** Col. Wright -- 17 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 54%). Able to take on one more gun, but that was declined last time.


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 after our last engagement, in which he played a reinforcement role.

Alter Ego: collegesportsfanms

Men: 995
Experience: *, 65% to **(+7%)
Perks: Endurance Course

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

Weapon: Springfield M1855

Modest improvements as you can see. Previous orders were to maintain the current weapon and work on increasing numbers. Cost per veteran is $28 + $31 for the weapon, so split about 50-50. Quite a few rookies could be taken as well but default here is all vets with a quality rifle on offer.


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: 353
Experience: Green, 59% to *
Perks: None

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

Weapon: Palmetto M1842

No veteran option given the inexperienced status. Assuming no weapon change requests, we'll just add as many as we can afford.


Ok Commanders, hold forth with your instructions. We'll aim for the end of Tuesday here -- probably will get this battle going on Wednesday.

[DavidCorperial]

No changes for now, maybe an upgrade in the future.

[ntndeacon]

Definitely all veterans. And I would certainly send up the chain of command any recommendations on artillery the good Ltd. Col. Wishes.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

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 for a couple more battles.
** Col. York -- 1287 Infantry(Harpers Ferry M1855, *, 99%). Continuing to get the lion's share of the funding; goal was 1500 men last time out, we may be able to get close here.
** Maj. Pease -- 1584 Infantry(Springfield M1842, green, 61%). Command-efficiency limit reached.
** Col. Wright -- 17 Artillery(12pdr Napoleon, *, 54%). Able to take on one more gun, but that was declined last time.

Give Wright the 18th gun. Veteran crew, please. Try to fill up York's brigade as well.

Shame about Moody's unit. Any way to give Pease command and have the green brigade play backup?

[Coffee Warlord]

Same deal. As many veterans as you can budget.

[collegesportsfanms]

Default option is fine with me. All vets, quality rifle

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Chesapeake

Any way to give Pease command and have the green brigade play backup?

Unfortunately not. The only way to change what brigade a commander is in is to replace them first -- and there's nobody to replace him with so he's stuck.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Unfortunately not. The only way to change what brigade a commander is in is to replace them first -- and there's nobody to replace him with so he's stuck.

I thought that was the case, but I was hoping that you had found a workaround I wasn't aware of.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Results

Camp Results

No changes to army-level stuff and obviously no officers to move around means no expenses there. III Corps, due to it's size, did need some more supply. I hit the maximum limit on this interestingly enough(35k).

Race's Brigade added 47 men(1410 total)

Durrell's Division

** Kemper adds 63, for 1148 total.
** Duryee adds 63 as well, 983.
** Birney adds 47, 482 for his cavalry.

Loomis's Division

** Moody does nothing, on account on being leaderless.
** York adds 355, now at 1642.
** Pease was already maxed also
** Wright gets the 18th crew.

Egan's Brigade is up 58(1053 men)

Baldwin's Brigade is up 83(435 cavalry)

It's becoming obvious that we're going to develop an excess of recruits here, but we'll be able to use them next time we expand the army I'm sure. The only real question then is how to spend the cash. Most of it goes to veteran/weapons for increasing our numbers, but I did also spend a sizable portion(22k) to give one of our infantry brigades in the III Corps Springfield M1842s. This was the last unit that had the baseline Farmer, and we don't have enough of the slightly better Re-Bored ones to go around. Also benefitting was York's brigade under Loomis, the only one currently using the Harpers Ferry M1855. Seemed better to heavily invest in a unit when we had their weapons available in the Armory and didn't need to buy more, reducing costs. The only thing in the Armory left that is useful(and that only marginally) are the Hunters, 81 of them. The lone skirmisher brigade that we have using them has hit the command-efficiency limit. I also put a bit of extra emphasis into getting more artillery into the III Corps, as they are up next and that's the weak point.

Overall we drained the treasury($83 left) and have still 4,814 recruits.

[Qwikshot]

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

Orders were to stand pat last time, so I assume unless stated otherwhise that will remain the case.

You read my mind

[Brian Swartz]

Guess we'll have to forego afternoon tea then .




Optimism doesn't seem to be in much supply ...




Ok then. MG Ulysses Grant takes his first battle with us here. Let's hope he knows what he's doing ...

[Brian Swartz]

** May 31, 1862, 9:03 AM. The six brigades we are allotted don't happen to include Bryan Baldwin's cavalry, though the horsemen from the 1st Division are here. If you can make out Canfield's infantry brigade, it's notable for being our only max-size one(2k men) and also for being the unit that we bought the big shipment of baseline Springfields for. Of the four infantry brigades, three have those and one the re-bored Farmers. This is a new, green Corps remember. 10 of the 12-pound howitzers isn't bad for the artillery, and the horsemen are of the carbine variety; the Cook & Brother specifically, all of which were captured in previous engagements. So it's sort of a hodgepodge.

We do have a high amount of men here for a division and a half. Those numbers will have to count for something given the lack of quality weaponry and experience. That objective banner thingy in the trees right where all the roads converge is our target. The game simply says 'Capture Center'. Timeframe is two hours. Well lets get cracking, first by reinforcing Berry & Birney(dunno what relation they are to the Birney who commands cavalry in the I Corps under Durrell), nearby to our west.

Also, our newfound recon skills tells us we have the numbers advantage; 14.8k men and 25 guns against 12.3k men and 11 guns. So that's good news.

** 9:07 AM -- The previous shot shows a confederate advance on the north, and it takes a whopping four minutes for an engagement to occur in the south. A melee soon ensues which we get the better of, but they have more men in position and one of our defending units routs as well.

** 9:16 AM -- We've formed up Grant's men with two brigades on both sides of the center, such as it is, and a general advance is ordered.

** 9:24 AM -- The north flank is collapsing, and the south isn't doing a whole lot better. Some troops will be diverted to try to prevent a complete disaster.

** 9:28 AM -- We capture the center, but what had been the north and south flanks half an hour ago have both been decimated, esp. the artillery who were flanked by thousands of infantry. That went very poorly for the boys in blue.




Canfield and Ledlie, shown here, are now giving the rebels something else to worry about however.

9:51 AM -- We've definitely turned things around, but BG Hiram Berry is wounded.




** 10:01 AM -- Ledlie's men have routed because apparently they are cowards, while the rebels are shifting to the north and we attempt to wheel starting from the bottom of our line to follow them.

** 10:20 AM -- Wright, one of the III Corps brigades, and Robinson, from the force that was already here, have found and decimated most of the confederate artillery.

It's all cleanup at that point, as we gradually push the rebel scum off to the north. Our position here is secured.


Battle Statistics

Strength

Infantry: 13,896 Union; 12,212 Confederate
Cavalry: 316 Union; 0 Confederate
Artillery: 591(25 guns) Union; 264(11 guns) Confederate
Total: 14,803 Union; 12,476 Confederate

Casualties

Infantry: 2,898 Union; 4,437 Confederate
Cavalry: None
Artillery: 97(4 guns) Union; 184(7 guns) Confederate
Total: 2,995 Union; 4,621 Confederate

After the first 15-20 minutes, once we got into position, Grant was able to unify and strengthen our defense. The rebels never really had a chance in the grand scheme of things after that. He arrived just in time.

Our infantry units took significant losses. Ledlie in particularly(285 kills, 440 casulaties) didn't have a good day, with Canfield and MacIntosh also sustained over 300. In the end though, it must still be acounted a success.

There were no promotions: Berry, not part of our command, was the only wounded officer.

Weapons

** Re-Bored Farmer(164 rescued)
** Springfield M1842(440 rescued)
** Springfield M1855(816 rescued, 849 captured) -- Not real happy to see them fielding these in significant numbers.
** Sharps(38 captured)
** 10pdr Parrot(2 rescued)
** 12pdr Napoleon(2 captured) -- This will make Col. Loomis happy I presume.

[Brian Swartz]

Not much change here in the enemy situation. The rebels continue to slowly grow their numbers but we're keeping their capabilities fairly stagnant.

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(1) -- Increase casualty recovery rate from 2 to 4%.

** 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.

Let's hear the votes on how to use our latest career point, and then we'll be on to preparations for our third Grand Battle.

[DavidCorperial]

Medicine

[ntndeacon]

Medicine

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm voting Logistics. More ammo during battles.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

I'm voting Logistics. More ammo during battles.

Me too for Logistics

[Brian Swartz]

Welp, some bad news here. The computer I use for this is having something break. I think its the power supply in which case I could be up and running again in two weeks. Could be the motherboard also, which would mean it'd be longer. Go ahead and vote here, but we won't be able to proceed for a while.

[Brian Swartz]

And you can ignore that post now. Ended up being incredibly stupid -- basically had a bad connection inside my tower. Everything appears to be still working, so as long as that holds, pull steam ahead and all that.

[collegesportsfanms]

I'm going with medicine this time. Having our troops recovering back to full strength quicker seems pretty darn important to me right now

[Brian Swartz]

Close vote between two reasonable options, but Medicine it is.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Reference updated in the first post.

Army-Level Choices

1. Emphasis. Still leaning slightly to veterans here.

2. Reputation Investment. We sit at 44, enough to give a +2 morale boost across the board.

** $100k cash(18 Rep.)
** 5k recruits(18 Rep.)
** 6x 20pdr Parrot(6 Rep.)
** BG John Sedgwick(4 Rep.)
** BG Joseph Hooker(4 Rep.)

We have plenty of recruits right now and still don't need any more generals. It goes back to cash, big artillery, or nothing here.

3. Weapon Sales

6593 Farmer's Muskets @ $4 each are there, and we've almost totally phased them out ... for now. If we add another Corps after the coming battle we may well want to use some of them. Everything else that we have a significant amount of is useful to some brigade.

[Coffee Warlord]

Going to forgo my chunk of the budget this time. Spend some money, boys.

[Brian Swartz]

Weapons Distribution

Quick side note here; we are now using about 60% of the stockpile of '42 Springfields, which once seemed a massive, inexhaustible amount.

Infantry

** Farmer
** Re-bored Farmer(3 brigades, 4449 total, 3 green)
** Springfield M1842(9 brigades, 14241 total, 5 * and 4 green)
** Lorenz(2 brigades, 2131 total, 2 *)
** Springfield M1855(5 brigades, 5969 total, 2 ** and 3 *)
** Harpers Ferry M1855(1 brigade, 1642 total, 1 *)

Skirmishers

** Hunter(1 brigade, 261 total, 1 green)
** Sharps Model 1855(2 brigades, 673 total, 1 * and 1 green)

Cavalry

** Cook & Brother(1 brigade, 316 total, 1 green)
** Palmetto M1842(2 brigades, 860 total, 2 green)
** Colt M1855(1 brigade, 260 total, 1 *)
** Smith(1 brigade, 482 total, 1 *)

Artillery

** 6pdr Field(4 brigades, 56 total, 2 * and 2 green)
** 10pdr Ordnance(1 brigade, 16 total, 1 *)
** 12pdr Howitzer(2 brigades, 20 total, 2 green)
** 12pdr Napoleon(1 brigade, 18 total, 1 *)