Let's cause extreme butthurt by defeating the North in AACW

[XenomorphII]

@ Burning Bridges: Most of the territory lost in the west was by and large empty space though (a notable exception being New Orleans, which I was thinking lasted longer but did indeed fall rather early), but it is true the Union did much better there (I also forgot about Shiloh and Chattanoogas as far as some major battles go).

Edit: Also yeah the CSA's government was pretty terrible, and its inherit flaws certainly made matters worse for them. Many of the state militias refused to serve outside their state, though near the end of the war I think Davis had finally been given a bit more power (and was actually allowed to unify the armies which until that point had been acting independently of one another).

Also in regards to Lincoln, it is really hard to say whether he was a "good" president or not. He basically ignored the Constitution and did whatever he wanted using the Congress as an after the fact rubber stamp of approval, but he did keep the country together (something that was far more important than the issue of slavery to the majority of Northerners at the time) and he did end slavery as well (though to be fair it probably would have died on its own in time, but its not like Lincoln could have done much to prevent the South from leaving in the first place). My personal stance on him is that his death kept him from becoming hated (as I seriously doubt after years of ignoring the limits of his power he would suddenly play by the rules so to speak, but he might have, who knows really).

Edit 2: Oh yeah, you should finish this. Them thar Yankees ain't feelin no butthurt yet son!

 

[Burning Bridges]

Gondolin Interesting .. but assuming they had NOT been preparing for leaving the Union for decades as you say, and not planning everything ahead, what could they have done when it became acute?

@XenomorphII Not only did it fall early, it also fell hardly without a shot fired. The CSA had completely relied on the coastal forts, and when they did not stop Faraguts fleet, the Union found New Orleans completely undefended.

Also strategically you cannot say the territory lost in Tennessee and the Mississipi/Missouri confluent was unimportant, nor was that in Arkansas, and the border states Missouri and Kentucky.

And by the way, I did not want to one-sidedly bash Lincoln, it's just pretty obvious for an foreign outsider like me that all his misdeeds and inconsistencies have been eradicated from history. I still think he stood for the more progressive ideals than the south and therefore, the north winning was probably better than the CSA carrying slavery and apartheid well into the 20th century (like South Africa). It's also pretty obvious that slavery was used as a weapon against the CSA, and would have been abolished in the North only much later if there had not been a civil war.

I agree, being shot at the perfect moment probably saved him from more critical assessment, probably forever.

 

[Gondolin]

Centralize, coordinate, nationalize (if needed). Blockade running was left to private companies, many of which were foreign, and it became inefficient because of the lack of centralization and coordination. Captains and agents demanded exorbitant rates for blockade running and preferred to transport luxury goods instead of weapons and ammo. They were also allowed to choose their destination and, thus, some ports (Charleston) received cargo far beyond their capacity to handle it. Financing suffered from the same lack of centralization and coordination. Davis and his Cabinet did implement centralization and coordination policies, but only beginning with late 1863.

 

[Burning Bridges]

-- TURNS 18-20 --

I managed to run a few turns just to see what happens.

The financial and draft options have been re-enabled, and we go for the max, no matter what it costs in NM / inflation.

The same with financial options.

In Richmond, Lee achieved a victory against a vastly larger Union army, but since he chose to retreat from the town the situation has become worse than before. Only Longstreets Corps remains in Richmond, and is now everything that stands from us losing our capital M:

Presidential election - a great opportunity for us.

The Union morale threshold was raised, theoretically only a few points separate them from losing the war.

But the loss of Richmond would ruin everything.

I sent Jackson into action and he won a smaller victory,

Our winter war, Jackson is victorious, and Stuart finally captured back Covington for us.

The armies in Gainesville are now effectively starving, and they also refuse to fight (I was so desperate that I ordered an assault but nothing happens). The situation here has become so hopeless (no food) that I start to not care anymore,

We also lost Meridian, for which we had fought so hard last year.

Through the draft options, we received over 700 conscription points, so we can probably replace all our losses in the next turns.

 

[Burning Bridges]

What now? Operation Banzai? With the aim of snatching the remaining points from Union morale, before the election is over?

I see hardly any other choice. The problem is only that I would like to wait 2-3 turns to get the needed reinforcements to the units, and until then, Richmond may have fallen to the Union.

 

[Norfleet]

What now? Operation Banzai? With the aim of snatching the remaining points from Union morale, before the election is over?

That's pretty much what it comes down to, no? You have to smash their morale, or else you'll lose for sure, because there is, realistically and gamewise, no way you can win on attrition alone. Causing extreme butthurt is the only way.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Yes.

 

[Burning Bridges]

-- TURN 21 - 22 --

After the Draft has given us over 700 conscript points, we can finally get the needed replacements.

You can see how huge the demand for replacement companies has become.

This time I wisely spend not a single CP for new units, because I realized from bad experience that I cannot sustain more units, and rather invest in replacements.

The following turn, while all demand for line infantry could be met, there is still need for even more replacement companies for cavalry and artillery units.

Fortunately for us, the crushing blow to the starving Corps in Gainesville did not happen, and Grant has retreated without fight to Meridian. It seems even he is now finally getting some problems with his supply chain too.

This was very fortunate for us. for even though a few thousand men already died of attrition, the bulk of the force could eventually be evacuated. In turn 21 Breckinridge and 15,000 men sailed to Blakeley, Alabama (where Johnstons Army HQ is stationed), where they will find a medical corps and supply wagons, so the bulk of the army will be salvaged.

To break Union morale we need to capture one or two major city.

The major candidates are New Orleans, Nashville, Memphis and Mobile. We decide to go first for New Orleans because it is closest and probably not very strongly defended.

To recapture New Orleans, the plan is to assemble a large force in Baton Rouge (altogether ca 20,000) and use all our transport ships to transport them to the city, which we hope to be only lightly defended, Since the capture of New Orleans is worth 8 NM points, this could be the decisive blow to Union morale.

Here is the similar plan for a Winter offensive from Chattanooga, which aims to recapture Nashville.

Although this Winter attack from a strong defensive position defies all strategic logic, the Union force appears to be badly positioned to react quickly to such an offensive, we can concentrate substantial forces in the gap, surprise will completely be on our side, and we could deal another morale blow.

After the turmoil that followed the retreat from Fredricksburg, our strategic position around Richmond had been disrupted for several turns. But now we finally managed to position all of Lee's three major Corps around the capital, close enough to be able to support each other.

In the next update it will be seen why this was to become very important (!)

And finally, our forces in Texas attempt to destroy some badly positioned Federal units, which must be rather battered by the cold weather.

Union morale is running dangerously low, just 7 points from defeat level. If Richmond doesn't fall, this looks doable now!!
We must give them the last push now, by attacking on all fronts.

 

[Gondolin]

Go, go, go!

 

[Burning Bridges]

-- February 1864 ---- THE END OF RINE --

Decisive battle of Richmond

The end came quicker than expected, in turn 22.

Lincoln risks an all out attack on Richmond, and loses the war. In an epic battle that was to decide the war, the ca 100,000 federals were throughly defeated by the combined forces of Lee, Longstreet and Jackson (65,000).

Here the catastrophic defeat of the (badly generaled) union army, resulting in 7 NM, Lee's Army of Virginia and Richmond safe.

+1 NM was won in another attack by a smaller Confederate force in Montgomery, North Carolina.

Beauregards move to Jackson, turned out another success.

The battle was stalemate, but the union left the field, so Beauregard captured the city and a fully stocked depot intact.

Another small victory was won in Texas.

But no NM, it was not needed anyway.

With total combat losses (including POWs) close to 200,000 Union morale fell to 57, and Lincoln took an arrow in the knee. The northern population rioted, and General McClellan and the Army HQ coerced an immediate end of the war.

The attack on New Orleans did not even have to take place.

While we did not cause a maximum amount of butthurt, we did enough to end the war. The South of course accepted the stalemate, the CSA survived and we gave negotiated a withdrawal of forces from most of our territory, and the return of our stolen property.

So, that's the end of Butthurt I.
Stay tuned for a real, future Butthurt II campaign, where we invade the North, capture the culprits (Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Butler) and enforce the dissolution of the United States.

We are now considering our options for the future. I will not touch the 1863 campaign for a long time, because this battle of attrition was not the kind of war I wanted to fight, I actually wanted to launch a major counter-attack.

I'll write a post mortem of the campaign in a few days.

 

[Burning Bridges]

 

[Rumsfeld]

Nice work. After promising 'extreme butthurt' it looked like you were the one lubing up ready to take a pounding. But the banzai manoeuvre and the Richmond battle paid off nicely. It will be good to see you invade the North though.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Jesus those were bad casualties for the Union.



1882 campaign next?

 

[Gondolin]

of the South.

 

[eklektyk]

of the South.

congrats on victory
shame it was not total military crushing victory but U deserve all praise for finishing it

 

[Turbografx]

Christian, when will you do another AACW play through? That was very good. It very nearly could have been:


A Rise of Prussia / Alea Jacta Est play through/review would also be cool.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Howdy. Glad you like it!

Yes, I have planned to do another LP of an Ageod game in the future. It could possibly be AJE (a bit unbalanced right now), AACW (still great) or AACW 2 (?).

A problem is that I usually stick with a game for a week, then stop for several months. Which is not so LP-friendly ..

But yeah, a southern campaign without sudden death, and conquest of the North would be cool.

 

[Turbografx]

Howdy. Glad you like it!

Yes, I have planned to do another LP of an Ageod game in the future. It could possibly be AJE (a bit unbalanced right now), AACW (still great) or AACW 2 (?).

A problem is that I usually stick with a game for a week, then stop for several months. Which is not so LP-friendly ..

But yeah, a southern campaign without sudden death, and conquest of the North would be cool.

Yes, I have the same problem with Paradox / AGEOD games. I can spend hours playing each day for a few days and then nothing for two years. That reminds me, if someone was obsessed enough, CKII could make for a 'Let's Play' that lasts decades.

 

[Sranchammer]

I would be the North if you'd like. PBEM keeps the juices flowing a lot longer. I must have played at least 20 campaigns with EmoBunny in AACW

Edit: just noticed you meant to do a conquest of the North. That would be funny