October 22, 1998 - Pulse on the Net
Confederate Strategy Brief: FOR THE PEOPLE
Confederate Strategy Brief: FOR THE PEOPLE
3 of 4 
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October 22, 1998 - Pulse on the Net
Confederate Strategy Brief: FOR THE PEOPLE |
3 of 4 |
Thus, as soon as possible form a second army in TN and use it, along with a strong Corp or two, to fight the Federal player there. The initial keys to constricting Federal mobility are the forts at Columbus KY and Dover TN. Place at least 2 SP each in these forts. Eventually, you’ll want to build an additional fort at Memphis as a backup to the eventual fall of Columbus. Otherwise, build a strong Corp in Bowling Green KY to oppose Federal forces moving south and eventually turn it into an army.
Replace A.S. Johnston with a more mobile general as soon as one is available, hopefully before forming an army in TN to avoid the SW penalty required to remove him from Army command. As with all 3-1 generals, A.S. Johnston is fine for point defense so move him into a fort you intend to hold.
Besides providing access to the Federal rail coke point at Pittsburgh, the state of WV provides the crafty CSA player with other alternatives. Once the Union player gains control of WV, it becomes very easy to cause a 10-point SW swing in the CSA player’s favor during the political control phase by occupying three spaces in WV. Further, this is on the way to occupation of the rail coke point Pittsburgh. It is great to try to do both in one move as the last play of the turn, as this prevents a Union reaction before the Political Control phase and the next turn’s reinforcements.
The CSA should avoid building armies for the sake of building them. Rarely does he have enough SP to fully man three, let alone four armies. Also, the need for them is not as great as he has less a need to convert spaces and the skill of his generals compensates for the lack of subordinate support. The CSA player should build an army in front of Richmond as soon as possible and a second one in TN during turn four or five. Forming the second (and possible third) army should probably wait until the CSA player has had a chance to assign a mobile general to command them. Replacing A.S. Johnston or Bragg will be painful and should be avoided.
On turn four the CSA player will have to deal with the question of what to do with Lee. Almost everyone’s gut reaction would be to place him in command of the army operating in front of Richmond, but there are good reasons for assigning him elsewhere. If Richmond is being well guarded by the likes of Beauregard and J. Johnston, consider an assignment out west where the issue of maneuver is more critical. There is a good chance you are going to want to replace one of the 3-x generals out there anyway, so you might was well pay the SW penalty where it will do the most good. Besides, on turn five Longstreet and Jackson appear and one of those can be used to bolster the forces in VA long before Grant ever shows up.
Regardless of where Lee or the others go, never, ever form the "dream team." Placing two generals with battle ratings of 3 in the same army is asking for one of them to get killed. Further, the 1-3 generals are far too useful – and safe – in army or Corp command. The CSA player should have no trouble finding a couple of lesser generals to assist Lee, Longstreet and Jackson to provide good die roll modifiers, so the CSA player is just reducing his options by not using them independently. If you have to, use a division move to displace a 3-x general (hopefully to someplace useful like a fort) before creating an army under one of these generals.
Finally, consider that the CSA eventually gets a total of six generals with an initiative of 1, not even counting the cavalry generals (which, unlike the Federal cavalry generals, all have an initiative of 1 also). The three best, all rated 1-3, appear long before the best Federal generals appear. Try to avoid doubling these generals up as they provide the CSA with a significant mobility advantage over the Federal army, which only gets two such generals. Even Van Dorn, with a lousy battle rating of 0, can be used to dash about with a couple of SP and cut Federal LOC, retreat paths, gather reinforcements or otherwise react to a threat.
While I realize the benefits of the cavalry generals to stage raids into Union territory and cut LOC, generally I feel that their worth as subordinates to Corp and Army commanders outweigh their uses wandering about the map alone. Otherwise, like Lee, you’ll have to explain to Davis just exactly why he could not out fight Meade at Gettysburg.
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Copyright © 1999-2002. ConsimWorld.COM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. Web Masters are encouraged to link directly to this page, this URL is not subject to change. For general site information: kranz@consimworld.com
Headline News | Archives | New Products
Game Ratings | Clubs | Events | Discussion Board
Copyright © 1999, 2000 ConsimWorld.COM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. Web Masters are encouraged to link directly to this page, this URL is not subject to change. For general site information: kranz@consimworld.com
