BCH

within 50 yards of the stone wall.. met by mostly Confederate Irish of all ironies CSA Gen George Pickett witnessed their attempt and commented upon their bravery; only to later have his division slaughtered at Gettysburg

Occupied.. pushed the garrison unit right out, like they were not there at all. In looking at the garrison stats, I now understand why. Morale in the 30s at best; my units have morale in the 90+ range. I had a garrison unit pull back with only 45 casualties and was not flanked. That would be about right...

Not seeing Suffolk as a viable Union win without severe Union casualties. Just watched a CSA brigade run unimpeded through entrenchments.. never slowed up at all. That should be an obstacle to movement in both directions. The depot Union brigades might have 1863s but the brigades are worthless; they break even in close proximity to two Major Generals. The numbers may show the Union at a 2:1 disadvantage, but with depot brigades being ineffective, the odds against the Union are more on the order of 4:1 before reinforcements arrive. Tried pulling back the center, leaving the flanks intact; that worked until shear numbers overwhelmed the Union.. especially a 2:1 artillery advantage that the CSA has in the beginning. Overloaded the Union right flank; worked well enough, but ditto from above. Overloaded the left flank; this worked slightly better; but eventually shear numbers overwhelm the Union. It takes the entire time to run down before reinforcements arrive. They are enough to hold the VP but the down side is that the Union will have a Corp greatly reduced in strength before Chancellorsville. Just a note: Historically, the Union held a very strong defensive position, Longstreet never took Suffolk.

BG Thomas Frances Meagher (pronounced Mar) had the Irish Brigade ( the 63rd, 69th, 88th NY Regiment, 29th 28th Mass, 116th PA) primarily armed with the 1842 .69 cal smoothbores loaded with buck and ball (1 full caliber ball with 4 smaller cal. balls); as casualties escalated through out the war, the Irish Brigade was eventually armed with rifles (or what was left of it; too many close combat frontal assaults). However, those 1842s loaded with buck and ball were devastating at close range. Mayre's Heights effectively was the end of the Irish Brigade as a brigade sized unit..

Yep... Union victory, but the cost was too high.. I will have to play back in the woods away from the entrenchments on the one side at least. Good holiday to everyone (Memorial Day in the US).

Suffolk is ridiculous at MG level... Entrenchments should have a better defensive value than woods.

From our battlefield correspondent with the Union Army at Stones River: "I'se gets crankie when m'breakfast is interrupted." as told to our correspondent by Pvt. Leroy Jenkins. Union III Corp, 4th Div., 2nd Brigade; when asked what prompted their company of skirmishers to charge a Rebel cavalry brigade about to overtake a Union battery. The division commander reports the battery was saved and the enemy cavalry routed with great loss to their brigade. Reports are sketchy at the moment; apparently during breakfast elements of the under strength Union III Corp were attacked on the southern most part of the Union line paralleling Stones River. III Corp conducted a fighting withdrawal and stretched out the Rebel attackers. Incoming Union reinforcement set up defensive positions on the wooded hills just south of the Nashville Pike; eventually forming a line in the shape of a backwards drawn S, as the withdrawn III Corp joined the reinforcements and constituted the right flank. Union cavalry and skirmishers harassed the CSA left flank, and managed to disrupt CSA attacks to the Union right and right middle. Veteran Union batteries decimated attacking Rebel brigades and long range Union batteries pounded CSA batteries as they came into range. CSA attacks began to fizzle out, allowing all Union brigades to withdraw to entrenchments prepared by the Union II Corp on the high ground of the Nashville Pike. Union cavalry were able to force Hardee to retire (and eventually Hardee was captured). The lack of a Corp commander is thought to played a role in the later ineffectual attacks by the Rebels. CSA attacks began on the Union right flank by greatly reduced CSA brigades; these were quickly dealt with and Union brigades began to swing their right flank to face the East. Fresh Union brigades and batteries were re-positioned to repulse the expected CSA attack from that direction. Eventually, attacking Rebel brigades were entering a U-shaped killing zone. Union casualties were comparatively low; the rebel losses will impact their ability to conduct further operations around Nashville. Notes: Going into the last phase of this battle, intelligence showed the following information Union Soldiers 25,226/31,650 Guns 143/156 CSA Soldiers 15,898/22,003 Guns 32/42 Reasonably optimistic for a Union win, unless I did some really foolish. Final results: Start Union vs CSA Inf. 28,500 vs 56,269 Cav. 2,150 vs 3,041 Guns 184(4,526) vs 172(4,138) Losses Inf. 8,002 vs 56,269 Cav 513 vs 2,087 Guns 36(927) vs 132(3,257) Missing 0 vs 546

Sure is.. have one unit equipped with JFBrowns.. they are hidden most of the time.. I am in the endgame of Stones River.. that unit has accounted for over 1,000 kills now.. and I believe no losses. Should be a victory.. need to manage the end game carefully to keep casualties down.. CSA losses are well over 50%; at least it seems to be correct.

nice write up Contact...

I have a bunch of saves.. I will check the tooltips for an increase to 3.

Second play through for the Parker's Crossroads.. My revised Order of Battle worked well. I drove the CSA units out of eastern woods. I kept my forces in the woods edge so that they all had the 100% woods defensive bonus. I just whittled down the CSA brigades that kept pushing into the open. They would advance on any Union brigade that pulled back slightly; and were then cut to pieces; after each encounter, I would move the Union brigade back into the line proper. Out numbered over 3:1, but prevailed. Union vs. CSA Inf 6,300 - 20,831 Cav 0 - 1,552 Art. 1,233/52 guns - 533/22 guns Losses Inf 1,788 - 12,805 Cav 0 - 999 Art 91/4 guns - 145/6 guns CSA AI for some reason decided my battery of 6 pdrs was vulnerable to cavalry attacks; must not have noticed it was a 2 star battery. Canister at close range is bad for cavalry.... I often had the game speed down as slow as possible and hit pause often to redirect battery fire.

Going cross-eyed looking at all the figures.. definitely showing what you stated.. skirmisher units at Fredericksburg were at 950 during the battle, went to 1050 after Recon was increased to 4. I am now not sure if I ever saw a skirmisher unit at 1000.. will a 3 in Recon increase anything with the Mod? In game notes show that it must go to 4 for any effect

I checked before and after.. skirmisher units at Fredricksburg had 1000. with bringing Recon from 2 to 4, the same skirmisher unit was only at 1,050. I will double check...

I also experimented with bringing Recon up to 4 points after Frederickstburg; the 2 Career points only took a skirmishers spotting from 1,000 to 1,050. The 2 career points are better spent elsewhere in my opinion.

I was able to pull off a win by holding in the wooded area which the start rectangle covers. It required retaking the VP at the end. The casualties were much higher than I would have liked; the only reason I am in good shape for Stone's River is the overwhelming Union victory at Fredericksburg. The eastern woods is a better choice to hold because it is closer to the Union reinforcement entry point. I will be trying that in the near future. One of my biggest problems and a direct contribution to higher casualties was being out-spotted (and perhaps out-ranged) by CSA skirmishers. To counter that problem, I will bring one Union skirmisher brigade (probably with J.F.Brown rifles) in with the initial Union deployment. A brief test this morning showed that most CSA skirmishers will be spotted if the Union has at least one skirmisher brigade. Thoughts on the Parker Crossroads map itself: I believe it was originally designed to encourage the use of detached skirmishers for the Union win. From a tactical stand point, it makes sense to send out skirmishers or as they were called pickets to determine what is in front of your lines. This is no longer an option with the mod; and with only 12 brigades allowed for the Union, one can not have a one to one ratio of skirmishers to Union Inf. brigades and bring in enough artillery. IMO. The map plays for the Union with an initial deployment of 8 brigades, with 4 brigades in reinforcement. In my next play through, I will bring a skirmisher brigade armed with J.F.Browns (I will bump them up from 300 to 400), 3 Inf brigades, one 3 star, two 2 star, armed with 1863 and 1861 respectively; and 4 batteries. The reserves will include 1 skirmisher brigade; the Iron Brigade armed with '63s, another Inf. brigade armed with '61s; and a battery (most likely the 20pdr Parrotts for their range). The earthworks are of course deathtraps.. Too bad, in my opinion; I believe they should be somewhat more functional. The flanks and rear should be vulnerable, with the rear providing almost no defense. The defensive bonus of the front should be improved a bit; but I do not know if the mechanics support anything like that.

On to Parker's Crossroads.. Which I remember to be a royal pain.

Jefferson Davis' traitorous government is stunned to the core. The Union has pulled off a shockingly major victory at Fredricksburg. Union Forces vs. CSA Forces Inf. 24,585 vs. 63,327 Cav. 1,050 vs. 5,008 Art. 3,982/163 guns vs. 4,482/189 guns Union losses vs. CSA losses Inf. 7,644 vs. 29,896 Cav. 311 vs. 3,064 Art. 687/20 vs. 1,401/58 Put me down as being absolutely astounded with this outcome.. I took Fredricksburg with minimal losses by taking all Union forces to cross the single bridge on the southside. Once all Union brigades and batteries were in place, I pushed north to the objective. Prospect Hill: 2 Cavalry, 2 skirmishers, two batteries, and two Inf. brigades were sent to eastern most woods (NE of the objective on the CSA right flank); they tied up CSA cavalry units and provided a distraction. 5+ brigades, 2 skirmishers, and 6-7 batteries were sent to the hill which is adjacent to the angle formed by the CSA left flank. One skirmisher moved toward that angle and remained hidden, but spotted for the batteries; all infantry brigades held back and were also not spotted in the early part of the battle. I Corp, 1st and 2nd divisions, plus part of the 3rd division were sent to the area of the river north of the CSA left flank. A Union skirmisher armed with sniper rifles, spotted for I Corp 1/2 batteries. Again infantry stayed out of range and were also not spotted. The Union reserves which only amounted to two divisions total were sent to the Union left center to prevent flanking attacks on what is a rather spread out Union line. Union batteries bombard the entrenched CSA brigades on the CSA left flank (none of which I could actually see, but the Union guns were racking up kills). In the woods, NE of the CSA right, the small Union contingent pushes the CSA cavalry back; eventually, two Union Inf. brigades from the reserves are sent to keep that small Union force from being flanked. CSA brigades start to attack the Union center (mostly on the previously mentioned hill); they are basically running into an L shaped ambush with the Union reserves that were positioned left center of the Union line. More CSA brigades started appearing in the open. I push the Union snipers closer to the CSA left flank entrenchments, the entrenchments have been abandoned. I then rushed I Corp 1st and 2nd divisions along with their supporting batteries past the abandoned CSA entrenchments. The entire CSA left flank and portions of their center had moved into open ground to attack the Union forces on the hill and center; I Corp 1st and 2nd, face one CSA brigade; two Union brigades charge and destroy it. I Corp 1st and 2nd have now enfilade fire to the rear of most CSA brigades. Union forces simply roll up the entire CSA line, and take Prospect Hill. Marye's Heights I had to keep reminding myself, that I did not need to take the Heights. I set up to have Union artillery bombard the CSA right flank on the Heights. I made an attempt to turn that flank but withdrew to minimize casualties, when it was obvious that I did not have the forces to do it. Union forces simply held in position on the edge of Fredricksburg. There was an attempted CSA counter attack against the town, but it was driven off with heavy CSA casualties. Telegraph Hill When this objective came up, I sent a cavalry unit, two skirmisher units, and a 500 man inf brigade in that direction. One skirmisher unit was sent the long way around to the rear of the objective; the cavalry unit was sent to the front, as far south as possible. One skirmisher unit probed the CSA line, which unfortunately covered the entire front. The Union skirmisher drew off a CSA brigade which allowed the cavalry to sneak into the woods far south of the objective. The 500 man Inf. brigade reached the far south, but was engaged in melee; that proved fortuitous, as CSA brigades then ignored the objective which was seized by the Union skirmisher brigade and cavalry brigade. (Note: that 500 man Union brigade was only armed with Farmer Muskets; it was engaged in melee by a two star CSA brigade almost three times it size. It never routed until the very end, and provided the necessary distraction away from the objective.) The rest is now history.. major loss for the Confederates. Still astounded!

Dispatch from the Union commander at Iuka: Slightly out -numbered by the Rebels, Stop; Took our objective, Stop; Our casualties 770, Rebel casualties in excess of 5,300, Stop; Enemy has fled the field, Stop. Report from Perryville Crossroads: Out-numbered at least two to one by Confederate brigades on all side; we held the area around the Widow Bottoms Farm. Our casualties are around 1,300 infantry and it is estimated that the Rebels lost around 10,000 infantry, and at least two full batteries. The crossroads are firmly in Union hands. Grim news as we approach Fredricksburg; early reconnaissance indicates a large CSA presence with strong earthworks. We have pulled together 24,858 Infantry, but many brigades are not much more than raw recruits. Union sympathizers are estimating at least 63,000 Confederate Infantry.

Early reports are trickling in from Sharpsburg.. Union Corps were out-numbered more than 2:1 in the battle to take Sharpsburg; after crossing Antietam Creek, the Union Corps battled for hours around Dunkard Church inflicting heavy casualties on the Rebel forces. Several Confederate counter-attacks were blunted but at the cost of heavy Union casualties. While a small Union force was sent to reconnoiter Sharpsburg itself, the initial Union brigades seized the Dunkard Church area and with additional Union reinforcements pushed the Rebel brigades that were left back into their earthworks along a sunken road. The Union line was able to conduct flanking attacks on the entrenchments with support from Union batteries; long range Union batteries knocked out Rebel batteries one by one. The recon force sent to Sharpsburg initially took the town but was pushed out by Confederate reinforcements, fortunately they were able to form a defensive line and kept the Rebels bottled up in Sharpsburg. As the Rebels were pushed out of their entrenchments, the Union continued to flank the Rebel forces while pounding the center with artillery fire. Essentially the CSA brigades were surrounded on three sides as they were pushed back. Sharpsburg was retaken and held. The Stone Bridge was still held by greatly depleted Rebel forces; but that force poses no threat. Rebel losses were around 80+% while the Union lost in excess of 60% of their effective force. Elsewhere, reports indicate that a second battle at Bull Run was inconclusive; but it is reported the Rebels took a beating.

Kettle Run - Union victory. Inf. losses 1,522 Union vs. 7,377 CSA Thoroughfare Gap - Union victory Inf. losses 1,128 Union vs. 7,995 CSA so in theory, I should have seen 737 inf/skirmisher weapons captured for Kettle Run and 799 weapons captured for the Gap. These weapons would have randomized at the unit level but not randomized in regard to the capture. i.e. Enfields would have come from the unit carrying Enfields, Farmers from another unit.

That explains a bit.. Are the weapon types randomized?

Kettle Run - Union victory. Inf. losses 1,522 Union vs. 7,377 CSA Thoroughfare Gap - Union victory Inf. losses 1,128 Union vs. 7,995 CSA As satisfying as those victories and others are, while out-numbered at least 2:1 in every battle thus far, the rewards for victory are rather paltry. Captured weapons have been minimal throughout this campaign despite inflicting large losses on the CSA AI forces. I am now at end game for the 2nd Battle of Bull Run. CSA casualties are extremely high, but I just can not quite keep Union casualties below the threshold needed for a win vs. a draw. I have a single CSA battery holding things up, and I have been unable to knock it out even with focused counter-battery fire. CSA will never regain the objective, but that CSA battery is pushing my casualties over the limit. I expect that I will need to re-start the battle from the beginning; a draw just will not cut it at MG lvl, particularly with Antietam on the horizon.

I slow the game down to the absolute lowest speed and pause often. I just need to remember to slow it down again to the bottom after pausing as the speed goes to default after a pause. You are right about the micro management; you just can not trust your own AI to do what you know is correct. Half my officers in any given battle would have been cashiered for doing something foolish.

Report from the Malvern Hill battlefield... The divisions of the Union's I Corp, despite being greatly out-numbered, managed to hold the south side of the creek to which they withdrew from their entrenchments at Malvern Hill north. Union batteries decimated the Confederate Infantry brigades as they came in line. CSA brigades began to try and push the left flank of the Union line, only to be flanked themselves by Union reinforcements coming out of the woods on the Unions far left. Additional Union batteries with the reinforcements enfiladed CSA brigades and forced them back. Union cavalry brigades and a skirmisher unit continued to spot and harass the Confederate rear; this greatly delayed CSA batteries from engaging in the main battle. The few CSA batteries that joined the main battle were destroyed by a battery of 20pdr Parrotts with support from a veteran Ordinance battery. The Union left flank with the additional reinforcements advanced and turned like a gate forcing the CSA brigades to be enfiladed by one or the other Union flank as they turned to meet various threats. The Union right flank repelled numerous last minute charges; many CSA brigades were completely destroyed trying to cross the creek. The Union skirmisher brigade supported by mounted Inf. regained the original position while the other Union cavalry brigade harassed and routed demoralized CSA brigades. The Confederates made no attempt to re-take the original position. The CSA infantry brigades suffered a bit over 74% casualties. The Union casualties were estimated to be around 55% for the infantry brigades. A costly victory for the Union, but I Corp, 1st and 2nd veteran divisions came out of the battle at from over 1/2 to around 3/4 strength. Some Union brigades will not likely return due to high casualties and some skirmisher units are MIA. All Union batteries survived the battle.

As I said.. I will finish Malvern Hill after the conference. Before I head out, some thoughts on the current version: Cavalry is much more usable in my opinion, they can generally out run infantry and skirmishers now; they can be deployed in their traditional roles as scouts and flankers. As such they can turn the tide of battle when carefully managed. Limber speed of artillery seems to me to be faster than when I last played about six months ago. This allows quicker support of Inf. in regards to repositioning batteries. Even small skirmisher units are effective both as scouts and flankers.