Confederate Campaign -- Kinda Impossible

[Lazamataz]

Ok, so, I'm a seasoned tac and strat wargamer.

But playing the Confederacy is nigh unto impossible. I'm at the easiest level; tried about 10 approaches; found all sorts of little tricks to totally win various battles...|

For example, for Gaines Mill, the key (and I have played this through about 10 times) is to sneak all the way back around the Union, not confronting their barricades, and take the farthest hill to the right, first. By that time, your second corps is on the map, you meet up, and punch all the way down the barricade line.

Easy Peasy. Lose very little, and score a big win.

But without fail, Malvern Hill has been impossible. I've played it about ten times, and the best I ever got was a draw. Once. With a nearly-shattered army.

On easiest level.

I'm almost thinking what I should do is just hang back, allow the time to pass, and take the defeat. At least I'd still have fresh units.

To the developer, the easy level should be easy. Not impossible.

[Lazamataz]

I do have to admit this, though:

Of all the tac games I have ever played, especially Civil War era, this one gives me the greatest feeling of the fury and sacrifice of this war.

[JaM]

bigger challenge, bigger satisfaction once you master it

[Lazamataz]

Just now, JaM said:

bigger challenge, bigger satisfaction once you master it

So give me ideas on how to master it. I'm plumb out. I tried focusing on Army Org to increase brigade size, but maxed at 2500,. I tried politics for money. Training to lower vet expense. Reconnaisance. All of them.

Nothing.

That map is nearly impossible. Like I said, my only untried option is to hang back, pick off anyone who advances, and take the Malvern Hill loss. My Gaines Mill win would be wiped out (Reputation Pointwise) but at least my army would be whole.

[JaM]

i think medicine is quite important for Confederates so you reduce amount of casualties taken..

[Powderhorn]

We're all staunch Federalists, here

More seriously, it could be unbalanced, currently.  Might be a bug that needs to be worked out.  Only have played it from the U.S. side, currently.

[JaM]

True, its early access for a reason

[Fellvred]

It is a tricky map on the confed side but you don't have to win every battle - you can simply tell all your units to retreat and save your army to fight again

 

[Lazamataz]

14 minutes ago, JaM said:

i think medicine is quite important for Confederates so you reduce amount of casualties taken..

I'll try that!

[michaelsmithern]

Well it's not supposed to be easy, what i'd recommend, as i just beat it(took high losses still got a victory however) is to get some cav, and then a bunch of throw away brigades(although they shouldn't be called that they're more of take the first hit troops) use them to weaken the enemy to the best of your ability, after wards you should have put your main army as the second wave, they'll come in and punch through the lines. after this all you need to do is take the south or west and east parts of the hill. which i found to be pretty easy. this is where the cav can come in handy, and you may even get lucky with the union trying to attempt a retake of the north. If you can muster up what's left of your shattered 1st Wave and coordinate the arty on one flank(not both you won't get much done) then you should re-engage, if you feel you have taken too many losses and can't take the two victory points i'd recommend just sitting back, and waiting for 2nd Manassas, then you'll be A-Ok. and of course then you get fredericksburg, which will be a definite win for you, then you get chancellorsville. the only thing that might cause problems is Antietam...which was more of a draw historically(counted as a union victory though). this is because defending the left flank is slightly harder than expected, the bloody lane i had a lot of fun defending and of course Burnside bridge was fun since it was a one way gap. 

[Lazamataz]

1 minute ago, Fellvred said:

It is a tricky map on the confed side but you don't have to win every battle - you can simply tell all your units to retreat and save your army to fight again

 

That was my conclusion, too. It's just not doable as a Rebel.

I did notice that by putting artillery on the far-right hill, I could lure some Yankees out to try and get across the river bridge. Crushed them, but got sucked into a larger battle than I wanted.

[Lazamataz]

16 minutes ago, Powderhorn said:

We're all staunch Federalists, here

More seriously, it could be unbalanced, currently.  Might be a bug that needs to be worked out.  Only have played it from the U.S. side, currently.

I was born in New York, and came to Georgia, and discovered I've been a Rebel all my life! Who knew?

Now I always play the Southrons.

[Lazamataz]

2 minutes ago, michaelsmithern said:

Well it's not supposed to be easy, what i'd recommend, as i just beat it(took high losses still got a victory however) is to get some cav, and then a bunch of throw away brigades(although they shouldn't be called that they're more of take the first hit troops) use them to weaken the enemy to the best of your ability, after wards you should have put your main army as the second wave, they'll come in and punch through the lines. after this all you need to do is take the south or west and east parts of the hill. which i found to be pretty easy. this is where the cav can come in handy, and you may even get lucky with the union trying to attempt a retake of the north. If you can muster up what's left of your shattered 1st Wave and coordinate the arty on one flank(not both you won't get much done) then you should re-engage, if you feel you have taken too many losses and can't take the two victory points i'd recommend just sitting back, and waiting for 2nd Manassas, then you'll be A-Ok. and of course then you get fredericksburg, which will be a definite win for you, then you get chancellorsville. the only thing that might cause problems is Antietam...which was more of a draw historically(counted as a union victory though). this is because defending the left flank is slightly harder than expected, the bloody lane i had a lot of fun defending and of course Burnside bridge was fun since it was a one way gap. 

I can try and report back.

[Lazamataz]

I'm hanging back and letting it run while I type this very message.

[Koro]

Just click withdraw on every unit and take them off the field.

Otherwise you can do something like this

 No voice unfortunately like the other battles. 

[KaleRaven]

My strategy was to send half my army (basically the entire 2nd Corps) around the right side of the map across the bridges and fords. The crossings were minimally defended, so I was able to launch a full on assault against the rear of the Union army. It was only once the enemy began pulling some of the troops from the front to face my flanking troops, that I then launched a full frontal assault with my 1st Corps. I ended up winning with only 7.5k casualties.

[Karri]

1 hour ago, Lazamataz said:

Ok, so, I'm a seasoned tac and strat wargamer.

But playing the Confederacy is nigh unto impossible. I'm at the easiest level; tried about 10 approaches; found all sorts of little tricks to totally win various battles...|

For example, for Gaines Mill, the key (and I have played this through about 10 times) is to sneak all the way back around the Union, not confronting their barricades, and take the farthest hill to the right, first. By that time, your second corps is on the map, you meet up, and punch all the way down the barricade line.

Easy Peasy. Lose very little, and score a big win.

But without fail, Malvern Hill has been impossible. I've played it about ten times, and the best I ever got was a draw. Once. With a nearly-shattered army.

On easiest level.

I'm almost thinking what I should do is just hang back, allow the time to pass, and take the defeat. At least I'd still have fresh units.

To the developer, the easy level should be easy. Not impossible.

For Malvern Hill you can do a few things:

1. Creep in with artillery, if you have limited area you can do this from south of the map.

2. Flank the Union in the north with your second corps, or with your whole force. I find that they usually leave the two fords relatively unguarded and then you just engage them from the rear and roll their line.

3. Combination of these two.

4. Max army org and buy a bunch of oversized green brigades and mass charge. The way the charge system works now you can first charge the main fortification line with 2-3 2500 men birgades, then choose 4-6 other brigades and set them to charge the enemy units in the rear of enemy line. This way their whole line becomes entangled, their condition drops to zero, and morale plummets too.Then just use your more seasoned units to mop up the enemy.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Karri

[Hitorishizuka]

Malvern Hill:

Work your way in on the left and right sides of the main line leapfrogging until you're in contact using trees as cover. You can outshoot both fortifications pretty easily since they're so stretched out that you get basically 3 brigades with close range artillery in decent cover shooting at effectively one brigade in excellent cover. That one brigade will break sooner or later, then they quickly rotate in another, and you repeat. Eventually you'll whittle them down that only the center will be strong literally right on top of the VP. At that point charge them with a couple max size green brigades to force them back off the point (casualties be damned) and rush your own forces in to take that covered position and you can hold along this line for the rest of the map.

At the same time as this is going on you can be nibbling at the left flank from the ford teasing cavalry attacks and/or with skirmishers and the right flank can also poke at them from across the river, though the right flank will generally be at risk from the enemy artillery that's also there and ever so slightly out of range. I put a bunch of long range artillery of my own up there anyway and had them get into arty duels since frontage is kinda scarce in the center anyway.

If you have a lot of cavalry, you can either smash them into the left side from across the river (ideally at the same time as you're center charging) to give yourself an opening or you can hold them entirely in reserve for the final phase of the battle. Doing the latter you can send them all the way around to the bottom left VP, run over the enemy cavalry sitting there, and take it more or less uncontested for the victory. Take skirmishers with them and you can also bait the AI into sending a couple brigades down to contest and the cavalry and then run them over for free.

Your last reinforcement Corps should be sent to run all along the right side of the map and end run the VP on that side too. Usually there's only 1-2 brigades at the most sitting there and you can also run them over and take that VP and spread out and hold it before the end of the map.

[Sgt Shriver]

I'm playing as the Confederacy on Brigadier General difficulty, managed to win all the battles with generally acceptable losses, including Shiloh, Malvern Hill and Antietam. Shiloh was a pretty tough fight but I was able to inflict significantly more casualties on the Union than I received. Until Malvern Hill. Then I lost 23000 men to the Union's 25000. Antietam was a bloodbath as well but the Union got off even worse, 23000 to 62000. Damn this game is fun.

[Koro]

11 minutes ago, Sgt Shriver said:

I'm playing as the Confederacy on Brigadier General difficulty, managed to win all the battles with generally acceptable losses, including Shiloh, Malvern Hill and Antietam. Shiloh was a pretty tough fight but I was able to inflict significantly more casualties on the Union than I received. Until Malvern Hill. Then I lost 23000 men to the Union's 25000. Antietam was a bloodbath as well but the Union got off even worse, 23000 to 62000. Damn this game is fun.

Like I've said before, happy to see another player enjoying being challenged :).

Your army should get some respite at Fredericksburg once it comes up. You'll be able to to add significant forces to it before it as well, somewhere around 35.000 including the men you get for winning Antietam. Do report back how it goes for you

[Fletch]

14 hours ago, Lazamataz said:

Ok, so, I'm a seasoned tac and strat wargamer.

But playing the Confederacy is nigh unto impossible. I'm at the easiest level; tried about 10 approaches; found all sorts of little tricks to totally win various battles...|

For example, for Gaines Mill, the key (and I have played this through about 10 times) is to sneak all the way back around the Union, not confronting their barricades, and take the farthest hill to the right, first. By that time, your second corps is on the map, you meet up, and punch all the way down the barricade line.

Easy Peasy. Lose very little, and score a big win.

But without fail, Malvern Hill has been impossible. I've played it about ten times, and the best I ever got was a draw. Once. With a nearly-shattered army.

On easiest level.

I'm almost thinking what I should do is just hang back, allow the time to pass, and take the defeat. At least I'd still have fresh units.

To the developer, the easy level should be easy. Not impossible.

I finished the Confederate campaign. Most battles can be won by flanking the enemy. Malvern hill I kept them busy at the front without wasting too many men. the weak spot in their line is the right flank (their right flank your left ) that area by the river bank. Put some men and arty on the other bank. When your reinforcements arrive march them completely around the back of their right flank, use the last river crossing.   Once your behind them its only a matter of time as you start rolling them up form right to left.

 

Gaines mill is another flanking one, take your troops and go around the right hand flank of the Union lines. Then attack them from their right.  never climb a hill into direct musket fire. Get all your troops across the river and up on to the higher ground before you attack, you can roll them up one after another after that. they will counter attack and charge ect but nothing that cant be handled. I forgot to mention, if you keep some arty on the other side of the ravine this will be very useful when you attack them from the side, your arty will now be able to shoot flanking shots as they turn to face your infantry.

Edited December 15, 2016 by Fletch67

[Sgt Shriver]

2 hours ago, Koro said:

Like I've said before, happy to see another player enjoying being challenged :).

Your army should get some respite at Fredericksburg once it comes up. You'll be able to to add significant forces to it before it as well, somewhere around 35.000 including the men you get for winning Antietam. Do report back how it goes for you

Excellent, it took me ages to figure out how to win Antietam and even then I always take massive casualties. I'm just hoping that Fredericksburg will be 2nd Manassas part 2 :]

Edited December 15, 2016 by Sgt Shriver

[Speedkermit]

15 hours ago, Lazamataz said:

Ok, so, I'm a seasoned tac and strat wargamer.

But playing the Confederacy is nigh unto impossible. I'm at the easiest level; tried about 10 approaches; found all sorts of little tricks to totally win various battles...|

For example, for Gaines Mill, the key (and I have played this through about 10 times) is to sneak all the way back around the Union, not confronting their barricades, and take the farthest hill to the right, first. By that time, your second corps is on the map, you meet up, and punch all the way down the barricade line.

Easy Peasy. Lose very little, and score a big win.

But without fail, Malvern Hill has been impossible. I've played it about ten times, and the best I ever got was a draw. Once. With a nearly-shattered army.

On easiest level.

I'm almost thinking what I should do is just hang back, allow the time to pass, and take the defeat. At least I'd still have fresh units.

To the developer, the easy level should be easy. Not impossible.

 

From my understanding, it was virtually impossible for the confederates to win at Malvern Hill in reality? Working as intended I think.

I like that some battles are easier than others.

[Slaithium]

completed on max diff, you have to use artillery to move them. Then sure up where they routed, basically you have to keep leap frogging them (inf, art, skrims, and calvery) but prioritize there arty beyond anything else because they have more than you do. And gradually turn there lines while keeping up constant pressure. Then you can complete it on a frontal assault with a victory.

[RobWheat61]

21 hours ago, Koro said:

Like I've said before, happy to see another player enjoying being challenged :).

Your army should get some respite at Fredericksburg once it comes up. You'll be able to to add significant forces to it before it as well, somewhere around 35.000 including the men you get for winning Antietam. Do report back how it goes for you

35.000 men - That's insane. It means my army can have about 90000 men at Fredricksburg. Now way the Union will win this battle or the war ;).