Well...
Hot on the heels of the revelations of the supply rules and more importantly the attrition rules comes another shock: I have been doing railroad capture totally wrong. This has a bigger impact than my previous mistakes which can always be explained by the vagaries of die rolls.
Now I need to see how I can repair the damage caused by my failing to apply the rail repair, or more correctly, rail conversion rules. Bum!
The Union receives USMRR (US Military Railroad Repair) units that can repair/convert rails in addition to one hex per theatre automatic intrinsic repair capacity (which is only for repair and only in original territory). The Union receive one in April 1862 and one in April 1863.
So rail conversion could have started at Columbus, KY, in May 1862 (after allowing for the USMRR unit to be ferried there). Kentucky railroads commence converted for the Union as do those in Missouri. Working from here it would reach Humboldt in June with Grant, but have retreated back to Columbus in July. August could have seen rail conversion to Paris, TN, and then September to the banks of the Tennessee. October to Brownsville, then in November adjacent to Memphis. By January 1863 it could have made it to Jackson, TN. February it could be at Pittsburgh Landing and then March safely at Corinth. April would see it return to complete the link to Memphis. The second USMRR would arrive at this time and rail to Bowling Green and start converting the rail lines north of the Cumberland River. Just about up-to-date and the plan had been to use the railway across the Mississippi so that will happen now.
The upshot is that the impact on Union supply is negligible given their command of the rivers, however the railway had been used to move a good number of troops about. Probably not such an issue given the hiatus over winter and that river transports can ferry troops between connecting rail lines. However I am sure things would have played out differently, particularly the importance of the rail between Clarksville and Paris in Tennessee. Anyway, all fixed now and these blog posts made it easy to rectify. Phew!
Just to make things difficult, the Union had to remove 20% of their volunteers at the end of May, 1863. This comes in at 80,000 troops including 5,000 cavalry. The bulk were in Maryland.
The Union commission some more Generals and promote Meade and Rosecrans. Hancock replaces Sumner and Ord goes West.
Banks gets back to work invading Louisiana. Farragut sails his badly damage squadron for repairs at Galveston. It might take a while. He takes his remaining ships back to the east coast.
The newly arrived Ord is sent to deal with the rebel cavalry north of Johnsonville on the Tennessee River. He prepares to attack, but the enemy retreat. Sherman again advances against Forrest, but he is not yet ready to attack. Lyon moves to Murfreesboro to put further pressure on Nashville supply lines.
Grant moves to attack the Confederate Army of the Mississippi. It is 2:1 straight. The die roll is a 10! The Confederates lose 20,000 and retreat gaining 3 fatigue. The Union lose 15,000 and gain 1 fatigue. Grant follows up and makes a second attack. It is at 4:1 with a -1. The die roll is a 9. The Union lose 5,000 but the Confederates lose 15,000 and gain yet more fatigue. The only positive thing is that in retreating that have got themselves out of the trap, the negative is that they have fallen into a swamp.
With a better appreciation of the attrition rules, the Union abandon the swamp they held outside New Berne. The Union fleet has a go at the battery at Norfolk. It proves to be made of painted logs and disintegrates with the first blast. The Confederate navy comes out to fight (actually it is trying to run away as it is heavily outnumbered). They sink the US ships not clad in iron, but suffer damage and withdraw to Richmond, which the Confederates find they have embarrassingly failed to build a protective battery.
Taking a risk, Rosecrans sends Burnside with 20,000 men to cut the Confederate rail lines between Culpeper and Manassas Junction. To increase the risk Union cavalry threaten the Shenandoah Valley.
The Confederates have to deal with attrition. 5,000 men disappear into the Mississippi mud. 5,000 of Longstreet's men skedaddle. Beauregard holds his force together, but 10,000 men slip away from the Army of the Virginia.
Taylor joins Jackson and attacks Rosecrans at 2:3. The die roll is a 4. Both sides lose 10,000 men and gain fatigue, but the Confederates have to retreat. Jackson has lost his mojo.
The Army of Virginia pulls back. Joined by Longstreet it makes a 2:1 attack on Burnside with a +2. The die roll is a 5. Burnside is killed. Both sides lose 5,000 men and gain fatigue. What is left of Burnside's men retreat. Pemberton narrowly avoids being wounded. Longstreet and Stuart are unscathed. The rail line is repaired.
The Army of Mississippi struggles across the Yazoo. S D Lee arrives in Vicksburg.
Not wanting to suffer the same fate of the Army of the Mississippi (now known as the Army of the Missing), J E Johnston takes his army of the Tennessee on a force march to confront Sherman. He attacks at 3:2. The die roll is a 6. No generals are killed or wounded, but 10,000 soldiers on each side are casualties and each side gains fatigue, but Sherman holds his position.
June Interphase
Strictly speaking this interphase is at the start of July.
Also, given the success of the Union forces in the preceding months, the Confederate overall economic situation has not changed. This was due to them retaking Nashville and holding it till the end of June. However the Union dispute this claiming that as it has been abandoned, and even if it hadn't, without a fort the Union exert a zone of control over the city that means it can't trace a line of communication to other supply centres as you can't trace into or through. The Rebels say that doesn't include supply from Little Rock (worth 3 compared to Nashville's 6) which is also a problem as with the river cut downstream it can't connect to the necessary number of other supply centres. Does it matter?
The Confederate supply total is 106. As 100 is the cap, one or the other of Little Rock or Nashville being excluded has no effect, but if both were...
Union blockades have also fallen by the wayside, or should that be quayside? Clearly they will start to have an impact now, but at the expense of tying up ships.
First both sides must conduct replacements. This is the matter of troops returning form the casualty pool. In the proceeding quarter losses have been high. The Union suffered 85,000 casualties (they get back 40,000). The Confederates lost 110,000, but will be getting back 55,000.
The Union also get their sunk ships back.
The Confederates have 445,000 men in the field and are somehow able to attract another 55,000 volunteers. By way of contrast the Union have 660,000 men under arms.
There are some big blue stacks here and there 😊 A difficult situation for the rebels.
ReplyDeleteThe stack sizes can be deceptive. Each counter is between 1 and 4 strength points (5,000 to 20,000 men), but totally interchangeable. Stacking has 12, 18 and 24 limits depending on location of supply lines and presence of Army HQ. The size of most stacks can be gauged by looking at the leader's first number (general a 4 or 6) which is the number of SPs they can command. Army leaders (who have a red dot next to their rank badge) are different as they can have other leaders in their stack (from 2 to 3). Playing solitaire removes the fog of war, but face to face games bring scouting cavalry into the mix to allow you to inspect the opponents stack if you outscout them.
Delete