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

[bintananth]

It's March 1, 1864 and here's the situation ...

Howard, with 100,000 men, Hancock, Thomas, Pleasonton and Grierson have set out from Fredricksburg. They're now 50 miles west of Petersburg.

Meade, with 60,000 men, Reynolds, and Sedgwick, are 100 miles east of Atlanta.

Sheridan, with 15,000 men is running interference for Meade.

Burnside is still in Atlanta awaiting reinforcements.

Curtis (3,*,0) with 20,000 is in Harper's Ferry and about to head southwest into the Shenendoah Valley before reinforcing Howard. (If I hadn't drawn Curtis this turn Ben Butler would be doing this and Howard would not get reinforcements).

Rosecrans has JE Johnston pinned in Vicksburg.

McClellan is still pussyfooting around near Springfield, MO

Hooker is in St. Louis with Burnside's reinforcements. When they reach Atlanta Burnside and Rosecrans are going to 1-2 punch JE Johnston in Vicksburg if Princess doesn't abandon the fortress.

In Virginia "I bought a ticket for the long way 'round. It has the prettiest of views." If Princess has AS Johnston stay holed up in Richmond-Petersburg it'll get ugly. If she sends him out to fight in the open I'm probably losing Sheridan and an entire corps if she rolls anything but a 1 before Meade and Howard surround the ANV and force it to surrender.

 

[Blasterbot]

so if you lose Sheridan how are you gonna come out of the turn? if that is the worst thing can you weather it? or does that kinda cripple you?

 

[bintananth]

so if you lose Sheridan how are you gonna come out of the turn? if that is the worst thing can you weather it? or does that kinda cripple you?

Princess slapping Sheridan's corps is actually good for me and I'm hoping she does it because that means the ANV is out in the open somewhere in North Carolina instead of holed up in Richmond-Petersburg waiting for "All Quiet on the Western Front, the preview".

 

[bintananth]

Princess did not abandon either Richmond or Vicksburg.

Howard, Sheridan, Hancock were killed. Meade and Rosecrans were wounded. The Union lost 135,000 troops taking those two fortressess. She lost both Johnstons, Longstreet, Clebourne, Forrest, Hardee, and 165,000 Confederates (most were captured) but the battles were 3 Union to 2 Confederate when I rolled well and 3 Union to 1 Confederate when I didn't.

 

[bintananth]

The game is over.

To give you an idea of just how long the front lines were during the US Civil War: Vicksburg, MS to Richmond, VA is only 953 miles by car if you take I-20 and I-85.

 

[bintananth]

Princess and I were discussing the various generals we had towards the end. Historcally ...

On the Union side:
- Howard screwed up big time at Chancelersville, as did Hooker
- Meade screwed up The Crater
- Burnside screwed up Fredricksburg
- McDowell screwed up Bull Run
- Rosecrans was bailed out by Thomas at Chickamauga
- Don Carlos Buell screwed up Shiloh
- Ben Butler was a politician protected by Congress
- McClellan was actually far more competent than people give him credit for

On the Confederate side:
- AS Johnston was killed at Shiloh
- JE Johnston irritated Jefferson Davis
- EK Smith wasn't on Davis' good side either
- PGT Beauregard also wasn't one of Davis' favorites
- Bragg was one of Davis' favorites but was unliked by practically everyone else
- Pemberton was a Yankee from Pennsylvania who was not respected by the men he was asked to lead

That's just the 3-stars.

EDIT: Here's what Princess had to say about McClellan: "His plans, based on bad intel, were nearly flawless and Lincoln was the only man to ever defeat him."

 

[bintananth]

Our next game (5th Fleet) is set up.

Iran, India, and the USSR are outnumbered ~2:1 and most of my ships are worse than what she's got. She has 7 aircraft carriers (4 American, 1 British, 1 French, and 1 Italian) plus USS Wisconsin ... which is pulling triple duty as a Fast Fleet Oiler, Nuke launch platform, and the center of a mobile 460nm diameter exclusion zone which doesn't have to worry about fuel.

She also has a squadron of B-52s in Diego Garcia which can nuke or carpet bomb anything on the map, several SSBNs, and USS Seawolf ... which I need to stay very clear of because my best ASW can't even scratch it unless I roll a 6 and she rolls a 1.

I ain't winning and should probably start a new thread for this fustercluck.

 

[Blasterbot]

I don't know much of that game how does it play?

 

[bintananth]

I don't know much of that game how does it play?

If you use nukes before your opponent does, you will lose. If you don't use nukes before your opponent does you will also lose.

The big scenario is the Indian Ocean when the Cold War goes hot.

EDIT: I'll need to use multiple nukes to take out USS Wisconsin. 7, minimum, is my guesstimate and 6 of those aren't getting past the AA.

 

[bintananth]

Brother-in-law just asked Princess and I for advice on how to defeat his wife in a game of 3rd Reich when he's got the Axis.

Umm. He's going to lose, again, because Euphie probably already has plans for whatever he might try and she'll be more than happy to share them with you.

 

[bintananth]

Princess and I just finished reviewing his plans.

They're actually pretty good and we think his plan for Operation Barabarassa might work despite the fact that the first two times he tried it during practice sessions while he was being taught how to play the game the Fallshirmjager was wiped out by bad die rolls.

He also managed to take London via an extremely lucky "what the heck, might as well" Operation Sea Lion that got slapped by Euphie pulling a British fleet from Egypt and a British armour corps from Belgium while the French Air Force bombed London.

Euphie took and held Berlin in Winter '41 at the end their first game and he was playing at what could be called expert level.

Euphie is taking Berlin sometime in '42. My guess is Winter. Princess thinks Summer or Fall.

 

[bintananth]

Princess and I finished our game of 5th Fleet.

She opened the canned sunshine before I did and sank or shot down practically everything the USSR, India, Iran, and their Communist allies had. I damaged or sank about 1/5 of what she had to work with.

It was ugly.

I did manage to bag both Seawolf and Wisconsin.

Wisconson sailed right into a full spread of torpedoes from an Indian diesel-electric sub because she didn't think it was a threat.

Seawolf went after a "noisy" Soviet sub and I got lucky.

EDIT: Her B-52s, unescorted, sank a Soviet carrier and her escorts within the first 8 hours.

 

[bintananth]

Next up: Third Reich. Our daughters have the Allies. My wife has Germany. I have Italy.

I have a fairly good idea of what's going to happen.

Italy: Yugoslava and the "Magic 100" in '39 before staying neutral unless my youngest does something really stupid. I am not messing with Greece.
Germany: Poland, followed by Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France then on to Russia. Princess is not messing with Norway or the Royal Navy.

The Allies: Our daughters have my older sisters on speed-dial and I'm pretty sure Germany is down at least 5 infantry corps and two minor allies before our youngest starts to set up the Polish defence.

 

[bintananth]

This moring our daugters gave me a few clues about their opening setups ...

Lisa (she has France and Russia) will pin 1/3 of the Heer and the French will be ready to counter-intercept the Italians if they leave port.

Lucille (she has the US and Britian) said she's placing the BEF in Gibraltar and all the armour in Alexandria.

They've talked to my sisters ...

If their setup is what I think it'll be they're eying Rome and I can not make any mistakes. Thankfully, I've seen this before and know how to respond.