Tabletop Bintananth's Across Five Aprils American Civil War TableTop Game Thread

[bintananth]

My wife and I just started a game of Across Five Aprils. It's an old Avalon Hill boardgame covering the US Civil War.

Opening setup is complete ... with a twist. We're using the randomized generals variant including the ones you start with.

Generals have 1, 2, or 3 stars (4 max in the case of Grant and Sherman) indicating the what they're qualified to command. Some (like Sherman) start at 1 and get promoted after a battle they survive unscathed. Others (like Lee) start and stay at 3-stars.

They also have a 3 number rating indicating initiative, army command skill, and tactical skill. (3,0,0) is considered "good" and (3,-1,0) is tolerable for a 3-star.

We're also using the variant which allows Nathaniel Lyon and Stonewall Jackson to be promoted to 3 stars and command an army if they survive. That gives both sides an extra army commander just as good as Grant or Sherman (2,2,2) and almost as good as Lee (2,3,1).

She's playing the Confederates. I placed her generals and know what she's got: Lee, both Johnstons, EK Smith, and Jackson right from the start while Van Dorn (the worst Confederate general in the game) is the last one she gets.

I don't yet know which generals the Union starts with or which ones show up when, but if her shit eating grin is any indication the Union is in for a very rough time.

We've played before. I have pretty good idea of what she's going to do early. She'll make a play for Missouri and West Virginia while leaving Kentucky alone. Instead of going after Kentucky and DC she's going to fortify Richmond, Chattanooga, Memphis, and New Orleans ASAP with one fortress left unbuilt (she only gets five).

For me to win I will have to use the Navy to hit the South in coastal and riverine places she's not adaquately defending while the big Armies with shit commanders take a beating until I start to get the good Union commanders into play.

 

[bintananth]

Here's how Across Five Aprils is going against my wife:

It's Spring 1863 and the casualties have been horrendously bloody. Grant, Sherman, Lyons, RE Lee, and Jackson are among them.

I've taken Memphis and Chattenooga but have made no progress in Virginia, Missouri is still contested, West Virginia and most Southern ports are in Union hands. Vicksburg and New Orleans are Confederate fortresses.

The best two army commanders left are GG Meade and JE Johnston (3,1,1). They're fighing along the railroad line between Chatanooga and Atlanta.

In Virginia it's OO Howard v. AS Johnston. AS Johnston is the most senior Confederate Genral and can not be replaced without removing him from the game. OO Howard completely sucks when he's not in command of an Army, but is AS Johnston's equal when unleashed.
He very junior at that level and will be replaced if I'm not careful with where I place leaders when they come into play.

Along the Mississippi River it's William S Rosecrans v. Braxton Bragg (both are (3,-1,0))

West of the Mississippi it's McClellan v. EK Smith and neither of us really cares who wins out there because I if take Atlanta ... it's all over and only a matter of time.

She can not build a fortress there becacuse she doesn't have any left.

 

[bintananth]

I'm thinking about what I'm going to do to the Confederates in 1863 in the game of Across Five Aprils my wife and I are playing.

The Union has Norfolk VA, Wilmington NC, Charlston SC, and Mobile AL.

I can send 30,000 troops plus a 2-star Burnside (3,*,0) from Washington, DC to any one of those or the Texas coast with my first March-April 1863 move and there isn't a damn thing President Princess can do to stop the troop transports.

The question is: "Which one?"

- Norfolk, VA: The Overland Campaign of 1864 aimed at Richmond-Petersburg starts a year early
- Wilmington, NC: Raleigh, NC is the target and I've opened a backdoor to Richmond and Atlanta
- Charleston, SC: Savannah, GA is the target and I've just hung a noose around JE Johnston's neck
- Mobile, AL: Port Hudson, LA is the immediate target. Bragg now has Rosecrans in front of him, Burnside behind him, and he's outnumbered by more than 2:1 if Princess doesn't pull troops from New Orleans. Rosecrans also has all the Union river gunboats at his disposal
- Texas Coast: it's undefended and Burnside can take all of it with ease. Sending Farragut and Sheridan there with a fleet and 15,000 troops in May-June is probably a better use of President Bintananth's limited ability to get all of the Union forces moving with anything even remotely resembling coordination.

There is a downside to sending Burnside. He's up for 3 stars and basically my "oh crap" backup for Howard, Meade, Rosecrans, and McClellan because the other options I've got are Don Carlos Buell (4,-3,-2) and Benjamin Butler (3,-3,-2). I don't want either of them anywhere near an Army's HQ.

Note: Princess' 3-star backup is PGT Beauregard (3,0,1). She's smart in this regard because if you don't have a 3-star available when an army commander is killed or wounded the army gets disolved.

Beauregard can replace Bragg without removing Bragg from the game but - and there's always a but - Bragg's -1 would give Howard a re-roll in Virginia or Meade a second re-roll in the mountains between Chattanooga and Atlanta if either of the Johnstons gets shot.

 

[Blasterbot]

I lean towards either Mobile or Texas based on the description. texas means making a gain of territory while not risking much. so long as princess doesn't make a big play you would be better positioned next turn. Mobile sounds like forcing a big confrontation now while you have more support than princess. if she doesn't do something about it you will have a major advantage next turn to exploit.

 

[bintananth]

I lean towards either Mobile or Texas based on the description. texas means making a gain of territory while not risking much. so long as princess doesn't make a big play you would be better positioned next turn. Mobile sounds like forcing a big confrontation now while you have more support than princess. if she doesn't do something about it you will have a major advantage next turn to exploit.

President Princess isn't defending Texas because she doesn't really care what happens west of the Mississippi River.

I'm leaning towards Charleston because my wife is clever and has 30,000 troops under Hardee (3,*,1) garrisoning New Orleans.

She's read this:

Rifle and light infantry tactics; for the exercise and manoeuvres of troops when acting as light infantry or riflemen : Hardee, William Joseph, 1815-1873 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

archive.org

Texas and Mobile might be a carefully planned trap she's just waiting to spring.

 

[Blasterbot]

If you think texas is bait then I guess I would ask what do you think the minimum investment for it would be? if she really has left it basically undefended than that means it could be an easy pick up so long as you can figure out what she wants to hit hard/reinforce this round.

 

[bintananth]

If you think texas is bait then I guess I would ask what do you think the minimum investment for it would be? if she really has left it basically undefended than that means it could be an easy pick up so long as you can figure out what she wants to hit hard/reinforce this round.

For Texas? Sheridan, Farragut, and 15,000.

That means Sheridan and 15,000 Union calvalry troops aren't raising hell somewhere she thinks is important but can't adaquetly defend.

EDIT: She'll have to detach either Forrest or Stuart and Wheeler just to deal with Sheridan if I don't send him to Texas. We both know this.

 

[Blasterbot]

I guess the other side of this is what do you expect princess to do? if she is setting up for a trap based on her read of you a shift in strat may catch her off guard. alternatively if you think she is going to make a big play setting up your own trap may be the play. my usual strategies with this sort of thing tend to be risk mitigation and conservative play mixed with out attritioning enemies enemies in really big brawls.

 

[bintananth]

I guess the other side of this is what do you expect princess to do? if she is setting up for a trap based on her read of you a shift in strat may catch her off guard. alternatively if you think she is going to make a big play setting up your own trap may be the play. my usual strategies with this sort of thing tend to be risk mitigation and conservative play mixed with out attritioning enemies enemies in really big brawls.

Hmm ...

Northern VA: OO Howard has 65,000 with another 40,000 in DC v. AS Johnston's 45,000 and 30,000 in Richmond-Petersburg
Chattanoga-Atlanta: GG Meade has 70,000 while JE Johnston has 55,000.
Mississippi: Rosecrans has 50,000, plus 10,000 in Memphis, 10,000 in Mobile, and 5,000 in Huntsville. Bragg has 25,000 N of Jackson, Hardee has 30,000 in New Orleans. There are 10,000 in the Vicksburg fortress.
Missouri: McClellan and EK Smith both have 20,000 near Springfield and St. Louis is a Union fortress with a garrison of 10,000

1862 was a bloody slugfest. If she's going on the offensive it'll be EK Smith in Missouri, Hardee coming out of New Orleans, or cavalry raids.

She might try coming up the Shenendoah towards DC after I send Burnside on his way, but my response to that'll mean a Union corps takes a train ride from SE Tennessee to Maryland.

 

[ParadiseLost]

Feel like this needs its own thread at this point.

 

[bintananth]

Feel like this needs its own thread at this point.

It did get one ...

I've made my decision. Burnside is headed to Charleston, SC. Instead of "Sherman's Neckties" in Georgia there will be "Burnside's Bowties" and JE Johnston (one of Sherman's pallbearers in RL, BTW) will be facing two armies coming from different directions instead of just one.

I think "Retreatin' Joe" was actually the best general the Confederates had. Sherman was never able to outfox him and Lee made a mess of his plans for the counterattack known as "The Seven Days" in 1862. The Confederates actually lost all but one of the battles but it's considered a Confederate victory because the Union retreated ... which they were already doing before Lee went "Banzai!"

 

[ParadiseLost]

It did get one ...

My post preceded LTR making a new thread.

 

[bintananth]

There's a trick to enjoying games like this one: don't look at the victory conditions to see who won.

Princess and I will be playing the big 5th Fleet scenario when we're done with this. That's basically the USSR, India, and Iran v. everyone else. I'll be playing the Soviets and I will lose, badly, because I can not win unless I take the nearly guaranteed "you lose" option by going nuclear before she does.

 

[bintananth]

Belated update:

Princess reinforced NW Georga with new recruits and managed to extricate 60,000 Confederates - along with an in injured JE Johnston - from NW Georgia, but I did take Atlanta along with Pemberton (3,-1,0) and the remnants of The Army of Tennessee.

The casualties:
85,000 Union
45,000 Confederate, plus 5,000 captured

It wasn't pretty. I did do slightly worse than the expected 3:2 Union:Confederate loss ratio while Meade and Burnside drove the Confederates from Atlanta.

 

[bintananth]

It's the Nov '63-Feb '64 turn and President Bintananth needs to pick a target for the spring.

I've got Atlanta, GA with Meade (3,1,1), Burnside (3,-1,-1), and 95,000 Yankees there. Howard (3,0,-1) is in Fredricksburg, VA with 80,000. Rosecrans (3,-1,0) is N. of Jackson, MS with 55,000. McClellan (3,-1,0) is still pussyfooting around in SW Missouri with 20,000.

I have 5 Armies in play. My wife has three, plus two corps:

AS Johnston (3,0,0) in Richmond, VA with 70,000
JE Johnston (3,1,1) in Jackson, MS with 45,000
EK Smith (3,0,0) in Springfield, MO with 25,000
Beauregard (3,0,1) in Petersburg, VA with 30,000
Hardee (3,*,1) in New Orleans, LA with 30,000

... the last two are corps.

I don't have many good 1-star or 2-star generals left and I will need all of them to get a pair of armies up to a +5 DRM.

The ANV has a +6 DRM using just 3 (Longstreet, Clebourne, and Forrest) and I want Richmond.

That's going to take 285,000 troops.
Howard with 125,000 pinning AS Johnston in Richmond, VA while Meade and Burnside march 130,000 from Atlanta, GA to the South of Petersburg along railroad lines to cut the supply lines. I'll also need to leave 30,000 under someone in Atlanta to turn it into Fortress while all of this is going on.

Taking Richmond-Petersburg will require isolating it by taking six railroad lines (Howard already has one) and at least three frontal assaults - including one across a river - into a fortified rats nest of trenches if Princess doesn't have AS Johnston come out to fight in the open.

That's probably not going to happen because, on top of the railroad lines she's built supply depots in both cities with several more in nearby Confederate held cities connected to those two by rail.

Richmond-Petersburg wasn't that well defended historically and Grant wasn't facing between 20%-25% of the Confederate army at it's maximum historical strength.

This'll be ugly.

Note: 285,000 would be about 40% of the Union Army at its peak during the Civil war and over half of what I've got at this point in this game.

 

[bintananth]

Here's the plan:

- Burnside sets out from Atlanta with Sheridan detached and running interference 50-100 miles ahead.
- Hooker relieves Meade in Atlanta and then gets demoted after Meade and Howard switch places. I need that (3,*,0) but, as a 3-star he is more senior than Meade. Meade is more senior than Howard and I can't afford to lose either.
- Howard sets out later after I do another "Kansas City Shuffle" to get Thomas, Hancock, Reynolds, Sedgwick, Pleasonton, and Grierson with reinforcements where I want them.
- Irvin McDowell (3,-1,-1) sits in reserve as my backup army commander because I really don't want Butler or Buell in an army HQ. I can't get rid of them without first placing them in command of an Army and they're useful when they aren't on the front lines.

Princess can lose AS Johnston without it affecting her defense of Richmond-Petersburg at all because PGT Beauregard is better than every other remaining 3-star except for JE Johnston and GG Meade.

 

[Blasterbot]

I guess my only real thought here is do you think princess is gonna try for something tricksey here or do you think she is trying to fort up as hard as she can to stack the dice in her favor for the climax?

 

[bintananth]

I guess my only real thought here is do you think princess is gonna try for something tricksey here or do you think she is trying to fort up as hard as she can to stack the dice in her favor for the climax?

She's stacking the dice. Confederate supply depots ususally aren't built East of the Mississippi River and she's placed one in every single Confederate-held city East of Atlanta, GA.

 

[bintananth]

Our youngest just sleepily said "Hancock or Thomas is headed to St. Louis" while walking past me on her way to bed.

Um ...

She's 16. If she spotted that part of the "Kansas City Shuffle" on her own Princess already knows what I'm planning.

From the Evil Overlord List: "One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation."

 

[bintananth]

I feel like an idiot ...

We're actually playing this:

The Civil War 1861-1865

ACW strategic simulation with detailed leaders, supply chains, naval war, & more.

boardgamegeek.com

Somewhere along the way in times long forgotten it got put in the box for this:

Across 5 Aprils

The Civil War battles of Bull Run, Pea Ridge, Shiloh, Gettysburg, and Bentonville.

boardgamegeek.com