August Battle Reports

[Drex]

Dratt, I posted this at the old site and I should have known better. Oh well!
Since activity at the DoR Muster site was dead, I thought I would start this thread:
Multiplayer Games
1. From out of the Valley(Gettysbg)-This battle has been going on for some time and will continue for a long time between Corcoran's Legion and a cadre of Reb Vets(the 3 "Ws",Whitehead,Wier,Wadding and Pinkham). It is still a Union minor victory as the first day is ending with I,II, and III Corps withdrawing to a line at Arcola PO but still defending the 3 gaps with our cavalry.
2.Block the Crossings(Gettysburg)-this is part of the Summer Manuevers with Corcoran's Legion pitted against it's counterpart in the VI Corps,"Catamount". Game is only in turn 2.
3. The Battle of Gettysburg(scen007)- Here with Gens Groce and Brennan, we are fighting the Rebel horde led by Gens Strickler,Medeiros and Drott. For the whole of the first day, the Rebs have refused battle, giving up their first day advantage . It appears that they are maintaining a defensive "hedgehog" on Herr Ridge while their reinforcements are coming in. they are also conserving their ammo. This might be what Lee would have wanted. Meanwhile the Union I and XI Corps are holding a line along Seminary Ridge with III Corps coming up to eventually form a line perpendicular to Emmitsburg Rd heading west. XII corps is advancing toward Gettsburg on Hannover Rd to protect the right flank and also wait for II Corps to join it to form a right hammer. There has been no exchange of fire up to this point(late afternoon).
Single-Player Games:
All my single-player games are campaigns.
1.Antietam Campaign-against Roy Purcell. the final battle at Antietam, of course, where I have kept Hooker, Mansfield and Sumner in a probe from the north and northeast while Burnside puts pressure on rohrsbach Bridge and Franklin advances toward Snavely's Ford. roy still has a minor at this point, but only just , as my artilley has been accurate enough to get me within 70pts of a draw.
2.Corinth Campaign against Roy Purcell- This is also in the final battle at Corinth. I had expected his attack from the south but he came in from the north so I had to scramble to get my troops back from the river. Luckily he had some ways to go before he reached my perimeter and I was able to get all my troops back. I don't have enough to man all the walls but I do have interior lines.
3.Campaign Vicksburg against Blake Strickler. After getting a minor victory at Jackson, we are now at Clinton & Jackson. He has beat me to Clinton and is advancing, it looks to Jacksson, so I am deploying to defend Jackson. I do have a Corps at Raymond,however, and am advancing against his base at Bolton. Hopefully he doesn't have too much there to defend it.
4.Campaign Shiloh against Hank Smith- Hank is a tough, experienced opponent. He has been successful,overall, in the campaign but now we are at Shiloh. He has not attacked me from the get-go although my troops were"fixed". he has only showed a few units of his troops so far and now my whole army is activated, so he has lost the "surprise". I am wondering what he is up to.
5. Campaign Franklin against Tom Phillips- After winning a major victory at Franklin, I am attacking at Nashville. I am advancing my whole force except the "E" troops of Etowah Dept.
I hope to get my substantial cavalry forces behind him.
Respectfully submitted, MG Drex Ringbloom

[njmurphy]

Gen. Ringbloom, Sir,

I wish to report that I am still active on the field of the battle as well as on the training ground and the Union Military Academy.
I am currently engaged in a long running Campaign Corinth series of battles that now sees the Union forces in Memphis with reports arriving of Rebel infantry and cavalry advancing from all directions. This campaign began as a divisional multiplayer way back in 2005 but my two Union comrades have fallen by the wayside so I am now outnumbered by the two Rebs and have no one to blame for the Union reverses.
I am also part of the Corcoran's Legion multiplayer against various Rebs that you have described in your report.

I have a few games that are temporarily (maybe permanently?) on hold

For manuevers, I am engaged in the divisional Summer Manuevers battle against the Catamount Division on VI Corps, as well as a battle against Col Cox of the same divisional in the single player series.

Finally I have completed one UMA training game to help speed another eager recruit onto the field of battle.

I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

[D.S. Walter]

Truly, the officers of Corcoran's Legion do an astonishing amount of fighting! Eight battles, Drex? I am impressed.

[nsimms]

Drex didn't include his High Tide victory that will put him in the finals of the Cemetery Ridge Bracket.

[RTHodge]

The only game that I have going that is far enough along to give you anything resembling an AAR is the AoA tourney game, that still drags on with Vern Pinkham. It was a custom scenario, "Battle for the Ridges" I think, using the Shiloh armies. I entered the map from the north, with three lines of advance, nearly covering the entire east to west axis of the map. I decided to play it safe, (Not go screaming south looking for trouble for a change!), and consolidated my position a bit. When I looked at the arrival times, and entry hexes, I noticed that Buell would be arriving with his army, and would be nicely positioned to make a heavy attack on the reb left flank, so when Vern finally ran into my outposts, I tried to keep him busy with feints, first to his right, then to his right center. The feint to the right (A one division, attack, with about a brigade's worth of unattached cavalry.) actually succeeded in driving him out of a small town, and across a creek, which was only crossable at two bridges. I think this demonstration worried General Pinkham, as unit after unit could be seen arriving on a hill east and south of my position in the town. As I allowed things to stabilize, and quiet down on my left, I moved 3 divisions south, through a patch of woods, and struck a heavy reb line. I took a good shellacking here. Got myself a little too involved, and General Pinkham, again could be seen reinforcing the area, and he actually began an attack there, that had me pretty worried for a while. However, as the action along the left center was getting underway, Buell's army was gathering, unseen, along with 2 of Grant's divisons, and three cavalry regiments, far outflanking the reb line to the west. When this, the main attack commenced, General Pinkham was caught flatfooted, or maybe completely unaware of the size of the force opposing him, as division after division struck his left center, and wheeled around his left flank. Two rebel brigades were nearly captured entirely, while another is trapped, and surrounded in another of those small towns on this map. As of the writing of this, we sit at an MV for the Union, that is irretrievable for Vern. I am continuing to press east toward what once was Vern's center, (now his left), with 6 divisions. A term bid has been offered, and it looks like Vern holding up the progress of this one was a good thing for the AoA. I think this is ol' General Hodge's first tourney win...(Although because it's like 4 months late, it won't count as such!), probably my first win since Hulinsky bolted!

Happy hunting all...and please don't forget to muster. We are accepting the musters through the DoR...only takes a minute for Pat's sake!

[nsimms]

We (or it could just be "I") may be a bit lost. What exactly is the muster policy for the AotS (apparently we are expected to muster this month in the DoR)? Are divisional/corps reports still required and what months are they required? When will admin points be caught up? Will this be a Braves/Yankees World Series? Does Pat really wear wool underwear?

[mperrenod]

Still fighting northwest of Gettysburg against Gen. Paul Kenney - going slow, but we're at turn 17 of a two-day with me trying to stop his retreat. I believe I have him significantly outnumbered, though he has excellent defensive terrain. Nearly all of my force is deployed now (VI Corps still getting into position), and I'm beginning what I hope will be a grinding, methodical advance across a wide front. Few casualties thus far.

We're in the early stages of the Getting to Know You maneuver. Moves go fast when you're only responsible for a division.

We're at nightfall of the first day in the Out of the Valley MP. Our cavalry have begun to redeem themselves, but we're still down about 1000 infantry casualties. The Rebs are nearly all up, we've still got a significant portion of our force advancing to the fight.

Finished my Great Summer Maneuver mirror matches against Lt. Richard Simonitch. A couple of brisk fights south of Iuka. He performed well, but the greater experience ultimately told and I edged him out on points. I'm wondering where the rest of that tournament is at - time to start a thread here, Gen. Tremel!

[genmikedean]

I've got two MP games going, Out of the Valley and Getting to Know You. Both have been previously mentioned...

[nsimms]

Gettysburg Meeting Engagement #88 ended in a Draw after 124 turns because my opponent preferred Napoleonic warfare and tired of the ACW. It was going to be one heck of a second day of battling if he had continued because our units were aligned all across the map but I had stolen the initiative and thus was choosing where to concentrate and attack.

The HPS Ozark Battle of Lexington ended in a USA Minor Victory after 19 turns as my opponent had the far superior numbers but also very poor quality. I was buttoned up in a fortress and all attempts to remove me were futile.

The HPS Ozark Battle of Dunagin’s Farm ended in a CSA Minor Victory after 14 turns. The battle looked like a laugher for the CSA with stronger and good quality Confederate infantry against poorer quality Union cavalry in a wooded environment. However, the Yanks did manage to get it down to a chance for victory with one last melee but it was not to be.

Had started a HPS Gettysburg campaign at Brandy Station but my opponent is on leave for the summer and I’m awaiting his return to the battlefields.

After taking a Chickamauga campaign from my opponent, he wanted revenge for the bad turn of events that he suffered at the campaign’s Battle of Chickamauga so we are engaged in that standalone battle. We are approaching noon of the second day and we are at a Draw. I don’t think that this battle has gone the way that he hoped either. Currently, my center is exchanging blow for blow with the Reb army, he hasn’t seen the division on my left that is descending upon the rear of his exposed right flank, a fresh Union corps has just fallen upon his left flank with one of its divisions marching unobstructed around that flank, and my fixed units to his north (and rear) will be released in about 2 hours.

Started a HPS Battle of Gettysburg 007 and we are at noon of the first day (19 turns). I’m beginning to wonder what I’ve gotten hold of as my opponent has advanced impressively down Chambersburg Pike and is currently outflanking my Union positions atop Cemetery Hill. I’ll get a better idea once the actual combat starts any turn now.

The HPS Ozark series (not a campaign but fighting every battle in it supposedly in chronological order) continues now with the Battle of Pea Ridge.

The Link Express had problems with Tripod just when all of the major changes were occurring to the club’s forums. It wound up being a major data transfer being conducted by Tripod had accidentally messed up some of their code that handles the software that I use. After 2 weeks or more of trial and error, their engineers appear to have found and resolved the problem.

Enjoyed a quiet month for the High Tide Tournament. The semi-final rounds end today and the remaining contestants have until Sunday night at midnight to either provide me the results or petition for me to decide who advances. The Army of the Shenandoah will be represented in two finals as Lt Gen Pat Thompson defeated Maj Gen Mike Seger to advance to the Round Top Bracket finals and Maj Gen Drex Ringbloom defeated Lt Gen Pat Thompson to advance to the Cemetery Ridge Bracket finals. Both will face the yet undetermined winner of matches between Gen Jeff Laub and Brig Gen Doug Shaw (who are also meeting in the finals of the Culp’s Hill Bracket).

Whatever my next victory is will be a milestone as it will be my 100th according to the club. You’ll hear me boasting about it whenever it occurs. It’s nice to boast about but some of my defeats have been some of my most enjoyable and memorable games (and some of them have been my most forgettable games as well). The only thing close to pulling off a masterpiece by surprising and shocking your opponent is to watch such a masterpiece unfold against yourself. On the other hand, you try to forget the ones where your masterpiece turned into one of the biggest flubs since Burnside was in charge.

[mperrenod]

100 victories should be worth about 100 drinks. I'll be waiting here for my share.

What's that, Gen. Hodgkiss, we're supposed to buy for him? Seems a bit of a waste, really - I've noted that Gen. Simms is perfectly happy with lighter fluid.