Antietam (Union campaign): Dealing with weapons shortage and allocating resources between phases

[drhanson]

I have two related questions that require a little explanation:  I’m new to the game, in my first campaign (“colonel” level, Union).  I thought I was in good shape going into the main battle of Antietam but 2 surprises ruined my plan.  First surprise: the game forces me to approach the battle in the same disjointed manner as McClellan did.  I thought I could distribute resources roughly evenly between my anticipated 3 full corps and a ½ strength 4^th corps, and then shift units to other portions of the field as needed once the battle starts. But now I realize I have to decide in advance how to distribute resources between the three main areas of the field.

The much more important surprise was that I ran out of available infantry weapons to build the size of army I intended to field.  I can raise my organization level to 8, giving me 4 corps of up to 20 bgdes each.  I already have more than enough units for 2 full 20-unit corps, including 26 infantry brigades (9 two-star level and 16 one-star).  My plan was to rebuild my current infantry units to their 2,500-man levels after Crampton’s Gap and South Mountain, move up to organizational level 8 to give me the 4th corps, and create enough 2,000 to 2,500-man units of rookie melee fodder to give me 3 full attack corps and a small 4^th reinforcement corps of maybe 8-12 brigades of various types. 

But while I made sure I had enough funds and available manpower for that plan, I didn’t realize that I would run out of weapons for all those new infantry units.   After bringing my existing experienced units up to full strength, I’ll only have access to enough weapons to create a fraction of the remaining infantry units I intended.  Even if I don't replace the experienced brigades' casualties, I still can't create as many infantry units as I had planned.  Either way, I'll end up with quite a few 1,000- to 1,200-man rookie units armed with farmer rifles.  Weapons for new artillery, skirmisher, and cavalry units aren’t a problem, just infantry weapons.

So now I’m looking for advice on the following questions:

1.    My most important question is: How should I deal with the weapon shortage and still have a big enough army for Antietam?  Don’t replace all the South Mountain/Crampton’s Gap casualties in my existing experienced infantry brigades so that I can create more and/or larger new brigades?  Or take my 26 experienced brigades back up to 2,500 men and skimp on my rookie units?  Create more but smaller rookie brigades (1,000 to 1,500 men) so that I can have more units to work with?  Create fewer rookie brigades but build them at 2,000 to 2,500 men so that each unit is stronger?  (I realize this will reduce the efficiency of some because I’ll have to have majors and lt. colonels leading some of them.)   Reduce the number of brigades per division or the number of divisions in each corps?  Put more emphasis on building artillery, cavalry, and skirmisher units?  Forget about adding the 4^th corps?  Something else I haven’t though of?

2.  Any tips on the best way to allocate resources between the 3 main fields of battle (and the reinforcing corps, if I have one)?  Should my best infantry units be distributed evenly between the three attacking corps and the reinforcing corps, or should I depoy more of them in one phase than in the others?  Should the 4^th reinforcing corps (if any) contain some of my best units to come to the rescue in a crisis area, or mainly rookie melee fodder? I’ll have a couple of long-range counter-battery artillery units – in which phase would they be most useful?  Or should I just put the majority of my artillery into the first phase so that I have access to them during all three phases?  I don’t have a lot of cavalry (2 shock cavalry and 3 carbine cavalry); where and when would they be most useful?  Same with my three brigades of skirmisher sharpshooters armed with long-range rifles.  I figured they’d be best used to pick off people at the bridge or in the sunken lane – does that make sense?

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions anyone may have.

Edited January 13, 2019 by drhanson
formatting

[Guest]

I haven't played the Union side so I may offer bad advice.. But it's extremely important for the units efficiency that the officers leading them has the proper lvl. I rarely have brigades larger than 2k and I rarely sell weapons even if "outdated", untill I get the 3 full corps outfitted I use in the CSA campaing.. After that I've basically just sold weapons I figured I didn't need.

And use the reknown points you get for succesfull battles to "buy" weapons in the upper right tab.. That gives a bit more tech weapons especially early on..

[pandakraut]

Either option can work, but if you spread your units out you will probably need to delay your initial attacks a bit until all your units on the field. You have a lot of time in this battle and don't have to capture the VPs before some of the first timers run out. The more advanced strategy involves 2 strong corps, flanking around the CSA left and taking the woods around the church, then continuing the flank with the 2nd corps towards Sharpsburg. At that point you just complete the encirclement with whatever you have left in your 3rd corps and can wipe out the entire CSA army.

If your units were 2500 going into the previous battles, I would probably just spend what resources you have making new units. 3 corps can be more than enough, but if you want to go up to 4 you are definitely going to have to use smaller units to spread the rifles/muskets out enough. Smaller units can be very effective, you just need to be careful with them. I actually prefer keeping my units around 1k to 1.3k as I'd rather have 2500 men spread across 2 units for the potential of flanking fire and more tactical flexibility. 

[drhanson]

5 hours ago, Lars Kjaer said:

I haven't played the Union side so I may offer bad advice.. But it's extremely important for the units efficiency that the officers leading them has the proper lvl. I rarely have brigades larger than 2k and I rarely sell weapons even if "outdated", untill I get the 3 full corps outfitted I use in the CSA campaing.. After that I've basically just sold weapons I figured I didn't need.

And use the reknown points you get for succesfull battles to "buy" weapons in the upper right tab.. That gives a bit more tech weapons especially early on..

Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned that I've already received all the guns I can get by spending my reputation points in the upper right tab.

 

[Davek86]

In your position in would do the following:

• Don't replace the losses on the large experienced units, 2500 man might be a bit overkill thus if these units are around 1.800 man that would plenty. 
• Use the available manpower to create new units and arm them with whatever you have on hand, it would prefer more units over large units. 
• Create more artillery, cavalry and skirmisher units.
  • Artillery is useful overall, I like a bit more artillery at the bridges in the south.
  • Cavalry is very useful late in the battle to complete encirclement and moping up units. 

[drhanson]

Many thanks to everyone who responded.  The information was very helpful.